Other Polycarbonate Products

Polycarbonate is a plastic with some incredible and highly useful properties, and is therefore used in a wide variety of consumer products, from DVD’s to sunglasses, and bullet proof windows to laptop cases.

The reason that polycarbonate is used in so many different products is because its combination on durability and strength combined with being very lightweight. Most other materials of similar durability and strength are heavy, or materials that are lightweight tend to be weak and prone to breaking and cracking under stress. Polycarbonate has the best of both worlds.

You probably have already experienced the strength and durability of polycarbonate if you have ever tried to snap a DVD, and polycarbonate luggage perfectly exhibits and utilises its lightweight properties.

Quality sunglasses are also commonly made from polycarbonate because of their lightweight, durable, and easy to mould properties – particularly sports sunglasses, as they are likely to survive any knocks and bashes. If you are going to invest a lot of money in some designer sunglasses, the last thing you want is for them to break.

Purchasing sunglasses made from polycarbonate will significantly reduce the risk of this happening. Polycarbonate also has excellent optical properties – it can be made transparent, which increases the number of products it can be used in.

Polycarbonate: From Laptops To Medicine

Other products made from polycarbonate include laptop cases, cell phones, pagers, greenhouses enclosures, bottles, car headlights, signs and fixtures, and medical products. The list goes on and is almost endless. To put things in perspective, polycarbonate is one third the weight of acrylic, and is almost unbreakable, where as acrylic is not. The main drawback is that polycarbonate is more expensive than other plastics, however this is only really a consideration in that a polycarbonate product requires a larger upfront one time investment. Over a lifetime, you are likely to actually save money due to the fact that polycarbonate products are likely to have a much longer life than products made from other less durable materials.

The other main drawback is its toxicity, which makes it unsuitable for use in products which will have prolonged contact with food. It is proven that if food or drink remains in contact with polycarbonate for a certain period of time, then chemicals can contaminate the food or drink. However despite this, it is still far more environmentally friendly in its production that its main competitors, particularly acrylic.

This is just a brief overview of that polycarbonate is. It has countless uses and benefits, but hopefully this article has highlighted its main properties, and therefore made clear why it is so suitable for use in luggage.