Edge-Lit Acrylic Sign Maintains Superior Aesthetics

A sign manufacturer needed to produce outdoor, edge-lit signs for a high-end office building client. Typically, polycarbonate is specified for outdoor signs because of its durability. One limitation of the polycarbonate material can be proper edge lighting. The sign manufacturer wanted to achieve their design vision with an edge-lit sign that required outstanding light transmission properties and was durable.

Polycarbonate would not transmit light properly for edge-lit sign

After testing, the sign company realized that polycarbonate would not provide the proper edge-lighting effect that met their clients needs. To ensure that the aesthetics of the sign and the functionality were not compromised, the sign manufactured involved Curbell to troubleshoot the challenge.

1" thick cast acrylic sheet has superior edge lighting characteristics

Curbell's technical team provided information about the optical properties of 1” thick cast acrylic sheet. After testing, the sign manufacturer chose to use the acrylic sheet material instead of the polycarbonate because it had superior light transmission for edge-lighting and sufficient durability for the application. The end result reduced the manufacturer’s costs, as the acrylic was more cost-effective than the original polycarbonate.