Heat shrinking as the name suggests is one of the processes of heat application with the aid of a heat gun. The heat gun is used to shrink plastic tubing in expanded form to its original dimensions to offer a secure seal to the application. Heat shrink tubes are pretty simple to handle and are used in several industrial applications.
There is a wide range of heat shrink products available in the market ranging from single wall heat shrink tubing to adhesive lined ones or transparent ones for meeting the requirements of varied customers. Adhesive lined tubing is dual walled tubing as it consists of an outer wall of Polyolefin and an inner wall of adhesive layer. It provides very precise, weather proof and corrosion resistant seals. Transparent tubing come into the picture when color coded cables are present in tunnels or rail vehicles, planes and ships. Cable jackets can be insulated through such transparent tubing alongside retaining the visibility of the identification marks.
Heat shrink molded shapes include heat shrink cable end caps, breakouts for applications involving low voltages, Y-outlets, transitions, two component epoxy adhesive as well as hot melt adhesive tape. Heat shrink cable end caps are useful for sealing cable ends during transportation and storage.
Most of the manufacturers offer tailor made solutions to the customers if they desire. The tubing is available in varied sizes ranging from thin to medium to thick walled tubes. The material too ranges from Polyolefin to Elastomer to Polyvinylidenefluoride to Fluoropolymer and Polytetrafluorethylene. Heat shrink kits in handy boxes for ease of use are also offered by some manufacturers.
Several factors have to be considered while choosing the right heat shrink tubing like its wall-thickness, diameter, shrink ratio, operating temperature, longitudinal modification post shrinkage and minimum temperature of shrinkage. There are a set of useful tools which makes this task of choosing correctly simpler. These include the heat shrink tubing size calculator and the wall thickness calculator.
The heat shrink tubing covers the connection and when a heat gun is passed over it shrinks over the connection securing it firmly. Sometimes, however, a need to remove the heat shrinks crops up and this happens when the connection has to be redone or cut apart. Removal of the heat shrink can be done in several ways but it is best to follow the one which involves use of minimal tools and less time. The simplest way to do it is to locate the heat shrink tube end at each side of the joint. With the help of a razor blade slit a bit of the tubing from the end carefully without letting the wire shielding below to be affected. Pull the end of the tubing apart from the wire shield underneath by placing the tip of a needle-nose plier onto it. As the heat shrink tube is held away from the wire shield with the help of the pliers, cut it through and through with a razor blade. The tubing is removed easily.
Heat shrink tubing is an indispensable piece of equipment in varied industrial and commercial applications. Getting them from reputed manufacturers is the key to obtaining quality products that are lasting for long times to come.