INDEX:

SR.NO CONTENTS PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 2

2 HISTORY 2

3 STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES 3

4 MODIFICATION OF PROPERTIES 6

5 MANUFACTURING 6

6 PROCESSING 9

7 APPLICATIONS 10

8 HANDLING, CUTTING, JOINING 15

9 TRADE NAMES 16

10 SUMMARY 16

10 REFERENCES 17

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INTRODUCTION:
Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a transparent thermoplastic often used as a lightweight
or shatter-resistant alternative to glass.
Although it is not technically a type of glass, the substance has sometimes historically been
called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methylmethacrylate. The material
was developed in 1928 in several different laboratories by many chemists such as William
Chalmers, Otto Rhm and Walter Bauer and was first brought to market in 1933 by the Rohm
and Haas Company, under the trademark Plexiglas. It has since been sold under many different
names, including Acrylite, Lucite, and Perspex. PMMA is an economical alternative
to polycarbonate (PC) when extreme strength is not necessary. Additionally, PMMA does not
contain the potentially harmful bisphenol-A subunits found in polycarbonate. It is often
preferred because of its moderate properties, easy handling and processing, and low cost. Non-
modified PMMA behaves in a brittle manner when loaded, especially under an impact force,
and is more prone to scratching than conventional inorganic glass, but modified PMMA can
achieve high scratch and impact resistance.

Poly(methyl methacrylate) is produced by freeradical polymerization of methylmethacrylate

in mass (when it is in sheet form) or suspension polymerization.

HISTORY:
The first acrylic acid was created in 1843. Methacrylic acid, derived from acrylic acid, was formulated
in 1865. The reaction between methacrylic acid and methanol results in the ester methyl
methacrylate. In 1877 the German chemist Wilhelm Rudolph Fittigdiscovered the polymerization
process that turns methyl methacrylate into polymethyl methacrylate. In 1933 the brand name
"Plexiglas" was patented and registered by another German chemist, Otto Rhm. In 1936 ICI
Acrylics (now Lucite International) began the first commercially viable production of acrylic safety
glass. During World War II both Allied and Axis forces used acrylic glass for submarine periscopes
and aircraft windshields, canopies, and gun turrets. Incidentally, airplane pilots whose eyes were
damaged by flying shards of PMMA fared much better than those injured by standard glass,
demonstrating the much increased compatibility between human tissue and PMMA as compared to
glass

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STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES:

1. PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

PMMA is a linear thermoplastic polymer. PMA has a lack of methyl groups on the backbone
carbon chain its long polymer chains are thinner and smoother and can slide past each other
more easily, so the material becomes softer.

PMMA has high mechanical strength, high Youngs modulus and low elongation at break. It
does not shatter on rupture. It is one of the hardest thermoplastics and is also highly scratch
resistant. It exhibits low moisture and water absorbing capacity, due to which products made
have good dimensional stability. Both of these characteristics increase as the temperature rises.

Its strength properties during injection moulding differ significantly in longitudinal and transverse
direction as a result of the orientation effect. As in the case with other thermoplastics, the mechanical
properties of PMMA vary as the temperature changes. This material tends to creep. It is not suitable for
operation under multiple dynamic loads.PMMA is one of the polymers that is most resistant to direct
sunshine exposure. Its strength characteristics exhibit fairly small variations under the effect of UV
radiation, as well as in the presence of ozone. These properties of PMMA make it suitable for products
intended for long openair operation.

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 2. ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The low water absorption capacity of PMMA makes it very suitable for electrical engineering
purposes. Its dielectric properties are very good, but polystyrene and LDPE are superior to it. Its
resistivity depends on the ambient temperature and relative humidity. The dielectric constant,
as well as the loss tangent, depends on the temperature, the relative humidity of air and the
frequency.

