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From Polyethylene to PVC: Exploring Common Plastic Extrusion Materials

From Polyethylene to PVC: Exploring Common Plastic Extrusion Materials

Plastic profile extrusion creates products for a wide range of industries, including medical, renewable energy, lighting, construction, appliances, and more. With so many applications of plastic extruded products, many different types of plastics can be used to create a product with all of the desired properties. Let’s explore the various common plastic extrusion materials that are used.

Common Plastic Extrusion Materials

Polyethylene

Polyethylene is a flexible, weatherproof plastic with many beneficial properties, including chemical resistance, biocompatibility, electrical insulation, and ease of processing. While this plastic has many beneficial properties, there are some drawbacks. Polyethylene is flammable and can melt at higher temperatures, and it also has a lower mechanical strength than other plastics.

Polyethylene has various applications in a wide range of industries:

  • Medical: Used to create patches, personal protective equipment, packaging films, containers, lids, and tubing.
  • Construction: Primarily used to manufacture hoses and gas, water, and sewer pipes.
  • Lighting: Wire and cable insulation and jacketing are created from polyethylene.
  • Appliances: Used to create water tubing and pipes and electrical insulation and jacketing.

Polypropylene

Polypropylene is resistant to chemicals and corrosion, it’s easy to process, offers good electrical insulation, impermeable to water, has high tensile strength, is lightweight, and biocompatible. However, it does have low UV resistance, a low melting point, and is flammable.

This polymer has various uses in a wide range of industries: 

  • Medical: Used to create syringes, vials, Petri dishes, pill containers, and tubing.
  • Appliances: Polypropylene is used to manufacture appearance parts in washing machines, refrigerators, and vacuums.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

PVC is durable, chemical resistant, lightweight, cost-effective, flame resistant, and impermeable to liquids. It does also have a few limitations, however, including poor heat stability, potential health hazards, and it can break or splinter when exposed to physical stress.

PVC is used in many applications including those in construction and medicine. 

  • Construction: PVC is used in siding, window frames, pipes, decking, fencing, and flooring.
  • Medical: IV bags and medical tubing can be created through PVC.

Polystyrene (PS)

Polystyrene provides insulation while being lightweight, durable, cost-effective, and resistant to chemicals, bacterial growth, and water. Unfortunately, this polymer is brittle and can pose potential health hazards.

Polystyrene is beneficial for use in many industries and applications: 

  • Construction: Found in insulation panels, roofing, and flooring.
  • Medical: Can be used to create test tubes.
  • Appliances: This polymer is used to create products in appliances, air conditioners, and microwaves.

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)

ABS exhibits chemical and thermal stability, is strong, and is resistant to physical impacts and chemical corrosion. It does also have a low melting point and is not resistant to UV. This polymer is commonly used in gardening, medical, and construction applications.

  • Gardening: ABS is used to create shovels, rakes, hoes, claws, and other hand gardening tools.
  • Medical: Drug delivery systems and medical equipment housings are commonly created with ABS.
  • Construction: Piping and fittings for drain, waste, and vent piping systems are made from ABS.

Polyamide

Polyamide is resistant to abrasion, corrosion, fire, and UV while also being flexible and strong. However, this polymer is costly and can absorb moisture, limiting its applications. These applications include medical device production and casings and housings for electronics.

Polycarbonate

Polycarbonate is resistant to impact, heat, and UV while also providing good electrical insulation. This polymer has many benefits, however, it is flammable and sensitive to certain chemicals. Its common applications include lighting and medical products:

  • Lighting: Used in electrical insulators, connectors, and LED light coverings.
  • Medical: Commonly used to create medical devices, incubators, and surgical instruments.

Plastic Compounds

Plastic compounds are blends of polymers and additives to enhance or add to their properties. This can improve the dimensional stability, increase stiffness, and add UV tolerance, fire retardation, and antimicrobial properties to your products.

Interested in Learning More About Common Plastic Extrusion Materials Options? Contact Custom Profile

At Custom Profile, we have decades of experience in custom plastic profile and tubing extrusion. We work with various plastic extrusion materials and we have the ability to create plastic compounds in order to ensure your products are exactly what you need.

Contact our team today to learn more about what we can do for you.

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