Plastics and their manufacture have changed over the years. Machining equipment is being used to make the process more efficient and streamlined for all of the products that use plastics. Here are some of the different ways that these materials are created and used.
Base Resin Properties
Most plastics start out as resin beads. In some applications, recycled products can be chipped into smaller pieces in order to start the process of creating something new. Colors and other additives can be included in the mix in order to distinguish between the different types of plastics used or to impart those properties to the finished product. Polypropylene and nylon are considered thermoplastic materials due to their resistance to heat and some chemical solvents.
Extrusion Process
Extrusion molding is one of the more common types of manufacturing methods for plastics. Injection molding is another common application in the creation of plastic goods such as cups and other household items. The stretching method of development is often used with base materials that are thermoplastic in nature. This is used in the creation of items such as plastic sheets.
Blend Potential
There are lots of types of plastics that can be blended together in order to give the end product more desirable characteristics. Fibers of the plastics are often spun at a high rate in order to create longer strands of the starting material. For example, polypropylene is often used as the underlayment for resin coated netting due to the fact that it has anti-sticking properties that make it a more usable substrate. Nylon is another such material that can be used because it’s more flame resistant than other types of material.
Industrial Applications
Due to the very nature of the thermoplastic category, they are more likely to be recycled and repurposed into new products. This is because they are more re-moldable than some others in the plastic family. You may have seen thermoplastics being used to help hold in your car’s windshield. This is because thermoplastics pair well with other types of materials, such as glass. Another application is in the use of adhesives. There are a variety of ways that these adhesives can be used across several industries. Roofing tar and other types of roofing materials are one such example of it in action.
Plastics are just synthetic polymers that are combined in unique ways. Consider these benefits of plastics the next time that you look around your house.