Show Your Polymer Notes

I have a very few. I really want to get a "junk" one to see if they really are impossible to tear.

Mila_cent,
That is one nice collection you have there, if you had to pick just one as your fav, which one would it be?
John1

here are mine

And this one burned. Cigarette?

They're not impossible, just much harder to tear than paper. Banknote polymer isn't indestructible, it has the same weaknesses as any other plastic:

- it's prone to sudden, catastrophic failure. It's very hard to tear, but apply enough force, and you'll rip it clean in half - it's very difficult to create just a small tear in a fresh, new note. But of course if you create a small defect like a cut with a knife or scissors to start it off, it tears much much easier.
- it becomes more brittle with age, as the plasticizers slowly evaporate out of the plastic and the polymer itself degrades.
- it's vulnerable to UV radiation. Leave it exposed to bright light for too long, and it becomes brittle much faster.

In another thread some time ago, I posted this one I pulled out of my wallet; it was one of the most well-worn polymer notes I have seen:


I also took a picture backlit, which shows the flaws and "hidden damage" the note has received in it's 15 years in circulation:


As the polymer gets older, it becomes brittle. I've found notes in circulation that had tears (resembling cracks rather than paper tears) and big pieces broken off them. Curiously, the tears and missing bits are just as likely to be in the centre of the note as at the edges.

Here in Northern Ireland there is one polymer note in everyday useage - it has a schema of the space shuttle on it

Pic below

Here is one that my NZ collector friend send to me. Well circulated, dated 2003 but it is a first prefix with a nice 5s.

Singapore $10 First Prefix OAA Polymer solid 555555.