Thursday, January 10, 2008

Clear plastic lens material

Skippy - hey Buzz - Happy New Year!
Buzz - same to you; another year gone by.
Skippy: seems like we had too much travel in December to post -
Buzz - well yes, but had some good questions to deal with like this one -

"I am looking into plastics and need to know about some plastics that have high UV resistance and are also transparent. So far the only leads I have are Polyarylate and Polyetherimide. If there are other plastic types that also fit this description please let me know.

Also I need the plastic to be crafted into a mostly cylindrical shape, about 12 inches tall, with a circular/ovular opening in the area of 2-4 inch diameter, so a company(s) that do this would also be useful to me. Any information is greatly appreciated, and if further information is needed, please let me know."

Skippy - that's an easy one. Acrylic is mentioned in many products as the material of choice in terms of process-ability (it can be molded or cast [for optical clarity to sharpen the light rays, or fuzziness to spread them out; depends on need] and extruded (and formed as necessary) into lens covers that could slide or snap on etc for ribbon type installations.

Buzz - sounds like the material might need to be machined . . .

Skippy - Yes, 'cylindrical' was mentioned - may be rod or tubing off the shelf that meets the need and if not - well, the material could be cast to very close dimensions, machined and then mechanically and chemically polished. Additionally, the material can be potted (to make water resistant etc.) and cast for items like pool and spa lights, highway markers etc when used to focus, cover and protect LED's; even including the more powerful LED units of today versus the past.

Buzz - Ok, opening up the thinking, there are other applications that come to mind. There are very high grades of crystal clear versions with good UV protection used in the archiving industry for special documents (remember National Treasure?), paintings etc.