Shatterproof Highly Clear Injection Mouldable Plastic

"small device requiring two thin, transparent, tubes"

How small?

How thin?

Open ends?

Give us more to go on.

Open ended tubes could be extruded.

ABS is tough and shatterproof, but not as clear as acrylic, which shatters.

if the pieces rub internally, they will soon be scored and this will interfere with clarity.

I wonder if anybody makes anything like tempered glass tubing?

What are you going to use those tubes for. Maybe we can come up with a different strategy.

j.

There are a large number of precision plastic tubing extruders. You may be able to buy suitable tubing off the shelf. Please try this source: http://www.condale.co.uk/ bioramani

I am a mechanical engineer and I recently learnt that Polycarobnare has better scratch and shatter resistance compared to Acrylic. It is also better than acrylic when it comes to transparancy or aluminium mirror coating.

I plan to use this for concentrated type solar cooker. But the material is costly, twice as costly as arylic, and is not available in thin films sheets. Thinnest film avaialble is 125 microns.

I am not aware of the injection mouldability of polycarbonate.

" It is also better than acrylic when it comes to transparancy"

Polycarbonate is not, better than acrylic when it comes to transparancy.

Acrylic is better than polycarbonate in all front except in Hollywood and Bollywood movies to mimic glass and safe actor

Masyood

I searched on net, and found that polycarbonate had transparancy between 89% and 91%, while acrylic transparancy is stated to be between 80% 93%.

So for any practical purpose we should be able to replace acrylic with polycarbonate where transparancy is required.

I am planning to replace machine acrylic guards with polycarbonate in view of better strength and (equal) transparancy. Do you have any other input that would help me?

Thanks

One word of caution about polycarbonate. If it is physically stressed it has very little resistance to solvents. Crazing and stress cracks may result in you were to curve the sheet to match some contour on your boat and clean it with an aggressive solvent. This may not apply to your application.

For solar all you need is IR transparency, which PP has and is lots cheaper. There is an interesting version from MIT: http://web.mit.edu/mitei/education/spotlights/solar-heater.html http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Testing bioramani

Why not Tempered glass. One company I know in US which does that. They make hollow tube to drinking glass and coffee mug out of glass which will not break and are shatterproof

Suggest you look in Kellys, Applegate website or similar and contact a company that manufacture clear plastic, they will be able to advise you on the best product to use. There are some in the South West and in the North West that specialise in clear plastics.

For samples, you will probably find it cheaper to get some clear plastic rods and drill them out, have a look at RS and Farnell websites.

regards

We seem to be talking to ourselves.

mehram, where are you?

Look into High Impact PolyStyrene (HIPS)

Payne's Plastics are really helpful guys and understand plastics and engineering. If you want a prototype and/or short production run, machined will probably be more cost effective, and that is what they do. They can also machine exactly what you want. And they do a lot of work in clear plastic.

Simon

Hi Folks, Just got back after the weekend to find your responses. Very, Very grateful.

Mine is a medical application, (got to keep it vague at present).

The device is single use, disposable, 25mm or so in total length and the tubes do have small appendages coming off them - it has to be moulded.

It also has to be sterilized by ethene (low temperature) without affecting it's visibility.

I've got an example of a similar type of object. Can we post pictures in this forum?

Looking foward to your wisdom.

"Can we post pictures in this forum?" Yes. The more information, the better the answer.

Polycarbonate is used as the material from which shatter-proof overglasses are made.

There are literally thousands of plastic materials that may work for your application. Acrylic is generally more easily shattered than some other material, but is easy to mold and there are some varieties that are optically very clear. There are some shatter resistant grades, but they may sacrifice some clarity. There are many grades of polycarbonates by Sabic, Bayer, DSM, and others. As other respondents pointed out, polycarbonate is very shatter resistant, but not very chemical resistant. Some grades of SAN have good clarity, chemical resistance, and better shatter resistance than acrylic. Polysulfones, such as Udel by Solvay have good clarity, chemical resistance, and shatter resistance, but costs more than some other materials and mold at significantly higher temperatures, which can increase costs. Polycarbonate/polyester blend such as Xylex by Sabic has good clarity, chemical resistance, and shatter resistance, but again costs more than some. Then there are also some grades of SBS, SEBS, EVA, polypropylene, amorphous nylons, etc., that have good clarity and may work for your application.

I suggest finding a good injection molder that is experienced in medical molding, has good prototype cababilities, and has access to a plastics materials database such as IDES to be able to research material properties. We can make suggestions in the forums, but without more specifics, it is hard to come up with a definitve recommendation. Ultimately, you will need injection molded prototypes in the material or materials that you intend to use, and put them through rigorous testing to see which has the greatest benefit at the lowest cost.

zoomer, you are encyclopaedic. I will look into all of these. I will post a picture f the the kind of object I am trying to produce.

Just give me a day or so to do so.

Thanks again to everyone.

Local UK company that might be able to help out:

www.condaleplastics.com/index.html