FEP Tubes: The Transparent Backbone of Industrial Efficiency

FEP stands for Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene and thin wall flexible tubes made from FEP resin are called FEP tubes. They are naturally transparent.

FEP Tubes in Industrial

In fact they are so transparent that they allow more than 90% of light to pass through. Making these tubes ideal for applications which require glass like transparency. UV light as used in water treatment. The UV lights are submerged in water and have high intensity. The high intensity of the UV lights kills the bacteria in the water and purifies the water. The UV lights are made of glass and are prone to breakage. The UV lights are not only used to purify water but many other liquids like in a effluent treat plant. The liquids in and effluent treat plant can have solid particles that can break the glass UV lights rending them inoperable. The UV lights are therefore covered with transparent FEP tubes to provide them protection from solid particles.

Applications Beyond Water: Liquid Colors

There are applications involving liquid colours where tubes carrying the colours need to be transparent so the colour can be identified visually. Industrial printers have FEP tubes that carry coloured inks from their respective tanks to the printing head. Industrial printers generally used MEK based ink.

MEK is a chemically aggressive chemical and its compatibility with polymers like PE, PP & PVS is very poor. FEP tubes due to their transparency and universal chemical inertness are preferred tubing for this application. The printing inks are sprayed at high pressures. FEP tubes have excellent tensile strength and hence high working pressure, another plus point for this application.

Painting with Precision: The Role of FEP Tubes in Paint Robots

Another similar application in which FEP tube is used is that paint robot. Paint robots are highly automated systems for painting metal parts in bulk quantities. An example is that of painting automobiles bodies. Paint is supplied to the robots from paint tanks. The paint colour changes after every few batches. The FEP tube paint line is then purged and cleaned by passing a industrial solvent through it. The transparency of the FEP tube and its excellent chemical inertness proves to be a perfect fit in this application. The paint is generally mixed with a hardner, the low coefficient of friction ensures that the hardner does not readily stick to the inner bore of FEP tube increasing the life of these in the paint line.

FEP Tubes in Analytical Instruments

FEP tubes are widely used in analytical instruments as they are can be easily moulded in shapes. Some of the popular shapes that

FEP tubing is available in different colours like red, blue, green, yellow, black, green, etc. FEP tubing is also available in different thicknesses such as 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm, 1 mm, and 1.5 mm. Standard sizes are ID2xOD3, ID2xOD4, ID4xOD6, ID6xOD8, ID8xOD10, etc, dimensions are in millimeters. FEP tubing is also available in imperial sizes such as 1/32×1/16, 1/16×1/8, 1/8×3/16 etc, dimensions are in inches. FEP tubes are available in continuous lengths of 25, 50, & 100 meters.

Advanced Fluro has been in the Fluoropolymer tubing business since 2011 and supplies world-class quality of Fluoropolymer tubes including FEP tubing.