Shrink wrap and stretch film are both considered polymers. Polymers are often easily defined as plastics. The best definition of a polymer we could find is: A large molecule composed of repeating units.
The proper chemical names for polymers are often hard to pronounce and spell. Often times through out different industries, polymers are abbreviated for ease.
When dealing with the different packaging materials we supply, we often refer to the polymers by their abbreviations. A very common abbreviation people use who may not be familiar with shrink wrap is PVC. Most of the time they are referring to PVC shrink wrap bags, rolls, or tubing. We also use different polymer abbreviations for the stretch film we offer as well as the trash bags.
We figured a list of common abbreviations for a variety of plastics in the packaging industry as well as other industries would be a useful tool for people to use. These abbreviations are based upon the American Society for Testing and Materials standard terminology.
ABS Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene
CAB Cellulose acetate-butyrate
CS Casein
CTFE Chlorotriflouroethylene
EEA Ethylene-ethyl acrylic acid
EMA Ethylene-methacrylic acid
EPD Ethylene-propylene polymer
EVA Ethylene-vinyl acetate
EVAL Ethylene-vinyl alcohol
HDPE High density Polyethylene
LDPE Low-Density Polyethylene
LLDPE Linear Low Density Polyethylene
MDPE Medium Density Polyethylene
PA Polyamide
PAN Polyacrylonitrile
PC Polycabonate
PCTFE Polychlorotrifluoroethylene
PET Polyethylene terephthalate
PETG Polyethylene terephthalate
*POF Polyolefin
PP Polypropylene
PS Polystyrene
PTFE Polytetraflouroethylene
PUR Polyurethane
PVAC Polyvinyl acetate
PVAL Polyvinyl alchohol
PVC Polyvinyl Chloride
PVDC Polyvinylidene Chloride
SAN Styrene-acrylonitrile
* Not an official ASTM abbreviation
As you can see with a quick look, they use abbreviations for a reason. The technical terms are too much to remember, to hard to pronounce, and to hard to spell. We decided to add POF into the abbreviation list. This is not an official abbreviation from the ASTM, but we refer to and use a lot of Polyolefin shrink wrap. It is much easier to refer to it as POF during conversation.
In future posts, we will be referring to these abbreviations when going over some of the products we carry.
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