Why Polycarbonate Reigns Supreme in Weather Resistance

Polycarbonate is widely used in lots of outdoor applications such as greenhouse, and skylights. They will expose to the weather every day; people will worry about the lifespan of polycarbonate. so, they always ask “Is polycarbonate weather resistant” when a manufacturer tell them use polycarbonate for their projects . in this article, we will show you the answer of this question.  

How will outdoor weather affect the plastic part?

UV from sunlight will attack many plastics, resulting in discoloration and embrittlement. The most common types of degradation from weathering are embrittlement of the material and color change (yellowing) over time. Transparent plastics can become hazy when used outdoors.

What is polycarbonate plastic?

Polycarbonate is a very strong and resilient thermoplastic material. Polycarbonate is lightweight and capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, either hot or cold. Due to these qualities, it makes for an effective roofing material. Polycarbonate is also frequently used for pool covers, or for roofing on industrial warehouses. 250 times the impact strength of glass and 30 times that of acrylic, polycarbonate panels are a great product for a wide variety of outdoor uses.

How polycarbonate sheet be UV-Resistant?

The most practical and effective method is to add ultraviolet absorbent (UV material) to polycarbonate sheet. According to the different production process, there are three ways to add UV material: mixed addition method, coating method and co-extrusion method.

Mix Addition Method

Mix a certain proportion of UV material (about 5%) with polycarbonate material, then extrude after high temperature melt. However, most of the sheets processed by this method are still exposed to the sun, so the aging of the sheet surface is still inevitable.

Coating Method

Coat with a layer of UV material on the surface of sheet. However, after the installation, rain has possibility to wash away the coating on the surface of the sheet. In addition, both sides of the panels are covered with protective film to allow for possible damage during storage and transportation. The protective film must be torn off at the end of the installation, because the protective film is viscous, a large number of surface coated UV material will stick off in the process of tearing, so the actual effect is poor.

Coextrusion Method

The most advanced method in the world now is co-extrusion method. This method is putting Polycarbonate material and UV material respectively in the extruder, after high temperature melt extrusion, mold convergence, flow drainage on polycarbonate sheet surface through mold to form a dense UV material protective layer. Using this method in the actual production, temperature, speed, pressure and other changes will affect the distribution of UV material on the surface of the sheet, result an uneven thickness on the sheet surface. So process control is crucial foe this method.

Other Polycarbonate Product

Conclusion

KUSLA polycarbonate sheets are absolutely weather resistant. Because we adopt the coextrusion method, and equipped with professional UV layer thickness detection equipment, according to the detected data to adjust the production process, in order to ensure that the thickness and UV layer uniform distribution, to improve the weather resistance of polycarbonate sheet, prolong the service life. Contact us if have more questions about any property of Polycarbonate.

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