What is AcrylX material and how is it different from acrylic?

AcrylX is acrylic, not a different material. What sets it apart is how it is applied: AcrylX is an acrylic finish laid over a fiberglass-reinforced shell, with Armorcore reinforcement behind the walls, while the acrylic in an Ella walk-in tub is a solid sheet formed over a mold. Ella uses AcrylX on its made-in-the-USA shower stalls, multi-piece kits and barrier-free roll-in bases, and What Are Acrylic Shower Walls and How Do They Work? shows how those panels and bases fit together. This page explains what the finish is, how it differs from sheet acrylic and from gel coat, and how to look after it.

What AcrylX Is, Layer by Layer

An Ella AcrylX shower unit is built in layers, and each layer has one job. The fiberglass-reinforced shell gives the stall or base its shape and strength. The AcrylX layer is the surface you see, touch and clean. Ella's product pages describe it as a long lasting applied acrylic finish with a high gloss, truer white look that resists scratching, cracking and chipping, and because it is less porous, it stays easier to clean. Behind the surface, the walls carry Armorcore reinforcement on all sides, so grab bars and seats can be mounted anywhere on the wall rather than only where the framing happens to be. That matters when a bather's needs change after the shower is installed, and What Is Armorcore Reinforcement on Ella Shower Stall Walls and Why Does It Matter? covers the reinforcement on its own.

Nothing on an AcrylX stall is a bolt-in part made from a different material. Even the molded seat on a one-piece or three-piece stall is a shape in the same fiberglass shell with the same AcrylX finish, which is why it is cleaned exactly like the walls and floor. Is the Ella Shower Stall Molded Seat Hollow, and What Is It Made Of? explains what that construction means for support under the seat.

How AcrylX Differs from Sheet Acrylic

The acrylic most people picture is a sheet, and that is what an Ella walk-in tub uses. Every current Ella tub shell starts as an acrylic and ABS sheet that is heated and vacuum-formed over the mold into one seamless surface, and the team describes that sheet as roughly 1/8 to 3/16 inch thick. The white runs all the way through the sheet, so a dull spot can be buffed out and the color resists fading in a way a sprayed finish cannot. Underneath, gel-coated fiberglass is applied to the back of the sheet for strength and the shell is bonded to a stainless steel frame. Fiberglass vs acrylic bathtub: what is the real difference? walks through that construction.

AcrylX reaches the same kind of result from the other direction. Instead of forming a thick acrylic sheet and reinforcing it from behind, the fiberglass shell is formed first and the acrylic finish is applied over it. Either way the bathing surface is acrylic and the strength comes from fiberglass behind it. Ella's care instructions treat AcrylX exactly like any other acrylic fixture, and Ella's published documents never draw a line between AcrylX and other acrylic surfaces. The one practical difference worth knowing is where each is used: sheet acrylic on the walk-in tubs, AcrylX on the shower stalls, kits and roll-in bases. If you are weighing an Ella product described as acrylic against one described as AcrylX, you are comparing two acrylic surfaces, and the choice should come down to the product itself rather than the name of the finish.

AcrylX, Sheet Acrylic and Gel Coat Side by Side

Every figure in this table appears in a published Ella document or in the dealer video on this page. Where none is printed, the cell says not listed.

The table shows why the question of AcrylX or acrylic has no real stakes, while the question of AcrylX or gel coat does. The first two rows are both acrylic bathing surfaces over fiberglass, and the differences between them are about which product you are buying, a tub or a shower, not about how the surface will wear. The third row is the one that behaves differently. Gel coat is a thin sprayed coating, and the dealer in the video explains that on the fiberglass tubs they used to install, the finish was brittle, the tub expanded and contracted as hot and cold water moved through it, and the result was chips and cracks that called for a full fiberglass repair followed by refinishing and polishing. A dull spot on acrylic, by contrast, can simply be buffed out. If you own an older Ella gel coat stall and are comparing it with a current AcrylX unit, that is the difference you are looking at.

Why Ella's Documents Compare AcrylX with Gel Coat

The comparison Ella's own documents draw is between the current AcrylX units and the older gel coat units. Gel coat is the finish on the legacy ESM series one-piece stalls and on the low-threshold gel coat multi-piece showers, and the documents for those units print a 3 year limited warranty. The AcrylX one-piece stalls print a Lifetime Limited Residential Warranty and a 30-Year Commercial Warranty, the longest printed term in the shower line. Armorcore is printed for the AcrylX stalls and kits and not for the gel coat units or for the sheet acrylic wall kits. Both generations are fiberglass units, and in both the fiberglass gives the shower its shape and strength, so the change from one to the other is the layer you see, touch and clean. What is the difference between gel coat and AcrylX Ella shower finishes? puts the two finishes product by product with their printed terms.

Caring for an AcrylX Surface

Because AcrylX is acrylic, Ella's care instructions are the same as for any acrylic fixture. Clean with warm water and liquid detergent, or with a non-abrasive cleanser made for fiberglass bathroom fixtures. Never use scouring powders, scouring pads or steel wool. The molded seat, the floor and the walls are all the same surface, so one cleaner and one method cover the whole stall. If you are not sure whether an older Ella stall in your home is gel coat or AcrylX, send the model number from its label and a photo through ellasbubbles.com/support, or call (800) 480-6850, and the team can tell you which finish you have and how to care for it.

Watch: Acrylic Over Fiberglass: The Better Walk-In Tub Choice | Voted Safest/Best 2020 | Ella’s Bubbles with chapters and a full transcript.

Related Guides

• Gelcoat vs Acrylic Walk-In Tub: Which Material Holds Up Better?
• Fiberglass vs Acrylic Tub: Which Bathtub Material Is the Better Choice?
• What is AcrylX and how does it compare to acrylic?

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