Vapor Polishing Treatment in Prototyping

Polycarbonate is the most commonly polished transparent plastic. It is second only to acrylic in clarity. Polycarbonate strength is the best in commonly plastic materials.People like to use Polycarbonate in Car Headlight & Medical instead of acrylic. Polycarbonate have few colors itself like Clear,white & Black. This is a specialized treatment we do in-house for achieving optical clarity on polycarbonate (PC) plastic ---------- Vapor Polishing

Vapor polishing is a method of polishing plastics to reduce the surface roughness or improve clarity. Typically, a component is exposed to a chemical vapor causing the surface to flow thereby improving the surface finish. This method of polishing is frequently used to return clear materials to an optical quality finish after machining. Vapor polishing works well in the internal features of components.

This method can also be used for repairing minor surface defects, and is ideal for achieving an extremely clear surface on complex geometries or hard to reach areas.After carefully preparing the part with sanding up to #1500 grit, it is then placed in an atmospherically controlled environment.

At SG Prototype, there are three people involved in every vapor polishing procedure: – Weldon kettle manager – Painter – Part Handling – Safety inspector, observing from outside the room

Feature size changes of the plastic component generally do not occur.This guarantees parts polished to perfection, in a strictly controlled and regulated environment.Conversely, if the machining has been done improperly, vapor polishing can actually make the situation worse and the feature takes on an opaque white look.In extreme cases, plastic parts may immediately stress crack and are rendered unusable in the vapor plastic polishing process.

You can rest assured that your parts are handled with the utmost care and expertise at SG! Below are some before and after samples of parts that have been processed.