For Better Light Transmission, Choose The Right Additives For Light Diffusers

Learn more about the additives used in light diffusers. The right choice of material will ensure the product remains light in weight, eliminates hot spots and doesn’t result in eye strain.

- Deepshikha Shukla

LEDs are durable, energy-efficient light sources. How-ever, designing LEDs can be challenging due to the creation of ‘hot spots’ of focused light. The glare of the LEDs can be harsh to our eyes, leading to discomfort. The glare of high-intensity lighting in the offices where people need to concentrate on their screens often leads to eye fatigue, headaches and stress. Replacing old, damaged light diffusers reduces this discomfort.

Understanding the properties of additives for plastic light diffusers enables LED lighting developers to choose the proper additives and production techniques to achieve the desired beam patterns. One of the main challenges in LED design is to create uniform diffused light while minimising the loss of light intensity. The diffusing agent should also be lightweight, and sustain both high and low temperature conditions. Finally, it should be economical to manufacture in high volumes.

Materials for light diffusers

Special grades of acrylic sheets, polycarbonate sheets, and polycarbonate films are engineered to diffuse LED hot spots without sacrificing light transmission (LT). Acrylic and polycarbonate are lightweight, tough, plastic sheet materials with outstanding optical properties. These characteristics make them good choices for lighting applications, particularly for mass transit and aerospace, where durability, strength, and lightness are required. Other lighting applications are lighting fixtures, commercial lighting, menu boards, backlit signs, retail merchandising, lenses, and LED light diffusion.