Plastic material and plastic sheet manufacturers including plastic sheeting, plastic pipe, corrugated plastic sheets, plastic rods, and thermoplastic materials.  

Information Page Links:

Featured Plastic Materials Manufacturers

About Plastic Materials

Plastic Materials Terms

Plastic Material Associations

Plastic Materials Resources

Trade Shows

Featured Plastic Materials Articles

More Articles

ISO - International Organization
for Standardization

Back

Plastic Material Terms

Additive – A substance that is added to a resin to enrich particular characteristics.
 
Aging – The chemical and physical changes a material undergoes over time, due to environmental forces that will deteriorate or improve the material.
 
Alloys – Combinations of polymers or copolymers with other elastomers or polymers.
 
Binder – A resin or other substance that unites particles. Binders supply mechanical strength and guarantee solidification, consistent uniformity or adhesion to a surface coating.
 
Clarity – The lack of cloudiness in a plastic material.
 
Composite – A plastic structural substance that is comprised of a blending of materials.
 
Compressive Strength – The capacity of a plastic material to withstand crushing forces.
 
Copolymer – Different monomers that chemically react with one another, resulting in a compound.
 
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.
 
Cure Cycle – The period of time at set conditions in which a reacting thermosetting material is cured.
 
Discoloration – A change in the original color of a plastic material due to environmental conditions, such as light exposure and chemical attack.
 
Forming – The procedure in which an existing plastic shape is changed into another one.
 
Hygroscopic – The tendency of certain plastic materials to absorb water.
 
Masterbatch – A concentration of material in a base polymer, such as pigments, additives and fillers.
 
Opaque – Plastic materials that will not transmit light.
 
Plasticizer – A high-boil organic or liquid low-melt solid, the addition of which gives flexibility to hard plastics. Plasticizers differ in their solvating capabilities and softening actions, due to the reduction of intermolecular pressures in the polymer.
 
Plastisol – A blend of resins and plasticizers that can be transformed into continuous films through the application of heat.
 
Polymer – A synthetic or natural compound of high molecular weight, which is comprised of long chains of repeating units, each relatively light and simple, including polyethylene and elastomer.
 
Reinforced Plastics – Plastic materials with increased mechanical properties, resulting from the embedding of high strength fillers in the composition.
 
Resin – A solid or pseudosolid organic material that typically has a high molecular weight with a propensity to flow when stress is applied and generally has a melting or softening range.
 
Surfactants – Chemicals that permit the formation of a close mixture or emulsion of usually mismatched substances by the alteration of the surface characteristics and the manipulation of the flowing and wetting characteristics of liquids.
 
Thermosets – Plastic compounds or resins that in their last stage are insolvable and infusible. After curing is complete, thermosets cannot be softened through heat.
 
Virgin Material – Plastic material, such as granules, pellets, floc or liquid, that has not had any processing applied to it other than what is needed for initial manufacturing.