Modern building and finishing materials have fairly good characteristics that allow the production of various complex products. This is also polypropylene sheet. It is used in many areas of human life. Moreover, it can be used in everyday life or industry.
What is the material?
Polypropylene sheet is a synthetic building material that has excellent physical properties, as well as a large number of advantages. Therefore, the presented product is in demand both in everyday life and in large-scale construction.
There are certain types of this material that have various properties. You will consider these types later. During the production of sheets, various chemical components are added to the raw materials, which can improve the physical properties of the material.
Material Specifications
Polypropylene sheet has good properties that make it popular:
1. Melting point - +165 degrees.
2. Resistance to frost - up to 10 cycles.
3. Density - 0.92 g / cm3
4. Elasticity - 1.15 N / mm sq.
5. Thermal conductivity - 0.22 W / m * K.
Next, we turn to the question of what advantages the presented product has.
Material advantages
Polypropylene sheet has the following advantages:
- A wide selection of colors and shades. In addition, the sheet may be matte or transparent. That is, you have the opportunity to make various decorations.
- Resistance to temperature differences, aggressive substances, wear, frost.
- Ability to keep fit.
- High strength, while the sheet is quite flexible in the cold state. Naturally, in order to better take the necessary shape, it can be slightly warmed up.
- Easy to clean and handle. Such material is very simple to cut, plan. In this case, you will not have a lot of garbage or dust. You can cut the material with a grinder and a jigsaw.
- High thermal conductivity.
- Low permeability.
- Ecological cleanliness. Even in the process of disposal, the material presented does not pollute the environment.
- Light weight.
- The material practically does not conduct electric current.
Polypropylene sheet (you already know its characteristics) is a really demanded product that allows you to realize the most daring architectural ideas.
Fields of application
Now we need to consider how widely this product is used.
1. In the food industry: for the manufacture of containers in which liquids (milk, water) or products will subsequently be packaged.
2. In the chemical industry: for the production of containers in which aggressive substances (alkali, acid) can be perfectly stored.
3. In the office: covers for books, notebooks, folders, envelopes are made from it.
4. In construction: for lining pools, construction of foundation formwork. In addition, this material is suitable for the design of water and heat supply systems.
5. In gardening: excellent pots and seedling boxes are made from polypropylene.
6. In addition, good rugs for baths and saunas are obtained from this material.
In general, sheet polypropylene, the technical characteristics of which are described in the article, is used almost everywhere.
Product Varieties
It should be noted that there are not so many types of this material. There are such types of polypropylene:
- Tight. Often, containers or other products for which stiffness is important are made from it. Often used such a sheet of polypropylene for swimming pools.
- Cellular. It is used as packaging material, as well as in construction.
- Foamed. It is often used as an insulating material.
Consider the latter type in more detail.
Features of foam
Today it is very common. The fact is that the product has excellent properties: it absorbs sound and vibration well, retains heat. In addition, the material practically does not absorb moisture, despite its porous structure. It is very light, so it can be used to warm not only one-story houses, but also high-rise buildings.
Even foamed polypropylene sheet burns very weakly. In this case, no toxic substances are released into the air. It is very easy to work with. It can last about 20 years.
The presented product is used everywhere: for insulation of the walls of the building from the outside, sandwich panels. It is clogged inside the walls to better absorb noise. Since the material does not absorb water, it can be mounted in places where high humidity is observed. It is also used to pack various fragile goods.
Features of the machining of the material
Soldering polypropylene sheets is not a very difficult task . Moreover, all actions are performed quickly enough. It is very important to consider the proper machining of the product. So:
1. The tool with which the work will be carried out should be well sharpened.
2. Only the edge of the blade should touch the surface of the sheet. In this case, the cutting will be carried out more accurately.
3. During operation, ensure that the product is clean. That is, the teeth of the grinder should be periodically released from the chips.
4. And you also need to make sure that the tool cools on time. This is necessary so as not to melt the edges of the cut.
Types of welding products
So, you can connect the elements together in three ways:
- Polyfusion welding of polypropylene sheet. It is considered the most optimal and high quality. To do the work, you need a special device that can heat the edges of the sheets to the required temperature. Then they are strongly pressed against each other. After cooling, the seam remains very durable. In this case, a similar joining method can be used for any material, regardless of its thickness.
- Welding with an extruder. To carry out the work, you will need additional wire material. Please note that the connection with such a tool is done manually. Naturally, in this case there is no reason to hope for a very high degree of strength. Most often, the extruder is used when it is necessary to connect sheets of large thickness.
- Welding with a special gun giving hot air. A special welding rod is also needed here. However, the device is not able to maintain high air temperature constantly. This suggests that the seam can be far from very high quality. Naturally, soldering thick pieces of polypropylene in this case is out of the question. The gun just does not warm the seam well enough.
The welding process itself must be done carefully enough. Consider the quality of the twig. For example, if it is refractory, then the force of pressing the gun on the seam increases. In order for the bonding to occur qualitatively, it is necessary to warm up the tool and auxiliary substance well. Naturally, the temperature should be uniform.
In order to solder, the plates must be attached to each other. Clamps can be used for this. If this is difficult to do in this way, then there is another way: sweeping away using a special die designed for this procedure.
After completing work, pay attention to the cleanliness of the seam. Naturally, during welding, foam appears on it, which hardens. In principle, if it is not noticeable, then the seam will not have to be processed. However, you can clean it. To do this, use a sharp knife, which cut off the excess. Please note that this should be done carefully so as not to violate the integrity of the surface of the plate.
That's all the features of polypropylene sheet. Now you know how to handle it and what properties it possesses.