Arkema Awarded Patent For Key Innovation Behind Plexiglas® Frosted Acrylic Sheet And Resin Products

Philadelphia, PA - Altuglas International, a business of Arkema and maker of the innovative Plexiglas® brand of acrylic sheet and resin products, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted Arkema U.S. Patent 7,067,188, entitled "Polymeric Articles Having a Textured Surface and Frosted Appearance". The patent covers the breakthrough technology developed by Arkema that results in an acrylic product having a frosted appearance in its structure. This proprietary acrylic product, which is used to create the company's Plexiglas® Frosted and Plexiglas® Clear-Edge Frosted acrylic sheet and resin products, also provides a textured finish on exposed surfaces, requiring no secondary finishing.

According to Altuglas International:

• In point-of-purchase displays, the frosted effect hides scratches and fingerprints, and requires less cleaning to maintain an attractive surface. Since the frosting effect is inherent in the acrylic, surface scratches and secondary processing steps have no noticeable effect on optical properties.
• For lighting applications, the frosted products provide unusually high luminous transmission coupled with excellent hiding power. Tiny beads used to produce the frosted effect scatter the incoming light, primarily in the forward direction, maximizing optical efficiency. Designers get substantially more light with less power, greatly improving energy efficiency as compared to typical lighting white products.

SOURCE: Altuglas International