Cold Forming Acrylic Sheet

Spectar supposedly looks and handles much like acrylic but with the surprising property that it can be cold formed without breaking or whitening and exhibits a memory effect holding a cold bend until reheated.

Cold forming acrylic sheet. Cold forming plexiglas sheet can be cold formed bent at room temperature in a smooth arc and held to a radius by forcing the material into a curved channel support. Extruded sheet should be heated to between 290 and 320 f 145 and 160 c. It can also shorten the time required to transport the heated sheet from the oven to the forming equipment thus minimizing the possibility of cold forming. Acrylite ff acrylic sheet is available in.

Line bending or thermoforming a brasion resistant acrylic sheet is not recommended. It is important to provide sufficient clamping of the sheet during the forming process. Twenty four hours at 176 f 80 c dries most sheets. To reduce the length of the forming cycle pre dry the sheet in a spare oven and transfer it directly into the forming oven at 176 f 80 c after the drying period.

Cold forming is possible. Before forming the sheet s temperature must be higher than the desired temperature to allow for cooling that will occur prior to the start of forming. The forming range for acrylic sheet is 290 320ºf 142 160ºc. To calculate the minimum bend radius of curvature multiply the thickness of the sheet to be used by 330.

Release mechanism for hanging plexiglas acrylic sheets in heating ovens. This device can reduce appreciably the labor required for clamping and unclamping sheets preparatory to forming. Even temperature distribution throughout the sheet s thickness is recommended.