Bespoke Plastic Heat Bending Services

If your business requires plastic heat bending services, then here at Flow, we will have the right solutions for you. As a full-service fulfilment house, we can provide a free initial consultation to recommend the most appropriate and cost-effective approach to fulfil your heat bending requirements. So whether you work as part of a supermarket or retail chain, a POS printer, or a plastic manufacturer, we are here to help you and your business. 

Plastic Heat Bending Samples

Samples are a great way to ensure you're getting the product finished exactly as your brief requires. All the samples that we create are produced, QA'd, posted to you and signed off by yourself before going into production. Our process gives you complete peace of mind and quality assurance.

How to Expand Your Heat Bending Knowledge

Please read on if you need more information about heat bending and how it can be applied to your requirements. It is not too technical, but it gives you the knowledge to ask the right questions when designing products and heat bending the product to form.

What is Heat Bending?

The heat deflection temperature or heat distortion temperature (HDT, HDTUL, or DTUL) is the temperature at which a polymer or plastic sample deforms under a specified load. This property of given plastic material is applied in many aspects of product design, engineering, and manufacture of products using thermoplastic components. 

Which Plastics Can be Heat Bent?

Well, any thermoplastic, as the name suggests. The four main ones and their pseudonyms are:

• Polystyrene
• Acrylic
• Polycarbonates
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

Below we have created in-depth information on each of these. This understanding will help enable you to understand the options available for your project. As always, if you're unsure of the most appropriate option for your project, please speak with one of our expert consultants in our Heat Bending Department.

Heat Bending Polystyrene

Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic aromatic hydrocarbon polymer made from the monomer known as styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and somewhat brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a rather poor barrier to oxygen and water vapour and has a relatively low melting point. Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics. Polystyrene can be naturally transparent but can be coloured with colourants. Uses include: 

• Protective packaging (such as packaging)
• Containers
• Stands
• Placeholders
• Trays
• Menu stands
• And many more commercial uses.

Polystyrene is a versatile plastic used to make a wide variety of consumer products too. Polystyrene also is made into a foam material, called expanded polystyrene (EPS) or extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is valued for its insulating and cushioning properties.

Heat Bending Acrylic

Acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic often used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. The same material can be used as a casting resin or in inks and coatings, among many other uses. Acrylic has many names, including:

• Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)
• Acrylic
• Acrylic glass
• Perspex
• Crylux
• Plexiglass
• Acrylite
• Astariglas
• Lucite
• Perclax

Although not a type of familiar silica-based glass, the substance, like many thermoplastics, is often technically classified as a type of glass (in that it is a non-crystalline vitreous substance) hence its occasional historical designation as acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate.

PMMA is an economical alternative to polycarbonate (PC) when tensile strength, flexural strength, transparency, polishability, and UV tolerance are more important than impact strength, chemical resistance, and heat resistance. Additionally, PMMA does not contain the potentially harmful bisphenol-A subunits found in polycarbonate. Therefore, it is often preferred because of its moderate properties, easy handling and processing, and low cost. However, non-modified PMMA behaves in a brittle manner when under load, especially under an impact force, and is more prone to scratching than conventional inorganic glass. Still, modified PMMA can sometimes achieve high scratch and impact resistance.

Heat Bending Polycarbonates

Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily worked, moulded, and thermoformed. Because of these properties, polycarbonates have many applications. Polycarbonates do not have a unique resin identification code (RIC) and are identified as "Other", seven on the RIC list. Products made from polycarbonate can contain the precursor monomer bisphenol A (BPA).

Heat Bending Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a solid plastic material made from vinyl chloride. … Polyvinyl chloride is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer.

PVC comes in two basic forms: rigid (sometimes abbreviated as RPVC) and flexible. The rigid form of PVC is used commercially for signs and in profile applications such as:

• Stands
• Point of sale hangers
• Windows
• Non-food packaging
• Covering sheets
• Cards (such as bank or membership cards). 

It can be made softer and more flexible by adding plasticisers, the most widely used being phthalates. In this form, it is also used in signage and Point of sale displays. Pure polyvinyl chloride is a white, brittle solid. It is insoluble in alcohol but slightly soluble in tetrahydrofuran.

Heat Bending Implementation

Hopefully, the information we have discussed above will be beneficial for you. You now have the essential knowledge base to place heat bending orders. Since 2008 it has been our mission to build our customers business' bespoke business fulfilment and marketing services. We provide award-winning fulfilment, all undertaken in our 15,000sq. ft facilities based in West Yorkshire.

To reassure you that this content is factual, credible and beneficial for your business, we are DMA (Data & Marketing Agency) and IPIA (Independent Print Industries Association) members and hold ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO27001 accreditations.

We have a team of experts ready to help you create and implement specialist heat bending solutions for your business. So please get in touch with us today, ask to speak with one of our heat bending consultants, and mention that you have read this page.

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