12. Feb 2018

Clever materials combination creates adorable glasses for children

Specialty chemicals company Evonik is showing off its expertise in polymer design for the optical industry at this year's MIDO Eyewear Show in Milan with a lightweight, colorful, and absolutely safe - and cute - pair of children's glasses.

,"Our portfolio of high-performance plastics offers glasses manufacturers an innovative variety of materials geared toward today's trends in the optical industry-in terms of aspects like design, weight, or quality," says Tina Huang from Evonik's Consumer Goods Market Segment.

The outer frame of the children's glasses is made of Trogamid Terra. This biopolymer is manufactured from up to 50 percent renewable raw materials, such as palm kernel and coconut oils, and offers rigidity, low weight, and considerable resistance to abrasion, heat, and chemicals.

The inner frame and nose pads of these glasses were designed with Vestamid Care ME, a polyether block amide (PEBA) that weighs very little and is unusually soft to the touch, which maximizes comfort for the wearer.
"When we selected the materials, we switched over to a medical product class, because we also wanted the inner frame of the glasses to prevent injury and slippage-two properties that are especially important in children's glasses," says Eric Chen, General Manager from Chinese eyewear manufacturer Hwa Mao Optical (Xiamen).

Another grade of Vestamid Care ME is the material of choice for the temple elements. This high-performance plastic is hard enough for the glasses to sit well, yet at the same time feels pleasant against the skin. The material makes it possible to avoid the use of metal for connecting the temple arms to the front of the frame, and allows for child-appropriate temple designs that can be changed with very little effort. The use of a medically approved product class rules out the possibility of irritation or other allergic responses in sensitive children's skin.

This application was developed and implemented as part of a cooperation between Evonik and Hwa Mao Optical (Xiamen, China). Hwa Mao Optical (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., established in 1996, specializes in manufacturing a wide variety of eyewear products.

http://corporate.evonik.com

Image: A partner for biobased, transparent polyamides or medically approved elastomers: Evonik uses a children's glasses concept as a platform to demonstrate its exceptional polymer design expertise for the optical industry.


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