Plastic Fabrication

About Plastic Fabrications and Plastic Fabricating Including: Acrylic Fabrication, Machined Plastics, Plastic Cutters, Plastic Fabricators & Plastic Products.

Plastic fabricating is a general term that refers to the processes of plastic manufacturing that produce specially designed products. Such processes include die cutting, stamping, laminating, assembly and packaging. In strict terms, fabricating refers to the chemical process of plastic production. In many cases, the plastic fabrication manufacturer supplies plastic materials or parts to other manufacturers. These materials include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and maintenance and repair operations.

Plastic fabrications include plastics that have been formed into molded parts, rods, tubes, sheeting, extrusion and similar products. Plastic fabricating methods involve punching, cutting, drilling, tapping, fastening or methods using other mechanical devices. The process for engineering plastic parts sometimes involves deburring, the removal of sharp edges from the cut plastic, which is usually done through the utilization of a CNC machining process. Deburring ensures a high degree of accuracy for plastic fabrications needed in machine applications.

Plastic fabricating refers to the design and manufacture of engineered parts, but it can also involve a combining and assembly process. The assembly process includes the cutting, gluing or welding of plastic fabrications together or to other materials. Products produced this way include display racks, enclosures, carts and signs. Plastic fabricators may be involved in these plastic manufacturing processes, but typically only if there is a need to control the process because of desired characteristics in the end product, such as color or strength.

Generally, most manufacturing plants utilize plastics of some sort in the production of their products. Plastic fabrications are beneficial, as they are often more cost efficient than metal or glass products. They can also be just as durable. Important considerations for plastic fabrications are size parameters, working temperature ranges, strength and color requirements. Plastic fabricating can produce washers, adapters, bearings, bushings, guide rings, insulators, shims, spacers and wear rings. Some specific examples of industries that use plastic fabrications include the chemical, electronics, sign making, automotive, agriculture, architectural, engineering and lighting industries.

Plastic Fabrications and Plastic Fabricating Image Provided by Brogan Manufacturing, Inc.

Types of Plastic Fabrication

• Acrylic fabrication is plastic fabrication that utilizes acrylic, a plastic material distinguished by its weather resistance, transparency, stability, chemical resistance and color fastness. Acrylics are available in films, sheets and resin adhesives.
  
• Custom plastic fabrication is the process of producing any plastic item to meet specific parameters per a customer's request. Custom plastic fabricated products include carrying cases, specialized displays, covers and machined parts.
  
• Machined plastic is shaped rather than molded.
• Plastic assembly is the plastic fabrication process that involves bonding or connecting one or more pieces. This process may involve cutting the pieces to the precise shape and size before assembling them; the assembly itself could consist of welding or bonding adhesives.
  
• Plastic CNC machining is the machining of plastic parts through a computerized, numerical control machine. It is common to machine parts through a CNC machine, as it assures precision and accuracy.
  
• Child Name are metal blades used to cut plastic.
• Plastic fabricators manufacture goods and components made out of plastic.
• Plastic parts are any specially designed parts of plastic material that are engineered and machined for industrial applications.
  
• Plastic products are any goods made from plastic materials.
• Plastic welding is a fabrication technique that uses hot gas and extrusion welding to bond sheet plastic together to form plastic tanks and containers, as well as to fuse welding pipes.

Common Terms Related to Plastic Fabrication

Acrylic - A manufactured fiber plastic material that provides transparency, color fastness and weather resistance.

Additive - Any one of various substances that modify the characteristics of polymer resins. The different types of additives include viscosity modifiers, pigments, fillers and reagents.

Binder - A substance, such as a resin, that binds materials together. Binders provide mechanical strength solidification and adhesion to surface coatings or guarantee consistency.

Bond Strength - The quantity of adhesion that connects bonded surfaces.

Brightener - An additive that enhances plastic coatings to make them brighter or smoother used in the plastic fabricator process.

Catalyst - A material that alters the pace of a chemical reaction pace so that it does not undergo any permanent changes in its own structure. This term also refers to a substance that significantly increases the curing of a compound when introduced in small amounts, contrasted with the quantity of primary reactants.

Colorants and Pigments - Additives that alter the color of plastic. Colorants and pigments include resin color premix or a powder.

Color Stability - The capability of a surface coating to resist deterioration normally caused by environmental conditions.

Compounding - The necessary procedure for blending the polymer with all the required substances to make a final plastic fabricated product.

Composite - A plastic structural substance that is comprised of a blending of materials, usually a thermoplastic resin or thermoset and a reinforcing element. Composite also refers to a strengthening fiber within a polymer resin; in either case, the collective result is greater than the isolated elements.

Compressive Strength - The capacity of any material to withstand any crushing forces.

Continuous Service Temperature - The maximum temperature in which a material is able to function reliably for multiple applications and extensive periods of time. Manufacturers do not consistently define the long term period.

Coupling Agent - A material that functions as an interface to create a chemical bridge between the resin and mineral fiber or fiberglass. Coupling agents enhance bonding.

Cure - The process of altering properties of polymers into a state of greater stability and usability. Curing is achieved through radiation, heat or reaction with chemical additives.

Delamination - The process of disconnecting the layers of a composite.

Flexural Strength and Yield - The calculation of a plastic material's ability to resist fracturing in the event of bending.

Flow Line - Also called a "weld line," it is a score on molded plastic that occurs from the contact of two flow fronts in the molding process.

Forming - The procedure in which an existing shape of a plastic is changed to another preferred one.

Hardener - A substance or substance blend that, when added to a material, enhances or controls the curing reaction by participating in it.

Heat Stabilizers - Additives that enhance the capability of a material to resist any negative effects of exposure to heat. Heat stabilizers are utilized to enhance the overall service temperature of the material.

Impact Modifiers - Additives utilized to increase capability of a material to resist the force of an impact.

Laminate - The process of putting a sequence of layers of polymer and reinforcement into a mold. The resulting product is called a laminant.

Layer -- A single layer of laminate or lay up.

Lay Up - A process in which layers of polymer resin and other reinforcements are applied to a mold to produce a part.

Light, UV Stabilizers and Absorbers - Additives that enhance the capability of a material to resist the harmful effects of UV and light exposure, consequently enhancing the life of the material.

Molded Part - Plastic parts produced by primary processing. Molded parts often do not need a finishing operation.

Polymer - A chain molecule that is typically found in plastics and made up of long molecular chains created from monomers, which occur as repetitive building blocks.

Reinforced Plastic - Material of plastic with increased mechanical properties, resulting from the embedding of high-strength fillers in the composition.

Sandwich Construction - A composite of two laminate layers with a structural core material between them. Sandwich construction produces stiff, lightweight structures.

Sheet - Continuous phase plastic which is formed in such a way that the thickness is extremely low in proportion to the length and width. Specifically, a sheet is more than 0.25 mm.

Stress Crack - An internal or external crack that results from tensile stresses lower than the short-time mechanical strength.

Tackifiers - Additives that increase the bonding capability or adhesiveness of a material.

Tensile Yield Strength - The highest stress a material can resist when exposed to a stretching load before yielding.

Tensile Break Strength - The highest stress a material can resist when exposed to a stretching load before breaking.

Thermoplastic - A category of plastics that are able to be softened or hardened through heat and cold. These materials, which include PVC, nylon, polystyrene and polycarbonates, undergo a change that is primarily physical, as opposed to a chemical.

Warpage - An inconsistent alteration in internal stresses causing deformation or distortion of the material.