(Newswire.net — January 21, 2014) Anaheim, CA — Acetal is a hard plastic material used for many engineering and mechanical applications. The Acetal is available in two major varieties, Acetal Copolymer and the Dupont Delrin Homopolymer. Both of these materials look the same and have many properties that are similar. The Dupont Delrin 150SA, the most common version of the Delrin for extrusion, is excellent for thin cross sections, but in larger parts it is known to exhibit center-line porosity.For this reason, most of the large rod and thick sheet materials are produced from the Acetal Copolymer.
In Plastic Materials, Size Matters
The size range of plastic rod has been on a steady increase for several years. Back in the 1980’s, the largeest plastic rods extruded were about 3.0″ in diameter. Since then, this size range has been pushed to new heights. Since the mid 1990’s, many of the major manufacturers of plastic sheet and plastic rod have been perfecting the extrusion process.
The high quality product currently in production is some of the most consistant and stress free materials ever made. Producing large diameter rod and very thick plate can be very time consuming. Watching a large rod, like in the picture below is so slow, that while the extruder is extruding this rod, you are unable to see it move. It can be days to produce a length of these materials. Sometimes lead times on large material is 6 – 8 weeks, much of this is actual production time.
News From Z/L Plastics
ZL Engineering Plastics now STOCKS 500mm (19.5″) diameter Acetal Copolymer rod! Some of the benefits of utilizing larger diameter rod for fabricators are to increase yields and lower out-the-door costs. In the past when large round profiles were needed for a project, fabricators were limited to cutting profiles out of plate which could result in poor yields and wasted time on excessive machining.
Along with 500mm (19.75”) diameter, ZL also stocks .375″ – 10″ diameter as well as 12″, 13 3/4″, and 15 3/4″ diameter Acetal Copolymer solid rod. Many of these rod sizes are available by the foot.
Acetal tube is also available ranging from 25mm OD x 10mm ID up to 500mm OD x 375mm ID.
The quality Z/L Plastic materials are sold by approved plastic distributors. The master distributor for the West Coast is Industrial Plastic Supply, Inc of Anaheim, California. Contact Industrial Plastic Supply or your ZL representative for current Acetal tube availability.
It is now safe to design using very large Acetal Rod and Tube.
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