Anybody who has ordered items to be delivered to either their workplace or home has undoubtedly noticed the numerous varieties of materials and packaging styles that exist. Smaller packages might show up in cardboard boxes or even plastic bags. In any case, more oversized shipments that show up on pallets are sealed in stretch wrap and banded/united with strapping material.
Quite a while back, there was just steel strapping to choose from. It’s reliable and robust, yet it has its restrictions. While steel strapping materials are as yet helpful in some heavy-duty shipping applications today, science and technology have paved the path for lighter, more grounded, and more secure strapping choices.
Different strapping materials have various properties concerning rigidity, tensile strength, elongation recovery, elasticity, shear, stress relaxation, and retained tension. The primary consideration is ensuring that your strapping is sufficiently strong enough to endure the forces it will be subjected to. This is known as the strapping material’s break strength or breaks load.
The expected break load will rely on the total size and weight of the load and the stresses it will be under while shipped. Different contemplation for strapping selection incorporates temperature variations and the potential for exposure to dampness and corrosives.
With a wide range of choices accessible, it tends to be befuddling while conclude which strapping will be the most reasonable. We’ve covered probably the most widely recognized types of strapping and their advantages to assist you you pursuing an ideal choice.
How Do You Choose Packaging Strap?
There are several kinds of strapping accessible, and to get the best outcomes, you need to ensure you pick the right sort that offers the advantages required for your packaging activity.
Here are just a few inquiries to pose to yourself before buying strapping are listed beneath – these ought to provide you with an intelligent thought of the strength and properties of strapping that you’ll have to guarantee they support your shipments:
- What is the application, and how would you expect to utilize it?
- Will the strapped shipments need to endure a specific weather condition?
- Weight and the product is static or dynamic load?
- How to strap a box for shipping?
- How far is it traveling, and will long will it be strapped for?
- Does the strapping be done manually with tools, or will it be done with a machine?
Common Types of Strapping Materials
Polypropylene Strapping
Polypropylene is economically practical and is produced using a plastic resin blend, and doesn’t offer a similar strength as steel or polyester. It is commonly utilized for light- to medium-duty applications, for example, paper or newsprint bundling, carton closing, and unitizing or bailing lightweight materials and items. It is not difficult to work with, genuinely adaptable, very flexible, and impervious to corrosive liquids and water. It also has an excellent elongation rating (meaning it’s stretchy), allowing it to endure shocks and move with a load without breaking.
Like other strapping materials, it is available in numerous widths, thicknesses, and polymer varieties and is frequently utilized in arch strappers or tabletop strapping applications. Polypropylene strapping material has some degree of elongation, meaning the material can extend some; however, it has irrecoverable dead stretch and doesn’t recuperate as well as polyester.
Poly strapping isn’t the ideal choice for heavier applications, be that as it may. Tensile strength for polypro is low contrasted with other strapping materials, so holding heavy loads during transit will not be capable. That stretchiness likewise prompts deformation and elongation over the long haul, implying that it will lose its ability to hold the load firmly. Extreme temperature changes and exposure to sunlight will corrupt its performance too.
Polypropylene Strapping Purposes
Polypropylene strapping is extraordinarily adaptable and versatile and can be utilized in different applications, including:
- Flooring
- Printed Materials
- Factory and millwork
- Foods Distribution centers that supply grocery stores
- Appliances
- Meats, fresh and frozen food packers
- Clothing and accessories
- Drug and Pharmaceutical
- Pharmacy Store Distribution Centers
Steel Strapping
Steel is the most established kind of strapping available in the market. You might recall seeing it on flatbeds traveling down the route, frequently carrying hefty and huge loads. Steel strapping material is most commonly utilized when high strength and little stretch are required.
Steel strapping is used to secure construction materials, logs, or industrial equipment to rail cars or flatbed trucks for cross-country shipping. Steel is as yet the most generally utilized strapping material. With its high tensile strength and elasticity, getting even the heaviest loads is sufficient.
