Typical applications for opaque grades

Aside from clarity, the same combination of properties that helps polycarbonate succeed in transparent applications also helps these materials be selected for a large number of applications where opacity is not an issue. Since most polymers are naturally opaque, there is potentially a greater pool of viable competitors for each opaque application. Nonetheless, 

a great many applications for opaque polycarbonate make use of impact-modified products, including 

Specialty grades of polycarbonate are used in wear applications (e.g., computer keyboards) where higher thermal performance is needed, coupled with a low coefficient of friction. 

In applications requiring higher thermal performance, a polyester-carbonate copolymer has been developed with an HDT that is 28°C (50°F) higher than that of standard polycarbonate homopolymers (see the section Polyestercarbonates and Other High-Heat Polycarbonates ). The most common use of this material occurs in automotive headlamp applications, where the copolymer forms the metallized reflector, and in animal cages that require repeated autoclave sterilization. 

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