Safety glasses and shields

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A person wearing cycling gloves holds up a pair of sports glasses.

Prioritize protection

Gain a competitive edge in the face and eye protection market with Eastman polymers. Our unique combination of impact strength and chemical resistance enhances visibility, durability and safety. Experience a clearer perspective on protection with our advanced polymer solutions.

While the industry has primarily focused on impact resistance, there is an increasing demand to address vision impairments caused by a lack of chemical resistance. Eastman offers both — plus a unique balance of other value-added properties for your face and eye protection products:

Impact strength

Chemical resistance

Optical clarity

Scratch resistance

Tintability

Processability

An employee wearing a helmet and safety glasses takes notes while monitoring manufacturing

Face today’s challenges

Tenite™ cellulosics and Eastman Tritan™ copolyester are the optimal materials for creating versatile products across various industries. These materials offer a unique combination of impact strength and chemical resistance, making them the ideal choices for developing high-performance products.

Chemical resistance

Lack of chemical resistance in face protection parts made from polycarbonate (PC) can lead to crazing or whitening, which can impair vision and create a safety hazard.

Impact strength

Produce clear face and eye protection products that meet the critical impact resistance standard. Face shields made from Tenite and Tritan surpass impact requirements by ANSI 87.1+.

Tested

In controlled tests, materials were exposed to 13 common chemicals and evaluated for changes in impact strength, flexural modulus, haze and mass.

Tenite cellulose acetate propionate (CAP) and Tritan matched or outperformed PC in 12 of the 13 exposures.
The most dramatic difference involved exposure to a common cleanser additive, ammonium hydroxide. Tritan showed “little change,” while PC showed “catastrophic change."

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Injection molding

Manufacturers have made face shields thicker and heavier than necessary due to the poor flow characteristics of polycarbonate. However, there are two alternative materials, Tritan and Tenite, that offer excellent options for injection molding.

Tenite CAP was created to optimize injection molding efficiency:

Its superior flow characteristics enable molding of face shields with thin walls (1-mm thickness) and long flow lengths.
It maintains excellent clarity and optical properties.
It reduces weight of the shields for greater wearer comfort.
It meets the ANSI 87.1+ standard for eye protection.

Die-cut extruded sheet

Tritan copolyester and Tenite cellulosics are excellent options for die-cut extruded sheet — each offering different advantages over PC. Tritan can deliver greater durability as well as fabrication advantages, including die punching, hot or cold bending, and drilling without significant microcracking.

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