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Plastic Lenses

The advantages of using Plastic Lenses compare to traditional glass lenses include lower cost (if produced at high volume), less design constraints and ease for manufacturing. Some disadvantages are limited usage at high temperatures, higher birefringence potential, limited refractive index range and looser tolerances. Below is a table of selected Plastic Lens materials and their properties, from the May 2000 issue of Photonics Spectra*.

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PROPERTIES UNITS PMMA PS NAS SAN PC COC
Refractive Index (Nd)

-

1.491

1.59

1.56

1.57

1.584

1.525

Abbe Value (Vd)

-

61.4

31.1

35.0

37.8

34.5

56.0

dn/dt

x 10-5/ °C

-12.5

-12

-14

-14

-14.3

-10

Luminous Transmittance

%Transmittance @ 3mm

92

88

90

88

90

92

Birefringence Potential

Qualitative

Low

High

High

High

High

Low

Relative Haze

%

2

3

3

3

3

2

Coefficient of Linear Expansion

cm/cm x 10-5/°C

6.0

6.0

6.8

6.8

6.9

6.0

Deflection of Temperature (3.6 °F/min @ 66 psi)

°C

101

110

100

100

146

147

Water Absorption (immersed
24 hr. @ 23 °C)

%

0.3

0.2

0.15

0.3

0.15

0.01

Hardness (Scratch Resistance)

Rockwell M

90

90

80

75

50

75

Izod Impact Resistance

ASTM D256

0.35

0.35

0.5

0.45

2.0

0.32

PMMA = Acrylic, Polymethyl Methacrylate
PS = Polystyrene
NAS = Styrene Methyl-methacrylate Copolymer
SAN = Styrene Acrylonitrile
PC = PolyCarbonate
COC = Cyclic Olefin Copolymer

Values stated are typical. Contact the manufacturer for actual values for a specific material.

* Bulter, David J. (2000) "Plastic optics challenge glass," Photonics Spectra May, 2000, p.168-174.

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