What is the best material for high abrasion resistance?

The growth of UHMW Sheet

The plastic marketplace acquired a new product in the 1970’s.  This item was a thin-gauge Ultra high Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE).  In the 70’s UHMW-PE wasn’t acknowledged for many of its potential applications and there weren’t lots of marketers available which could push UHMW-PE.  Soon adequate consumers began utilizing this awesome product for different tasks and acknowledging that it might just keep up with some of the finest.  So you are able to see how this new product started to grow in popularity.  Over the past years UHMW-PE  became higher in demand. So why is this?

What does Industry use UHMW Sheets for?

The most popular applications are for wear pads or abrasion resistant panels. Why did UHMW grow in populartiy? Well… it’s simply because UHMW sheet has been out performing most other plastic materials in many function.  With almost a ten times greater molecular weight than common High Density Polyethylene resins, you can see how UHMW-PE would be the obvious choice for tough wear type jobs.  Out of all the polymers, UHMW Polyethylene has the best abrasion resistance of any thermoplastic polymer.  This material also has a very high impact strength, chemical resistant, and is known for its wear resistant and a very low coefficient of friction.  This versitile material  works very well with almost all machining and fabrication processes. Some very common applications are: scrapers, door and drawer glides, washers, gaskets, abrasion resistant strips, wear plates, and shims.  This is why Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene has continued to rise in its many uses.