3. THERMAL PROPERTIES:

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 4. OPTICAL PROPERTIES:
PMMA exhibits very good optical properties it transmits more light (up to 93% of visible light)
than glass. Combined with its good degree of compatibility with human tissue, it can be used
for replacement intraocular lenses or for contact lenses. Unlike glass, PMMA does not filter
ultraviolet light. It transmits UV light down to 300 nm and allows infrared light of up to 2800 nm
to pass.

5. CHEMICAL RESISTANCE:
Acrylics are unaffected by aqueous solutions of most laboratory chemicals, by detergents,
cleaners, dilute inorganic acids, alkalis, and aliphatic hydrocarbons - however, acrylics are not
recommended for use with chlorinated or aromatic hydrocarbons, esters, or ketones. It
dissolves completely in chloroform, di and trichlorethane, which is used for production of
glues. The chemical resistance will vary with stress level, temperature, reagents and duration of
exposure. PMMA are physiologically harmless. Due to their low moisture absorption
capacitythey are not attacked by moulds and enzymes.

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MODIFICATION OF PROPERTIES:
Pure poly(methyl methacrylate) homopolymer is rarely sold as an end product, since it is not
optimized for most applications. Rather, modified formulations with varying amounts of other
comonomers, additives, and fillers are created for uses where specific properties are required.
For example,

A small amount of acrylate comonomers are routinely used in PMMA grades destined for
heat processing, since this stabilizes the polymer to depolymerization ("unzipping") during
processing.
Comonomers such as butyl acrylate are often added to improve impact strength.
Comonomers such as methacrylic acid can be added to increase the glass transition
temperature of the polymer for higher temperature use such as in lighting applications.
Plasticizers may be added to improve processing properties, lower the glass transition
temperature, or improve impact properties.
Dyes may be added to give color for decorative applications, or to protect against (or filter)
UV light.
Fillers may be added to improve cost-effectiveness.

MANUFACTURING:
PMMA is produced by polymerizing methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer. Mass
polymerisation is the most common production method. The material comes in the form of
small granules, which are then formed with all thermoplastic methods (e.g. injection molding
and extrusion) into molds. Suspension polymerisation is the process of producing acrylic beads.
These are small spherical particles that resemble a powder. These beads have similar properties
to the granules, but their unique size and shape enables them to be used in different
applications. Extruded PMMA sheets are manufactured from polymerized PMMA pellets. These
are homogenized in an extruder and then extruded by appropriate tools into solid sheets,
multi-skin and corrugated sheets, or tubes and rods. Cast sheets are manufactured by casting
liquid methyl methacrylate (MMA) between two plates of glass where the MMA polymerizes.
Polymerization can be in a water bath, in a hot-air oven or by the Rostero process.

(a) The monomer

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The monomer is the methyl ester of 2-methylpropenoic acid, methyl 2-methylpropenoate
(methyl methacrylate):

Currently, most of the monomer is made by two processes

(i) From propanone (acetone)

Worldwide, over 80% of the monomer is made from propanone by a sequence of steps
which begins by reacting propanone with hydrogen cyanide.
Propanone and hydrogen cyanide form 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropanonitrile:

This product, on reaction with concentrated sulfuric acid at about 430 K, is dehydrated and
the nitrile goup (CN) hydrolyzed to the amide. This is a step-wise process involving both
dehydration and hydrolysis. The reactions can be summarised as:

The temperature is decreased to 370 K and methanol is added. The amide group is
hydrolyzed and esterified. The reactions can be summarised as:

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The product is continuously removed by steam distillation.
A drawback to the process is the co-production of ammonium sulfate. Together with 'spent'
sulfuric acid from the reactions above, the ammonium salt is heated strongly in oxygen in a
furnace, in a process similar to that used for recycling sulfuric acid. The products formed are
nitrogen, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The latter is then converted to sulfuric acid
using the Contact Process. The use of pure oxygen reduces the size of the furnace which
saves on both energy and equipment costs.

