What makes Trilogy™ lenses so special?
Trilogy lenses are the first to deliver a great combination of quality
optics, lightweight/thinness, and high impact resistance.
How can Trilogy lenses do this?
Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic, which gives it its strength. Hard
resin products are thermosets, which give them good stability in processing
and good optical performance. Trilogy is a “quasi-thermoset/thermoplastic”,
combining the best of both materials.
What is the difference between Younger’s Trilogy product and PPG
Industries’ Trivex™ product?
Trivex is the monomer produced by PPG that is used to make Trilogy
lenses. The production methods and specific formulation used for Trilogy
lenses has been maximized to provide the best possible lens properties
with no sacrifice in impact strength.
What is the difference between Younger’s Trilogy lenses and Hoya’s
PNX lenses?
While both Trilogy and PNX lenses are made from Trivex, the production
methods and the formulations are different.
Do Younger and Hoya have exclusive rights to use Trivex material?
Younger and Hoya have been designated by PPG Industries as the Trivex
launch partners. Other manufacturers and their progressive styles may
begin to enter the market by mid-2002.
How will Trilogy lenses be priced?
These high performance lenses will be priced in the premium mid-index
range.
Are Trilogy lenses a replacement for Polycarbonate?
Absolutely not! Polycarbonate presents a fine bundle of properties
at an excellent price. Trilogy will be a premium addition to the family
of impact resistant products, and should help widen their use, not restrict
it.
Before Trilogy, if an ECP wanted impact resistance yet had a concern regarding optics or Abbe value, they had a difficult decision. Now Trilogy offers Performance without Compromise™, and should help grow the market for all impact resistant materials, including polycarbonate.
Should I use Trilogy for children’s Rx’s?
Yes. Trilogy lenses may have the perfect combination of impact resistance,
excellent optics, and lightweight qualities that are important in children’s
eyewear*.
When will I want to prescribe Trilogy vs. other materials?
Use Trilogy lenses whenever you need to balance the best properties
of excellent optics, lightweight, and impact resistance.
How well do Trilogy lenses work with the new stylish 3 piece frames?
They are excellent! This is where the unique properties of Trilogy
lenses really shine! Trilogy lenses take a beautiful edge polish, and
when ground down to 1.0 mm, they really make a superb looking product.
What is the refractive index for Trilogy lenses?
nd = 1.53
What is Trilogy’s specific gravity?
1.11, which makes it the lightest material on the market.
What is the Abbe value for Trilogy lenses?
45.
Is Abbe value important for anything but the highest Rx’s?
While Abbe number does become more critical to good vision as lens
power increases, the best optical performance will result from the highest
Abbe value.
How thin can I process Trilogy lenses and keep good optical performance?
Trilogy lenses can be ground down to 1.0 mm center thicknesses and
still retain excellent optics.
Do Trilogy lenses process more like hard resin or polycarbonate products?
Although they can be processed in a variety of ways, they appear
to process more like polycarbonate.
Can Trilogy lenses be tinted?
Absolutely! You may need to experiment a little with colour and time,
but Trilogy lenses tint quite rapidly. Use soap and water to clean the
lens prior to tinting. Do not use acetone to clean the uncoated surface
because it can lead to uneven tinting. For best tint results, the surface
must be properly polished.
Do Trilogy lenses need backside coatings?
While Trilogy lenses are not as scratch-resistant as hard resin lenses,
test results indicate that Trilogy lenses have inherent scratch resistance
equal to or better than many mid-index products regularly processed without
a backside coating.
Are Trilogy lenses as impact resistant as polycarbonate?
Trilogy and polycarbonate have comparable impact performance.
It is challenging to define absolute impact performance when two plastics are as different as polycarbonate and Trilogy, and when both have such high intrinsic strength. In some tests, Trilogy is obviously stronger than polycarbonate. In other tests, polycarbonate does better than Trilogy. However, regardless of the test technique, both materials far exceed the impact performance of other lens materials. Please review the attached graph that represents the magnitude of this safety margin, even when Trilogy and polycarbonate lenses are surfaced to only 1mm center thickness.
What test is used to measure impact resistance?
One of the ways Younger qualifies impact resistance on each batch of Trilogy
lenses is by using an extremely severe impact test. In this test a 1.1 lb sharpened
steel missile is dropped onto the part from a height of 50 inches. This test will
actually pierce a hole through polycarbonate while still leaving Trilogy lenses intact
at the same thickness.
What happens to impact resistance when coatings are applied?
Most coatings, especially those applied to the back surface, will
reduce a lens’ impact strength. Trilogy and polycarbonate both
experience some loss of impact strength with most hard and AR coatings.
Trilogy has the advantage of inherently higher scratch resistance. Therefore, Trilogy can be dispensed without a backside coating, while polycarbonate must be coated on both sides.
For the most impact protection, avoid adding extra coatings to the lens.
Can Trilogy lenses be hard and AR coated?
The good news is that both Trilogy and polycarbonate have sufficient
reserve strength to be dispensed in thin sections and still exceed
FDA requirements once hard and AR coated.
