Plastics—it's all the same, right? That statement is not necessarily true, and many high-performance polymers fall under the "plastics" moniker. This article, "Polyethylene:  How Many Names Can One Product Have?" will concentrate on one of the most common polymers, polyethylene, and unlock the mystery behind its confusing, convoluted naming scheme.

Today, there are many different types of polyethylene on the market, so there is a need to give this material a designation that will help people differentiate between the polyethylene that makes up high-performance chemical pipes and the polyethylene that you wouldn't want to use in pressurized situations.

Designating polyethylene (PE) is convoluted and not globally consistent, and there are several different naming conventions depending on how specific you want to get about the material. So, when considering PE, what's in a name? For the sake of brevity, the PE referred to in the rest of this article will be HDPE used for the chemical piping industry.

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