Acetal Copolymer Provided by Industrial Plastic Supply, Inc.

by sitemanager | Jun 26, 2023 | Choosing A Plastic Material, High Performance Plastics, Machinable Plastic, Made In The USA

High Standards And Procurement From Reliable U.S. Manufacturers

Industrial Plastic Supply Inc. is ISO-9001:2015 certified. This benefits our customers since this certification communicates that we take quality and consistency seriously. We distinguish ourselves by providing Acetal Copolymer rods and sheets of exceptional quality over and over again so customers don’t have to wonder what they are getting when they do business with us.

American sourcing is another point of pride. In a time of global trade, a distributor may choose to do business with suppliers outside the U.S.. However, we believe that American quality and standards are top of the line. As such, our Acetal Copolymer is sourced from U.S. manufacturers. Our business partners – customers and vendors alike – can take pride knowing that their investments and dealings with Industrial Plastic Supply benefits U.S. customers, employees, and communities.

U.S. Sourcing Advantage

The benefit to customers in sourcing plastic from U.S. producers is more than patriotic or sentimental. Fact is, supply chains are more delicate than many of us imagine. Whether due to natural disasters, materials shortages, or politics, supply chains can fray and even snap. When that happens, price predictability and long-term supply/shipping agreements are thrown into disarray. Customers don’t want to hear excuses and “maybes” after they have signed contracts, paid money, and anticipate Acetal Copolymer products.

We pride ourselves on stocking and providing quality North American made Acetal Copolymer produced under the trade names: Tecaform® AH, Sustarin® C and ZL® 900. Each of these quality brand names are widely known for exceptional quality, consistency and durability.

Why Acetal Copolymer Is A Good Investment

Acetal Copolymer Performance Plastic

Acetal Copolymer is FDA compliant, opening up its use for food processing and packaging. The material is also stiff, resilient, and abrasion-resistant to a very high degree. Industrial Plastic Supply provides Acetal Copolymer materials in natural (white), black, and blue. Its stiffness and ability to hold shape under harsh conditions means that Acetal Copolymer sheets and rods can be shaped with standard cutting tools. This quality Copolymer Acetal material is FDA and NSF approved.

There are several special grades of Acetal that are formulated for tough food processing applications. Acetal Copolymer is available in a food grade blue for optical detection during food processing. This eliminates broken parts from getting into finished food products. There are also ultra detectable grades that are visual, x-ray and metal detectable for high end food processing applications. Contact us for more information on these special materials.

Automotive, Aerospace, and Medical Use

This plastic has exceptional ability to hold shape under stress, making it an excellent product in automotive and aerospace hardware. Gears, rollers, fuel lines, pumps and medical equipment all make use of Acetal Copolymer. However, care must be taken that the Acetal Copolymer is not exposed to temperatures above roughly 230 Fahrenheit (110 Celsius).

Safety Considerations

There are several factors to keep in mind when handling Acetal Copolymer:

Upon intense heating, Acetal Copolymer releases formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.
If machining or grinding, small Acetal Copolymer dust particles pose an inhalation and explosion hazard.
Prolonged exposure to UV light degrades Acetal Copolymer exposed surfaces and may change physical resilience.

Therefore, proper procedures must be taken when handling and machining this material. This is something Industrial Plastic Supply Inc. takes very seriously, not just for compliance reasons but also for the health and well being of our employees, customers, and ultimately the end-users.

Contact Industrial Plastic Supply for Acetal Copolymer

Industrial Plastic Supply Inc. is proud to be a distributor of Acetal Copolymer and other polymers. Contact us today for a quote and details about products, delivery, prices, and more. Call us @ 866-832-9315

Got Milk… jugs? Now made from HDPE

by sitemanager | Aug 28, 2020 | Choosing A Plastic Material, Educational Post, Made In The USA, Material Comparison, Recycled Plastic

Why food safe HDPE plastic replaced glass as the go-to milk container.

Many of you, should you be older than 60, may remember the “Milk Man”. This delivery service from decades ago, was a most common way of transporting milk to the consumer. Back then, suppliers used glass bottles, delivered by this milk man, right to your front door.

HDPE is Food Safe

When looking at alternatives, the milk processing industry found a use and benefit from replacing the glass with a plastic called High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). But what is HDPE, and what are the benefits of using it?

