Material detail · DMX-EN-207
Polycarbonate (PC)
Polycarbonate combines high impact resistance with optical clarity, making it a standard choice wherever transparency and toughness are both required — guarding, glazing, and protective components. It's less chemically resistant than PTFE or PEEK and scratches more easily than acrylic, but its impact strength (roughly 250 times that of glass) makes it the material of choice for safety-critical clear components. FDA-compliant grades are available for food-contact and processing-equipment applications.
- Family code
- DMX-EN-207
- Grades listed
- 7
- Stock forms
- Sheet 1–50 mm
- Docs
- CoC · CoA on request
Grades carried
Grade selection
Grades are listed with the duty each is normally specified against. Food-contact status applies to the individual grade, not to the material family.
7 grades listed
| Grade | Notes | Contact status |
|---|---|---|
| Polycarbonate PC Transparent Clear Sheet | General-purpose clear stock | Industrial |
| Polycarbonate PC Unfilled Machine Grade | Precision machining, dimensional stability | Industrial |
| TUFFAK® FD | FDA-compliant polycarbonate | Food contact |
| TUFFAK® UV | UV-stabilized, outdoor and exposed applications | Industrial |
| ZELUX® M | Machine-grade, tight-tolerance work | Industrial |
| ZELUX® GS | Gamma-stabilized, sterilization-compatible | Industrial |
| Polycarbonate PC 20% / 30% / 40% Glass | Filled variants for structural applications | Industrial |
Trade names are the property of their respective manufacturers and are listed to identify the grades we stock. Availability varies by form and lot — confirm the current stock position before releasing a drawing to production.
Typical properties
Performance envelope
Typical values for unfilled grades at 23 °C. These are indicative for grade selection, not specification limits — certificates of analysis are issued against the shipped lot.
Common applications
- Machine guarding
- Safety glazing
- Food-processing equipment components (FDA grades)
- Medical device housings
- Protective enclosures
Compliance
Standards available on selected grades
Damrix Plastics is a distributor. The standards below are held by the certified manufacturing partners in our supply chain and apply to specific grades and lots — not to the family as a whole, and not as a Damrix certification.
Every shipment is released with a certificate of conformance and lot-level traceability. Certificates of analysis, FDA food-contact statements and biocompatibility summaries are issued on request against the specific grade supplied.
Common questions
Polycarbonate specification questions
The questions raised most often during grade selection. If your application sits outside these answers, send the operating conditions and we will confirm the grade.
- Is polycarbonate the same as Lexan or Makrolon?
- Lexan and Makrolon are manufacturer trade names for polycarbonate; the underlying chemistry (PC) is the same, though specific formulations and additive packages vary by producer.
- Can polycarbonate be used for food contact?
- FDA-compliant polycarbonate grades are manufactured to meet food-contact requirements. Confirm the specific grade before specifying it for food-processing equipment.
- How does polycarbonate compare to acrylic for impact resistance?
- Polycarbonate significantly outperforms acrylic in impact strength, making it the preferred choice for safety glazing and guarding, though acrylic offers better scratch resistance and optical clarity for display applications.
Next step
Confirm a Polycarbonate grade for your application
Send the contact status, service temperature, chemical exposure and load duty. We respond with the qualifying grades, the documentation available for each and the current stock position.