What are the physical properties of acrylic tubes (18width, 24diameter)? What is the property difference between a tube that is extruded compared to casted? All I'm really asking is which one is stronger and how strong is it? Is it easy to drill holes in them? Is PVC stronger, and what are the properties of that?
Cast Acrylic Tubes are used in many applications in place of extruded or molded acrylic because of better machining properties, greater clarity, better resistance to heat distortion and higher tensile strength. In short: yes, cast is stronger than extruded yes, it is easy to drill holes, just take it slow It is not cut and dry which one is stronger, they are actually quite similar in certain properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, and compressive strength. I would recommend getting a small piece of each and trying them out in your application. Just so you know, PVC is going to be cheaper than Cast acrylic at these sizes.
