Mirror Materials - Vialux - Unbreakable Plastic Mirrors

Vialux Unbreakable Plastic Mirrors

Set new standards for safety mirrors & security mirrors and are available in a choice of grades;   POLYMIR   and   P.A.S.

POLYMIR MIRRORS

• Unbreakable Polymir Optics
• Crystal clear images without distortion
• Easy to install
• Very Lightweight
• Withstands extremes of weather
• Outdoor and indoor use
• 3 year warranty

(Note: Manufacturers warranty applies to mirror, frame & fixings under normal operating conditions.) 

P.A.S. MIRRORS

• P.A.S.® optics are unbreakable
• Crystal clear, undistorted images
• Easy to install
• Very Lightweight
• Withstands extremes of weather

Extra Features of P.A.S. mirrors... 

• UV inhibited 
• Scratch resistant
• Impact resistant
• 5 year warranty

(Note: Manufacturers warranty applies to mirror, frame & fixings under normal operating conditions.)

What are Mirrors Made From?

Humans have always taken a keen interest in reflections leading to the development of today`s sophisticated mirrors.

Water Reflections

It is highly likely that the first mirrors used by humans were pools of still, dark water or water collected in an appropriate vessel. An important attribute required of a mirror is that the surface is perfectly flat so that the reflected image is not distorted.

Polished Stone Mirrors

The earliest examples of man-made mirrors were found in Turkey, dating from around 6,000 BC, created from obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass which can be polished to create a reflective surface. Polished stone mirrors have also been found in Central and South America dating from around 2,000 BC. Stone mirrors tended to have poorer reflectivity than metal mirrors.

Metal Mirrors

Polished copper mirrors from Mesopotamia dating from around 4,000 BC and from India dating from around 3,000 BC have been discovered. In China they were using Bronze mirrors from around 2,000 BC. A problem with early metal mirrors was that they would tarnish easily requiring frequent repolishing. It was also very difficult to achieve a perfectly flat surface, especially on larger metal mirrors.

Metal is still used to make some of today`s mirrors which use highly polished stainless steel which will not tarnish. Material and production costs make these mirrors significantly more expensive than their modern high quality plastic counterparts. But there are many applications in which stainless steel mirrors are highly suitable, such as traffic mirrors.

Glass Mirrors

Glass is a great material for optics because it is hard, scratch resistant and doesn`t tarnish. But glass has little reflectivity making it necessary to coat glass with a reflective material in order to create a mirror. Ancient written accounts indicate that mirrors made from coated glass were made and used in Lebanon from around the first century. These early glass mirrors were not flat as it was very difficult to create a perfectly flat sheet of glass with uniform thickness. Instead these ancient mirrors were made by blowing glass bubbles and cutting a small circular section to produce either a concave or convex mirror. These were highl prized, valuable artifacts of their time. A method for creating flat sheets of glass was developed in Germany during the middle ages.

The invention of silvered glass mirrors is recorded to have taken place in 1835 by the German chemist Justus von Leibig. He developed a process using silver nitrate to deposit a thin, even layer of metallic silver onto a flat plate of glass. This silvering process led to mass production of affordable mirrors.

While glass is great for optics it has some disadvantages when compared with modern plastic materials. Glass is heavy and fragile making it difficult to handle and potentially hazardous in some applications.

Acrylic Mirrors

Acrylic mirrors are lightweight and cheap to manufacture, making them very affordable mirrors. But Acrylic mirrors can scratch easily and are not shatterproof. They are therefore a potential hazard in some applications and unsuitable for use in public spaces.

Polycarbonate Mirrors

Polycarbonate mirrors are lightweight, virtually indestructible and with a treated, hardened coating are scratch resistant. Many polycarbonate mirrors are good for both indoor or outdoor use. The manufacturing process of high quality, semi rigid polycarbonate mirrors is a more costly than for acrylic mirrors, making them more expensive. Polycarbonate is around 200 times stronger than glass but is not hard so it can be scratched. The addition of a scratch resistant surface helps to prevent scratching.

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