Types Of Plastic

Can be moulded by heating and can be

 re-molded if heated again

• Flexible, hard, shiny and transparent/translucent
• Thin sheets for overhead projectors and for packaging where the product must be seen
• Easy to print on
• Made mostly from wood= more sustainable

• Tough, strong and flexible
• Can be made with a 'living hinge' (therefore all one piece)
• Lunch boxes, chairs, textiles and car parts

• rigid, varied colours and thicknesses
• boxes for products
• vacuum forming
• fairly cheap

• Cheap and durable
• easy to print on
• quite brittle
• Used for blister packaging (pills)
• vinyl records, insulation, or electrical wires etc.

These next few plastics are not very strong but are easy to cut and shape. That makes them good modelling materials- to see ideas in 3d.

• Lightweight, rigid and weather proof
• Made from polypropylene
• stiff but can be bent in to shapes- good for flat surfaces & square edges
• estate agent signs or student folders for example.

• Lightweight
• Can be shaped with a knife
• Can be quite crumbly
• Dense structure (styrofoam)
• Good for models but need to be filled in order to paint.

• more compact than expanded polystyrene- can be worked on using machine tools
• Make detailed pieces which can be painted
• Used for architectual models

• Stiff and brittle
• Used to make signs and small 2D and 3D forms

• Tough, hard, stiff
• lightweight
• transparent
• Non-flammable
• Wrapping around products=protection

• Hard, stiff
• able to be sterilised
• used for bottles and shrink wrapping

• Strong, hard, lightweight and durable
• Good finish
• resistant to chemicals
• makes tubes and structures. Also can be corrugated.