How To Thermoform Polystyrene Plastic Sheets

Often fabricated into signs packaging and light duty housings these sheets and strips are easy to thermoform.

How to thermoform polystyrene plastic sheets.

Abs plastic delrin acetal plastic hdpe plastic ldpe plastic noryl ppo plastic nylon plastic polyester plastic polystyrene plastic. To do this large sheets of hips are heated and fitted over a custom tool. Styrene plastic is a go to machinable plastic when high impact resistance and machinability are needed at a cost effective price point. Once heated hips is highly malleable meaning high impact polystyrene thermoforming is an excellent way to manufacture the plastics our customers need.

Made of fda listed material ul 94hb. This gives polystyrene almost the same amount of versatility as polyethylene. Recommended uses for styrene thermoform plastic sheets. Simply stated vacuum forming is the process of taking a flat sheet of plastic and changing it into a contoured shape.

High impact polystyrene thermoforming. Polystyrene is a thermoplastic that s solid at room temperature but will begin to melt at 210 c. Amorphous plastics like abs and polycarbonate generally have wide processing windows and good melt strength making them easy to thermoform. Polystyrene is available in three primary forms including a hard impact resistant plastic a lightweight foam and a thin film.

Styrene is commonly used in prototypes as it is dimensionally stable and easy to fabricate paint and glue. Many plastic sheet materials can be shaped by thermoforming. Prototypes packaging soap and candle molds scale models theater props abs thermoform plastic sheets due to its low cost and superior physical properties abs acrylonitrile butadine styrene is one of the most popular thermoform plastics used for vacuum forming. Some plastics like hdpe and pp have narrower processing windows and lower melt strength which make them more difficult but not impossible to thermoform.

This is accomplished by putting a piece of plastic into some type of clamping mechanism heating the sheet up to a forming temperature stretching the heated sheet of plastic over a mold sealing the heated plastic sheet on the.