Roll in PFA GB 10000x1500 mm natural

Typical uses:

A sheet in PFA GB is PFA film reinforced with glass beads. The glass content raises stiffness and reduces creep without giving up the most important property of the PFA base: broad chemical resistance across a very wide temperature range. The result is a film that combines the inertness of the fluoropolymer with mechanics that hold their shape better than pure PFA.

PFA belongs to the fluoropolymer family and behaves chemically almost like PTFE. The material stands up to acids, bases, solvents and oxidizing media that most other plastics give in to. The list is long and covers sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, chlorinated solvents and hydrogen fluoride among others. The service temperature is high; PFA handles continuous duty around 260 degrees and short peaks around 300 degrees, while it keeps its toughness all the way down toward cryogenic temperature. The glass bead reinforcement gives the sheet higher dimensional stability under mechanical load and reduces the natural PFA creep that can otherwise cause trouble in static seals and flange joints where the bolts require the gasket to hold its thickness over time.

The surface is smooth and has a low coefficient of friction. That makes the material useful as a slide strip, lining layer or transport layer where the medium must not stick. Combined with chemical inertness it means the same sheet that slides easily also stands up to the process medium around it. Water uptake is close to zero, so the sheet holds its dimensions and its weight even in damp environments. The PFA surface is very nearly non-stick, which means process media, adhesives, resins and coatings do not fasten; cleaning is quick and the risk of contamination between batches is low.

Lining layers in reactors and tanks for aggressive chemistry

Slide plates under moving parts in acid or solvent environments

Seals and gaskets in flange joints where PTFE is too soft and PA cannot take the medium

Layers in semiconductor and laboratory equipment where cleanliness and chemical inertness work together

Conveyor belts or slide rails in the food and process industry

In machining, PFA GB behaves like a soft but tough thermoplastic. The material can be cut, milled and punched, but it needs sharp edges and a low feed to avoid a fluffy edge. The glass content wears tools faster than pure PFA, so use carbide or diamond tipped tooling when the run is longer. The sheet can be welded with hot air or extrusion when components are to be sealed against each other, but preheat the joint edge so the melt flows cleanly. Keep in mind that the melting range of the fluoropolymers is narrow; a couple of degrees too much breaks the material down, a couple of degrees too little gives a cold joint.

PFA is non-stick from the factory, which is part of the benefit. If you are going to bond or paint it, pretreatment is required, either chemical etching with sodium naphthalene or plasma treatment. For bolted joints, through bolts with spacer washers work better than threads cut directly in the material, since PFA is fairly soft under point load. Bolted joints with large washers spread the load and keep the material from giving way under the bolt head during tightening.

The sheets are supplied in standard formats and can be cut to drawing. Thickness governs both the stiffness and how well the sheet handles vacuum or medium pressure against the surface, so pick thicker when you need dimensional stability and thinner when weight and flexibility weigh heavier. The natural color is a faintly opaque white, and the material is not UV sensitive in the way many other polymers are, so outdoor use works without the properties degrading over time.

With glass fiber fabric on the back, the roll at 10000x1500 mm comes in natural, meant to be rolled out and laminated against larger areas when lining tanks and pipes.

Do you need help comparing PFA GB against pure PFA or against another fluoropolymer option for your process case? Get in touch and we will go through the chemical list and the operating conditions together.