acrylic vs perspex

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J

John

Grumbler in Training
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Aug 19, 2008
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Can anyone please tell me if there a difference between acrylic and perspex. My info is perspex is a brand name
 
The correct generic name is acrylic. This particular type of plastic is well suited for picture framing. Perspex is a brand name for acrylic sheet. It is primarily manufactured in South America. Not a domestic product. There are many distributors of this product in the USA. Now the cautions, acrylic manufactured outside the country does not have the same standards as domestically made acrylic. There are a whole bunch of things to know when using acrylic for picture framing but to keep it simple you want to buy ONLY domestically made acrylic for quality picture framing. As I understand it perspex can be cell cast which is the best if again made domestically but usually the perspex acrylic available is not cell cast and not continuously manufactured but instead it is extruded (think recycled) and will have a great many more flaws than are acceptable in picture framing. Also because of US standards of manufacturing acrylic has no measurable outgassing however in import product that may not be true and usually is not true. So even though your price may be considerably lower when purchasing the varity of acrylics that are extruded the quality will also be considerably lower. The domestically manufactured products are Cyro, Lucite and Plexiglas. These are brand names of acrylic. As an aside Lexan or other polycarbonates are NOT acrylic. Different plastic and not for picture framing. I could probably teach a class on this stuff, ha-ha.
 
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