Polycarbonate resins are tough thermoplastics with major markets in the electrical/electronic sectors such as computer and business equipment, optical media, glazing and sheet products and in the automotive industry. Other uses include safety helmets and shields, housing components, household appliances, water cooler bottles, sporting goods, and aircraft and missile components.
The optical media segment which includes CDs and DVDs has recorded the strongest growth for polycarbonate with rates around 10%/year in the 2001-2005 period. However, its future growth rate will slow significantly as CDs and recordable CDs are replaced by MP3/MP4 players, high internet bandwidth and USB drives. Automotive glazing offers potentially strong growth opportunities for polycarbonate.
First commercial polycarbonate processes were based on bisphenol-A (BPA) which was reacted with phosgene. A number of companies have been developing non-phosgene processes where polymerisation relies on the transesterification of diphenyl carbonate with BPA.
Polycarbonates are long-chain linear polyesters of carbonic acid and dihydric phenols, such as bisphenol-A. Polycarbonate is naturally transparent, and has high strength, toughness, heat resistance, and excellent dimensional and colour stability. It is inherently resistant to combustion, but when burned, it produces an opaque black smoke.
Polycarbonate
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Polycarbonate
Uses and Outlook
Polycarbonate resins are tough thermoplastics with major markets in the electrical/electronic sectors such as computer and business equipment and optical discs, glazing and sheet products and in the automotive industry. Other uses include safety helmets and shields, housing components, household appliances, sporting goods, and aircraft and missile components.
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Polycarbonate
Process Technologies
The first aromatic polycarbonates were prepared in the late 1890s by reacting hydroquinone or resorcinol with phosgene in pyridine but the crystalline polymers produced were brittle and difficult to process. In 1941, PPG introduced a crosslinked resin prepared by a peroxide initiated radical polymerisation of the bisallyl carbonate of diethylene glycol. The colourless, transparent plastic was the first commercially available polycarbonate.
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