Strapping is great for bringing products together, to reinforce the cartons, and of course to secure items to the pallets out there to ship them. They come in many different options, but what’s the best for you. You have three main types: polypropylene, polyester, and of course steel. They’re usually used to secure the pallet loads during both storage and transport, and when used for pallets, it’s often complemented with the security of stretch wrap of course. This is definitely something to look into, and here, we’ll discuss the best type to use, and the best one for you to use.
First, we have polypropylene strapping, or PP strapping. This is one that comes in a lot of different strengths, different widths, and of course sizes. It’s embossed to help bring strength and texture to it, and it also will reduce the dust crated during strapping. This can also be manually applied with buckles or even hand tools to fully automated strapping machines. This is also one that stretches a little bit, but then goes back to a lot smaller after that. This can help retain the tension, and usually the other two won’t recover once the packaging settles too.
Unless otherwise stated, this is sensitive to UV light degradation, and sometimes negatively impacted. But they are the most economic of the strapping, and it can be used from everything from printed materials to clothing, to foods, and even pharmaceuticals and hay bales too.
Next, we have polyester strapping, which is one that is greener, since they’re created from plastic bottles, so they are recycled bottles, and usually, a lot of times this can impact the color based on the type of bottle you have too.
This has a much higher tensile strength and of course, a decent thermal tolerance too. It also has a much smaller amount of tension decay over time, so it will hold for a lot longer. This is good for those cross-country hauls where it may have to go to different areas. This does have a very easy way to secure, and it also can be pretty flexible in some cases. If it is a cloth material though, you will not get a stretch out of it, but it will be flexible. It can be pretty good with helping to absorb the impact during the transport, and it can be a good alternative for that initial tension that’s there, especially when compared to PP strapping.
Finally, we have steel strapping.
This is these days lesser used, but it’s been used in a lot of heavy-duty applications, including those that are shipped by railroads. This is good for those that can’t be held within a container. You may want to consider it if you’re unable to use either PP or PET strapping. This is made up of stainless steel currently, and it can be good. However, it can lose its strength around the edges, so be careful when you choose to use this.
This is best used for heavy duty applications, since it will not expand or contract, so when it’s secured, it will be secured.
All of these are great options for securing your loads, but be careful when using them, and make sure that you choose the best option for you, and something that will help you get the results you need.