Glass is heavy, HDPE plastic is light

One of the characteristics of this thermoplastic is the weight of the material. The reason this is so beneficial brings us back to the milk jug. Old style glass milk containers could hold 32 oz., with the empty glass weighing 1.25 lbs. An empty gallon water or milk jug (128 oz.) weighs in at only 0.25 lbs, and holds 4 times more volume. When full, the milk jug can hold more volume than the glass bottle without compromising the strength, especially when being transported. This lowers the overall transport time and significantly reduces the cost of shipping.

This drop in weight and large increase in capacity is why the industry made the switch. The attribute of high durability in plastic materials like HDPE is known as the “strength to weight ratio”. As already mentioned, this was a huge benefit from switching to HDPE containers – the impact it has on transport costs. The high impact resistance of the material allows for easy transport. The HDPE jugs can withstand the jarring and bumping that is a natural part of mass transit, with almost zero wear or breakage to the product. Compared to the glass bottle, too hard of a turn or a pothole in the road could lead to the disheartening sound of shattering glass… not an ideal result for the distributing company. The HDPE impact resistance still holds true through out the supply chain, and even when the containers enter a store or home. If a HDPE milk jug should fall, the plastic container may spill, but it won’t cause the harm or damage that glass would. Broken glass poses a hazard and a risk, whereas plastic in this case can be easily cleaned, recycled, and used again.

When discussing this topic, the argument of recycling and sustainability sets its sights on plastics. In reality, the carbon footprint of plastics is much smaller than that of glass. The amount of heat necessary to heat up plastic for recycling is dramatically lower than that of glass, making it more sustainable in the long run. Yes, both are 100% recyclable, but the amount of fuel necessary plays a big factor. The temperature needed for melting and processing HDPE is between 248 and 356°F depending on grade. Whereas glass materials requires a minimum temperature of 2,600°F, according to SeattlePI. As you can see, these temperatures are very different, and shows why the life cycle of plastic is more eco-friendly and a better option to preserve our environment.

Immensely versatile HDPE applications

HDPE has many more uses, like in structural tanks, FDA approved cutting boards and industrial piping systems. This material outweighs most alternatives in benefits due to it’s cost and performance, and is produced in sheet and rod by many major manufacturers in the USA. HDPE plastics are FDA and NSF approved for food applications, making HDPE a food safe product for most food processing and packing applications. For more details on HDPE and it’s benefits see Industrial Plastic Supply or call 866-832-9315

What other applications could benefit from newer and improved materials to make our world safer, cleaner and more efficient?

Co-author: Graham Hess

Performance Plastic Vs Single Use Plastic

by sitemanager | Mar 9, 2020 | Choosing A Plastic Material, High Performance Plastics, Informational Post, Made In The USA, New Materials, Performance Plastic

What is a Performance Plastic?

The quick answer is: the opposite of single use plastic.

Performance plastics are a wide range of materials that are designed for use in mechanical, engineering, aerospace, food processing, and many other applications. These performance plastic materials generally have superior physical properties, and frequently are used to replace other materials like metals, wood and glass.

Most performance plastic sheets and rods are machinable, and can be used to replace other substrates that can not stand up to the same demanding applications that these performance plastics can. Performance plastics are the natural choice when considering replacement for traditional materials, such as bronze, stainless steel, glass, wood and copper, for not just one reason but rather a combination of features and benefits.

Nearly all Performance Plastic grades can be recycled.

Because of their cost-effectiveness as well as their reliability, durability, and special characteristics like resistance to chemicals and corrosion the high performance plastic materials are steadily replacing metals in the oil and gas industry. The constant development of new and better high performance plastics is therefore closely linked to the development and economic production of the range of available performance plastic materials. High performance plastics can be divided in amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers, just like all polymers.

Performance Plastics properties	Single Use Plastic properties
Long life – up to 50 years of service	Very short, often instant throw away
Wear Resistance	Very cheap
Self Lubricating	Little to no physical properties
High Heat Resistance	Very low melting point
Machinable	Very light weight
Can be Very UV Resistant	Deteriorates quickly
Very Long Life	Extremely short life
Tough and Durable	Considered disposable
Very High Impact Strength	Flimsy, low value

Why use a Performance Plastic?

Performance plastics are designed for repeated or multi-use applications and generate a smaller carbon footprint than glass, steel, or wood. High performance plastics are plastics that can perform well under extreme environments. Because most performance plastics are considered ‘self lubricating’, these materials can be made into parts that replace metals, and don’t require the continual maintenance and lubrication that metals require.

