Thermoforming Kits, Sheet, & Accessories

Thermoforming is a plastic manufacturing process where plastic is heated to a forming temperature and formed or stretched into the desired shape inside a mold using pressure or a vacuum. Thermoformed parts may be trimmed and finished once the part has cooled. Thermoforming may be used to manufacture larger parts for a wide range of applications at a lower cost than other manufacturing processes such as injection molding.

• [Worbla Safety Information]
• [Flexbond Safety Information]
• [Polycarbonate Datasheet]
• [Styrene Datasheet]
• [ABS Datasheet]
• [Kydex^® Datasheet]
• [Kydex^® Thermoforming - Technical Brief]
• [Kydex^® Bonding - Technical Brief]

Thermoplastics are the main materials used in thermoforming. Common thermoplastics used in thermoforming include ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), HIPS (polystyrene), acrylic, polycarbonate, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PET (polyethylene terephthalate), and PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified).

Sheet thermoforming, also known as thermoforming, is the process of heating a thermoplastic sheet to its softening point, then stretching the sheet across a mold to form it into different shapes. There are many different thermoforming processes, but several of the most popular are vacuum forming, pressure forming, mechanical forming, and drape forming.

Thermoforming is a common process across many industries used to make packaging, automobile parts, storage parts, prototypes, housings for screen displays, mechanical components, and more. Thermoforming saves time and money by allowing the creation of several finished parts from the same sheet and is very beneficial when dealing with large parts.

ABS plastic sheets can be thermoformed by heating the material until it reaches its softening point. Different tools for molding the plastic are then used depending on the object being created. For objects that do not require sharp edges or intricate details, ia high powered vacuum is recommended to remove air in the molding process. For objects that do require sharp edges or intricate details, highly pressurized air may be used to get the plastic right against the mold.