Annealing Acrylic Sheet

Annealing consists of prolonged heating of the acrylic part at temperatures lower than those used for forming followed by slow cooling.

Annealing acrylic sheet. Annealing is the process of relieving stresses in molded or formed plastics by heating to a predetermined temperature maintaining this temperature for a set period and slowly cooling the parts. When to anneal acrylic sheet annealing minimizes the effects of stress on items fabricated from acrylite sheet. Annealing is recommended by cyro in most cases. Internal stresses set up during fabrication of the article are reduced or eliminated by this treatment all edges should be cut or machined with as little internal stress as possible.

It alleviates most of the stress induced by line bending thermoforming screen printing cementing machining buffing flame polishing and other fabrication operations. Tips for annealing acrylic sheet. Annealing the strengthening of acrylic sheet through controlled heating and then cooling minimizes the effects of fabrication stress. Heat one hour per millimeter of thickness for thin sheet at least two hours total.

To anneal acrylic sheet heat it to 180 f 80 c just below the deflection temperature and cool slowly. Internal stresses in the sheet can cause crazing the appearance of numerous tiny cracks in the material when acrylic comes in contact with solvents such as glass cleaners or paints.