The flexible acrylic sheet, ShieldUp Flex, gives designers greater freedom to shape their 2D pieces and simplifies the manufacturing processes.
Altuglas
Altuglas International invents flexible acrylic sheet
Shipbuilder Lalou Roucayrol attests to this with his new trimaran, Arkema 4, the glazings use ShieldUp Flex acrylic glass. A wonderful example for this world premiere, paving the way into many other markets.
A major innovation in the world of transparent flexible plastic, ShieldUp Flex acrylic sheet can be bent manually, without any thermoforming. This technical revolution saves time and money in the design of 2D curved pieces or other that demand flexible material. The Altuglas International research team, based at the Lacq Research Center, has managed to overcome a key technological hurdle of PMMA, previously known for its rigidity. ShieldUp Flex sheet has been made flexible, without adding any plasticisers and without altering its properties. Additionally, ShieldUp Flex material is extremely chemical and impact resistant, making it suitable for projects that require transparency, durability, lightweight, shock resistance and flexibility.
ShieldUp Flex sheet met all expectations, particularly its implementation: simplified processing through the complete elimination of the thermoforming step. This enabvled the designers to manually bend the cut sheet to the desired dimensions and glue it directly to the boat.
Roucayrolm said: “ShieldUp Flex was THE product we’d been waiting for: reduced weight, better resistance and, above all, flexible implementation without the need for a long and painstaking thermoforming phase. Thank you Flex!”
The new flexible acrylic sheet also opens up new design possibilities for 2D curved pieces and in PMMA applications such as vehicle glazings, industrial glazings, signage, lighting, interior architecture and design, as well as COVID-secure protective screens.