Plastic Machining with Polypropylene Plastic

Pete Poodiack, VP of Sales and Marketing at Controlled Fluidics, talks about Polypropylene plastic and what makes it a popular material for plastic machining and fabrication.

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Hello. In this video, we're talking about polypropylene.

This is a great material when you need something tough that's FDA-approved and USDA certified. Polypropylene has superior dimensional stability. It's mechanically strong, chemically resistant, and abrasion resistant. But it's also very lightweight with low density.

We find that a lot of our clients use this material for medical components and research devices. That includes medical vials and petri dishes, for example. However, it's also very popular in the food processing industry.

There are a few drawbacks with polypropylene. Like any material, it's not the perfect option for every project. It can get brittle at low temperatures and it has poor weatherability. So, you can't use it in applications where that's going to be an issue.

At Controlled Fluidics, we usually use 40% glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene plates. The plates come in thicknesses of up to one inch, and we can get them in the standard colors which are semi-translucent off-white or black.

This only covers the basics. Learn more about Polypropylene Plastic on our materials page.