About Plastic Tubing and Plastic Tubing Manufacturers Including: Acrylic Tube, Clear Plastic Tubing, Medical Tubing, Nylon Tubing, Plastic Pipe, Plastic Tubes, Poly Tubing, PVC
Tubing, Pultrusions, Square Plastic Tubing & Vinyl Tubing.
Plastic tubing is a very broad term encompassing the wide spectrum of rigid to flexible, heavy to thin wall, transparent to opaque, cut-to-length or spooled varieties of poly tube. Plastic tubes are used to convey fluids or gases or as structural components. Plastic tubing manufacturers utilize numerous plastic compounds in their product lines of acrylic tube, colored or clear plastic tubing, nylon tubing, all kinds of poly tubing, PVC
tubing (also known as vinyl tubing), Teflon (PTFE) tubing and square plastic tubing. Suppliers of plastic tubing serve needs ranging from medical tubing to plastic pipe and conduit. The varied characteristics of plastic tubing include coiled or spiral, corrugated or convoluted, flat, anti-static, reinforced, including fiberglass and steel wire reinforced and pultrusions, which are reinforced with rope and fabric, resistant to heat, spark and flame, explosion proof, multi-colored, multi-element or coextruded and double walled or multi-layered.
The intended application will certainly narrow the choices as far as size, flexibility and material composition. Is it a sanitary tube application in the beverage or pharmaceutical processing industries? A sterile surgical tubing application in the medical field? A drainage pipe application in the sewage and waste water industry? An irrigation pipe needed for agriculture? A plastic hose needed for oil, fuel, or compressed air? A rigid structural component? A shipping or packaging tube? A plastic core for spooling? When choosing the right type of plastic tubing for a specific use, it is important to consult a manufacturer or supplier and consider the diameter (i.e. is it large enough to hold the required flow volume?) and ability to withstand internal pressure. Other important performance considerations include bend radius and temperature range.
Materials for flexible plastic tubing include polyurethane (PU), Santoprene (a thermoplastic rubber), flexible vinyl (FPVC), low density and linear low density polyethylene (LDPE and LLDPE), flexible nylon 11 and nylon 12 (nylon type 6 can be flexible or semi-flexible). Some applications require rigid tubing. In these situations, the following materials are commonly used: polycarbonate (PC), rigid vinyl (RPVC), ABS, high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and PETG. Polycarbonate can be semi-rigid as well as polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). Manufacturers of plastic tubing may also provide rubber tubing for liquid and gas conveyance or vacuum needs. Surgical and medical tubing is a major specialty area of tubing manufacturers. PVC, silicone and latex (natural rubber) are the popular materials for these aseptic applications.
Although each type of plastic
tubing has too many characteristics to provide exhaustive comparisons in this small space, some differences
are as follows. Latex tubing has better elasticity, flexibility and gripping
power than silicone, though silicone has a slower deterioration rate.
Nylon tubing is preferred for pneumatic lines and low-pressure lines
and has good impact and abrasion resistance, but some types of nylon
can be damaged by moisture. Polyethylene tubing can be used for liquids
and gas lines at temperatures ranging from -60° to 160°F (-51° to
71°C). Polyurethane tubing provides resistance to chemicals but has
low temperature flexibility, while polyolefin is highly flame retardant
and has a wide temperature range. PVC tubing can also be used for pneumatic
lines at pressures reaching 125 psi with continuous temperatures reaching
100°F/38°C.
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Plastic Tubing and Plastic Tubing Manufacturers
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Plastic Tubing Types
- is a glassy thermoplastic that
will not age, is not affected by sunlight, stays stable under the variable
conditions of heat, cold, moisture, etc., will not warp, crack, craze
or corrode, is half the weight of comparable glass and has good shatter
resistance and durability.
- is similar to PVC tubing
but handles corrosive water at temperatures above the limits of other
vinyl plastics, has excellent chemical and fire resistance characteristics
and high impact and tensile strength and is crush resistant and nontoxic.
- Clear plastic tubing is a hollow, usually cylindrical body of clear thermoplastic material, used either for conveying or containing liquids or gases or as structural components.
