What is Acrylic?

Acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic homopolymer. In other words, it is a kind of plastic. In particular polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). Although it is often used in sheet form as an alternative to glass, it also finds use in a variety of other applications, often in casting resins, inks, coatings, medical devices and more.

While glass is cheaper and easier to recycle than acrylic, acrylic is stronger and more resistant to breakage and impact than glass. Depending on how it is manufactured, it is highly scratch and impact resistant (more durable than glass).

As a result, acrylic is used in many applications in the same areas as glass. For example, eyeglass lenses are usually made of acrylic. Because acrylic is less reflective than glass and more resistant to scratching and breaking.

What is Plexiglas?

Plexiglas is a type of transparent acrylic sheet and is also referred to by different names, the original (trademark) name being Plexiglas nomenclature. When acrylic appeared in the early 1900s, one of the products that came along with it was registered under the name Plexiglas. Today, many manufacturers sell this product under different nomenclatures.

So What is the Difference Between Plexiglass and Acrylic?

If you are thinking about the differences between Plexiglas and acrylic sheets, the truth is that there are more similarities than differences. Typically, plexiglass and acrylic products have very similar qualities. The only difference is the way the two products are produced. Acrylic coating is usually produced using one of two processes: extrusion or cell casting. Extruded acrylic, as the name suggests, is produced using an extrusion process. Acrylic is continuously extruded to form acrylic sheets.

The cell casting process involves pouring unreacted acrylic between two sheets of glass to form a cell. Once the reaction is complete and the acrylic has cured, the glass is separated from the acrylic and the acrylic sheet is exposed. Because the process requires more time and labor, acrylic tends to always be more expensive than plexiglass.

Plexiglass products are only produced using the cell casting process from these processes. Plaksiglas, which is no different from acrylic in terms of both cost and durability, is much more common in terms of use.