About Teflon Heat Shrink Tubing

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What is Teflon?

About Teflon Heat Shrink Tubing

Many rave about Teflon's strength and durability. And Teflon heat shrink tubing is indeed tough. But what exactly is Teflon? Teflon is a registered trademark of DuPont and refers to the three fluoropolymer resins PTFE, FEP and PFA, three plastics that share common properties such as lubricity, chemical resistance and high temperature resistance.There are slight differences between the three plastics. Here is a breakdown of the plastics, courtesy of cableorganizer.com:

  • About PTFE: the unique properties of PTFE have made it the polymer of first choice for many advanced applications. With the lowest friction of any polymer and a broad working temperature range, PTFE has been designed into products from advanced medical devices to high temperature industrial equipment. PTFE has become a choice plastic for the chemical and analytical sciences industries.
  • About FEP: While similar to PTFE, FEP has some distinct differences. It has lower continuous service temperature and is more transparent than PTFE. FEP also has better gas and vapor permeability properties and excellent UV transmission ratings.
  • About PFA: PFA was developed to increase the continuous service temperature of FEP resin. Melting process allows PFA to be processed in longer continuous lengths than PTFE. It combines the attributes of PTFE and has a smoother surface texture than FEP and PTFE.
Keep in mind that PTFE heat shrink tubing is the most difficult of the three fluoroplastic materials to shrink. This is because of the extreme shrink temperature. According to www.texloc.com, the most reliable way to shrink PTFE is in a controlled temperature oven. You can use a heat gun or welding torch, but be warned that it is difficult to use such methods because they tend to overheat the material in one area while the rest of the material is too cool to shrink.

   

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