Hello!

As an Introduction to Technical Plastics the tendency is to think that everyone is the same, but this thought is very far from reality. There is a very wide variation, elaborated by means of different methods and techniques, they originate, the vast majority, from raw materials obtained in chemical plants from petroleum derivatives.

For our activity we take as reference the so-called “technical plastics or engineering plastics”.

It is a limited group of materials used for the production of parts or mechanisms, which will form part of the most diverse production facilities, in any industrial sector.

Technical plastics are materials capable of withstanding loads and speeds that other plastics used to make wastebaskets or other everyday components cannot resist.

Technical plastics have advantages and disadvantages compared to metals. Later we will go deeper, but note that technical plastics are the lightest materials.

It is important to achieve the choice of the appropriate technical plastic, depending on each application and its parameters: resistives, clearances and tolerances.

Technical Plastics Abbreviations

We quote some abbreviations and their general name, in accordance with ISO 10438 / ASTM 16008 / DIN 7728. Of 56 generic names, without considering the different combinations of these products, we highlight 17 that correspond to our specialty.

HDPE Polietileno de alta densidad
PA Polamida, nilón
PAI Poliamida – imida
PC Policarbonato
PEEK Polieretercetona
PEI Polieterimida
PET Polietileno teraftalato, poliéster
PI Poliimida
POM Polioximetileno, poliacetal
PP Polipropileno
PPS Sulfuro de polifenileno
PSU Polisulfona
PTFE Politetrafluoroetileno
PVDF Sulfuro de polivinideno
PUR Poliuretano
PVC Cloruro polivinilico
UHMWPE Polietileno de ultra alto peso molecular

For the next post we will talk about how to obtain the technical plastics used for our activity, which focuses on machining by chip removal, in machine tools.

Until next time!

Elia Millán

Commercial Technician