(ii) From ethene, carbon monoxide and methanol

Much work has been done to find alternative sources of the monomer and a promising
route, which is now in use, uses a mixture of ethene, carbon monoxide and methanol in the
liquid phase under pressure of about 10 atm at 350 K:

The resulting ester, methyl propionate, is reacted with methanal to form methyl 2-
methylpropenoate. A fixed bed reactoris used and the reactor and catalyst (for example,
caesium hydroxide on silica) are heated to 600 K:

(b) The polymer

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 Polymerization of methyl 2-methylpropenoate is achieved by a free radical process using an
initiator, such as an azo compound or a peroxide:

The amount of initiator employed affects both polymerization rate and resulting molecular
mass of the polymer.
Polymerization is carried out commercially in several ways, i.e. in bulk, solution, suspension
and emulsion.
The process is an example of addition polymerization.

(c) Co-polymers

Co-monomers are often used together with the methyl 2-methylpropenoate. For example,
most commercial grades of poly(methyl 2-methylpropenoate) used in injection moulding or
extrusion applications contain a small amount (ca. 4%) of co-monomer, such as methyl
propenoate (methyl acrylate) (when casting sheets of the polymer) and ethyl propenoate
(ethyl acrylate) (when extruding sheets of the polymer).
In these co-polymers, the monomers are randomly arranged. The resulting polymers have
increased thermal stability compared to the homopolymer.
With butyl propenoate (butyl acrylate), a co-polymer is produced which is used as a base
for emulsion paints.
It is also co-polymerized with ABS to produce a very tough polymer which is both rigid and
has excellent clarity. It is used, for example, in medical applications and in cosmetic
packaging.

PROCESSING:
PMMA is suitable for injection moulding, extrusion, extrusion blow moulding (impact modified
acrylics only), thermoforming, casting. The melt flow index of the material varies according to
the method of treatment:

low melt flow index (0.8 2.5) materials intended for extrusion;

medium melt flow index (2.5 10 ) generalpurpose PMMA;

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 high melt flow index (> 10) PMMA for injection moulding of products having a complex
shape.

For injection moulding the mould temperature should be between 40 and 80C, depending on
the type, the material temperature should be between 200 and 250C. Usually high injection
pressures are needed because of poor flow properties. This is particularly important for optical
mouldings where visible weld lines will form if the correct parameters are not used. During
injection moulding internal stresses often build up, which can be eliminated by heating at a
temperature about 80C (tempering).

Moulds nozzle is an important factor when manufacturing PMMAproduct. The size of the
nozzle gate varies depending on the shape and the size of the product. Products manufactured
from PMMA are mainly clear and transparent and it is important that they do not have any
scratches. So that it is recommend to use at least draft angle of 1 (rather 2). Because PMMA
has high viscosity, the gas removing channels can be quite deep, from 0.04 to 0.08 mm.

Misoperation due to higher temperature causes destruction of PMMA, accompanied by release

of methylmethacrylate or other lowmolecule volatile products. The process also leads to a loss
of mass, which makes it undesirable, and a good knowledge of the thermophysical properties
of the polymer is necessary in order to avoid it, especially in the temperature range processing
(220250C).

Acrylics are easily sawed, drilled, milled, engraved, and finished with sharp carbidetipped tools.
Cut surfaces may be readily sanded and polished. They are also readily bent or thermoformed
at low temperature and solvent bonding of properly fitting parts produces a strong, invisible
joint. PMMA can be welded by all the plastics welding processes such as hotblade, hotgas,
ultrasonic or spin welding.

APPLICATIONS:
Being transparent and durable, PMMA is a versatile material and has been used in a wide range
of fields and applications such as: rear-lights and instrument clusters for vehicles, appliances
and lenses for glasses. PMMA in the form of sheets affords shatter resistant panels for building
windows, skylights, bullet proof security barriers, signs & displays, sanitary ware (bathtubs),
LCD screens, furniture and many other applications. It is also used for coating polymers based
on MMA provides outstanding stability against environmental conditions with reduced
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emission of VOC. Methacrylate polymers are used extensively in medical and dental
applications where purity and stability are critical to performance.

