Polycarbonate Lenses

Unmatched impact resistance

Balancing durability and affordability

Polycarbonate is a lightweight, durable lens material used in sportswear, safety and industrial glasses, and prescription eyewear. Its durability, versatility, and affordability make this lens material an ideal choice among United States optical insurance companies. As a result, many American eyewear companies choose this plastic lens material as their default high-quality lens offering.

IOT’s advanced lens designs are fully compatible with polycarbonate allowing your lab to manufacture our most popular designs in this widely used plastic material.

A versatile, highly durable plastic lens material

Polycarbonate is an injection-molded thermoplastic popular for its clarity, durability, and impact resistance. Its use spans various industries, from automotive tail lights to aircraft windows. Even the astronaut helmet Neil Armstrong wore to the moon featured a polycarbonate shell for added protection.

In eyewear, polycarbonate’s nearly shatterproof quality and longevity makes it the preferred choice for safety glasses, sports eyewear, and children’s lenses, offering unparalleled protection and performance.

Lightweight resilience made for active lifestyles

Polycarbonate does not boast the same optical quality as other premium-quality thermoplastics, like Trivex or high-index materials. However, due to its superior durability, polycarbonate lenses offer striking benefits to your customers looking for eyewear to match their highly active lifestyles.

Benefits for labs

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1.	U.S. market popularity: Polycarbonate is the top choice for most American eyewear companies, giving labs access to a lucrative market.
2.	Cost-effective production: Thanks to its widespread use across industries, polycarbonate can be produced at scale, making it highly cost-effective.
3.	Energy-efficient processing: Polycarbonate is an injection-molded thermoplastic, which typically requires less energy compared to thermoset materials like CR-39 or Trivex. This can be positioned as an environmentally friendly, energy-saving benefit for labs.
4.	Speed of production: Injection molding processes for polycarbonate allow faster production cycles compared to cast materials like CR-39, resulting in quicker turnaround times for labs.

Benefits for wearers

1.	Durability: Nearly shatterproof, polycarbonate lenses resist cracking, chipping, and withstand extreme temperatures without warping or breaking.
2.	Thin, comfortable, lightweight: With a refractive index of 1.584 to 1.586, polycarbonate lenses are thinner and lighter than CR-39 and Trivex, making them ideal for sports and safety eyewear, while also providing a sleek and comfortable fit for everyday use.
3.	Inherent UV protection: Polycarbonate absorbs UVA and UVB rays, protecting the wearer’s eyes from damage.
4.	Customizable and versatile: Polycarbonate responds well to many treatments, like blue light filtering and anti-reflective coatings. It can be used in most mild prescriptions, including progressive lenses.

Drawbacks of Polycarbonate Lenses

1.	Low abrasion resistance: Polycarbonate is less resistant to abrasion, often requiring an additional scratch-resistant coating, which can increase costs for labs and consumers.
2.	Lower optical quality than other plastic materials: Polycarbonate has lower optical clarity and integrity when compared to other plastic materials like Trivex and CR-39. Polycarbonate has an Abbe value of 30 and may result in blurred peripheral vision, glowing “halos” around light sources, and other chromatic aberrations.
3.	Can’t accommodate higher prescriptions: Polycarbonate isn’t ideal for prescriptions stronger than +/-4.0 or for severe astigmatism. High-index lenses are a better option for minimizing distortion in these cases.

* The refractive index indicates how the speed of light changes when traveling between mediums by dividing the speed of light in a vacuum by the speed of light in a specific lens material.
** Abbe value is the measure of a lens material’s dispersion of light into disparate wavelengths and is used industry-wide as an indicator of optical quality.

How does polycarbonate compare to other plastic materials?

IOT’s innovative lens technologies are compatible with all popular plastic lens materials. Selecting an appropriate lens material depends on the wearers' individual prescriptions, lifestyles, and aesthetic choices. Each material offers its own unique set of advantages.

Polycarbonate
vs. CR-39

CR-39 is a thicker, heavier material than polycarbonate, resulting in bulkier lenses. However, CR-39’s impressive optical power outperforms polycarbonate when it comes to clarity and reducing distortion. CR-39 lenses are more resistant to scratches than polycarbonate but are more likely to break on impact.

Polycarbonate
vs. Trivex

Due to Trivex’s higher Abbe value, the material provides sharper, clearer optical performance than polycarbonate lenses. While both materials are lightweight, impact-resistant, and offer UV protection, polycarbonate is thinner and more durable. However, because of its powerful optical quality, Trivex is more expensive.

Polycarbonate
vs. Hi-Index

High-index lenses are better suited for higher prescriptions than polycarbonate. Due to their density, they can correct vision that requires a power of +/- 4.0 diopters or greater while maintaining a thin, lightweight profile. High-index lenses have Abbe values between 32-36, giving them better optical performance than polycarbonate. However, polycarbonate possesses much greater impact resistance than high-index lenses.

Explore IOT’s advanced optical solutions

IOT proudly offers cutting-edge ophthalmic technology and services. Our innovative product line encompasses progressive, bifocal, anti-fatigue, photochromatic, sports, occupational, driving, and other customized lens solutions. We aim to maximize comfort, clarity, and performance in our industry-leading lens design technologies.

Contact our team to learn more about our unique, collaborative approach to the lens manufacturing industry.