What Is Acrylics?

　　The word ”Acrylics” may sound very strange, because it is a new word which doesn’t appear in the mainland until the past two years. With the development of advertising, furniture and craft industry, “Acrylics” has gradually been known and understood until 2002. “Acrylics” is a kind of chemical material. By chemical definition, acrylics represent all the chemicals of acrylic acid and their derivatives and methyl methacrylate or methacrylic acid and their derivatives. At present, among many monomers in the methacrylate family, the most commonly heard is methyl methacrylate. It is the primary chemical element that is used through polymerization to produce acrylic sheets, pellets, bead and resin, which are all referred to as "Acrylics" in the current plastic market and are suitable for various applications.

　　Acrylic Sheet and Organic Glass

　　In recent years, organic glass represents any kind of transparent plastic sheet including acrylic sheet in some countries. As a matter of fact, it is not true. In order to distinguish from other transparent sheet, the word, "Acrylic Sheet", is specifically used to describe Polymeric Methyl Methacrylate (PMMA) sheet.

　　Features of Acrylic Sheet

　　Acrylic sheet, including thick sheet, has most outstanding characteristics of high light transmittance(up to 92%) and is by reputation for “Plastic Crystal”. It is widely used in outdoors because of superior outdoor weatherability. It possesses high gloss and surface hardness and is easy to fabricate and thermoform into all shapes and size. The sheet is also chemical resistant and is available in many attractive colors including translucent and customized ones.

　　History of Acrylic Sheet

　　The research and development of acrylic sheet now has a history of more than 100 years. In 1872, polymerizability of acrylic was discovered and known by commons in 1880. In 1901, the synthesis of allyl propionate polyester method research was completed. The synthesis method was attempted to apply in industrial manufacturing in 1927 and successed in entering into the large-scale manufacturing in 1937. During World War II, acrylic sheet was firstly used in producing windshield of aircraft and cycloscope of tanks for distinguishing tenacity and high translucency. In 1948, the birth of world first acrylic bathtub marked the application of acrylic entering new landmarks.