Acetone is a solvent and is also used in household, hobby, home, garden and home improvement. However, when using acetone, it should be noted that the organic solvent can attack many plastics to different degrees. In the following, we summarized which plastics are compatible or incompatible with acetone.
About acetone
Acetone is an organic solvent that is used, for example, to dissolve resins as well as various paints and inks. Although acetone is slightly toxic, it also occurs in nature. To understand how it reacts to plastic, it may be interesting to look at the production of acetone. From a chemical point of view, the more similar molecules are, the sooner they can solve them.
Acetone and the resistance to different plastics
However, there are so many different plastics, so it is very difficult to establish a general rule without deeper chemical knowledge. Therefore, we list below all common plastics and subdivide them on contact with acetone as follows:
- A: very good resistance
- B: good resistance
- C: limited resistance
- D: no resistance
- KA: no indication possible
- CA: estimated
The following plastics are listed below:
Thermoplastics
- HDPE: high-density polyethylene
- LDPE: low-density polyethylene
- PA: polyamide or nylon
- PC: polycarbonate
- PETG: polyethylene terephthalate glycol or co-polyester
- PMP: polymenthyl pentene or TPX
- POM: polyoxymethylene
- PP: polypropylene
- PS: polystyrene or colloquial (each brand name) Styrofoam or styrodor
- PSU: polysulfone
- PVC: polyvinyl chloride
- SAN: styrene-acrylonitrile
elastomers
- EPDM: ethylene-propylene terpolymer rubber
- FPM, FKM: Fluorine polymer or Viton
- NBR: Nitrile rubber
- SI: Silicone rubber
Fluorine plastics
- E-CTFE: Ethy len-chlorotrifluoroethylene or Halar
- ETFE: ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene
- FEP: tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoropropylene or FEP or Teflon (brand name)
- PTFE: polytetrafluoroethylene or Teflon (brand name)
- PVDF: polyvinylidene fluoride
acetone and thermoplastics
- HDPE: A
- LDPE: C
- PA: A
- PC: D
- PETG: D
- PMP: B
- POM: A
- PP: A
- PS: D
- PSU: D
- Hard PVC: D
- Soft PVC: KA
- SAN: D
Acetone and elastomers
- EPDM: A
- FPM, FKM: D
- NBR: D
- SI: KA
Acetone and fluorine plastics
- ECTFE, ETFE: B
- FEP: CA A
- PTFE: A
- PVDF: C