Ray-Ban Liteforce Frames from Aircraft Thermoplastic: Couldn't Be Cooler!

If you ask any consultant at the RB.UA store about which sunglasses frames are the most modern, don't doubt the answer. It will be a pair made from aircraft thermoplastic.

And, of course, you'll want to know a bit more about them.

Thermoplastics?

Thermoplastics (also known as thermoplastic polymers) are polymer materials that, when heated, can transition from a solid to a plastic/malleable state. This property helps give the material various shapes.

Interestingly, these state changes are reversible, allowing products made from thermoplastics to be recycled—of which, by the way, there are a huge number.



Bottles, containers, children's toys, window frames, pipes, shoes, and even plastic bags—all are results of introducing thermoplastics into everyday life.

It is worth noting that polycarbonate, from which lenses are made, belongs to the same family of materials.

Space-Age Advantages

The most significant field of thermoplastic use is aircraft construction. And there are quite substantial reasons for this:

• Viscosity and, as a result, high impact resistance and corrosion resistance;
• Insensitivity to humidity and chemical influences (including aviation fluids);
• High fire safety and zero toxicity.

PK001 — Ahead of the Rest

2013. It was then that the Ray-Ban brand FOR THE FIRST TIME! (cue fanfare) in optical industry history used thermoplastic borrowed from aviation to create frames.

Meet PK001—a thermoplastic polymer with high strength, previously used only in medicine, electronics, and aircraft construction.

Hypoallergenic, incredible strength, lightness, elasticity, and durability—this is what owners of the first model of sunglasses with aircraft thermoplastic, Liteforce by Ray-Ban (RB4179), received.



Today, the PK001 material is used not only in the pioneer model Liteforce, which, by the way, has a rectangular shape. Ray-Ban has released two more well-known models using thermoplastic: Liteforce Aviator (RB4180) and Liteforce Wayfarer (RB4195). Thus, optical classics met technological innovations.

And if you love being ahead of everyone else, like sunglasses made from aircraft thermoplastic, you definitely need to meet them.