If you’ve ever gone shopping for laminating pouches or rolls of laminating film, do you ever just stop and wonder what exactly the film is made out of? Is it plastic?

Well, the laminating film is made out of certain types of plastic, but it’s usually a combination of several types. A sheet of laminating film is made up of various layers of plastic, with the harder layer on the outside and the softer layer on the inside.

What Kind of Plastic is Used in Laminating Film?

The harder outer layer is usually made from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic and the softer inner layer is usually made out of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) plastic. This is usually the case, but sometimes a combination of the PET plastic, EVA plastic and Polyethylene Plastic (PE) is used altogether.

Here is some additional information about the three different types of plastic.

PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate)

This is commonly used in food, beverage and other plastic containers, as well as for producing synthetic fibers used in clothing. It can be easily formed into a range of shapes, which in the case of laminating film, is a thin sheet.

EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate)

This is an extremely durable, stress-resistant plastic that is commonly used as a hot-melt adhesive. Glue guns use glue sticks made out of EVA plastic, which is the material that lines the inside of a laminating sheet. EVA is known for its “clingy” properties.

PE (Polyethylene)

This is the most common type of plastic used in items such as bags, packaging and more. This isn’t commonly used in laminating film, but some films will occasionally contain some PE plastic.

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