Bayer MaterialScience AG has developed `Makrofol LISA', a new polycarbonate film that provides designers with enormous scope for creating plastic parts with a highly unusual and very striking colored light from round the edges.

Potential applications include business cards, posters, traffic signs, presentation screens, fashion accessories and labels for sportswear such as ski clothing, the company said in release.

''Our light-emitting film could also be used to design components for lamps, as well as frames, beading strips and facings for cupboards and chairs,'' the release quoted Norbert Kinzel, head of the films unit in the coatings, adhesives, specialties business unit, as saying.

''This kind of corona effect is attractive for many Makrofol applications. We are thinking, for example, of displays and dials, advertising articles, trade show booths, furniture and the printing industry,'' said Kinzel.

The transparent film collects incident light, conveys it to the edges and allows it to emerge there, shining brightly. Molded parts thus exhibit a clearly visible edge lighting that emphasises their contours.

Makrofol LISA is available in green, orange and red in sheets measuring 300 x 1,000 mm.

Bayer said the light-collecting film has all the properties that standard Makrofol films have – high heat resistance, toughness and elasticity over a broad temperature range as well as good electrical insulation properties. It can be molded hot or cold, and can also be back-injected and stiffened with a thermoplastic using the film insert molding (FIM) technique. It can be readily printed with standard inks, for example by screen printing or digital printing.

Bayer MaterialScience has appointed Dutch firm Vink Holding BV as a distribution partner for the Makrofol LISA products, which is also supplied by other distributors with the film.

With 2008 sales of Euro 9.7 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world's largest polymer companies. The company has 30 production sites around the globe and employs around 15,100 people.