What Makes Lexan Glass Strong?

General Electric

• General Electric financed the research into polycarbonates. The purpose was to create a “glass” that was not only unbreakable but almost completely immune to changes in temperature, including extreme heat. Once this was patented in 1980, GE made large profits selling it for use in everything from bulletproof glass to laboratory materials that can withstand the most intense pressures. Initially introduced to the U.S. Patent Office in 1978, it was approved two years later.

Polycarbonate

• The glass itself is not really glass. There are two panes of regular glass with epoxy resin injected between them. The “sandwich” is then superheated and slowly cooled. This heating process creates an intense bond of nearly unbreakable properties. What is created is a new substance, polycarbonate glass/plastic.

Base Ingredients

• GE patented the basic process of creating the substance. The essential chemicals were an organopolysiloxane and its catalyst, polyvinylidene chloride. Although the process is complex and part of advanced chemical science, in simple terms these were the chemicals heated to create the epoxy that makes this glass unbreakable. These chemicals acted as a “primer” of sorts that creates the polycarbonate substance.

Bisphenol A

• The active ingredient that is produced is Bisphenol A, found nearly everywhere in the plastic industry. The ingredient is controversial because of its impact on the human body. This chemical is taken from acetone. The essential process is that when this cocktail is heated, all the unstable and impure elements are burnt away. What results is a stable substance marketed as “Lexan glass.” What was patented in 1980 was the achievement of a chemical equilibrium — a near-perfect combination of positive and negative forces that leads to a “pure” sort of adhesion and cohesion. In a simple sense, there is nothing “left” after the process is completed that can burn or break. All of that has either been melted off or chemically altered.