What are Sailor Pens Made Out Of?

[Brian]

I was interested in the material composition of the Sailor 1911 so I visited the Sailor website. Its says that the 1911 is made out of a substance called PMMA. OK so we sort of know that MB uses something that is or is very close to plexiglass, and that the Parker Duofold uses acrylic, but what the heck is PMMA?

 

Thanks to the internet we find it is called polymethyl methacrylate or PMMA resin. How good is it? Well, if you asked the question, what do plastic fountain pens have to do with the fracture resistance of various temporary crown materials?, you might learn that PMMA is pretty good stuff indeed.

 

According to the Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice, who cited a study to evaluate the fracture resistance of various provisional crown materials, it found the following (See http://www.thejcdp.com/issue030/yilmaz/01yilmaz.htm, so as to give credit where credit is due):

 

Polycarbonate Crown - This was the best material from a fracture resistance standpoint;

 

Autopolymerizing PMMA resin - finished second;

 

A bis-acryl composite - finished third; and

 

A heat-polymerized PMMA resin - finished last.

 

While the findings show there is a distiction between heat and autopolymerizing PMMA resins, I think that is not the point. Nor is it the point that we don't know for sure whether Sailor uses heat or autopolymerizing PMMA resin. The point of this research is that PMMA is strong enough to serve as a temporary crown material in a pretty mean environment. For a pen, what more could you ask?

 

 

[PAKMAN]

Does this mean they are resistant to pen chewers?? NO more bite marks! Sweet.

 

 

[RLTodd]

(1) Interesting but hardly relative. Remember, for decades pens were made of over cooked, over sulfered, hard rubber, a rather fragile substance, and there are still boat loads of those things around. Many of them made over a hundred years ago.

 

(2) The nib is usually the most delicate part of a fountain pen.

 

(3) If a person is going to abuse the writing instrument, they would be better off buying a case of BicStiks or wood cased pencils.

 

added.

 

(4) CHEW on a fountain pen! Good grief. That is definitely indication that wood cased pencils are in order.

Edited September 2, 2007 by RLTodd

[NeoTiger]

Just a quick note on commerical names for polymers.... both Lucite and Acrylic are actually forms of PMMA.

 

PMMA has higher impact fracture resistance than glass, but less scratch resistance. It is also more optically clear than normal glass. It is commonly used as glass substitutes in places such as aquariums (since it is more optically clear, it can be made thicker than glass and therefore stronger) or windows for hazardous situations (such as police riot shields)

[Brian]

Just a quick note on commerical names for polymers.... both Lucite and Acrylic are actually forms of PMMA.

 

PMMA has higher impact fracture resistance than glass, but less scratch resistance. It is also more optically clear than normal glass. It is commonly used as glass substitutes in places such as aquariums (since it is more optically clear, it can be made thicker than glass and therefore stronger) or windows for hazardous situations (such as police riot shields)

 

Thanks for the information. There are so many forms of plastic that it is good thing to know as much as one can. It sounds like PMMA would therefore be in a class of plastics not unlike that used for MB resin, but formulated to be less brittle.

 

Best Regards

[Shabubu]

Poly Methyl Metacrylate.

 

Used as the cement in hip replacements (orthopaedic cement for most situations)

Treated differently it makes plexiglass, lucite and acrylic.

 

http://www.orthoteers.org/(S(zay5du55s02ql...cle=206&c=1

Edited September 2, 2007 by Shabubu

[yachtsilverswan]

For two decades, intraocular lens implants (used to replace the clouded natural lens in cataract surgery)were made of PMMA.

 

The story goes that fighter pilots during the Korean War would sometimes suffer eye injuries if their aircraft's canopy was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Shards of the canopy would lodge in the pilot's eye. We were not sophisticated enough on the battle field to remove these shards. But by the time the pilot was airlifted back to the US, doctors found that the body was not mounting an immune rejection response to the canopy shards. And so the first intraocular lens implants were made of the same PMMA material as the fighter plane canopy.

 

Totally irrelevant, but kinda neat.

[Maja]

Interesting discussion....but my non-fountain-pen-using husband thought the "Nerd Post Ahead" warning was a bit unnecessary

[alexanderino]

Interesting discussion....but my non-fountain-pen-using husband thought the "Nerd Post Ahead" warning was a bit unnecessary

I confess it attracted me to your post

[georges zaslavsky]

Quite an interesting thread