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Exceptionally Versatile Plastic: Best Uses of PTFE 

Exceptionally Versatile Plastic: Best Uses of PTFE 

Polytetrafluoroethylene or as it’s better known ‘PTFE’ is a popular choice in hydraulics systems and components, being a non-stick surface and a highly durable material. However, since PTFE is made up of some of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry, this type of plastic has many different uses across a variety of industries.

Hydraulic Components and Sealing

The most common use for PTFE is for parts used in seals, gaskets and steam valves that are used to handle caustic fluids. The durability of this plastic has made it popular for a variety of hydraulic fittings like these as well, especially seals used in steam and high temperature applications. The rating for continuous temperature is 500 degrees F, while maintaining physical properties. Virgin PTFE sheets and rods are also excellent materials for wear and slide machined parts found in pumps and manifolds, having a non-stick surface that won’t experience nearly as much wear and tear as other materials.

Thermal Stability for Vehicle Engines

One of the major benefits of PTFE is its high thermal stability, which has made it popular for use in fuel hose linings, gaskets, seals, and other engine components. Its exceptionally long lifespan, high heat resistance and excellent water resistance makes PTFE an excellent choice for making parts such as wiper blades and other exterior components for vehicles.

High Resistance for Chemical Production and Processing

Virgin PTFE sheet and Rod in stock, ready to ship

Virgin PTFE sheet in wide range of thickness

PTFE is a highly durable and corrosion resistant material, and so it has become a popular choice of material for a variety of chemical processing applications. It does not melt or erode under the extreme conditions often found in chemical plants, and can is often used to make components that transport corrosive chemicals and other materials.

Excellent Protection for Electronics

Another industry that often takes advantage of PTFE’s benefits is in the electronics manufacturing. PTFE is commonly used for insulation, semiconductor components, and circuit boards. It offers high quality insulation properties even under harsh conditions, and its electrical conductivity can be increased using fillers such as copper. PTFE has been successfully used in a wide range of different electronics components for many applications, from automobiles to aircraft, where the more delicate electronics components need to be able to survive high temperatures or highly corrosive environments.

Looking for a supplier of high quality PTFE?

Industrial Plastic Supply, Inc. has been a trusted, worldwide supplier of quality performance plastics, including PTFE, since 1975, and we have one of the largest inventories of American made plastic materials in the world. Check out our website to view our full product directory or to contact us with any questions you may have.

Everything You Need to Know About PTFE

Everything You Need to Know About PTFE

Everything You Need to Know About PTFE

PTFE is an incredibly popular type of plastic material, with widespread use and many different applications. Though its popularity has waned–and its applications changed along with how this particular material is developed–PTFE is still an excellent choice of material for industrial equipment and electronic parts. 

What is PTFE?

PTFE is well-known for its non-stick properties and also known for being incredibly easy to machine and fabricate, and thus has been used extensively in industrial and electrical applications, especially for bearings, seals, valves, and fittings. 

The Properties of PTFE

PTFE and the family of Fluoropolymers have many excellent physical properties that are not just for high temperature and chemical applications, but many others as well.

The basic properties of PTFE include:ptfe thread sealant tape

  • Slippery and Non-stick surface regardless of rod or sheet form
  • Excellent Wear and Superior Chemical Resistance
  • Continuous Operating Temperatures up to 500oF
  • ITAR and RoHS compliance

At Industrial Plastic Supply, we also stock and supply a massive range of PTFE in many different sizes and shapes, including extruded rod, molded rod, thin sheet, thin and thick plate, and film. We can also mold PTFE tubing according to specific customer specifications. 

The Applications of PTFE

PTFE has seen wide use in a variety of parts and equipment, especially in industrial applications, electronics, aircraft systems, chemical processing equipment, and hydraulics. Typically, this type of material is used in the making of seals, gaskets, stem valves, wear and slide-machined parts, various fixtures, manifolds and pump components, and high temperature steam seals. It’s most often the choice of material for caustic fluid handling valves and fittings. 

Plastic Rod and Round Rods

Plastic Rod and Round Rods

Huge in stock inventory of Performance Plastic Rod

Plastic Rod and Round Rods

Specializing in plastic round rod and rods (aka: plastic dowel, plastic pin and plastic round bar); Industrial Plastic carries a huge variety of materials in round rod. Most materials are available in 96″ or 120″ lengths, however we normally cut these rods for shipment via UPS. Our plastic manufacturers are some of the best and largest in the industry and make the finest plastic rod and round rods available. We source only the best materials from American sources without any imports from China. Our plastic rods have the least amount of residual stress in the industry – providing the most consistent plastic rod, and thus the best finished parts.

