Polycarbonate (PC) CNC Machining

Polycarbonate (PC for short), also known as PC plastic; is a polymer containing carbonate groups in the molecular chain, which can be divided into aliphatic, aromatic, aliphatic-aromatic, and other types according to the structure of the ester group. Among them, aliphatic and aliphatic-aromatic polycarbonates have low mechanical properties, thus limiting their application in engineering plastics.

Only aromatic polycarbonates have been industrially produced. Due to the structural specificity of polycarbonate, it has become the fastest-growing general engineering plastic among the five major engineering plastics.

Mechanical properties

Density: 1.18-1.22 g/cm3 Linear expansion: 3.8×10-5 cm/°C Heat deflection temperature: 135°C Low temperature -45°C

Polycarbonate is colorless and transparent, heat resistant, impact resistant, flame retardant BI grade, and has good mechanical properties within the common use temperature. Compared with the performance close to polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate has good impact resistance, high refractive index, good processing performance, and UL94 V-2 level flame retardant performance without additives. However, polymethyl methacrylate is less expensive compared to polycarbonate and can be produced in large devices by ontogenic polymerization.

The abrasion resistance of materials is relative, and when comparing ABS materials with PC materials, the abrasion resistance of PC materials is better. However, compared to most plastic materials, polycarbonate is relatively poor in abrasion resistance and is in the middle to lower level, so some polycarbonate devices used for wear and tear applications require special treatment of the surface.