Vacuum Forming Mold Materials

Almost any thermoplastic can be vacuum formed, and our Ceramic Vacuum Forming Molds are suitable for most. There are a great many resins and combinations of resins (alloys or capped sheet) available to meet almost any application’s requirements, and more are being developed every year.

The list below details the major categories of plastic types that are generally compatible for use with our Ceramic Vacuum Forming Molds. While we show a brief description of the more salient characteristics, each type of plastic is quite diverse in the range of properties and properties that can be “tuned” to a purpose.

Important Properties of various materials

ABS: Very common material. Good stiffness and impact strength. Available in a wide variety of colors and several textures. Also available in flame retardant options.

Acrylic: Water clear and abrasion resistant material. Easily fabricated. Available in impact modified grades. Many colors available.

HDPE: Excellent impact and chemical resistance. Good cold temperature properties. Not as stable dimensionally as other materials.

HIPS: Low cost, forms easily. Available in many colors. More brittle than ABS.

Kydex: Good general purpose material, offering excellent impact and chemical resistance in a highly cosmetic sheet. Most grades are flame retardant. Available in many colors and textures.

Polycarbonate: Very high impact strength. Clear. High temperature resistance.

PVC: Rigid material. Very good impact strength. Flame retardant. Limited availability.

TPO: Outstanding impact properties. Available with a high gloss finish. Good for outdoors applications. More difficult to form, especially in deep draw designs.

The above are just some of the more common types of plastic sheet that our Prestige Tooling Ceramic vacuum forming molds have been used to form. If you have a particular request not already discussed, don’t hesitate to give us a call so that we can discuss it.