We often get asked about the difference between SPS-2000 Kraftmill safe polyurethane and Redco pulp-safe Synsteel UHMW. In many cases, customers think they’re equivalent products except one happens to be made from polyurethane and one happens to be made from UHMW. This is not correct! The materials are for two different applications.
SPS-2000 is a polyurethane product that is designed to dissolve with the chemicals in the kraft cooking process and also has the benefit of being the slickest of all polyurethane grades. But this is its only niche: to dissolve in kraftmills sparing them plastic contamination. People widely assume that SPS-2000 is metal detectable: but it is not metal detectable! It is an excellent product in the application with high wear properties, abrasion resistance, dimensional stability, and is resistant to most oils greases and solvents. It is available in sheet only 3/8″-3″ thick.
Redco Synsteel is metal detectable plastic and will trip the detectors. It is one of the most dimensionally-stable UHMW grades due to the metal content. However, unlike the SPS-2000, this product is not very slick and you need to be careful of its wear properties: this is literally metal impregnated sheet. Synsteel has twice the compressive strength of virgin UHMW; however, and is also attracted to magnets. The product is available in sheet form only from 3/8″-2″ thick.
If you’re interested in a quote or have some questions about this product feel free to contact Redwood Plastics.