Acrylic trophy

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An acrylic trophy is an alternative to the traditional glass, or crystal trophy. Acrylic glass can be molded into a variety of forms, and corporations will often create custom promotional items shaped like their products. They are manufactured by pouring acrylic casting resin into a mold. Embedments are acrylic trophies that have an item embedded into the resin. Many materials can be placed in an embedment – paper, metal, acetate sheets, etc. This creates the effect of an item floating within the acrylic statue.

Trophy reward for a specific achievement

A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals are often given out either as the trophy or along with more traditional trophies.

These trophies are commonly made from Lucite, a branded form of acrylic developed by DuPont. One of the earliest uses of Lucite was in windshields for fighter planes during World War II. [1] Following the war, DuPont promoted various consumer applications of Lucite, including its use in lamps, beer taps, hairbrushes, and jewelry. By virtue of its versatility, Lucite opened up a range of possible design options for deal toys and trophies, often resulting in keen competition among investment banks for the most creative and sophisticated pieces. [1]

Acrylic trophies can be manufactured in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. The most common styles are clear rectangular “Billboards”, star shapes, circles, and pyramids. These are often engraved with corporate logos and personalized with the name of the recipient. They are also used in awards ceremonies for many organizations.

Deal toys are acrylic trophies used in the financial industry in recognition of sales achievements. Deal toys are most commonly used within the financial industry, especially among investment banks, as a means of celebrating successful transactions. [2] Since their beginnings in the 1970s, deal toys have become a fixture in the investment banking industry, and as multi-national and cross-border transactions have become increasingly common, they have done much to popularize the use of acrylic in gifts and trophies internationally. [2]

Deal toy

A deal toy is a customized memento or gift that is intended to mark and commemorate the closing of a business deal in finance or investment banking. These plaques or other types of trophies are typically presented at the closing ceremony or dinner to the issuer and senior third-party advisers of the major financial transactions as a souvenir.

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Composite material material made from a combination of two or more dislike substances

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Poly(methyl methacrylate) polymer

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, or plexiglass as well as by the trade names Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, Lucite, and Perspex among several others, is a transparent thermoplastic often used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. The same material can be used as a casting resin, in inks and coatings, and has many other uses.

Fiberglass (US) or fibreglass (UK) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet, or woven into a fabric. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinylester—or a thermoplastic.

Thermoplastic plastic that becomes soft when heated and hard when cooled

A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic, is a plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling.

Thermosetting polymer polymer material that irreversibly cures

A thermosetting polymer, resin, or plastic, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is irreversibly hardened by curing from a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer or resin. Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure, or mixing with a catalyst. It results in chemical reactions that create extensive cross-linking between polymer chains to produce an infusible and insoluble polymer network.

Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass, carbon, aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use.

Polyoxymethylene polymer

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Countertop

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Synthetic resins are industrially produced resins, typically viscous substances that convert into rigid polymers by the process of curing. In order to undergo curing, resins typically contain reactive end groups, such as acrylates or epoxides. Some synthetic resins have properties similar to natural plant resins, but many do not.

Electronic packaging is the design and production of enclosures for electronic devices ranging from individual semiconductor devices up to complete systems such as a mainframe computer. Packaging of an electronic system must consider protection from mechanical damage, cooling, radio frequency noise emission and electrostatic discharge. Product safety standards may dictate particular features of a consumer product, for example, external case temperature or grounding of exposed metal parts. Prototypes and industrial equipment made in small quantities may use standardized commercially available enclosures such as card cages or prefabricated boxes. Mass-market consumer devices may have highly specialized packaging to increase consumer appeal. Electronic packaging is a major discipline within the field of mechanical engineering.

Zodiaq is an engineered stone made by DuPont composed of 93% quartz crystal and 7% acrylic resin, colors and binders. The product is manufactured in DuPont's Granirex plant in Thetford Mines, Canada. It is used most often as kitchen countertops but also as walls. Its primary advantage is that unlike natural stone products, Zodiaq is non-porous and does not require a sealant that must be periodically reapplied. Porous products, like granite, are prone to growing molds and staining. The color of Zodiaq is consistent throughout. DuPont offers a 10-year warranty on the installation, if the job is done by a certified fabricator/installer.

Tombstone (financial industry) print notice used in the financial industry to formally announce a transaction

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Solid surface man-made material usually composed of a combination of marble dust, bauxite, acrylic, epoxy or polyester resins and pigments

Solid surface is a man-made material usually composed of a combination of alumina trihydrate (ATH), acrylic, epoxy or polyester resins and pigments. It is most frequently used for seamless countertop installations.

Resin casting is a method of plastic casting where a mold is filled with a liquid synthetic resin, which then hardens. It is primarily used for small-scale production like industrial prototypes and dentistry. It can be done by amateur hobbyists with little initial investment, and is used in the production of collectible toys, models and figures, as well as small-scale jewellery production.

Centrifugal casting (industrial)

Centrifugal casting or rotocasting is a casting technique that is typically used to cast thin-walled cylinders. It is typically used to cast materials such as metals, glass, and concrete. A high quality is attainable by control of metallurgy and crystal structure. Unlike most other casting techniques, centrifugal casting is chiefly used to manufacture rotationally symmetric stock materials in standard sizes for further machining, rather than shaped parts tailored to a particular end-use.

Plastic material of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids

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Acrylic embedment

Acrylic embedment is a process of encapsulating various objects into lucite. Because of the high amount of technical knowledge required, the total number of actual manufacturers remains very small.

Cast acrylic

Cast Acrylic is a form of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). It is formed by casting the monomer, methyl methacrylate, mixed with initiators and possibly other additives into a form or mold. Sheet and rod stock are generated by casting into static forms, while tubing is done in rotational molds.

Transfer molding is a manufacturing process where casting material is forced into a mold. Transfer molding is different from compression molding in that the mold is enclosed [Hayward] rather than open to the fill plunger resulting in higher dimensional tolerances and less environmental impact. Compared to injection molding, transfer molding uses higher pressures to uniformly fill the mold cavity. This allows thicker reinforcing fiber matrices to be more completely saturated by resin. Furthermore, unlike injection molding the transfer mold casting material may start the process as a solid. This can reduce equipment costs and time dependency. The transfer process may have a slower fill rate than an equivalent injection molding processes.

References

  1. 1 2 "Another Wall Street Casualty: The Art of the ‘Deal Toy’", Ianthe Jeanne Dugan. Published: February 11, 2009. The Wall Street Journal
  2. 1 2 "Seal that deal with . . . a toy duck", Leah McGrath Goodman. Published: February 26, 2008. Financial Times

Rosato, Dominick V. Plastic Encyclopedia and Dictionary. Hanser Publications, 1993