Acrylic Fabrication

Acrylic Fabrication

Acrylic fabrication is the process of creating component parts or end-products from acrylic materials. Acrylic, also called acrylic glass, is the common name for Polymethyl methacrylate, which is sometimes sold as the trademarked names Plexiglas, Perspex, Plazcryl, Acrylite, Acrylplast, Altuglas, or Lucite.

Acrylic is commonly used as a substitute for glass. Its advantages over traditional glass are primarily that it has a lighter weight (approximately half as dense as glass) and that it has higher impact strength than glass, making it less likely to shatter. The disadvantages of acrylic compared to glass, on the other hand, are that acrylic does not filter UV light and is softer and more prone to scratches. However, these two properties are easily overcome through the use of coatings.

Acrylic is often used in diverse applications, such as in aquariums, visors for motorcycle helmets and police riot control, vehicle headlights, and medical technologies including dentures, hard contact lenses, and replacement intraocular lenses for people who have had cataract surgery. Acrylic also has a number of aesthetic uses. Because it can be dyed translucently, it has often been used to give products like furniture and electric guitars a futuristic look.