Plastic can be as glossy as glass but, unlike glass, it is
hydrophobic – it repels water. If water does not flow
smoothly over the surface, the mirroring chemicals will not
deposit evenly. There are two ways to overcome this problem:
You can flood the surface with so much water (or
mirroring chemicals) that the beads merge into a smooth
sheet. This technique works best using our mirror bath technique where the object
to be mirrored is submerged in the chemicals. It is only
practical for small objects.
You can use a wetting agent (a type of surfactant) to
break the surface tension on the plastic before you apply
the mirroring chemicals. There are many types of plastic
and each type has its own chemistry and surface
characteristics.
We have tested our Wetting
Agent on some types of acrylic, polycarbonate and
polyurethane. We have not tested it on all types of
plastic. You should test it on a sample of your substrate
to confirm that it works. See Cleaning and Polishing for
more information on wetting agents.
