Engineering Plastics Trade Names – The Searchable Guide

Trade Names for engineering plastics have been created by pretty much every manufacturer. While these trade names can be helpful because you know exactly who’s material you are getting, they can also be confusing.
Take Acetal for example. In our research we found 20 different names for acetal plastic shapes. Some of these names are for acetal homopolymers, some for copolymers and some are filled while others are unfilled.

Manufacturers often state that their specific material has a feature or characteristic that varies from other manufacturers. This might
be due to a process or particular version of resin they use in producing their plastic, among other things. For these reasons engineers and designers who have tested and researched might also specify a specific trade name or engineering plastic for their application. They are trusting this particular plastic to perform as they have planned for in their design and testing and use of the same type of material by a different manufacture may cause inconsistent results and lead to reduced part life or even failure.

To help all of us out with this huge list of names, we decided why not create a searchable table we can all refer to when we need to figure out exactly which engineering plastic goes by which name.

We consider this a living document so we will go back and update from time to time as we learn more trade names for engineering plastics. If you would like to download one to hang up next to your desk, we have also created a pdf you can download. Full disclosure – this is a 4 page document but it groups the engineering plastic trade names under the type of material and its color coded so it’s pretty easy to search quickly.

Engineering Plastics Trade Names – The Printable Guide

Another great place to research plastics for machining, whether its replacing a traditional metal or finding that just right set of characteristics for a particular application is one at our catalog www.onlineplastics.com or call us toll free at 877.246.7700. tkEP has a dedicated staff of plastics professionals that can assist you with material selection.