I’ve been surprised that W&N’s acrylics don’t get more attention, considering that peoples’ main complaint about acrylic tends to be that it shifts color so much. These don’t! Problem (mostly) solved!

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I got back into painting last year after a several-year break, determined to take it seriously and to share my work with the world – and to do it with acrylics. I was previously using only Liquitex – mainly using pthalo blue, azo yellow medium, and quin crimson, which are the colors they sell in a box as their “color mixing set.” I had basically stuck with those colors after my color theory class.

But before that class, I had bought colors and brands of all kinds, just sort of scatter-shot … and I still had many of them, still not dried in their tubes!  Having now a better sense for color mixing and yet feeling a bit tired of the greens and oranges that particular limited palette yielded, I cracked some of those old tubes to play with.  One of them was a small tube of W&N’s “burnt sienna”  (really a red iron oxide transparent). And I LOVED it. It made for some amazing fall foliage paintings. And after learning that W&N does the “less color-shift” thing I decided to dive in with some other colors. And I’m all-in, now.

But back to the topic of the thread: I would probably mainly plan to use a cheap medium for either glazing (in which case I would first mix the color from my transparent W&N’s, so color-shift would be less of an issue) and for separation layers. Acrylic bonds to acrylic so perfectly that I have a hard time seeing how this could ever be a problem, particularly if one finishes the work with Liquitex’s UV-resistant “varnish.” Right?

The more I dig into the internet’s vast store of knowledge, the more I learn how little certainty there really is about any of this stuff. I can’t even find a thread where people agree on how to best dispose of a cup of rinsing water. And don’t even get me started on the “hardboard” issue (to your point, AKrillLick)! I’m using tempered hardboard because I love that I can get so many little panels out of it that are perceived as higher quality, are smooth, and aren’t, well, cardboard – and for a good price. I have the tools to make ’em, so I make ’em. Does “the artist’s bible” have the right info on them? No, it’s outdated! Or maybe yes, because there’s still some oil in them! Or … Ampersand! (But is Ampersand only talking about the particular board *they* use?)

But then, when oil painters started painting on canvas all those hundreds of years ago, there were no guarantees their work would last either. I suppose on some level we’re all just shooting craps out here.

 

 

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What is Acrylic?

Origins of acrylic 

A synthetic resin, acrylic is produced from the polymerisation of methyl methacrylate. Poly(methyl methacrylate), also known as acrylic, is a transparent thermoplastic – often used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. Acrylic is often sold in sheet form under brands such as Altuglas, Plexiglass, Perspex, and Lucite. As an acrylic manufacturer, here at Midton we work with both sheet acrylic and cast acrylic, for acrylic encapsulation. 

Like all plastics, acrylics are polymers. The word, polymer, derives from the Greek word poly, meaning many, and meros, meaning a part. Thus, a polymer is a material made up of many molecules, linked in a chain. These polymers may have hundreds, or thousands, of molecules linked together. Additionally, these polymers have properties entirely different from its individual component parts. 

The first acrylic acid was created in 1843, with methacrylic acid following closely behind, formulated in 1865. Acrylic was a British discovery, found in the early 1930s by chemists Rowland Hill and John Crawford at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in England. ICI registered the product under the trademark Perspex. Around this time, chemist and industrialist Otto Röhm of Rohm and Haas AG in Germany attempted to produce safety glass by polymerising methyl methacrylate between two layers of glass. The polymer separated from the glass as a clear plastic sheet, which Röhm gave the trademarked name Plexiglass. Both Perspex and Plexiglass were commercialised in the late 1930s.

Following this, Dupont, in the United States, subsequently introduced their own product under the trademark Lucite. The first major application of the new plastic took place during World War II, when acrylic was made into aircraft windows and bubble canopies for gun turrets. Civilian applications of PMMA followed after the war, and are now an integral part of today’s society. 

What is it made of?

Polymethyl methacrylate as a polymer, derives from the basic molecule (or monomer) methyl methacrylate ([CH2=C(CH3)COOCH3]). Methyl methacrylate may be formed in several ways. A common way is to react acetone [CH3COCH3] with hydrogen cyanide [HCN] to produce acetone cyanohydrin [(CH3)2C(OH)CN]. This, in turn, is a reaction with methyl alcohol to produce methyl methacrylate. 

PMMA is produced by free-radical polymerisation of methyl methacrylate in mass or suspension polymerisation. During polymerisation, one leg of this double bond breaks and links up with the middle carbon atom of another methyl methacrylate molecule to start a chain. This process continues to repeat itself until the final polymer is formed. Controlling the proportion of these monomers produces changes in elasticity and other properties in the resulting plastic. 

Properties of acrylic 

A clear, colourless polymer, acrylic is available in pellet, small granules, and sheet form – which go on to be formed through all thermoplastic methods. Acrylic is suitable for processing by injection molding, casting, extrusion and thermoforming. Additionally, the material is a thermoplastic, which addresses the way it responds to heat. 

Thermoplastics become liquid at their melting point (160 degrees Celsius in the case of acrylic). This means that they can essentially be heated, cooled, and reheated without significant damage. Instead of burning, thermoplastics liquify, allowing molding and recycling. Due to this, PMMA is endlessly recyclable, making it a sustainable plastic. In contrast, thermoset plastics, such as resin, can only be heated once. This first heating causes thermoset materials to set, causing a chemical reaction that cannot be reversed. If you attempt to reheat a thermoset plastic, it will burn. This makes thermoset materials a poor candidate for recycling. 

Acrylic is a tough, highly transparent material that can be coloured, moulded, cut, drilled, and formed. In terms of properties, acrylic exhibits glass-like qualities such as brilliance, clarity, and transparency. The plastic has 10 times the impact resistance of glass, with half the weight. 

Commonly used throughout society, acrylic is used throughout architecture and construction, lighting, design, automotives, electronics, and medical supplies. As an bespoke manufacturer, we’re here to help with any project you may have in mind. 

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