Steel has a low stretch rating so that it will hold good tension and pressure on the load over the long run. Notwithstanding its overall strength, steel is profoundly resistant to changes in temperature and exposure to dampness and UV light, making it extraordinary for over-the-road transport and other outside applications. Rust-proof coatings further develop moisture resistance.
In any case, steel does have its disadvantages. It is cumbersome and can be risky to work with; assuming it breaks or is taken care of inappropriately during tensioning or removal, it can snap back with sufficient force to cause serious injuries. Untreated steel might rust and leave stains.
Search for wax-coated steels for smoother machine feeding and taking care of rust resistance, and improved operator safety. Metal seals ought to be utilized with steel strapping.
Steel Strapping Purposes
Steel strapping is the most established and generally heavy-duty of the top strapping material choices. Steel doesn’t expand or contract with the load; whenever it is secured, it stays! It is best utilized in heavy-duty applications.
- Industrial equipment
- Heavy manufacturing
- Steel coils
- Construction Materials
- Bundling metals
- Secure Closure of Metal Compartments
- Railroad Transportation
- Baling wire
Polyester (PET) Strapping
Polyester is more rigid than polypropylene and is often utilized instead of steel. It has excellent retained tension and recovery properties that permit loads to assimilate impact without breaking the straps. Polyester is frequently favored because it’s produced using recycled plastics. Polyester is usually set apart by its green color; however, it can come in different colors. As well as being environmentally friendly, polyester strapping material is more secure than steel.
Polyester strapping materials are ideal in applications that require the solidness and toughness of steel. Yet, users favor a lighter, more secure, and more financially savvy option with significantly more considerable tensile strength. Moreover, polyester strapping can be applied with battery-operated, cordless tools that reduce the time spent using the straps and limit exposure to safety hazards common with steel strapping.
Be that as it may, similar to polypropylene, it tends to misshape and lose its capacity to retain tension over the long run. Its performance is likewise degraded by exposure to UV light or extreme temperatures. For loads that will be exposed to the components for extended time frames, it might, in any case, be wiser to stay with steel. PET strapping can be secured through friction welding, heat sealing, or metal strapping seals.
Polyester Strapping Purposes
Polyester strapping is best utilized for rigid loads and assists with retaining impact during transit. It’s likewise a superior alternative when you want higher initial tension to contain loads when contrasted to PP strapping.
Polyester strapping utilizes a steel wire buckle to get the closures making the most grounded joint accessible. Joint proficiency is the estimation that is determined to figure out the real strength of a strap and when the band will come up short. The actual joint is the most fragile point of the strap applied to your load and is impacted by many factors like the tool utilized, the state of your banding tool, the actual banding itself, and seals. Polyester straps, when installed accurately, can achieve almost 90% joint efficiency, which is higher than steel.
- Metals
- Lumber
- Tiles
- Bricks
- Pallets of Containers and Jars
- Stabilizing and palletizing heavy loads
Composite Strapping
Composite strapping draws on innovative co-extrusion innovations to consolidate strength, abrasion resistance, shock absorbency, and high joint efficiency into a solitary user-friendly product. Otherwise called “corded polyester strapping” or ‘synthetic steel’ is the most recent development in strapping technology.
Composite strapping is a light textile material which implies it’s not difficult to work with and won’t rust, decay, or imprint surfaces. This strapping is lightweight, adaptable, contains no sharp edges, and can be applied in many applications. It is excellent for fixing and sealing delicate or fragile items. It offers high degrees of resistance, has a breaking strain of up to 1500kg, and is best utilized manually with sealers and tensioners.
Woven Strapping Materials
Woven strapping material is an outstanding choice for steel and can frequently deal with larger and heavier loads than polyester. Woven strapping materials are produced using polyester cording woven together to give predominant tensile strength while staying lightweight and safe.
Woven strapping materials are ideal in applications including heavy loads or in circumstances where the organization likes to not utilize steel because of the chance of injury during application or removal. Instances of normal loads that use woven strapping materials incorporate the transport of large, heavy equipment or heaps of wood straight from the lumberyard.
Factors You Ought to Remember While Choosing Strapping Material
Packaging strapping or wire is best to use, and how do you choose the packaging strap?
