What is the plastic pallet made of?

What is the plastic pallet made of?

Plastic pallet raw materials

Plastic pallets can be made from a variety of raw materials. Everyone has their own interests and challenges. There are two main and opposing aspects to consider when selecting the appropriate plastic material for a pallet application: impact resistance and rigidity. In general, these aspects are relative.

In other words:

The stiffer the cardboard, the less impact resistance it has, that is, the less tough it is.

The smaller the stiffness of the cardboard, the greater its impact resistance and toughness.

Toughness and hardness, a very hard pallet usually has poor impact resistance. Similarly, plastic pallets with high impact resistance are generally not very rigid.

Common plastic pallet materials

When choosing a plastic pallet, due to the different characteristics of the pallet, there is no best, only the most suitable for your use.

HDPE plastic pallet (high density polyethylene pallet)

HDPE: This is by far the most common material used to produce plastic pallets. Can be used in injection and blow molding processes. High-density polyethylene is known as a multi-purpose resin, which can be used to produce various plastic containers. Compared to other plastics, HDPE is relatively inexpensive. And HDPE has good hardness and toughness, so it can have both impact resistance and hardness.

Advantages of HDPE

Good impact resistance, low temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, corrosion resistance, waterproof and moisture-proof, easy to clean and store.

PP plastic pallet (polypropylene pallet)

Polypropylene PP is the most widely used plastic raw material in plastic pallets except HDPE. The impact resistance of PP plastic pallets is not as good as HDPE. Other characteristics are similar to HDPE.

Recycled plastic pallets

The recycled material is mainly recycled PE or PP products and then used. It is a kind of mixed material mixed with some filling substances. The advantages of this material are good hardness and low cost, but it is difficult to form and very brittle. This type of material is generally black, and is often used to produce single-use pallets or export pallets, which means that it is only used once and will not be recycled and reused.

The above three materials are commonly used materials in China’s plastic pallet industry. Now, there is another new material used to make plastic pallets, Fiberglass or fiberglass.

Fiberglass is a new breed in plastic pallet materials. Only two manufacturers in the world have this capability, and they use a proprietary method. Typically, the trays are coated with a clear coating to seal in fiberglass. This adds significant cost, but results in a very rigid tray with high impact resistance. In addition, it has excellent flame retardant properties without adding any fillers.

Advantages of fiberglass trays:

flex resistance;

extremely impact resistant;

natural flame retardant;

Overall: Fiberglass trays are made up of a glass and plastic mix, which are very strong but cost a lot. Allows for a lot of stacking capacity, so nail it up and take advantage of floor space.