Acrylic sheets scratch before they ever reach your customer. The same problem applies to PS (polystyrene) and PMMA sheets — polished surfaces pick up scuffs during cutting, routing, stacking and transport. Our low-tack PE protective film covers both faces and peels off clean, with no adhesive left on the surface.
Quick answer
Kaisyon Industrial, a PE protective film manufacturer in Wuxi, China, supplies acrylic sheet protection film from 30 to 100 micron with low-tack acrylic adhesive in the 20 to 80 g/25mm band, and ships free sample rolls so you can peel-test cast and extruded PMMA before ordering. Choosing the wrong film on acrylic costs more than the film itself: hazing, ghosting and stress crazing show up after fabrication, when the sheet is already cut, bent and glued.
Acrylic sheet needs a PE film with a low-tack acrylic adhesive, never rubber-based and never PVC. If you remember nothing else from this page, remember that: PE carrier, acrylic adhesive, low tack.
Why acrylic is not glass and not metal
Protective film buyers often reuse whatever spec worked on stainless steel or glass. On PMMA that shortcut fails, because acrylic behaves differently in three ways:
- It is solvent-sensitive. Aggressive adhesives and plasticisers can attack the surface and leave permanent haze or fine cracks known as crazing.
- It is soft. Acrylic is far easier to scratch than glass, and it also deforms slightly under pressure, so a film that grips too hard will pull at the surface when removed.
- It builds static. Acrylic is a strong static generator. Film that is peeled or rubbed during handling attracts dust straight onto the sheet, which defeats the whole point of protecting it.
This is why the surface finish matters more than the sheet thickness when you specify film. Mirror-finish cast acrylic and a frosted extruded sheet do not want the same tack level.
The three ways acrylic protection goes wrong
1. Hazing (blushing)
A milky cloud appears under the film, sometimes only in patches. The usual causes are adhesive residues left by a rubber-based glue, plasticiser migrating out of a PVC carrier, or moisture trapped between film and sheet in a hot container. Once PMMA hazes, polishing is often the only fix, and on a finished part that means scrap.
2. Ghosting (adhesive transfer)
You peel the film and a faint outline of the roll remains, sticky to the touch and impossible to wipe off. Ghosting happens when adhesive cohesion is weaker than its grip on the acrylic, so part of the glue layer splits and stays behind. Heat and long dwell time make it much worse.
3. Stress crazing
Fine hairline cracks appear in areas that were bent, drilled or solvent-cemented. Crazing is not caused by the film alone, but a high-tack film adds peel stress to a surface that is already under internal tension, and it tips the sheet over the edge.
Choosing tack level by surface finish
Tack is measured in grams per 25 mm of peel force. For acrylic almost every application sits in the low-to-medium band. Use this table as a starting point, then confirm with a sample on your own sheet:
| Acrylic surface | Recommended tack | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cast, gloss or mirror finish | 20 to 40 g/25mm | Lowest tack that still holds; priorities are clean removal and no haze |
| Extruded, standard gloss | 30 to 50 g/25mm | Most common specification for sign and display sheet |
| Frosted, matte or textured | 50 to 80 g/25mm | Uneven surface needs more grip to avoid lifting at edges |
| Anti-glare or hard-coated | 20 to 40 g/25mm | Coating is delicate, keep tack low and test a corner first |
Our production range runs from 5 to 500 g/25mm for adhesive-coated film, so if your finish falls outside these bands we can still build a match. The detail that matters is not the number in isolation but how that number behaves after 30 days at your storage temperature.
Choosing thickness
| Sheet handling | Film thickness | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Flat stacking, indoor storage | 30 to 40 micron | Enough to stop rub marks, keeps cost down |
| Cutting, routing, laser engraving | 50 to 70 micron | Survives clamps, saw tables and chip contact |
| CNC machining with coolant | 60 to 100 micron | Resists edge lift from fluids and swarf |
| Thermoforming or line bending | 40 to 60 micron, heat-stable grade | Must not shrink or string when heated |
Ask specifically for a heat-stable grade if any forming step happens with the film still on. Standard film is designed to protect, not to be heated.
