Happy Birthday, PLEXIGLAS?!

Exactly 90 years ago, PLEXIGLAS??– the original by R?hm?– was registered as a trademark. Since that time, our?experts have constantly been reinventing PLEXIGLAS? and expanding its performance with each new generation and adapting it to meet the requirements of today.

We are proud of our long tradition and wish to thank all customers and partners who have accompanied us on our journey. Without your confidence and feedback, our brand polymethyl methacrylate would not be what it is today. Your requirements spur us on to improve continuously and to develop new solutions to meet the challenges of our times.

Of course, we would also like to thank all of our colleagues for their commitment, creativity and expertise.

Visit our website to find out more about the history of PLEXIGLAS?, its current fields of application and the innovative products it is used in. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with you and hope you will place your trust in us in the future.

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Your Team for PLEXIGLAS? Molding Compounds

“PLEXIGLAS? is the original. We invented it and see ourselves as a partner for industrial customers who want to develop something new.”

Michael Pack, CEO of R?hm GmbH

An inspirational brand for 90 years

Had it not been for chance, the wide range of ideas and applications for PLEXIGLAS? may never have existed: In the 1930s, Dr. Otto R?hm and his team at R?hm & Haas were researching how to produce a type of transparent, synthetic rubber. One day, they left an experimental compound on the windowsill. The sunlight triggered a reaction?– and the next day, the astounded researchers discovered a new type of plastic: acrylic glass, whose correct chemical name is polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). During further experiments, the team was successful in polymerizing the raw material in a controlled manner between conventional glass panes thereby producing thin acrylic panels. The new material was named “PLEXIGLAS” and registered as a brand on August 9, 1933.

However, R?hm & Haas was not only successfully investigating the production of PLEXIGLAS? sheets at that time. The chemists were also working on the development of molding compounds for use in the injection molding process, which opened up a wealth of opportunities in terms of component design and plastic processing. This also made low-cost series production in large quantities possible.

From Darmstadt to worldwide

Today, R?hm GmbH offers an extensive product portfolio of PLEXIGLAS? molding compounds for all kinds of injection molding and extrusion applications and PLEXIGLAS? sheets, tubes, rods and films. The products are used in countless sectors: ranging from the automotive and lighting industry to the household appliance, furniture manufacturing and shopfitting industries to architecture and greenhouse construction and spectacular large-scale aquariums and deep-sea submersibles. “R?hm has been there right from the very start in many fields of application and has collaborated on the design of countless innovations since then,” says Siamak Djafarian, Senior Vice President Molding Compounds at R?hm.

?For example, the history of PLEXIGLAS? is closely linked to the design history of automotive taillights. The automotive industry has been using PLEXIGLAS? molding compounds since the 1950s for small round taillight covers. They were used to replace the glass covers used at the time. Today, PLEXIGLAS? molding compounds enable the manufacture of large taillights and striking light guides for unique signature lights that make it easy to recognize a vehicle brand even from a large distance.

Check out our website for more examples

Ready for the today’s challenges

90 years after its trademark application, we encounter PLEXIGLAS? everywhere, whether at home, at work, in stores or restaurants and on and in cars or buildings. The almost infinite design possibilities and the inspirational power of PLEXIGLAS? mean that solutions to the tremendous challenges of our time can be found. For example, light guides made from PLEXIGLAS? have been part of energy-saving LED lighting concepts for years, and actively help to reduce the power consumption in supermarkets and sports arenas, for example. Meanwhile, the brand PMMA reduces the need for heating in greenhouses for professional uses by acting as a lens to bundle sunlight in a collector or as a multi-skin sheet for thermal insulation. PLEXIGLAS? is even ideal for use as tubes in bioreactors for cultivating microalgae and whose unsurpassed light transmission of 92 percent is permanently maintained?– even when out in the open air.

The extraordinary UV and weather resistance are the hallmarks of products from PLEXIGLAS? brand, which in turn make them extremely durable. The material thus enables applications with a long service life, contributing to the careful use of resources. When the component does finally reach the end of its life cycle, PMMA can also be recycled multiple times without any noteworthy deterioration in its properties – as is the case for PLEXIGLAS? proTerra sheets and PLEXIGLAS? proTerra molding compounds.

In the year of its 90th birthday, ISCC PLUS certified PLEXIGLAS? proTerra molding compounds made from sustainably sourced raw materials were launched on the market. “Our resource-friendly molding compounds are an example of why PLEXIGLAS? is younger than ever,” says Djafarian.?

"Our experts are always reinventing PLEXIGLAS?, enhancing its performance with every new generation and continuously adapting it to meet the requirements of today."

Siamak Djafarian, Senior Vice President Molding Compounds at R?hm

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) products from R?hm are sold on the European, Asian, African and Australian continents under the registered trademarks PLEXIGLAS? and PLEXIMID?, in the Americas under the registered trademarks ACRYLITE? and ACRYMID?.