What Are Shrink Wrapping Films?

Shrink wrapping films are a material usually made of polymer plastic film that shrinks tightly over an object they are covering when heat is applied. A light weight film is commonly used on many types of packaging such as cartons, boxes and pallets. This is often done using a heat shrink machine or other specialized equipment. You will have seen it also in your grocery store covering beverage cans. This is also used to cover perishables like meat, cheese and vegetables. Some manufacturers also use it to cover plants. Many companies will work with one supplier for all of their shrink wrap supplies and other needs.

A heavier weight film is often used industrially to cover large plant equipment, construction scaffolding such as that on bridges and buildings, and temporary shrink wrap for storage and business operational use. This type of film is also used to wrap boats, helicopters and other vehicles. This versatile material can be used for anything from environmental containment (to facilitate the safe removal of certain hazards) to wrapping roofs after natural disasters.

Shrinking the material down tightly happens when heat is applied. This is applied over the item using a roll designed for shrink wrapping and then a heat gun, an oven, or a shrink tunnel are used to shrink the film.

•Heat Gun - A device used to emit a stream of hot air, similar in shape and construction to a hair dryer but usually operating at higher temperatures.

•Oven - This one is self explanatory as the same principles that apply to your oven at home apply to the ones used on shrink wrapping films. A thermally insulated chamber used for heating, baking, or drying.

•Shrink Tunnel - A heated tunnel mounted over or around a conveyor belt. The film is then passed through to achieve the desired effect.

This can be made to shrink in one, or two directions. When being made the film is stretched while warm, and then cooled to set it into a stretched position until it is applied to an item and reheated again. This process allows the film to shrink back to its original size tightly wrapping or containing your item.

This type of film can be applied to products for quality or presentation. Shrink wrapping for quality is often seen on foods and things that need to be preserved, while using film for presentation provides a pleasing look and a tamper proof finish to things like CD's, DVD's, stationary, games and computer software. These films are also used for presentation on certain frozen foods like pizza.

The variety of shrink wrap films and their uses have broadened over the years to include attributes like shrink, the ability to seal, optics, toughness, and slip. Shrink wrapping plastic continues to be a much relied upon product in the market today being beneficial to many different areas of production, distribution and even construction.