Over the past few decades Mechanical Plastics have increasingly replaced metals due to their strength-to-weight ratios, and resistance to wear have surpassed aluminum and steel, respectively. When certain additives are blended with thermoplastic polymers, this performance plastic can meet code and compliance requirements for smoke, flammability, and even toxic gas release. Several high end performance plastics can meet the stringent FM-4910 flame and smoke rating.

Performance Plastic materials are not ‘cheap’

As opposed to ‘single use’ plastics, the performance plastic materials are not inexpensive or ‘throw away’. Rather these high performance materials are designed for specific applications, and out perform most other substrates. Other characteristics of high performance plastics can be extraordinary resistance to wear and tear, high purity or particular electrical insulation. High performance plastics are plastics that can perform well under extreme circumstances. High performance plastics are best known for their temperature, chemical and wear resistance.

Performance Plastics offers high performance plastics for high performance applications, at economical prices, made by quality American made engineering plastics manufacturers. High-performance plastics are formulated to operate under extreme chemical, high temperature and heavy load applications or any combination of these. Most performance plastics are used where the highest demands are placed on thermal or chemical resistance, product mechanics, or on the self-lubrication of products. Several of our key North American suppliers are: Ensinger Plastics, Rochling Plastics, Z/L Engineering Plastics, Simona-America, Plaskolite, and many more.

There are many materials that are considered high performance plastic. Several of the better known and popular materials include: Nylon (Type 6, Type 6/6, Type 6/12), Acetal (both Acetal Copolymer and Acetal Homopolymer), Polysulfone, PTFE, Radel R5500, Ultem (Ultem 1000 and Ultem 2300) and PEEK (Victrex 450g), and many more. Each of these materials have their own unique set of physical properties as well as strengths and weaknesses. Please review the data sheets for each of these materials, and then contact us with any questions you may have on suitability for your applications.

In the performance plastic market, one size does not fit all. With over 50 high performance plastics, each with its own physical properties, several materials may be proper choices for your performance plastic requirement. Please feel free to call one of our certified and trained customer service personnel for assistance in choosing the best performance plastic for your application.

New Performance Plastics Making Metals Obsolete

by sitemanager | Dec 13, 2019 | Choosing A Plastic Material, Educational Post, Mentor Nuggets

Metals have been around for a very long time

The history of metals is thought to have begun with the use of copper about 11,000 years ago. Gold, silver, iron, lead, and even some brass began to be used before the first known appearance of bronze in the 5th millennium BCE High Quality Performance Plastics are replacing Metals

Artifacts made of smelted iron have been found dating from about 3000 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In those times, iron was a ceremonial metal; it was far too expensive to be used in everyday life. Metals are commonly very stiff, tough and strong. However, they are also generally quite heavy. Also, the cost to heat metal to production temperatures is extremely high, over 5 times that of Performance Plastic materials. When metals corrode they get smaller, and many can decompose to yield rust.

In comparison, plastics only were first made in the early 1900’s. The world’s first known fully synthetic plastic was bakelite (now days considered Phenolic), and was invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland who coined the term ‘plastics’. Since this date, thousands of chemists and material scientists have synthesized dozens of plastic base materials. Plastic materials are currently available in over 80 types, and each of these are molded or processed at slightly different temperatures. The wide range of performance plastic materials will allow you to choose the perfect material for your next application.

Some of The Advantages of New Performance Plastic Materials

New Higher Temperature Performance Plastic Materials

New Performance Plastic materials like Victrex 450g PEEK and Sabic Ultem 1000 have much higher use temperatures over previous performance plastic materials. The Ultem 1000 unfilled has a continual use temperature above 400 degrees F, while the newer Victrex 450g PEEK materials work well at 480 degrees F on a continuous basis. In addition to the higher temperatures, they are still food grade materials.

Most plastic materials can typically be molded in a temperature range of 400 to 600 degree F. While steel starts to melt at 2,500 degrees F. This is five times the temperature, meaning it takes 5 times the energy to convert steel instead of plastic. Lower temperatures equates to lower costs of production.

New Lower Weight Materials

The average plastic weighs just 20% of the average metal product. Many plastics have exceptional weight to strength ratios, meaning that for the weight of the product they are very strong. This low weight means much less raw materials and less impact on the environment if using plastics over metals. This results in lower cost to manufacture parts from plastics over metal.

For instance, new UV grades of HDPE or High Density Polyethylene are very light, with a density of just .96, so light it floats in water. And yet, this new UV grade of HDPE is a workhorse in the plastic market, and is used to replace wood and metals in outdoor furniture.

