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High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) and Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG)

 

High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) and Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) are two of the most popular and highly durable thermoplastics on the market. While they share many core characteristics, there are distinct pros and cons to each. While there’s overlap in terms of HIPS and PETG applications, their unique qualities have led to their being favored by different niche markets. In addition, the impact resistance of both plastics makes them ideal for high-traffic sales environments. To help you decide between HIPS and PETG for your custom extrusion project, we’ve summarized some of the unique qualities of each material.

Food Safe Packaging Components

Food safe packaging comes in many forms. While both HIPS and PETG are common in this sector, they take on different functions. HIPS is used to manufacture parts of soft beverage cups, plastic cutlery, yogurt containers, foam trays, and foam egg cartons. HIPS suits these products by providing excellent durability to non-transparent containers. For clear, disposable food containers, PETG is the natural choice. PETG is also a popular material component for beverage bottles. It handles impacts well and offers a strong barrier to many of the compounds commonly present in beverages.

Custom Packaging Components for Medical Supplies

PETG is a popular choice for medical supply packaging, custom tubing, and some implantable devices. Because hospitals require sterility, they need plastics that can hold up to the harsh conditions of the sterilization process. PETG isn’t a brittle material, it’s also less susceptible to breaking when subjected to high-temperature processes, such as radio frequency sealing on blister packs. HIPS is a popular material for sterile medical device trays since it produces a lightweight, inexpensive, durable, and recyclable final product.

Point-of-Purchase (POP) Displays

HIPS is an easy and high-quality printing substrate. Multiple printing processes, including screen-printing and offset lithography, work well with HIPS as the substrate. This quality has helped make HIPS one of the most common materials used in POP Displays. PETG is also a popular choice for displays, due in part to its clarity. Extruded PETG is ideal for rail strips, menu holders, shelving, and other see-through display solutions.

Inplex Helps Choose the Thermoplastic That’s Right For You

Both HIPS and PETG have demonstrated excellent impact resistance. However, PETG does perform better in certain stress tests. HIPS generally produces a final product with greater rigidity than PETG. It’s important to note, however, that this makes HIPS the more brittle of the two materials. Tensile strength, or resistance to breaking when stretched or pulled, is an area where PETG outperforms HIPS. While both materials have good tensile strength, by some measurements PETG is more than twice as strong as HIPS. HIPS is naturally a translucent white with a matte finish. This is a result of polybutadiene, added to the polystyrene to give the final product greater impact resistance. In addition, HIPS takes color well and can also be produced in a wide range of shades. On the other hand, PETG is transparent by default and known for having good clarity. No matter what your needs are, we can deliver a product that not only meets them but exceeds your expectations.  We do our best to make sure that the ordering process is as seamless and cost-effective as possible. You may request specific lengths and diameters for your tubes, then choose from our selection of stock colors or custom match colors to your requirements. You can even choose from transparent, translucent, or opaque tubing to create the look that best suits your brand or product requirements. Request a quote for your next custom plastic extrusion order!

 

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