1. Transparent glass substitute

PMMA acrylic glass is commonly used for constructing residential and

commercial aquariums. Designers started building big aquariums when poly(methyl
methacrylate) could be used. It is less-used in other building types due to incidents such as
the Summerland disaster.
Acrylic is used for viewing ports and even complete pressure hulls of submersibles, such as
the Alicia submarine's viewing sphere and the window of the bathyscaphe Trieste.
PMMA is used in the lenses of exterior lights of automobiles.
The spectator protection in ice hockey rinks is made from PMMA.
Historically, PMMA was an important improvement in the design of aircraft windows,
making possible such iconic designs as the bombardier's transparent nose compartment in
the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
Police vehicles for riot control often have the regular glass replaced with acrylic to protect
the occupants from thrown objects.
Acrylic is an important material in the making of certain lighthouse lenses.
PMMA (under the brand name "Lucite") was used for the ceiling of the Houston Astrodome.

2. Daylight redirection

Laser cut acrylic panels have been used to redirect sunlight into a light pipe or tubular
skylight and, from there, to spread it into a room. Their developers Veronica Garcia
Hansen, Ken Yeang, and Ian Edmonds were awarded the Far East Economic Review
Innovation Award in bronze for this technology in 2003.
Attenuation being quite strong for distances over one meter (more than 90% intensity loss
for a 3000 K source), acrylic broadband light guides are then dedicated mostly to decorative
uses.
Pairs of acrylic sheets with a layer of micro replicated prisms between the sheets can have
reflective and refractive properties that let them redirect part of incoming sunlight in
dependence on its angle of incidence. Such panels act as miniature light shelves. Such
panels have been commercialized for purposes of day lighting, to be used as a window or
a canopy such that sunlight descending from the sky is directed to the ceiling or into the
room rather than to the floor. This can lead to a higher illumination of the back part of a

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 room, in particular when combined with a white ceiling, while having a slight impact on the
view to the outside compared to normal glazing.

3. Medical technologies and implants

PMMA has a good degree of compatibility with human tissue, and it is used in the
manufacture of rigid intraocular lenses which are implanted in the eye when the original
lens has been removed in the treatment of cataracts.
Historically, hard contact lenses were frequently made of this material. Soft contact lenses
are often made of a related polymer, where acrylate monomers containing one or
more hydroxyl groups make them hydrophilic.
In orthopedic surgery, PMMA bone cement is used to affix implants and to remodel lost
bone. It is supplied as a powder with liquid methyl methacrylate (MMA). Although PMMA is
biologically compatible, MMA is considered to be an irritant and a possible carcinogen.
PMMA has also been linked to cardiopulmonary events in the operating room due tohy
potension. Bone cement acts like a grout and not so much like a glue in arthroplasty.
Although sticky, it does not bond to either the bone or the implant, it primarily fills the
spaces between the prosthesis and the bone preventing motion. A disadvantage of this
bone cement is that it heats up to 82.5 C (180.5 F) while setting that may cause thermal
necrosis of neighboring tissue. A careful balance of initiators and monomers is needed to
reduce the rate of polymerization, and thus the heat generated. A major consideration
when using PMMA cement is the effect of stress shielding. Since PMMA has a Young's
modulus between 1.8 and 3.1 GPa, which is lower than that of natural bone (around 14 GPa
for human cortical bone), the stresses are loaded into the cement and so the bone no
longer receives the mechanical signals to continue bone remodeling and so resorption will
occur.
Dentures are often made of PMMA, and can be color-matched to the patient's teeth & gum
tissue. PMMA is also used in the production of ocular prostheses, such as the osteo-odonto-
keratoprosthesis.
In cosmetic surgery, tiny PMMA microspheres suspended in some biological fluid are
injected under the skin to reduce wrinkles or scars permanently.
Emerging biotechnology and Biomedical research uses PMMA to create microfluidic lab-on-
a-chip devices, which require 100 micrometre-wide geometries for routing liquids. These
small geometries are amenable to using PMMA in a biochipfabrication process and offers
moderate biocompatibility.

