Polycarbonate (PC) Property Data

MatWeb has product data on over 6100 different grades of polycarbonate, including high heat polycarbonate, impact modified polycarbonate, optical grades, and alloys with other plastics such as ABS, polyester, and acrylic.  This information has been collected from manufacturers and categorized for systematic search, display, and comparison.

• If you would like to scan the polycarbonate entries in MatWeb, then the MatWeb Category Search Page is a good place to start.  You can select 'Polycarbonate' from the alphabetical listing under Thermoplastic Polymers and you will be presented with a list of descriptive names grouped by manufacturer.  Many users start by viewing MatWeb's Overviews - 'generic' polymer entries giving typical values that cut across the various manufacturers' polyester product lines.

  You may also select from the drop-down lists of Polycarbonate Manufacturers and Compounders or Polycarbonate Trade Names available from MatWeb.

• A general scan of PC listings can present an overwhelming list of options, so quantitative search criteria can be used to narrow down the list of search results. If you are looking for a polycarbonate product with certain performance criteria, then MatWeb's Advanced Search or Property Search Page is a good place to start.  You can select 'Polycarbonate' from the list of category choices along with the appropriate property choices.  For example, if you have an application that demands a high melt flow with a high optical transparency, you can enter a minimum melt flow of 25 g/10 min and a minimum visible transmission of 85% in your search criteria.  This will return only about 140 PC grades.

  This same strategy can be used to find fiber-reinforced polycarbonates.  You can again select 'polycarbonate' from the category box and specify a minimum flexural modulus of 9 GPa, for example.  This example returns close to 330 PC grades; generally only grades with at least 20% glass or carbon fiber reinforcement are stiff enough to meet this flexural modulus requirement.  You can go one step further and eliminate the glass fiber reinforced grades by stipulating a maximum density of 1.30 g/cc.  Now less than 80 carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate grades are returned - you can then review each of the complete property information datasheets, including properties such as coefficient of thermal expansion or elongation.

• Product Names from Polycarbonate Manufacturers whose Products are included in MatWeb.
  If you want data about a specific polycarbonate product, you can enter its grade, trade name, or manufacturer in the Search box at the top of any MatWeb page (see example below):

Polycarbonate manufacturing process: The common industrial route to polycarbonate uses bisphenol A (BPA) and phosgene. Ongoing health concerns about ingestion of residual BPA leaching from polycarbonate containers such as water bottles bottles and baby bottles is leading to substitution of other materials in these applications.