Films to avoid on acrylic sheet
- PVC film. Plasticisers migrate into PMMA and cause haze. This is the single most common acrylic protection mistake.
- Rubber-based adhesive. Higher initial grip looks good on the day it is applied, then ghosts after a week.
- Paper-backed tape or masking film. Paper adhesive is not designed for a non-porous glossy surface and leaves residue.
- High-tack general-purpose film left on too long. Even a correctly specified film has a removal window, usually 30 to 90 days depending on temperature.
Application and removal, step by step
- Apply at 15 to 30 degrees Celsius on a dry sheet. Cold acrylic and cold adhesive do not bond evenly, and condensation under the film guarantees haze.
- Remove dust from the sheet first. Anything trapped under low-tack film becomes a scratch point later.
- Lay the film with light, even pressure, then trim flush at the edges. Overlapping edges pick up dirt on the conveyor.
- Store flat and out of direct sun. Standard PE protection is rated for limited UV exposure, roughly a few months outdoors.
- Peel back slowly at a low angle, close to 180 degrees against itself, rather than pulling straight up.
- If a sheet has been in the sun for months, warm it to room temperature before removal and expect to work slower.
What to send your supplier when you ask for a quote
A one-line enquiry such as “please quote acrylic protection film” will get you a generic product. Send these nine details and you get a usable quote first time:
- Sheet type: cast or extruded
- Surface finish: gloss, matte, frosted, mirrored, hard-coated
- Sheet thickness range
- Film thickness you want
- Tack level in g/25mm, or the finish and we will recommend one
- Colour or clear, printed or plain
- Maximum dwell time before removal
- Storage conditions: indoor, outdoor, container shipping
- Roll size, core size and quantity per month
MOQ depends on width and film thickness rather than on a fixed roll count, so tell us your dimensions early. Typical lead time for a matched specification is around two weeks after sample approval.
Testing before you commit
Every serious acrylic buyer should run the same three checks on a sample roll:
- Room-temperature peel after 7 days. Look for hazing and ghosting on the bare surface.
- Heat test. Leave a filmed sample at 50 degrees Celsius for 24 hours, cool, then peel. This simulates a container in summer.
- Fabrication test. Run the actual cutting or drilling process with film on, then check whether edges lifted.
We supply free sample rolls, typically 300 mm wide by 10 m long, which is enough to run all three tests across a few finishes. Tell us your sheet specification and we will send two or three tack options side by side so the comparison is made on your material, not in a datasheet.
FAQ
How long can protective film stay on acrylic sheet?
Indoors, plan for removal within three months. Outdoors under direct sun, treat one to two months as the limit unless you specified a UV-stabilised grade. Longer dwell does not usually fail suddenly; it fails as a gradual increase in peel force that eventually leaves residue.
Can I use the same film on acrylic and polycarbonate?
Often yes, because both are sensitive to solvent attack and both take low-tack acrylic adhesive well. Polycarbonate is more prone to chemical stress cracking, so if you run both materials it is worth testing each one separately rather than assuming.
Does printed film still remove cleanly?
Yes, provided the ink sits on the outer face of the film and not on the adhesive side. Printed protective film is widely used on acrylic for branding during shipping and fabrication.
Why does the film lift at the corners after laser cutting?
Laser cutting heats the edge and relaxes the adhesive bond. Move up one thickness step, or ask for film formulated for higher edge adhesion on cut edges.
Do you also have protective paper for acrylic sheets?
Our PE film does the same job as protective paper, with two advantages: it is thinner (less packing volume) and it peels with no paper fibres left on polished surfaces. Sample rolls are available.
Related guides
- How to Choose PE Protective Film
- Protective Film Adhesive Tack Levels Explained
- PE Film vs PVC Film vs PET Film
- Protective Film for Glass: Transport and Installation
- PE Protective Film for Aluminum Panels
- Protective Paper vs PE Film for Acrylic Sheets
Get a sample matched to your sheet
Send us your acrylic specification, finish and monthly volume, and we will reply with a recommended film construction, a price and free sample rolls for testing. Request samples and a quote, or browse the full PE protective film range.
Want to test it before ordering? We send a free PE protective film test roll for acrylic sheet — cut to your width, with the full data sheet. Request a free PE protective film sample.