Does polycarbonate outgass?

[Bob Clarkson]

Can’t answer that from a technical spec angle, but I’ve never had it happen to anything I’ve ever done or made. I’ve done a fair amount of coloured and clear polycarbonate, far too much to have just been lucky.

I’ve only ever had it on motor cross plastic fuel tanks and some quad bike. They can cause problems even if their years old. But they’re certainly not polycarbonate.

[Shane Drew]

Yes Gavin, polycarb needs to be heated to a high temp to stop the outgassing. You need to take the protective cover off and leave it for a few days to reduce the problem, but it constantly outgasses unless it is treated with heat in an oven

Using cast tape should be OK, but mylar films and anti graffiti films will cause issues.

Got caught last year. Cost me a fortune to rectify

[Peter Mindham]

Blimey thats good to know. Just quoting on a job today with this material. I will have to rethink. 😕

Peter

[Steve McAdie]

All plastics outgas Gavin, they give off more gas when new and it decreases with age. Don’t think I’ve ever applied to polycarb so can’t advise on that.

Steve

[Mike D]

same as Shane , expensive little turnout . Made a directory board for a roughish trading estate ,client specced it in polcarb to make it unbreakable , short while later all the slats bubbled up . Strangely the back panel was ok . Went back a few times and finally replaced with acrylic . lesson learned

[Jill Marie Welsh]

It’s gassier than a husband after a night of baked beans and beer.
I always unmask it and leave it rest a day or two.
I always apply vinyl wet with Rapid Tac when using polycarb.
Love….Jill

[Gavin MacMillan]

Interesting, like I say we have used it lots of times, fully coated and with reverse printed clear backed up in white, all sorts of different ways and never had an issue. Glad to have found this out before this quote goes out though, thanks for the help!

[Bob Clarkson]

Ok, so what’s the conclusion? I must admit, I pretty much always apply wet, and when using Polycarbonate, as it’s quite expensive I follow through with cast vinyl as a matter of course.
Whether or not the cast/calendered is the difference I’ve no idea, just doesn’t seem right to stick cheap vinyl on expensive material when it’s usually intended to last.

[Martin Pearson]

Well like Bob I must have been really lucky. I’ve used it quite a few times and never had any issues, can’t remember any supplier ever mentioning that there could be a problem either.
Shane and Jill both live in parts of the world that are a tad warmer than Scotland so I would guess that temperature will play quite an important part in the process.

Gavin, if you are quoting for a big job and this material has been specified them I would go back to the customer and make them aware of this before you quote. You never know this little bit of info might be enough to secure the job for you regardless of what materials they decide to use.

[Stuart Miller]

I have never had a problem with vinyl on polycarbonate. I’ve only done small signs though.

However my main experience with polycarbonate is on conservatory roofs which is a large part of my business installing solar reflective film.
Standard window film is polyester which does not breath at all, and which we can not use on polycarbonate as the gassing would bubble it and de-laminate it in patches from the glass.
We therefore use a specific solar film developed for polycarbonate which is vinyl based. I have fitted loads of this over large areas and it has a 10 year warranty so was under the impression that vinyl breathed enough to cope with the polycarbonate.
But as Shane says will cause problems with mylar and anti-graffitti films which are polyester based.

[Gavin MacMillan]

Cheers for all the info on this guys.

Stuart what you are saying about the polyester vs vinyl is very interesting, cheers!

G