Why does bending plastic get hot

Recently, we told you what causes plastic to turn yellow — typically, exposure to UV radiation. When whitening occurs in plastic, it has to do either with heat molecular energy or stress. Most polymers contain both crystalline neatly ordered and amorphous unordered areas on their molecular chains. Heating a polymer can cause the amorphous sections of the chain to crystalize. Thermoplastic bending is done using heated tools for bending and angle forming. When heat is applied, the solid material warms up and becomes malleable, allowing to make a bend.

The desired bend angle is obtained using a template. NGS Printing is proud to provide value added services like plastic heat bending solutions, along with many other plastic fabrication services to our clients. Heat bending is a manufacturing method used to bend a flat thermoplastic with the use of machines and heating to make the material temporarily more malleable than it is in its cool state. There are many ways to bend plastic which can include convection ovens, radiant heating, but at NGS Printing, we offer hot-wire heat bending.

Hot-wire heat bending or sometimes referred to as strip heating or line bending is a focused line of heat that allows us to flex and form only a specific portion of the plastic such as bending the plastic in half or a specific angle. Since thermoplastics soften when heated and harden when cooled, they can be modified with heat and once cool, the plastic holds its basic form with the new shape.

With focused heat, thick rigid plastic materials can be folded in half degrees or bent to other angles using special cooling fixtures.

With so many different types of plastic and thicknesses, the heat bending process will vary. What ties all these materials together is that all plastics can be shaped with heat and hold that shape once cooled. The process of line bending starts with holding a hot wire or heating element near the surface to be bent. When taut, the hot wire radiates focused heat in a straight line across the material.

This process is used for products with a single curve. A variant of this is cold bending or temper shaping, which is suitable for polycarbonate and PETG. As specialists, we can bend plastic into any desired shape for you.

In the bending of plastic, the whole sheet material is first heated in a thermal oven, making it plastic pliable. The plastic sheet is then placed over a custom-made mould. After cooling, the material retains the shape of the mould.