Machinery and Equipment
Plastic materials for industrial machinery
Plastics offer a number of advantages for industrial machinery manufacturers. Materials must be reliable, long-lasting, and easy to fabricate for a broad range of machinery applications and operating environments.
Plastic materials are significantly lighter than metals, which reduces weight and saves energy costs for moving parts. Additionally, plastics tend to have good sound deadening characteristics, which allows machinery to run quieter. Plastic materials are tough and durable with many engineered to wear well and stand up to cleaning chemicals. There are low friction plastics that eliminate the need for external lubrication and detectable plastics for optical, metal, and x-ray detection systems.
Curbell Plastics supplies plastic materials and machined plastic parts for your automation, material handling, robotic, wastewater, textile, aggregate, timber, printing and labeling machinery, and much more.
Benefits of Plastic Materials for Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing:
- Ease of fabrication
- Noise reduction
- Excellent bearing and wear characteristic
- Lighter weight than metal
- Dimensional stability
- Impact resistance
- Chemical and corrosion resistance
- UV resistant grades
- Detectable grades
- FDA, USDA, and 3A Dairy compliant grades
PLASTIC MATERIALS FOR MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURING
Acrylic
Outstanding strong, stiff, clear plastic available in a variety of brilliant colors and finishes.
UHMW
Extremely tough abrasion resistant, low cost plastic, used for a wide range of wear applications.
PET
A strong, dimensionally stable plastic with outstanding chemical resistance and wear properties.
PTFE
Low friction engineering plastic with outstanding chemical, high temperature, and weathering resistance.
PEEK
Strong, stiff plastic with outstanding chemical resistance; performs over a wide range of temperatures.
PBT
Strong, stiff plastic, excellent machining characteristics, bearing and wear, and chemical resistance.
Plastic Applications for Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing
- Bearings
- Bobbins
- Bushings
- Chain guides
- Chute liners
- Electrical insulators
- Flexible tubing
- Gears
- Guide rails
- Machine guards
- Pulleys
- Screw conveyor liners
- Sprockets
- Star wheels
- UHMW profiles
- Wear strips
- Winders
Transparent Machine Guards
Polycarbonate and acrylic sheet are ideal choices for
Plastics for Friction and Wear Applications
Plastics such as UHMW, nylon, and acetal have low friction and outstanding wear characteristics, even in the absence of external lubrication. These materials are widely used where wear resistance and smooth operation is essential.
UHMW is tough and durable performing well in applications where low friction and excellent wear performance are required. LubX® CV is a special grade of UHMW with lower friction and superior wear properties compared with standard UHMW.
Acetal is easy to machine into complex shapes, has low friction and superior strength and stiffness compared with UHMW.
Nylon has outstanding wear characteristics, particularly when it is in contact with metal in dry environments and is often used for gears, bearings, and bushings, when long wear life is required and external lubrication needs to be avoided. Nylon is also available in oil-filled and solid lubricant-filled grades.
Semicrystalline PET has strength and stiffness similar to nylon and acetal, however it has superior dimensional stability and stain resistance. It is often specified for tight tolerance food processing machinery applications.
Semicrystalline PET is strong, stiff, and dimensionally stable, with excellent machining characteristics, chemical resistance, and bearing and wear properties.
Continue Your Research
Not sure which materials best fit your needs?
Our experienced sales and technical teams are available to assist you with material selection challenges.
FAQs
Will plastic materials stand up to wash-down solutions and other chemicals?
Which plastics are FDA compliant?
Which plastic materials are the most dimensionally stable and can achieve the tightest tolerances?
Which plastic materials can be used in high temperature environments?
Which plastics have the best wear characteristics?
Working With Plastics
Plastic Applications
Discover plastic materials with characteristics important to your application.
Operating Environments
Plastic materials are engineered to perform in the most challenging conditions including temperature, chemicals, and more.
Material Selection Tools
Tools to help you select materials by plastic properties, chemical resistance, FDA compliance, or brand.
Plastic Applications
Discover plastic materials with characteristics important to your application.
Operating Environments
Plastic materials are engineered to perform in the most challenging conditions including temperature, chemicals, and more.
Material Selection Tools
Tools to help you select materials by plastic properties, chemical resistance, FDA compliance, or brand.
