Shrink film thicknesses commonly available are 60gauge, 75gauge, and 100gauge, when you need to shrink wrap a product, the first thing you need to determine is: which material of shrink film is the best for you, if you don't know how to choose, you can check out our previous article on the types of heat shrink film packaging. After helping you determine the type of heat shrink film, you can then decide which thickness of shrink wrap film to use.

What is shrink wrap gauge?

Once you've determined which material you need, you'll need to start thinking about which thickness of shrink film to choose. The "gauge(wiki)" is the unit of measurement for thickness, and the thickness of heat shrink film is measured using the "gauge". The higher the gauge, the thicker the film. A "mil" measures the thickness of a shrink film and a gauge is an industry nickname used to describe the thickness of a mil. There is a conversion between them and here is the formula for the conversion:

1 mil = 0.001 inches, which means that 1 mil equals one-thousandth of an inch.

1 Gauge = One-hundredth of a Mil

1 Mil Also equals 25.4 Microns

1 Mil = One-Thousandth of an Inch

1 Gauge = .254 Microns

100 Gauge = 25.4 Microns

Common Shrink Film Gauges

Common shrink film gauges are 35, 45, 60, 75, 100, 125, and 150 gauge. the thinner the gauge, the more advanced the infrastructure, the more cost-effective and robust it is, the more environmentally friendly it is, and the more footage per roll it can provide. the following is a conversion chart of mils and gauges. The following is a conversion table for mil and gauge:

Once you have understood the thickness of the shrink wrap and got rid of the confusion, it is time to look for the right material of shrink wrap and get started.

PVC Shrink Film Gauge

PVC Shrink Film is the most readily available shrink film and is commonly available in 75 gauge, most people in the US and Europe as well as South East Asia need 75 gauge shrink film and PVC shrink film is easy to calculate. But he is not as stable as POF and he can only be used for storing boxes, CD cases, and other uniform objects of choice. It can not be used for heavy objects and sharp objects and does not apply to objects over 25 pounds.

The factors of PVC's material properties cause it to become brittle and hard when heated, and using it for pointy objects will lead to easy breakage, so if you want to use PVC shrink wrap for packing pointy objects and heavy objects, you can use PVC shrink bags, and therefore it will become more sturdy, as the thickness of the shrink tape is 100gauge, so finding the right shrink wrap is still a matter of constant trial and error to find a better option.

Polyolefin Heat Shrink Film

Polyolefin shrink film is very popular, polyolefin shrink film is the material of choice for packaging in most industries, and it has high performance and is suitable for food packaging. It is worth mentioning that polyolefin shrink film is FDA-approved for direct food contact and is food-safe.

Polyolefin has many advantages, it is very soft to the touch, very comfortable to the touch like oil, is much softer than PVC, will not become fragile after heat, and does not produce chlorine, which is one of the reasons he can be called food safety.

Polyolefin shrink film has multiple thicknesses to choose from, there are 50, 60, 75, 80, 100, 125, and other gauges, and there are more thicknesses to choose from, zhongda is a professional manufacturer, Our extruder can customized to your thickness requirements.

60gauge

60gauge against polyolefin rolls is hot, it is thin, and has more footage per roll, 60gauge polyolefin shrink film is very lightweight, suitable for lightweight packaging, and shrinks very quickly, less heat is needed to shrink and fit, but be careful not to overheat, which can lead to rupture or burn. It can be used to wrap baked goods, small boxes of candy, and chocolates.

75gauge

75gauge polyolefin heat shrink film is thicker more flexible and sturdy, with good tear resistance. In the market, most use 75 gauge POF Shrink film, which is less prone to puncture and can be used to package products weighing more than 30 pounds. If 75 gauge PVC shrink film is used, it will become brittle and hard after the shrinkage is completed.

100gauge

100gauge polyolefin shrink film has better flexibility and tear resistance, if you use 75gauge POF shrink film, which tends to break during heating, then you can use 100gauge, if used for objects with sharp edges, you can use 100gauge shrink film, and during the heating process, it needs more heat to shrink

Polyethylene Shrink Film

Polyethylene shrink film is inexpensive and can be produced in thicker thicknesses, so it is often used for transportation and industrial applications. It can be used to shrink-wrap pallets and wrap large industrial items such as boats or vehicles.

Polyethylene shrink film can be produced in thicknesses as high as 12 mil, which translates to a 1200 gauge. Suitable for packaging industrial and large items, although it has a low shrinkage rate, printing ink cartridges can be made with polyethylene shrink film. Polyethylene shrink film thickness is generally 4-12mil, which is roughly the range of 400-1200gauge and can be used for large and heavy objects, for packaging yachts, and other large items.