Plastic reflector material questions

Your question is pretty vague and lacks any detail. However, most cheap reflectors are made from injection moulded plastics such as polycarbonate. If the reflector is to go under water, it must not absorb water or it will distort; plastics such as nylon are therefore out. However, this property must be weighed against the cost of the raw material - its horses for courses. To make it reflecting depends on whether you want convergent or divergent reflection; if it is divergent, just mould the reflector surface with prisms. like a bicycle reflector. If it is convergent, you may want to put a reflective metal coating down. Your choice will depend on the quality of your final product, how much you can sell it for, your level of expertise and your ability or willingness to invest in plant and technology. Its all down to economics. You can choose between vacuum coating and plating on plastics. Both methods are very well documented on the web, so have a trawl. As far as I know there is no specification for reflectors for underwater lights, so now is your chance to make a name for yourself and make the "benchmark reflector" by which all other underwater reflectors will be judged.

A. Hi Shakil. The polycarbonate that Trevor mentions sounds good to me. What material are you presently using?

Regards,

A. Hi cousin Yoyon.

Unfortunately, we don't know what plastic you used, or what type of lighting, or why it melted. But it is possible that plastic isn't the right material for the application. Bright dipped aluminum is very widely used for reflectors, and may be the right material for you. Good luck.

Regards,

A. Hi Nikhil. Probably acrylic if you're on a tight budget; probably polycarbonate if you're not. See

www.hydrosight.com/acrylic-vs-polycarbonate-a-quantitative-and-qualitative-comparison/

But please tell us about your company and the project so that the readers can learn from your situation.

Regards,