The Strength of Polycarbonates
What the heck are polycarbonates? The smartest resource on the internet – Wikipedia – says they ‘are a group of thermoplastic polymers with carbonate groups in their chemical structures.’ Everybody knows that, don’t they?
Sounds a bit boring, right? Well polycarbonates are far from boring.
Basically polycarbonates are a common type of plastic. You see and use products manufactured using polycarbonates everyday and everywhere. Think about CDs, Blue-ray disks and DVDs. All are made out of polycarbonates. But they’re not just used for shiny disc shaped objects. You will actually be amazed to see how polycarbonates are so resourceful with their delightful strength and other properties.
Polycarbonates are so useful because of their inherent chemical composition. ‘Poly’ stands for many and in this context many molecules. It gets the name ‘carbonate’ because it contains the structure of carbonate groups. The different carbonate groups provide some really awesome features like strength and impact resistance, temperature resistance, and even optical properties (so you can see through it).
How Strong are Polycarbonates?
Look at a graph of some of the strongest materials available and their strengths and it would be very easy to locate polycarbonates. They’d be at the top! Well they’re not as strong as diamonds but they are extremely strong compared to all other commonly manufactured plastics such as ABS, PVC and others.
As you’re about to see, polycarbonates are so strong that they are the trusted material used in a tonne of important products.
Polycarbonates Have Never Ending Uses
Because of their strength, transparency, and they can be easily moulded to just about anything, polycarbonates are used in safety goggles all the time. So in a workshop or construction site, they are used by people using dangerous cutting tools where there are always possibilities of sharp objects getting thrown toward the eyes. Luckily polycarbonates can be formed into goggles which are strong enough to block any type of foreign object.
Another extreme impact resistant yet transparent application is riot shields used by police. You can drop a stone weighing 3 kilos from a height of 10 meters without shattering the part made out of polycarbonates. So next time you see a riot or just go to an ice hockey game, remember polycarbonates.
Polycarbonates are also used in the wind shields of vehicles. And not just land vehicles, but also aerial ones like jet fighters. If you have already thought about bullet proof glass, you’re right! Polycarbonates are so strong that they are even used in all types of bullet proof glass.
The Most Important Use of All
What makes polycarbonates especially cool is that they are present in your pockets, too! They are used by the titans of the smart phone and mobile device industry such as Nokia, Samsung and guess who else? That’s it, Apple started using polycarbonates in their phones in the last few years with the release of the iPhone 5C.
More and more phone casings and other components are incorporating polycarbonates for their strength and resilience. But best of all, you don’t have to worry if polycarbonates are in your phone. You can put them on yourself!
These days there are tons of iPhone and iPad accessories available in Australia that are made out of amazingly strong polycarbonates. That means you can buy an iPhone case or an iPad accessory here in Australia with the same strength technology as bullet proof glass and riot gear!
To make it easy on you, Fone Express proudly offers the best polycarbonate infused iPhone and iPad accessories available in Australia. You can easily pick up yours in our store or shop online and have it shipped directly to your home.