Correx is a brand name for a twin walled extruded polypropylene sheet. It is often described a corrugated plastic, however unlike corrugated cardboard which is made of 3 layers, corrugated plastic is 1 piece, with two flat printable faces with open pipes running through it called ‘flutes'.it is the size of these flutes which give the correx it's thickness.
Corrugated plastic is based on Propylene ethylene copolymer.
In brief, Correx is produced by forcing a hot liquid plastic through a metal template or die. Once it has passed through the template, the liquid cools and forms a long continuous sheet. This is then cut down into finished boards, which are ready to be printed.
Yes they are all corrugated plastic sheets, however Correx is a registered brand name, which has now become a generic name used by many, to describe polypropylene fluted plastic sheeting
Yes, Correx can easily be cut into a wide variety of shapes using a sharp knife. It can also be cut with a guillotine or router. Specialist flatbed drag knife cutting machines are also available to cut it into custom shapes to suit your designs and requirements.
Yes, it can easily be die cut, but only to a maximum overall size of 1000 x 800mm. Die cutting involves making a sharp, shaped, steel knifed cutting form, which is used in a similar way to a pastry cutter, albeit on a much larger scale
Both the correx sheet and the cutting form are compressed together under a great force in a machine called a cutting platen. The force of the machine stamps the cutting form knife through the correx, resulting in a tidy shaped finished shaped panel. The surrounding waste material is then sent for recycling.
Corrugated plastic can also be creased during the die cutting process, where lines can be creased into the surface of the sheet that don't cut all the way through it.
The uses vary with the differing thicknesses. The thinnest 2mm option is often used for trays and packaging. 4mm Correx is the thicknesses preferred by most printers for small outdoor signs and point of sale products such as dump bins, bollard covers, stockist boards etc.. The thicker 6mm and 8mm Correx tends to be used for larger signage, where the extra thickness gives greater strength
The size and the quantity of Correx sheets or signs which you need delivered would affect how they are sent out. Most Correx sheets would be delivered on Pallets, however for smaller orders of printed signs can be packed into parcels and delivered by a courier service.
Correx can be creased and bent to form display items, an example of this are triangular 3 sided bollard or lamppost covers.
The traditional method of Screen printing involves printing layers of ink (pantone matched), pushed through fine mesh screens directly onto the plastic sheet surface, each colour has its own screen and the graphics are made of layers of ink.
What thicknesses is Correx available in? And what are the most commonly used thickness?
There are various thicknesses of Correx available, including 2mm, 4mm and 6mm. Although they are referred to as these thicknesses there is a 10% manufacturer's tolerance so for example a 4mm sheet could measure 3.6mm.