Polyethylene

Polyethylene is a relatively soft, flexible, transparent material. It is easily dyed on a given colour.

For the first time it was produced by a British company Imperial Chemical Industries in 1933.

It looks like a hard paraffin, it bends when touched by finger. It melts and burns. When it is extinguished, one can smell a characteristic odour of paraffin. It may be processed by the use of all known methods.

Products made of PE are characterized by low permeability for water vapour, they are permeable for steams of organic substances, they are not resistant to hydrocarbons and their chloride derivatives. However, they are resistant to solutions of acids, bases and sals and low temperature. Polyethylene is used for the production of: foils, pipes, containers, skis and sails.

It exists in two forms: high-pressure (LDPE) and low-pressure (HDPE).