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The same extruder can produce the same board for an electronics plant and for a body shop, and the two specifications will barely overlap. What separates them is not the polymer but the additive package and the surface treatment applied to it, which is why we start every quotation from the environment rather than from a thickness figure.
The base platform is consistent: twin-wall PP hollow sheet from 2 mm to 12 mm, weights from about 250 to 3500 g/m², standard width 1220 mm and up to 2600 mm on request. Everything above that layer is a configuration decision.
For automotive duty the priorities are oil resistance, impact strength and identification. The standard PP grade already handles coolants, lubricants and mild alkalis across −20 °C to +60 °C, and colour is run through the sheet rather than applied, so a lane coding survives scratches and wash-down.
Electronics work moves the requirement to static. Conductive and static-dissipative versions are produced with carbon or additive loading that brings surface resistivity into the range the process needs, protecting boards and populated assemblies from discharge while also stopping the sheet from attracting airborne dust.
Cleanroom and medical packaging adds a third set of demands: no fibre shedding, no open cut edges releasing particles, and surfaces that tolerate cleaning agents. Sealed edges and smooth faces handle the first two; solvent resistance handles the third.
Flame performance is specified where the board sits inside a vehicle or a confined enclosure. UL 94 HB and V-0 options are available, and the material can be formulated to meet FMVSS 302 for interior applications, with test references issued against the batch supplied.
Outdoor use needs an honest answer rather than a sales claim. UV stabilisers extend service life considerably, but PP is not a permanent outdoor material, and we will state an expected exposure period instead of implying indefinite weather resistance. Customers who need a five-year signage panel are told so before they order.
Printing follows surface energy. Untreated PP sits too low for ink to anchor, so printable grades are Corona treated above 46 dyne/cm, which holds shipping marks, barcodes and brand graphics without lifting in humidity.
Put together, the selection runs from three questions: what environment the board will live in, what regulation it must satisfy, and how many times it will be reused. Thickness is the last variable, not the first, because a 4 mm ESD board and a 4 mm standard board behave identically in a stack but very differently in a test report.
Send us the application, the operating environment and the container drawing, and we will return a sheet specification with grade, additive package and surface treatment stated explicitly.
