Plastics - UHMW - Stern Industries

PLASTICS
UHMW

UHMW provides a unique combination of low friction, high wear and excellent impact strength. UHMW is excellent for use in cold weather. It is also resistant to moisture and many chemicals. UHMW is also suitable for use in food handling products.

PLASTICS

INJECTION MOLDING
ROTATIONAL MOLDING
BLOW MOLDING
UHMW
EXTRUSION
THERMOFORMING

RUBBER

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UHMW Polymer is a Linear Polyethylene with a molecular weight in the range of 3,000,000 to 6,000,000. This value represents the "average molecular weight."

Therefore, UHMW Polymers have a molecular weight average 10 times that of conventional high density polyethylene resins. The higher molecular weight is what gives UHMW Polymers a unique combination of characteristics making it more suitable for many applications where lower molecular weight grades fail.

UHMW is a self-lubricating material which exhibits excellent wear and abrasion properties in addition to extremely high impact strength. Markets which would utilize these attributes would be snowboard bottoms, material handling, packaging, food processing and automotive just to name a few.

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Rubber Adhesives for UHMW
Rubber based adhesive systems typically offer the highest adhesion and shear properties in comparison to acrylic or silicone. They are best used in ambient, indoor applications as rubber adhesives are susceptible to UV and elevated temperatures. Since rubber adhesives are very aggressive, they will work with a wide variety of substrates and satisfy most adhesion requirements.

Acrylic Adhesives for UHMW
Acrylic based adhesive systems are more versatile than rubber based systems and provide a host of attributes such as UV stability, higher temperature performance and good to excellent chemical resistance. While rubber based adhesives have a higher initial bond, the acrylics go through a 24 hour cure cycle or "wet-out" period where over time, the bond continues to improve. Acrylic systems are usually a little higher cost but offer longer life than rubber adhesives.

Silicone Adhesives for UHMW
Silicone based adhesives systems are primarily used for applications requiring very high temperature resistance or where the adhesive will be bonding to a silicone filled material. These systems typically do not possess high adhesion and would only be recommended for thin films where thermal expansion or shear will not be an issue. Silicone adhesives are also high priced which may exclude them from competitive situations.