New Detectable Materials For Food Contact Approved

Most Performance Plastic materials were engineered to be food contact compliant, and in most cases FDA approved for food contact. With the increase in food recalls, finding the proper materials to ensure that our foods are safe is imperative. Materials like Acetal Copolymer, Acetal Homopolymer, Nylon, Ultem 1000 and Victrex 450g PEEK are all FDA approved for direct food contact.

Which Performance Plastic Will Work The Best

Here are some new performance plastic material grades that include additives to make these materials detectable during food processing. These newly released detectable products include Tecaform AH UD (copolymer acetal base), Tecapeek UD Blue (PEEK based) and Hydex 4101 UD Blue PBT – Polyester base). Each of these new performance plastic materials comes in Blue color to be detected by color sensors during food processing. The “UD” portion allows these materials to be detected by X-Ray and Metal Detection scanners in food processing production lines. Using these new detectable performance plastic materials in food processing plants can help to eliminate food contamination issues and massive food recalls.

Recent Rising Costs Of Transportation

Changes in transportation rules and regulations since 2018 have made shipping raw materials significantly more expensive. Weight, size restrictions and surcharges for longer packages have more than doubled in the last year.

This has made one of the most expensive components of materials reaching the marketplace is transportation costs, and over the last several years the costs of moving materials across the country has skyrocketed. Metals are heavy, and this weight makes many items very expensive to transport.

Each step in the production of a finished good generally involves shipping to the next step. Raw material converted into base material, then base material converted into usable shape. Later this shape is turned into a component or part. Each time there is a conversion, there normally is shipping to the next processor. Metal weight can limit the amount of metal that can be moved at one time, where plastics can ship up to five times more product per truckload.

With performance plastics, often the conversion in small factories that can be located near final assembly of components limits the amount of shipping of plastic parts. Also, due to the light weight of plastics, trucks can hold up to five times the amount of plastic over metals for shipping. Many plastic parts are made very close to where they will be consumed, cutting logistics fees. This five times the weight also translates to five times higher cost to ship metals. This reduction of transportation costs moves more profit to the bottom line.

New Performance Plastic Materials Eliminate Need For Lubrication

Often, on large metal parts or assemblies, grease ports are added to make lubricating the metal parts easy. Metal on metal parts will wear out very quickly, and therefore require regular service and lubrication.

Newly released performance plastic materials have made lubrication obsolete. One such material is a new compounded Nylon material, called Nylatech PVM has FDA approved oil additives. This new Cast Nylon material runs well for extended periods without external lubrication. This material runs quieter and smoother than previously used metal parts due to a much lower coefficient of friction, and requires no regular maintenance.

Another new grade of Performance Plastic material that is rated as ‘self-lubricating’, and have excellent wear resistance is Lub-X UHMW, which now makes curves in bottling plants move smoother, quieter and require no lubrication. These long wearing and high strength materials outperform most other substrate for low cost, high performance, low weight and self lubrication.

Each of these plastic advantages yield cost savings and long product life. Along with these new areas of advantage, Performance Plastics are 100% recyclable, and can be reprocessed into high strength parts again and again. The plastic recycling industry is still in its infancy, and as it becomes more adept at recycling and reusing valuable plastic materials, our planet and our pocket books will benefit.

New Name For Famous Type 1 PVC Sheet

by sitemanager | Feb 9, 2018 | Choosing A Plastic Material, Fire Retardant Plastics, Made In The USA, Performance Plastic

Boltaron® 1050E now Simona® Type 1 PVC Sheet

There are several manufactures of Gray PVC Sheet in North America. One of the best knows name for over 60 years has been Boltaron®. They have produced a high quality PVC sheet that is well know and respected. In 2004, Boltaron® acquired the assets of Empire Plastics, an Ohio based PVC Sheet producer, adding to Boltaron® overall production capacity. This acquisition was designed to also add to their already robust product line.
In early 2014, Simona® America Group (also known at Simona AG) acquired all of Boltaron® Performance Products, and Simona® also acquired Laminations, Inc. of Hazleton, PA.

Simona® America is a leading producer of a wide variety of Performance Plastics including: PVC Sheet, HDPE Sheet, Polypropylene Sheet and Kynar® PVDF Sheets. The purchase of Boltaron® Plastics boosted the width and breadth of the product lines already supplied by Simona® America. With the addition of Laminations Inc., Simona® America added an industry leader in high tech plastics that meet the FM-4910 fire ratings, including: PVC, Polypropylene and Kynar® PVDF sheet materials.

