Say goodbye to dents, rust and scratches and say hello to HDPE material providing HDPE truck beds that will long outlast your vehicle.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE for short) is a thermoplastic polymer derived from petroleum with a generalized chemical formula (C2H4)n. The HDPE formula represents the repeating monomer unit of ethylene and forms a poly-ethylene molecular chain.
This linear structure allows HDPE to fit together more closely and contributes to its’ impressive strength.
The highly elastic and high toughness properties of HDPE allow impacts and sudden intense loads to be taken and absorbed into the vessel without permanent deformation. With a 700% elongation at failure, HDPE will “spring” back to its original shape. With this highly elastic nature of HDPE, a vessel could almost be folded in half before the hull bottom sheets would fracture!
Percent Elongation at Fracture (HDPE & Aluminum)
High density polyethylene provides excellent resistance against acid, bases, alcohols, salts and much more with little or no effect. PE100 grade HDPE used in Legacy Innovation’s vessels has been compounded with carbon black stabilizer (ASTM D3350) to be resistant to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
Friction CoefficientsAluminum has a thermal conductivity 504 times greater than HDPE. HDPE insulates the hull floor from the cold water below giving an HDPE hull a much warmer feel in cold conditions than an aluminum hull.
Fatigue is a failure criterion of a material which undergoes stress reversals, from compression to tension, for example when a vessel encounters a wave and rolls over the crest. Due to the elastic recovery of HDPE in stress reversal scenario, HDPE is highly resistant to stress cracking.
With a specific gravity of 0.94, HDPE is lighter than water. Although this is only relevant once the vessel is swamped, the lightweight property of HDPE minimizes the total volume of floatation material when required. The overall weight of an HDPE vessel will be similar to an aluminum vessel to provide the “feel good” rigidity of the vessel although an HDPE vessel can safely undergo significantly more deflection (movement) than can an aluminum vessel.
Plastic has a reputation for surviving for hundreds of years. That has caused concern for items that are thrown out. We take that a different direction, and utilize its strengths to its advantage.
A lot of HDPE products can result in very raw product. When we take HDPE material from pipes, we completely change its look while retaining its properties. The truck beds on the right is a great example of truck bed that looks every bit the quality of metal frame beds yet it can handle far greater impacts.