- has good abrasion resistance, exceptional cut-through
characteristics and will not fray at the ends. It is widely utilized
in applications where temperatures reach up to 265˜F/130˜C at which
other kinds of tubing would knot, end or torque.
- fits around an object and provides it with
insulation and protection. Once heated the tubing shrinks and conforms
to the
object.
- returns to its original shape after stretching, remains
flexible in sub-zero temperatures and has immense holding strength.
- is tubing used for medical
purposes such as IV's,
catheters, coating on some surgical tools and more.
- is strong and resists abrasion. This tubing is typically
used for high temperature or high pressure needs.
- Plastic pipes are hollow cylinders that are used to convey fluids or gases or as structural component and is typically measured by the internal diameter (ID).
- are hollow cylinders used to transport fluids or gases and is typically measured by the outer diameter (OD).
- is excellent for harsh environmental applications,
because it has high tensile strength, good chemical resistance, good
optical clarity, high impact strength, good dimensional stability and
rigidity and is self-extinguishing.
- is unaffected by water and many chemicals
because of its tough and waxy texture.
- is clear plastic tubing that has good optical
clarity and strength. This tubing is sensitive to some chemicals and
should not be used in high temperatures or humidity.
- Poly tubing is a very broad term encompassing the wide spectrum of rigid to flexible, heavy to thin wall, transparent to opaque, cut-to-length or spooled varieties of tubing made from poly materials.
- is corrosion
resistant, flexible and flame retardant, does not shrink in
heat and has excellent electrical and physical performance.
- is a rubber-like
thermoset material that is used in
the medical field for applications such as medical devices, pharmaceutical
processing, laboratory, veterinary, pharmaceutical drug delivery systems
and cardio pacemaking leads, because it meets the industry's
requirements of cleanliness and non-toxicity. It is also resistant
to extreme temperatures, generally exhibits inertness toward U.V. radiation
and ozone and is not altered by effects of weather.
- Square plastic tubing is a square hollow device that is used to convey fluids or gases or as structural components
- is plastic tubing that is used for IVs, catheters, and other medical purposes.
- is a clear, strong, lightweight and flexible tubing
that has thousands of applications in the home, office, factory and
classrooms,
because it is chemically resistant to alkalis, alcohol, aliphate,
hydrocarbons, oils and some acids, retains transparency, stands up
to rough handling
and is odorless, tasteless and nontoxic. It is used to transport
liquids, gases and some solids.
Plastic Tubing Terms
- Small cracks close to the surface of
the plastic tubing.
- The amount of strain that plastic
tubing can handle before
breaking.
- The process in
which the diameter of a plastic tubes is enlarged while its wall thickness is
reduced. This process is often used to create
heat shrinkable tubing.
- A process in which a solid plastic resin is melted
and pushed by a screw through a heating chamber.
- A small mass in a transparent material, such as plastic
used in plastic tubing,
created by incomplete blending.
- A process in which
mechanical pressure works to increase the diameter of plastic tubes from the inside.
- The outer part of a heat shrinkable tube's dual
wall.
- A solution also referred to as rubber that usually consists
of water and polymer.
- The inner part of a heat shrinkable tube's dual wall.
- A process typically carried out by a catalyst
in which a large number of simple molecules combine to form a more complex,
chain-like compound (polymer).
- A flammable, transparent plastic that is an excellent
electrical and thermal insulator because of its high strength and impact
resistance.
- A general term for a broad class of thermoplastic
polymers that have good resistance to solvents and abrasion and can be
either solid or foam (cellular).
- A process that produces reinforced plastic shapes
with constant cross sections by pulling the reinforcing fibers, wetted
by a thermoset resin mix, through a heated steel die.
- Scale used to measure the hardness of an object.
Although there are different scales (plastic tubing uses the "A" scale),
they are consistent in that the larger the number, the harder the object.
- A process in which
plastic tubing is used as an outer cover
for an object in order to reduce the stress that is being placed on the
object by providing additional support and stiffness.
- Small cracks, typically found in clusters, which
occur in plastic tubing due to mechanical stress.
- A material that remains hardened, even when reheated,
due to its having undergone a chemical reaction.
- A rating given to highly-flame retardant
plastic tubing by the Underwriter's
Laboratories (UL).