Quick Decision: Acrylic or Polycarbonate Lens?

Quickly decide whether you should use acrylic or polycarbonate lenses with these questions:

Q. Is the application a lower or higher temperature?
A. Use polycarbonate. Not only can polycarbonate be used in a higher ambient setting, but it is also a must in extremely cold applications. Acrylic uses an impact modifier additive to bond together its crystalline structure. This additive has a freezing point where it becomes ineffective.

Q. Is the application in a chemical environment?
A. Use acrylic. The reason starts with the materials polycarbonate and acrylic are derived from. Polycarbonate is petroleum based and is more susceptible to a wide range of chemicals and oil. Acrylic is derived from natural gas, which is inert. This helps protect from a lot of environments that polycarbonates typically break down. SLP has plenty of chemical charts to help you further decide what material is best, but just remember this baseline: Polycarbonate is from petroleum and acrylic is from natural gas.