Delivering/Shipping Distance
Think about the width of strapping while thinking about the shipment as well. If your item is shipping long distances, you will need a more substantial strap to resist the transport movement. You will not want to utilize a wide strap for a long stretch carrying a heavy load. The more slender strap won’t have the strength to deal with the load, so you will need something with more power and width.
The more likely your products are to move during travel, the more extensive the intense you will need to use. Polypropylene is a superb choice if your products tend to settle during shipment since it can stretch and keep up with integrity. Polyester is less inclined to stretch.
Product Dimensions and Aspects
The main elements to consider while choosing your strapping material will be your product’s weight, size, and strange cumbersomeness. An illustration of a product that’s exceptionally abnormal to package would be a refrigerator.
When transported, refrigerators are generally strapped to a pallet similar in width to the base. With fridges being top-heavy, you will need to ensure you have sufficient strength in your strapping to keep up with stability on the way. Be that as it may, you can diminish wasted material and secure your loads appropriately with the right-sized, appropriate material.
Tensile Strength
It’s fundamental to speak with your provider about ideal strap sizing to wipe out breaking. The break strength depends on the technique of strapping, the number of straps utilized per load, the size of the strapping, and the total load and weight of the strapped products. Tensile strength is how much power is expected to break a strap.
Virgin vs. Recycled Strapping
While considering machine strapping, you will be the most ideal with virgin strapping material. Virgin strapping differs from recycled strapping by how it’s made and how it may be utilized. In operating machinery, a recycled strap will frequently have anomalies or camber. Virgin strap additionally diminishes the amount of dust and residue created by a semi and automatic machines, decreasing downtime and maintenance costs.
Camber is how much bend or inconsistency in strapping. While utilizing machinery, it’s fundamental to have a slight camber as conceivable to diminish machinery issues during the strapping process. If you are strapping manually, the camber isn’t as much of a problem. An excess of camber can cause the strap to come out of place, causing damage to the machinery and creating safety hazards.
Even though the recycled strap is around half the cost of virgin strapping material, taking into account consistency over initial expense. Black strapping is often going to have a few re-processed materials inside it. Machinery damaged from recycled strapping will cost more eventually for fixes than sticking with the best virgin strapping solution.
Role of Strapping Tools and Machines
Strapping can be done manually using strapping tools or utilizing a strapping machine for a quick and proficient cycle. Using a strapping machine, no extra tools or seals are expected to fasten and secure the strapping; the machine will automatically friction weld the strapping to the seal.
For manual strapping, equipment is expected to create tension in the strapping and seal it securely and safely. For organizations shipping various products ranging in size and shape, a tensioning tool joined with a sealer tool and seal will finish the packing system, and the convenient feature of involving it in an upward direction implies you can reposition yourself for abnormal burdens.
Combination strapping tools are accessible, which improve the process combine both a tensioner and sealer into a single device, just to be utilized horizontally, it makes packing straightforward for securing same-size and shape products, and seals are likewise required.
Hand strapping machines are great for an assortment of packages; they’re exceptionally flexible for various size and product variations, portable, and can be utilized vertically and horizontally.
A strapping machine is highly suggested for packaging lines that need to strap huge volumes of bundles. Automatic strapping machines and semi-automatic strapping machines are accessible, with the elite performance automatic machine ready to produce up to 60-65 straps per minute. They significantly accelerate the strapping process via automatically tensioning and fixing the strapping, decreasing the time it takes to seal boxes.
Lightweight Strapping Material Means Better Ergonomics And Security
Picking the appropriate strapping material affects more than shipment quality. Worker safety is another concern when utilizing strapping materials like steel. Steel strapping remains a durable and strong choice for many users, particularly with heavy loads, yet steel can likewise increase the risk of laborer injury. How about we investigate why lightweight strapping material like polyester strapping or woven strapping might be a superior fit.
One coil of steel strap can weigh somewhere in the range of 105 pounds. A coil of polyester strap weighs between 50 pounds and frequently contains 50-70 percent more feet per coil. While applying polyester strapping to a load, the worker needs to deal with fewer coils; however, the coils he does handle are more manageable and lighter to maneuver.
