The competitive scenario between glass and clear plastics will also be described. The competition between transparent plastics will be discussed in detail. Important suppliers of clear plastics, their product lines, and other important factors that impact the market will be discussed. The 1990s has spawned the search for niche markets by most plastics suppliers, somewhat irrespective of potential volume. Selection criteria focus on growing specialty markets with opportunities for respectable profits even though sales volumes may not be large by commodity resin standards.
Transparent plastics are a niche market and encompass many types of polymers.
In addition to acrylics and polycarbonates, many styrene-based materials, along with commodity and specialty polymers, have clear grades. Opportunities in several application areas are in need of reappraisal in regard to transparent or clear plastics, especially in electronic, medical and automotive sectors. The term transparent or clear is obviously a subjective one. Most relate clarity of plastics to percent of light transmission as defined by ASTM test D-1003. Clear plastics are commercially available in many forms, e.g., injection molded, extruded, blow molded, thermoformed, etc.