Why Use Polycarbonate Diffuser Sheet For Light or Lamp

What Is The Diffuser In LED Light?

LED is an energy-saving and long-lasting light source. LED light can be harsh to the human eye due to the bright and intense LED hot spot. Therefore, diffuse or light mixing techniques need to be used to produce soft light or reduce glare.

In the currently used planar light box device, the lamp as the light source is directly placed behind the lightbox panel. The brightness of the part corresponding to the light source on the panel is high, while the brightness of the surrounding part decreases rapidly, resulting in uneven brightness of the entire panel. In order to obtain a more uniform glossy surface, it is often necessary to increase the distance between the light source and the panel, which will inevitably increase the volume of the light box, especially the thickness of the lightbox. Another way is to install multiple light sources, but this will increase the cost and power consumption.

Therefore, the diffuser is to transmit the light emitted by the light source to the panel of the light box through light diffusion, so as to realize the uniform distribution of light. A well-placed diffuser can replace a couple of lamps while still providing the humid, inviting atmosphere we all crave.

What Is a Polycarbonate Diffuser?

With the rapid development of the LED industry in the past ten years, LED lighting has been fully popularized and accepted by people. As a result, there has been a surge of interest in plastics, especially polycarbonate sheets, due to the material’s properties and flexibility.

Polycarbonate panels appear in various scenes. From an optical point of view, polycarbonate is now used in lenses, optics, channel letters, sign faces and light diffusers for LED lighting.

As the key material of LED lighting, polycarbonate light diffuser sheet is also continuously developed and improved. As a high-quality diffusion material, it is also continuously improved and improved in terms of technology and application.

In recent years, new breakthroughs in polycarbonate diffusers have been achieved: the technology of realizing the diffusion function mainly through the surface microstructure and supplemented by the diffusion particles has replaced the traditional technology of light diffusion with diffusion particles, which not only meets the high light efficiency of LED lighting fixtures, but also It also gives LED lamps lighting anti-glare function. The polycarbonate light diffusion sheet can eliminate glare and protect people’s health by adjusting the surface microstructure.

Advantages of Polycarbonate Diffuser Sheet for Light or Lamp

The advantage of polycarbonate light diffusion plate is to increase the light diffusion rate of the product under the premise of ensuring high light transmittance. Through the function of the diffusion sheet, the entire surface of the sheet forms a uniform luminous surface without forming a dark area.

High Lighting Efficiency

The light transmittance of polycarbonate light diffusion sheet can reach more than 80%, while the light transmittance of ordinary milky white polycarbonate sheet is only 20%. Ordinary milky white polycarbonate board can only be penetrated by light, but can not achieve uniform astigmatism, while light-diffusing polycarbonate sheet can fully scatter LED light source.

Increased Strength And Toughness

Polycarbonate sheet has excellent impact resistance, which is 20-30 times that of acrylic sheet, and it is not easy to be damaged during installation and transportation. Due to its impressive toughness, it is 25 times stronger than other diffusers in the market.  It has a longer lifespan (over 10 years) as well.

Safe flame retardant

Since polycarbonate itself has flame-retardant properties, the flame-retardant grade of the polycarbonate diffuser is also B1 grade, which has higher safety performance.

Flexible To Design

The specific gravity of polycarbonate is 1.2, and the weight is only 1/2 of ordinary glass, so it is not only convenient for construction, but also reduces transportation costs. During processing, it is very light and thin to treat.

Thermal Stability

The temperature resistance is -40-120 degrees Celsius, and it will not be deformed due to long-term exposure to the light source. Such a high-temperature range greatly increases the stability of the polycarbonate diffuser produced with the main raw material polycarbonate and is not affected by humidity and high and low temperature.

UV Stability

Polycarbonate Diffusers come in UV-stabilized versions that are designed for outdoor use. Used on the shell of lamps and lanterns, it can help LED lighting products achieve long life.

Acrylic, Polycarbonate diffuser, Which One Should You Choose?

At present, the materials of the mainstream diffusers on the market include PMMA, PC, PET, etc., but this is only one of the criteria for determining the effectiveness of the diffuser. The basis for selection is the combination of different types of LED light sources and the distance between the light source and the polycarbonate diffuser. If subdivided in this way, with different materials and thicknesses, there can be dozens of diffusion plate matching options. At this stage, polycarbonate plastic and acrylic plastic are the most used, so what is the difference between the diffusers made of these two materials?

Compared with standard glass, acrylic and polycarbonate have many characteristics that standard glass does not have. Such as light filtering, high impact resistance, high strength and light weight are just a few benefits. However, there are some major differences between acrylic and polycarbonate plastics. Compared with PMMA, polycarbonate has higher heat resistance, higher impact strength and better resistance to shattering. In addition, polycarbonate is more flame-retardant.

Compared to polycarbonate, PMMA transmits more light (>92%) and is more resistant to UV radiation. Polycarbonate has a heat deflection temperature of 129°C compared to 93% for PMMA or acrylic. In addition, polycarbonate plastics are highly sensitive to UV radiation and require UV absorbers (i.e., UV coatings) to address this issue. Acrylic plastic is one of the most flammable polymers and polycarbonates are inherently fire-resistant.

Since polycarbonate and PMMA are so close in price, processing difficulty, and optical properties, choosing between them can be a difficult decision that ultimately depends on your project requirements.If your project requires particularly good optical performance and high illumination (lux units), then acrylic plastic is a good choice. On the other hand, if the project needs to have fire performance, then polycarbonate will be the only choice.

Conclusion

Overall, polycarbonate diffusers turn light into soft to prevent glare and offer a comfortable environment. The light source can be effectively dispersed softly and evenly through the light box. And polycarbonate panels can be bent into an extensive range of shapes by cold or hot so it is widely used for manufacturer and molder requirements.

So if you are producing a bulk amount of LED or lamps, the advanced polycarbonate materials can provide you with desirable properties such as design versatility, low weight, and UV safety.