Material guide Acrylic vs polycarbonate
For a retail display, acrylic is usually the right sheet. For a guard that may be hit, polycarbonate is usually the right sheet. The split is clarity and surface versus impact. Neither material wins on every line, and neither number on a brochure is useful without a grade and a test method. This page is that split. It is not a datasheet and it is not a sales page.
The short answer
Decision rule. If the part is there to show a product and be looked at, start with acrylic (PMMA). If the part is there to take a hit and keep people or equipment safe, start with polycarbonate (PC). If you need both premium clarity and high impact, you are in a compromise — say which failure you can live with.
Trade names confuse the choice. Plexiglass, Perspex, and Lucite are acrylic names in common use. Lexan is a polycarbonate name. The RFQ should say PMMA or PC, not a trademark alone.
What each material is
Acrylic is poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA. In displays it is bought as cast or extruded sheet, cut, bent, bonded, and polished. It is the usual clear plastic for cosmetic cubes, trays, and risers because the face looks glassy and the edge can be polished.
Polycarbonate is a different polymer. It is the usual clear plastic for machine guards, impact covers, and some outdoor or rough-service panels because it tends to absorb a blow instead of cracking. The surface is generally easier to scratch than acrylic unless it is hard-coated — and a coating is a separate specification.
ISO 7823 covers PMMA sheet. ISO 11963 covers polycarbonate sheet. Naming the standard is not the same as naming the grade. Ask for the grade if outdoor life, impact, or food contact is on the brief.
Side-by-side for displays
The table is directional. It is not a set of test results. A coated polycarbonate or a rubber-modified acrylic can move a cell.
| Acrylic (PMMA) | Polycarbonate (PC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical job | Brand-facing display, box, tray, sign face | Guard, cover, panel that may be hit |
| Look | Usually crisper, more glass-like | Clear, often slightly less sharp |
| Surface marks | Harder face; scratches show, but less readily than uncoated PC | Softer; scratches show sooner unless coated |
| Impact | Can chip or crack | Generally much more forgiving |
| Edge and joint | Polishes and solvent-bonds well, especially cast sheet | Different adhesives and edge practice; do not assume acrylic methods transfer |
| Outdoor | Many grades hold clarity; still specify UV if the brief needs it | Standard grades may need a UV specification for long sun |
| Cleaners | Alcohol and some solvents can craze a stressed face | Some cleaners haze the surface; check the grade |
| Relative cost | Often the lower sheet price for a display | Often higher; a coating adds more |
Do not lift a “10 times” or “250 times” impact claim, or a single light-transmission percent, into a purchase order. Those figures belong to a named grade and a named method. Without both, they are advertising.
Which one for which job
Cosmetic cube, jewelry tray, riser
Acrylic. The buyer is paying for the face and the edge. Impact is a handling problem, solved by thickness and pack, not by switching to PC.
Machine guard or public barrier
Polycarbonate, unless a standard requires something else. Clarity is secondary to what happens when it is struck.
Electronics well on a counter
Acrylic if the well is a brand face and staff handle it. Consider PC or a thicker acrylic if the public drops devices into it.
Sneeze guard or food shield
Either can work as a non-contact shield. Choose on impact, cleaning chemistry, and whether a food-contact document is actually required.
Acrylic constructions in that first card are the usual retail set: boxes, trays, and display stands.
Outdoor and UV
Acrylic is widely used for outdoor signs because many PMMA grades weather without a special coating. That is not a promise for every sheet, and it is not a promise that a tint will not shift. If the face sits in a window all season, ask for the grade and what the supplier will say about yellowing.
Polycarbonate in long sun often needs a UV-protected grade or a cap layer. An indoor PC grade moved outside is a common way to get haze or yellowing that the buyer then blames on “plastic.” Specify the exposure.
Neither material is a UV filter for the object inside the case unless the sheet is specified as filtering. A clear display box protects from dust. It does not automatically protect a print from fading.
Food display and food contact
A splash guard that never touches food is a different brief from a tray that holds unpackaged food. Both acrylic and polycarbonate can be used in food programs when the grade and the conditions match the destination rule — for acrylic, FDA 21 CFR 177.1010 is the US section buyers usually mean. The polymer name is not the approval.
Ask for the grade, the market, and whether the part is contact or non-contact. Do not accept “food safe” as a sentence on a quote.
Fabrication differences buyers feel
- Acrylic, especially cast sheet, is the material display shops polish and solvent-bond into clear cubes. Those methods are not a default for polycarbonate.
- Polycarbonate is more forgiving to drill and to impact. It is less forgiving of a scratched face.
- Heat bending practice differs. Do not assume a lip designed for acrylic will form the same way in PC.
- Hard-coated polycarbonate can solve the scratch complaint and then complicate a later polish or a bond. Write the coating into the drawing.
Sanait fabricates acrylic displays, boxes, and trays. That scope is acrylic. A brief that needs polycarbonate should be said in the first email so the plant can confirm it or decline it — see the FAQ for how that plant takes a brief, and the about page for what it builds.
What to write on the RFQ
- PMMA or PC, not “clear plastic.”
- Indoor or outdoor, and whether the face is in direct sun.
- Whether the part may be struck, or only looked at.
- Cleaning chemistry, if staff will wipe it daily.
- Food contact or not, and the market, if relevant.
- Edge finish and joint method — and do not copy an acrylic joint note onto a PC drawing.
FAQ
Which is better for a display, acrylic or polycarbonate?
Acrylic, for most brand-facing displays. Polycarbonate if the part is a guard or will be hit. “Better” without the job is not a choice.
Is polycarbonate clearer than acrylic?
Usually no. Acrylic is the crisper of the two in ordinary display grades. A hard-coated or optical PC grade can close the gap. Ask for the grade if clarity is the reason you are paying.
Which scratches less?
Uncoated acrylic usually marks less easily than uncoated polycarbonate. A hard coat on PC can reverse that. Specify the surface.
Can I use acrylic as a safety guard?
Not as a default. Acrylic can chip or crack under impact. If the failure mode is a strike, start with polycarbonate or the material the safety standard names.
Are Plexiglass and Lexan the same?
No. Plexiglass is an acrylic trade name. Lexan is a polycarbonate trade name. Put PMMA or PC on the drawing.
Will either one yellow outdoors?
Both can, depending on grade and exposure. Acrylic outdoor sheet is commonly specified for signs. Polycarbonate in long sun usually needs a UV grade. Do not treat the polymer name as a weathering guarantee.
Sources
The comparison above is directional. The references are the sheet standards and the US food-contact section buyers ask about. They do not rank a display.
- ISO 7823-1:2003, Plastics — Poly(methyl methacrylate) sheets — Types, dimensions and characteristics — Part 1: Cast sheets. iso.org
- ISO 7823-2:2003, Plastics — Poly(methyl methacrylate) sheets — Part 2: Extruded sheets. iso.org
- ISO 11963:2019, Plastics — Polycarbonate sheets — Types, dimensions and characteristics. iso.org
- 21 CFR 177.1010, Acrylic and modified acrylic plastics, semirigid and rigid. ecfr.gov
- “Poly(methyl methacrylate).” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
- “Polycarbonate.” Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org
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