INTRODUCTION
Polycarbonate (PC) is an amorphous engineering thermoplastic that offer exceptional toughness over a wide temperature range and are characterized by a combination of toughness, transparency, heat and flame resistance, and dimensional stability.
4LEX® is the registered trade name for Polycarbonate (PC) compounds produced by 4PLAS. We offer a wide range of Polycarbonate compounds including standard ex-stock grades, short lead time custom compound and colour solutions and performance additives and alloys.
PROPERTIES
4LEX® materials offer the following key properties:
- Excellent flammability resistance
- Good electrical properties
- High wear resistance
- Very good surface finish
- Low moisture absorption
- Good mechanical strength
- High dimensional stability - low warpage
- Excellent impact properties, even at low temperature
- Heat resistance - can be used within temperature range -40°C to 120°C
- Good flow and processing properties
PRODUCTS
The 4LEX® Polycarbonate standard range includes the following products:
- Transparent
- Weather resistant grades
- High stiffness grades
- Food certified grades
- UV/ light stabilised
- Flame retardant including UL listed grades
- Range of melt flows
- Unreinforced
- Tinted and high opacity grades
- Custom solid colours
- Impact modified
- Glass fibre reinforced
- Glass bead reinforced
- Carbon fibre reinforced
- Flame retardant including UL listed grades
- Lubricated
- Surface modified
- UV/ light stabilised
- Laser markable
- 4TECH®
With the addition of a wide range of modifiers, stabilisers, speciality additives and customised colours, 4LEX® can be compounded as:
For individual grades or to search using a wide range of criteria please use our interactive material selector.
Our standard range is comprehensive, however should you not find what you are looking for within the data available on this website, we offer Custom Compounds to suit the requirements of specific applications.
If you would like advice on selecting suitable materials, or you cannot find what you are looking for, please contact us and one of our team will be pleased to assist you.
PACKAGING
4LEX® grades are supplied in pellet form and packed in moisture proof 25kg bags. Other forms of packaging such as octabins and big-bags are also available.
DRYING
For Polycarbonate compounds, moisture content should be less than 0.02% before processing. Moisture causes immediate hydrolytic degradation during processing, therefore 4LEX® grades should be dried at 120°C for 3 to 4 hours.
It is highly recommended that drying is conducted using desiccant driers. The performance of the desiccant drier depends on the dew point that indicates air moisture content. In order to obtain sufficient drying dew point values should be set below -20°C.
As the atmospheric humidity levels cannot be controlled the use of air circulating ovens or driers are not recommended.
PROCESSING
4LEX® compounds can be processed on all commercial injection moulding machinery.
It is necessary to have precise temperature control for processing Polycarbonates. The temperature of the nozzle is also very important in order to avoid thermal loss or overheating.
Short open nozzles are recommended to reduce shear. In general nozzle diameters should be 3 to 6mm.
For more information on this product, see our processing guides, troubleshooting guides and chemical resistance charts.
RECYCLING
Regrind levels up to 25% can be used depending on the application and requirements. However, for flame retardant grades a maximum 10% addition rate is recommended. Regrind should be free of contamination, should not be thermally degraded and must be dry as moulded, or be dried prior to reuse.
SAFETY
Under normal conditions 4LEX® is not a toxic or hazardous material. During processing preventative action should be taken to avoid direct contact with the polymer melt or inhalation of any gases produced. Processing temperatures above 320°C should be avoided. Detailed safety information can be found in our material safety data sheets (MSDS).