What is acrylic?

Acrylic is a useful, clear plastic that resembles glass, but has properties that make it superior to glass in many ways. Common brands of high-grade acrylic include Polycast, Lucite and Plexiglass.





There are two basic types of acrylic: extruded and cell cast. Extruded or ';continuous cast'; acrylic is made by a less expensive process, is softer, can scratch easier and may contain impurities. Cell cast acrylic is a higher quality acrylic and U.S. domestic cell cast is a good choice for applications that require the best. Imported cell cast acrylic is often manufactured to lesser standards.





Acrylic is used to make various products, such as shower doors, bath enclosures, windows and skylights. It is chosen over glass for many reasons. It is many times stronger than glass, making it much more impact resistant and therefore safer. Falling against an acrylic shower door will not likely break it. Baseballs that crash through glass windows will, in most cases, bounce off acrylic windows. Acrylic also insulates better than glass, potentially saving on heating bills.





Another great advantage of acrylic is that it is only half as heavy as glass. This makes working with acrylic much easier. It can also be sawed, whereas glass must be scored.





Adding to this favorable array of properties, a transparency rate of 93% makes acrylic the clearest material known. Very thick glass will have a green tint, while acrylic remains clear.





A unique property of plastic is its ability to be shaped. Bow-front aquariums are beautiful examples of acrylic's wonderful properties. There are also no seams in acrylic structures, as chemical welding at the molecular level actually ';melts'; seams into one piece of solid material. Seams that are welded and polished are invisible.





There are some misconceptions about acrylic, namely that it yellows, turns brittle and cracks over time. Though this might be true of very cheap forms of plastic, it is not so with acrylic. For example, the fighter planes of WWII have acrylic bubble-tops. Airplane windows are also acrylic. If taken care of, acrylic remains new looking regardless of age or exposure to sun. Some people worry that acrylic scratches too easily, but unlike glass, scratches can be easily buffed out of acrylic.





For all of its advantages, there are two disadvantages of acrylic: it is more expensive than glass, and if exposed to a direct flame it will melt and eventually burn.





Today acrylic is used more than ever. Virtually all major public aquariums now build display tanks out of acrylic. You will also find acrylic in malls, institutions, prisons, hospitals and commercial buildings. Acrylic just over one inch thick (32mm) is bullet resistant. The Presidential motorcade, the Pope's booth-vehicle, teller enclosures and drive-through window enclosures all feature bullet-resistant acrylic.What is acrylic?
acrylic is a type of plastic or polymer used in paintWhat is acrylic?
man made material





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic
a type of plastic


plastics are materials made from oil
Acrylic fiber is lightweight, soft, and warm, with a wool-like feel. It dyes very well and has excellent colorfastness. It is resilient, retains its shape, and resists shrinkage and wrinkles. It is quite varied in form and sometimes has an appearance similar to wool or cotton.





Acrylic has recently been used in clothing as a cheaper alternative to cashmere, due to the similar feeling of the materials. The disadvantages of acrylic is that it tends to fuzz (or pill) easily and that it does not insulate the wearer as well as cashmere. Many products like fake pashmina or cashmina use this material to create the illusion of cashmere to the consumer.





Acrylic is resistant to moths, oils, and chemicals, and is very resistant to deterioration from sunlight exposure. However, static and pilling can be a problem.








Acrylic paint is fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry. Depending on how much the paint is diluted (with water) or modified with acrylic gels, mediums, or pastes, the finished acrylic painting can resemble a watercolor or an oil painting or have its own unique characteristics not attainable by oil or watercolor.





Acrylics were first available commercially in the 1950s. The first commercially available artist acrylic paints were mineral spirit based paints from a company called Bocour Artist Colors. The waterbased acrylic paints came later and were coined the term ';latex'; housepaints, although there is not any actual latex from a rubber tree in an acrylic dispersion. Interior ';latex'; housepaints tend to be a combination of binder (sometimes acrylic, vinyl, pva and others), filler, pigment and water. Exterior ';latex'; housepaints may also be a ';co-polymer'; blend, but the very best exterior waterbased paints are 100% acrylic based. Soon after the waterbased acrylic binders were introduced as housepaints, artists (the first artists were Mexican muralists) and companies alike began to explore the potential of the new binders.
acrylic is a polymeric substance that has plastic like properties, it is made up from a monomer substance in addition to PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) and forms long chains of polymer. its properties are hardness and ductility yet depending upon the powder to monomer ratio is can have brittle or elastic properties.
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Acrylic may refer to:





chemical compounds that contain the acryl group derived from acrylic acid


Acrylic fiber, a synthetic polymer fiber that contains at least 85% acrylonitrile


Acrylic paint, fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion


Polymethyl methacrylate (also known as ';acrylic glass'; and ';Plexiglas';), the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate


Creature House Expression, a vector graphics editor that was developed by Creature House and later acquired by Microsoft