Using ACRYLITE® acrylic sheet instead of glass

Why use ACRYLITE® acrylic sheet in place of glass? Because acrylic sheet offers a number of significant advantages:

Acrylic is often referred to as plastic or plexiglass and is a great alternative to glass for picture frames.

Glass is tried and true - it has been around for hundreds of years. Using glass has made it possible to bring the warmth of daylight into our homes and buildings while keeping the bitterness of weather outside. We owe much thanks to this hard working material.

While properties like transparency, stiffness, and strength have helped to make glass successful, it has been limited by other properties. Its brittleness and heavy weight as well as the difficulty of cutting, shaping, applying colors ,and decorating glass have imposed limitations on designers, builder and architects, alike. Fortunately, there is an alternative - acrylic sheet. Acrylic is much tougher than glass, at half the weight, it's easy to fabricate and form into a variety of shapes, it comes in a variety of colors and is can be decoratively treated.  It provides a new level of flexibility and allows ideas to take shape. It sets designers free!

Caring Performance

Acrylic is often used where safety and ease of handling are concerns. It has greater impact strength than conventional plate glass and has similar impact strength compared to tempered glass. If it does break, acrylic sheet will usually crack or fracture into large pieces with edges that are much less sharp than those of broken glass. In addition to its excellent impact strength, acrylic sheet of the same size and thickness is half the weight of glass.

Warmth and Insulation

Acrylic feels warm to the touch, not cold like glass, because it is a better heat insulator. Compared to glass it has a lower coefficient of thermal conductivity.

Typical values for the Coefficient of Thermal Conductivity

Acrylic: 1.3 BTU/(hr-ft2)(F/inch)
Glass: 5.3 BTU/(hr-ft2)(F/inch)

Beauty and Elegance

Acrylic has crystal clarity, pure water-white edges and unmatched light transmission. The dull grey or green edges of glass cannot match the sparkle and elegance of acrylic. Unlike glass, colorless acrylic sheet has essentially zero absorption of visible light.

Creative Design Flexibility

ACRYLITE® acrylic sheet is available in a nearly unlimited array of standard, custom and designer colors. Smooth and etched surface finishes can be combined with eye grabbing colors to produce thousands of unique and exotic looks. Roehm America LLC can custom match almost any color..

Acrylic can be cold formed into modest radii or thermoformed into flowing curves and shapes. Acrylic's excellent thermoforming properties will help ideas take shape.

Custom sizes and unusual shapes need not be a concern. Acrylic sheet is readily cut, routed or machined into intricate shapes and sizes using typical woodworking equipment. Roehm America LLC can provide expert advice on appropriate blades, tooling and procedures to insure success.

Acrylic is easily decorated. It can be painted, engraved or hot stamped.

There is no need to accept the limits of glass, with acrylic, ideas are set free!

*Tempered glass cannot be cut to size or into shapes after tempering

Where can acrylic be used in place of glass?

Acrylic is used in hundreds of different applications. Some of the more common applications where acrylic is used in place of glass are listed below along with the benefits of acrylic.

Architectural Glazing:

• Mechanical bending
• Thermoformability
• Impact strength
• Color availability
• Low thermal conductivity

Fixtures, Displays and Furniture:

• Crystal clarity
• Sparkling water clear edges
• Fabrication ease
• Decorating
• Impact strength
• Light weight

Framing:

• Impact strength
• Light weight
• Impact strength
• Conservation grades
• Non-glare grades
• Reduced breakage in shipping

Transportation Glazing:

• Light weight
• Impact strength
• Thermoformability
• Color availability

Stadium Glazing:

• Light weight
• Impact strength
• Crystal clarity
• Easy cut to size

What are other considerations when replacing glass with acrylic?

The properties of acrylic are different than glass. This leads to its exceptional impact strength and lightweight, for instance. However, in some situations these differences may require design changes or even make acrylic substitution infeasible. The checklist below highlights some important considerations when substituting acrylic for glass. Roehm America LLC's Technical Service Department can also provide assistance.

* Mechanical strength and stiffness. Acrylic has lower tensile strength and stiffness than glass. When used in glazing, the requires thickness will usually be 1.5 - 2.5 times greater than that required for plate glass to withstand the same wind loads. When used for shelving the required thickness to support the same weight will be at least 2.5 times greater than that required for plate glass; however acrylic will offer much greater impact strength. See Roehm America LLC's shelving calculator for assistance.

* Expansion and contraction allowances. Acrylic expands and contracts more than glass due to temperature and humidity changes. Its coefficient of thermal expansion is about 8 times greater than that of glass. Proper allowances must be made to permit expansion and contraction. Roehm America LLC's Technical Service Department can provide assistance.

* Scratch and Chemical Resistance. The surface of acrylic is not as hard as nor as chemically resistant as glass.  Therefore, it is more prone to scratching, abrasion and many glass cleaners cannot be used to clean acrylic sheet. If resistance to scratching, abrasion and chemcials are important, then specify ACRYLITE® Optical abrasion resistant (MR) sheet. This revolutionary acrylic sheet has a "glass-like" coating on one or both surfaces that resists scratching. A comparison to glass and uncoated acrylic is shown below.

Codes and Regulations

Roehm America LLC's ACRYLITE® acrylic sheet products have been tested for compliance with many codes and regulations. A few of these are listed below. Exact compliance may vary with product type and thickness. View our other ACRYLITE® product compliance and certificates.

Classifications

• City of Los Angeles, Research Report #RR 24392
• NY City MEA #144-80-M or 145-80-M
• ANSI Z 97.1 for Safety Glazing Materials used in Buildings
• Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 2-5, Safety Glazing (FMVSS205)
• ANSI Z26.1, AS-4, 5, 6 & 7 for Safety Glazing Material for Glazing Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Equipment Operating on Land and Highway
• Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 302 for Flammability of Interior Materials
• ICC-ES Evaluation Report ESR-1260, classification CC2
• Underwriters Laboratories Recognized Component, File #E54671
• Underwriters Laboratories Flammability Rating: 94HB in all thicknesses
  
  * Flammability. Acrylic is a combustible thermoplastic. Be sure to consider all applicable building code regulations before substituting acrylic for glass.