Polycarbonate Lab Trays For Use In Storage or Testing

Material Information for Polycarbonate

Higher heat material: Standard thermoform trays in materials such as PETG, or ABS have a heat deflection temperature of only 165 degrees fahrenheit. Polycarbonate trays have a heat deflection of approximately 270 degrees fahrenheit. More information can be found on heat deflection of polycarbonate, continous heat temperature, and intermittent use temperature at this guide:

Guideline listed at link below:

Material Thickness: Starting Gauges generally range from .040″ to .250″ thickness
Opaque Colors are available or Clear: Clear PC provides excellent visibility of the product; colored/opaque grades are also available. The natural color for polycarbonate is clear. Black polycarbonate is also common.
Wide range of specialty grades: Flame-retardant, UV-resistant, medical, antistatic/ESD, FDA-compliant and other specialty grades are available. The actual certification depends on the specific resin/sheet grade.
Static Control Options for Polycarbonate: ESD safe sheet is available formulated with conductive or anti-static surface treatments to protect sensitive electronics from electrostatic discharge (ESD).

Technical Data at link below:

Very high impact strength: PC is extremely tough and resistant to cracking, chipping, and breakage. Good for trays that get handled repeatedly or carry heavier components.
Excellent durability: Better suited than PETG, HIPS, or many other common thermoforming materials for long-term/reusable trays.
Good dimensional stability: Holds its shape well and is useful when pockets need to maintain relatively consistent geometry.
High heat resistance: PC can tolerate substantially higher service temperatures than PETG, HIPS, or PVC. This can matter for hot environments or certain cleaning/sterilization processes.
Good stiffness: Provides a rigid tray even with relatively thin walls, although stiffness depends heavily on geometry and starting gauge.
Can handle deeper draws: PC can be used for relatively demanding formed geometries, although wall thinning becomes increasingly important as draw depth increases.
Sterilization Compatibility: (material and resin dependent) Withstands aggressive sterilization protocols, including steam autoclaving, gamma radiation, and ethylene oxide (EtO) without warping or degrading.

LAB Trays: Vacuum formed polycarbonate trays are commonly used for baking or lab trays in R&D and medical applications. Commonly used for baking and allow for separate cavities during the process.
Robotics and Automated Handling: Formed with precise cavity geometries to integrate directly with industrial pick-and-place robotics and automated assembly lines.
Reusable Dunnage: Serves as multi-trip work-in-progress (WIP) packaging in closed-loop manufacturing environments due to high fatigue resistance.

Moisture Sensitivity: PC is considerably more moisture-sensitive during thermoforming, so sheet generally needs proper drying before forming. Moisture can cause bubbles, splay, haze, or other surface defects. Summary: Processing is longer than other materials.
High Mold Temperature: Compared to other materials such as PETG or ABS, Polycarbonate maaterial requires a higher forming temperatures and special heating features in the molds. Summary: Proper tooling is more expensive than materials such as PETG or ABS.
Raw material is usually more expensive
Tray Design is Key: Polycarbonate’s toughness doesn’t mean it maintains the starting thickness throughout the formed tray. Deep pockets will still thin considerably. So if a customer needs a tight minimum wall thickness in the deepest areas, the tray design, draw ratio, tooling, plug assist/process conditions, and starting gauge all become important.

Custom thermoformed polycarbonate trays are available in black, clear, or other colors in .040″ to .250″ starting gauge polycarbonate. Contact Us to review application with a packaging consultant. CONNECT WITH A PERSON, NOT A COMPUTER!
Any of our standard Off The Shelf Trays at this link can be run to order in polycarbonate. There are hundreds of off the shelf polycarbonate trays available. Contact us to have a customer service representative help locate an off the shelf option. About Us