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 Bioprocess chromatography columns use cast acrylic tubes as an alternative to glass and
stainless steel. These are pressure rated and satisfy stringent requirements of materials
for biocompatibility, toxicity and extractables.

4. Artistic and aesthetic uses

Acrylic paint essentially consists of PMMA suspended in water; however since PMMA
is hydrophobic, a substance with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups needs to be
added to facilitate the suspension.
Modern furniture makers, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, seeking to give their products
a space age aesthetic, incorporated Lucite and other PMMA products into their designs,
especially office chairs. Many other products (for example, guitars) are sometimes made
with acrylic glass to make the commonly opaque objects translucent.
Perspex has been used as a surface to paint on, for example by Salvador Dal.
Diasec is a process which uses acrylic glass as a substitute for normal glass inpicture
framing. This is done for its relatively low cost, light weight, shatter-resistance, aesthetics
and because it can be ordered in larger sizes than standard picture framing glass.
From approximately the 1960s onward, sculptors and glass artists such as Leroy
Lamis began using acrylics, especially taking advantage of the material's flexibility, light
weight, cost and its capacity to refract and filter light.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Lucite was an extremely popular material for jewelry, with several
companies specialized in creating high-quality pieces from this material. Lucite beads and
ornaments are still sold by jewelry suppliers.
Acrylic Sheets are produced in dozens of standard colors, most commonly sold using color
numbers developed by Rohm & Haas in the 1950s.

5. Other uses

Acrylic is used in tanning beds as the transparent surface that separates the occupant from
the tanning bulbs while tanning. The type of acrylic used in tanning beds is most often
formulated from a special type of polymethyl methacrylate, a compound that allows the
passage of ultraviolet rays
Sheets of PMMA are commonly used in the sign industry to make flat cut out letters in
thicknesses typically varying from 3 to 25 millimeters (0.1 to 1.0 in). These letters may be
used alone to represent a company's name and/or logo, or they may be a component of
illuminated channel letters. Acrylic is also used extensively throughout the sign industry as a

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 component of wall signs where it may be a backplate, painted on the surface or the
backside, a faceplate with additional raised lettering or even photographic images printed
directly to it, or a spacer to separate sign components.
PMMA was used in LaserDisc optical media. (CDs and DVDs use both acrylic and
polycarbonate for impact resistance.)
It is used as a light guide for the backlights in TFT-LCDs.
Plastic optical fiber used for short distance communication is made from PMMA, and
perfluorinated PMMA, clad with fluorinated PMMA, in situations where its flexibility and
cheaper installation costs outweigh its poor heat tolerance and higher attenuation over
glass fiber.
PMMA is used as a shield to stop beta radiation emitted from radioisotopes.
Small strips of PMMA are used as dosimeter devices during the Gamma Irradiation process.
The optical properties of PMMA change as the gamma dose increases, and can be
measured with a spectrophotometer.
A blacklight-reactive tattoo ink using PMMA microcapsules has been developed.
PMMA can be used as a dispersant for ceramic powders to stabilize colloidal suspensions in
non-aqueous media. Due to its high viscosity upon dissolution, it can also be used as binder
material for solution deposition processes, e.g. printing of solar cells.
PMMA has also been used extensively as a hybrid rocket fuel.
In the 1960s, luthier Dan Armstrong developed a line of electric guitars and basses whose
bodies were made completely of acrylic. These instruments were marketed under
the Ampeg brand. Ibanez and B.C. Rich have also made acrylic guitars.
Ludwig-Musser makes a line of acrylic drums called Vistalites, well known as being used
by Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham.
Artificial fingernails are sometimes made of acrylic.
Some modern briar, and occasionally meerschaum, tobacco pipes sport stems made of
Lucite.
PMMA technology is utilized in roofing and waterproofing applications. By incorporating a
polyester fleece sandwiched between two layers of catalyst-activated PMMA resin, a fully
reinforced liquid membrane is created in situ

