by Bing Carbone
One of the best uses of plastics is for food applications. Storage and mixing are two things in which plastics excel. With all the different types of food grade plastics on the market, choosing the right one might be a bit of a challenge. One of the best plastics for food grade applications is Delrin. Produced by Ensinger, this food grade plastic is great for all sorts of applications.
Properties of Delrin
Delrin is a crystalline plastic that is an excellent balance of both strength and resistance. It is a bridge between metals and plastics in the sense that it is both rigid and capable of holding its form because of its high creep resistance, and also has the moisture, hydrocarbon and solvent resistance of a good plastic.
Delrin has a high tensile strength and stiffness. This makes it an excellent plastic for machining. It also means that it offers good protection for storage applications of delicate food items that can be damaged easily. Another property is the plastic’s excellent wear and abrasion properties that will keep it looking good after many uses.
Delrin also offers low moisture absorption. This is critical for foods that must be kept moist or for food applications that are going to be stored in coolers, freezers or other highly moist environments.
FDA Certified
In order for plastics to be used for food or consumable storage, they must be FDA compliant. Not only is Delrin certified for use by the FDA, it is also certified by the NSF and USDA, enabling it to be used in dairy applications as well. These certifications allow you to safely and legally use Delrin in any food grade applications that you see fit.
Excellent Replacement for Metal
Delrin offers strength that can be used in the food production industry. Food-safe stainless metals are traditionally used, but they can be very costly and, of course, heavy. Parts made of Delrin in a production environment can be lighter, thinner and allow for shorter molding cycles. This can help you to not only reduce costs, but make production outages shorter should something break down.
Delrin is rated for high load mechanical applications such as gears and conveyers. Since it can be machined to any desired application, you can use it to replace costly and heavy metal parts in your food production systems. The operating temperatures of -40 C to 120 C mean that it can be used in a wide range of applications depending on your needs.
Modern Plastics offers a wide range of plastic materials to suit any need. Choose Delrin or one of our many other food grade plastics for your needs today. Contact us if you have any questions or would like to see what certifications we can offer to ensure that you get the highest quality plastics that you possibly can.