For the last 3 years, Simona® America has been actively combining the product lines that Simona produced along with Boltaron® and Laminations® production, and trimming duplicate productions. A concerted effort was made to harmonize the materials, so all materials would be from the same resins and will look and perform in a similar fashion, and as a result will optimize manufacturing efficiencies.

Just A New Name For PVC Sheets

Simona® America has now announced that the Boltaron® 1050E Type 1 PVC Sheet will now be called Simona® PVC Type 1 Sheet effective January 1, 2018.

This is just a name change and the PVC sheet will continue to be the same great product as before. There is no difference between the two materials, the name change only reflects the transition from the 2 manufacturing companies to the combined manufacturing capacity of Boltaron® and Simona® Type 1 Gray PVC Sheet and Sheeting. Type 1 PVC Sheet continues to offer one of the lowest priced materials that meets the difficult UL 94 V-0 fire rating.

There will be no change to quality or lead times, and the PVC Type 1 sheet will still be available from .060” – 4.0” thickness. One key to the Simona acquisition is that Boltaron® Performance Products has been the only North American company to produce products using extrusion, calendaring and press lamination all under one roof. Boltaron® can produce the widest thickness range of standard and specialty PVC plastic sheeting in the industry, from .003” to 4.0” thickness. They also possess the capacity to produce sheets of multi-layer composites, which can provide a broad range of physical properties.

Due to the wide range of products that Boltaron® has the capacity to produce; Simona® can now add to their offerings these additional products. The Boltaron® plant has extreme proficiency in producing PVC Sheet as well as PVC Alloys and Composites. These materials generally carry very high flame resistant ratings, and some of Boltaron® materials carry the highest ratings available from UL. Some of the most common PVC materials are the Type 1 Gray PVC Sheet, Type 2 PVC Sheet, Clear PVC Sheets, and CPVC Sheet materials. Much like a standard sheet of plywood, PVC sheet materials are normally produced in 48” X 96” sheets.

Worlds Largest Acetal Rod Made By Gehr Plastics

by sitemanager | Sep 29, 2015 | Choosing A Plastic Material, High Performance Plastics, Mentor Nuggets, New Materials

Gehr Plastics Announces Huge 24″ Diameter Acetal Rod

Gehr Plastics is an industry leader in large high performance plastic materials. They announced at this years IAPD Conference in San Diego, the new production of 24″ diameter (600mm) Natural Copolymer Acetal Rod.

24″ Diameter Is Worlds Largest Acetal Rod

Gehr Plastics has been an innovator in the large cross section plastics market. This new 24″ diameter (600mm) is the Worlds Largest Copolymer Acetal Rod. They also produce a Copolymer Acetal Sheet that is 8.0″ thick, also the Worlds Largest.

Being an industry leader is more than making the largest material, it is also about making the best quality material. Gehr Plastics is ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 approved and certified, guaranteeing a consistently high quality product. The product line that Gehr Plastics produces is also quite large. The materials include: ABS, Acetal (POM-C and POM-H), HDPE, Kynar, Noryl, Nylon, PEEK, PEI, Polypropylene, Polysulfone, PPO, PVC (Type 1, Type 2 and CPVC), PVDF and Ultem materials. All of these materials are available in a wide range of sizes, and yes, some of the largest.

Gehr Plastics Long History

Gehr Plastics has been leading the industry in innovation since 1932, and is now in the third generation of family owned and operation. From the wide range of materials to the extremes in size range, this is cutting edge performance from a family run company. They also released a web-app for picking plastic materials, Gehr Plastic Selection Tool, and it is also available for mobile devices. This comparison tool compares not only plastics, but metals as well, for a great look at the best physical properties for an application.

While quality and size are keystones to excellence, Gehr Plastics is also interested in materials that the rest of the industry has not

Large Cast Nylon Type 6 Rod

considered. Over the last several years, Gehr has produced some PLA materials (made from plants) and even a Clear Nylon Rod for higher temperature sight-glass applications. These are just a few of the cutting edge areas that Gehr Plastics is leading in this industry.

Industrial Plastics is Master Distributor

Gehr Plastics materials are sold through a tight network of Master Distributors throughout the United States. Industrial Plastic Supply, Inc. of Anaheim, CA is proud to be one of the top selected suppliers of these innovative materials. Contact us for any of these high quality and wide size range materials, call us @ 866-832-9315 or send us a note here.