An Overview Of Plastic Welding

Usually, plastic welding is not associated with flying sparks and a tight arc creating a perfect seam through a piece of steel. This is what you would think of when a welder is welding metals. Today, the majority of welding projects revolve around two types of material: aluminum and steel. Ship hulls, underground structures, pipelines, railroad tracks, and automobile parts are carefully crafted with precision TIG welding tools. Did you know that welding also applies to plastic? When multiple plastic pieces cannot be joined together by adhesives, they are joined with heat.

One challenging circumstance of plastic welding are the different types of welding equipment and plastic materials involved. Many welding tools will obliterate different types of plastics while others would make seamless, perfect joints on them every time.

This is because differing plastics have varying levels of chemical structure which forces them to behave differently in the presence of heat. A cheaper welding rod can mean all the difference in quality. In order to find out what type of plastic material you're carrying, the industry has come up with four easy identification tests to judge them by. They are scratching, sound, floating, and burning tests.

Scratching tests allow you to see how hard your plastics are. Hard or soft plastics react differently to different welding machines. Sound tests require that you drop your plastic material from several inches in the air onto a table to detect tone, which is an excellent indicator of a plastic breed. Floating tests require water to test weight, and the most accurate method of burning tests allow welders to identify the plastic they're working with by noting flame color and the smoke's smell.

Today, advances in welding (plastic) are responsible for many of the intricate and simple structures we see in life today. Plastic welders hone their craft by building truck tarpaulins, awnings, pool liners, roofs, and more products.

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