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HANDLING, CUTTING, AND JOINING:
PMMA can be joined using cyanoacrylate cement (commonly known as superglue), with heat
(welding), or by using solvents such as di- or trichloromethane[15] to dissolve the plastic at the
joint, which then fuses and sets, forming an almost invisibleweld. Scratches may easily be
removed by polishing or by heating the surface of the material.
Laser cutting may be used to form intricate designs from PMMA sheets. PMMA vaporizes to
gaseous compounds (including its monomers) upon laser cutting, so a very clean cut is made,
and cutting is performed very easily. However, the pulsed lasercutting introduces high internal
stresses along the cut edge, which on exposure to solvents produce undesirable "stress-crazing"
at the cut edge and several millimetres deep. Even ammonium-based glass-cleaner and almost
everything short of soap-and-water produces similar undesirable crazing, sometimes over the
entire surface of the cut parts, at great distances from the stressed edge. Annealing the PMMA
sheet/parts is therefore an obligatory post-processing step when intending to chemically bond
lasercut parts together. This involves heating the parts in an air circulating oven from room
temperature up to 90 C (at a rate of no more than 18 degrees per hour) down to room
temperature (at a rate of no more than 12 degrees per hour). Temperature should be
maintained as follows: one hour for 3 mm thickness, two hours for up to 6 mm thickness, four
hours for up to 12 mm thickness, and six hours for up to 20 mm thickness. A rapid annealing
cycle is reliable for thin sheets and involves placing them in a pre-heated oven to 80 C for one
hour, then removing parts from the oven and allowing to cool to room temperature. This added
time component should be factored into the whole fabrication process, and the alternative
Zero-rake sawcutting technique may provide better cost-effectiveness, unless complex non-
straight line edges are required. In this respect PMMA has an advantage over competing
polymers such as polystyrene and polycarbonate, which require higher laser powers and give
more messy and charred laser cuts.
In the majority of applications, it will not shatter. Rather, it breaks into large dull pieces. Since
PMMA is softer and more easily scratched than glass, scratch-resistant coatings are often added
to PMMA sheets to protect it (as well as possible other functions).

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TRADE NAMES:
PMMA has been sold under a variety of brand names and generic names. It is often generically
called acrylic glass, although it is chemically unrelated to glass. It is sometimes called
simply acrylic, although acrylic can also refer to other polymers or copolymers
containing polyacrylonitrile. Other notable trade names include:

ACRYLITE (A trademark of Evonik Cyro LLC (1956).

Lucite (Lucite is a trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, first registered in
1937.)
Plexiglas (Rohm and Haas Company)
Optix (Plaskolite)
Perspex (ICI trade name)
Oroglas
Altuglas

SUMMARY
In this report, we have provided a description of how PMMA is manufactured and
details about its processing. Also it has been described that how good or bad are its properties
namely electrical, chemical, mechanical and thermal. PMMA has variety of applications which
has been described in this report.

Our intent herein is to give readers a broader understanding of PMMA applications in

various fields and stimulate new ideas in research and development.

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REFERENCES:
1. Harper, Charles A., Handbook of Plastic Processes, John Wiley & Sons, 2005.

2. Harper, Charles A., Edward M. Petrie. Plastics Materials and Processes John
Wiley & Sons, 2003.

3. Stevens, Malcolm P. Polymer Chemistry: An Introduction. Oxford University

Press, USA, 1998.

4. Van Krevelen, D.W. Properties of polymers, ELSEVIER, 2003.

5. Crawford, R. J. Plastics engineering. Butterworth Heinemann, 1998 6. Jrvel P.

et al., Ruiskuvalu, Plastdata, 2000.

6. Ullmanns Encyclopedia

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