Food and beverage lines consume a lot of machined plastic — star wheels, guide rails, filler nozzles, wear strips, chute liners. Three materials cover most of it, and the choice is driven by the wash-down regime more than by the mechanical load.
UHMW-PE is the workhorse for guide rails and wear surfaces. It has the lowest friction, resists abrasion better than anything else in the family, and takes repeated high-pressure wash-down without corroding or absorbing. Its limits are temperature and creep, so do not use it as a structural member or above about 80 C.
POM is stiffer and holds tolerance better, which matters for star wheels and timing components where wear changes the timing. It is the choice for filled containers and cap handling. PEEK is for the hostile cases: steam sterilisation, temperatures above 120 C, and applications where no particulate generation can be tolerated. It is also the answer when the line runs dry. Whichever you choose, specify metal-detectable grades if your line has a detector downstream — fragments from a failed wear part are a genuine contamination risk and a detectable polymer turns a potential recall into a reject.
Need a material recommendation?
Send us the application and we will reply with two or three candidate grades and a price.