Why chose Industrial Plastic Supply for your Plastic Rod and Round Rods

  • Huge selection of plastic rod materials
  • Most plastic round rod materials and sizes are sold by the foot (above 1.0″ diameter) and are in stock
  • Cut to length plastic rod, round rods, dowel, pin and round bar
  • Most variety of plastics available in round rod stock
  • Many materials available in up to 10″ diameter in stock (some materials available over 20″ diameter)
  • Plastic round rod generally starts at .250″ diameter (some materials available smaller)

Here’s a listing of the most popular plastic rod and round rods available:

ABS
Acetal/Delrin
Acrylic
Delrin/Acetal
Hi-Impact StyreneWide variety of performance plastic materials in round rod
Laminates (Paper, Canvas, Linen, G-10, FR-4)
Noryl – PPO
Nylon – Polyamide
PEEK
Polycarbonate (Makrolon – Lexan)
Polyester (PET – PBT)
Polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE)
Polypropylene
PVC
PVDF (Kynar)
PTFE- TFE
UHMW
Ultem – PEI

Still not sure which product is the proper material for your application, consult our free Plastic Materials Selection Guide. We stock a large inventory of most major high performance plastic materials, mechanical plastics and engineering plastics. Stop by or call us to see if we have the materials you need in our inventory.

If there is a material not listed, please call. It might be in stock, but not on the website. While this is a large list of materials, we do stock dozens of additional materials in plastic round rod. Contact us today for your plastic rod requirements.

PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene

performance-plastics-inventory

PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene

TFE, PTFE, FEP, PVDF, ETFE, ECTFE, PFA, PCTFE and other Fluoropolymers

Virgin PTFE Sheet and PTFE Rod

Virgin PTFE material is used frequently as a bearing or non-stick surface. It is an excellent choice for caustic fluid handling valves and fitting. Massive size range in  extruded rod, molded rod, tubular bar and thin sheet, plate and film. PTFE is also known as: Fluon®, Diakin®, Flouroplastic®, Fluoropolymer®, Neoflon®, Polyfon®, Chemfluor®, and more. PTFE plate, sheets, rods, strip, slab, block and tubes are normal stock items. The entire range of Fluorocarbon materials are high heat and chemical resistant performance plastics.

Other Fluorocarbon Based Materials We Supply in Sheet, Plate and Round Rod: FEP – Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene; PVDF – Poly Vinylidene Difluoride (Kynar®, Tecaflon®, Sustatec® and more); ETFE – Polyethylenetetrafluoroethylene (Tefzel®); ECTFE – Ethylene Chlorotrifluoroethylene; PFA – Perfluoroalkoxy; PCTFE – Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (formerly KEL-F® or Neoflon®)

Virgin-PTFE-sheets-and-rods

Why you should use PTFE (Fluoropolymers):

  • Very slippery and non-stick
  • Wear resistance
  • 500 degrees F continuous use temperature
  • Excellent chemical resistance
  • Very easy to machine and fabricate
  • PTFE Rod available from .125″ – 6″ as standard
  • Larger sizes are molded per order
  • PTFE Sheet – Film from .005″ – 3″ thickness
  • PTFE Molded Tubing- Vast sizes are available – made to order
  • PTFE is ITAR compliant, and PTFE is RoHS compliant

Frequently used in:

  • Seals, gaskets and stem valves
  • Wear and slide machined parts
  • Chemical resistant fixtures
  • Pump parts and manifolds- from PTFE Rod
  • Scientific aircraft and electronic parts
  • Steam and high temp seals – from PTFE sheet

Material Available As:

PTFE Sheet: .062″ – 4″ in Natural (White) in 48″ X 48″

PTFE Rod: .125″ – 6″ Diameter Natural (White) in 60″ Lengths

PTFE Film: .001″ – .062″ in Natural (White) in 12″ Wide (other widths – require Special Order)

Typical Resin Properties:

General PropertyASTM TestTypical Value
Specific GravityD7922.14 – 2.24
Tensile Strength YieldD6382,500 – 6,000
Tensile ModulusD63880,000
Izod Impact – NotchedD2563.0
Hardness – RockwellD785D50 – D65
Deflection Temp @ 264psiD648150
Deflection Temp @ 66 psiD648250
Co. Thermal ExpansionD6965.5X10-5
These properties are for evaluation purposes only. This information is not to be construed as a warranty, guarantee or assurance that you may achieve the same results. Materials made from different resin types, manufacturing techniques and manufacturers will react differently. The information should be used to compare against other materials only, and each user should make his own tests to determine suitability. No warranty as to this materials suitability are either expressed nor implied.

New Performance Plastics Making Metals Obsolete

New Performance Plastics Making Metals Obsolete

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.