Composite material reinforcement materials. Another important factor is the gross quantity of material to be produced. Large quantities can be used to justify high capital expenditures for rapid and automated manufacturing technology. Small production quantities are accommodated with lower capital expenditures but higher labour and tooling costs at a correspondingly slower rate. Many commercially produced composites use a polymer matrix material often called a resin solution. There are many different polymers available depending upon the starting raw ingredients. There are several broad categories, each with numerous variations. The most common are known as polyester, vinyl ester, epoxy, phenolic, polyimide, polyamide, polypropylene, PEEK,
Guardian (polymer) Guardian (polymer) Guardian is the trademark name of a polymer originally manufactured by Securency International, a joint venture between the Reserve Bank of Australia and Innovia Films Ltd. The latter completed acquisition of the former's stake in 2013. Its production involves gravity feeding a molten polymer, composed of extruded polypropylene and other polyolefins, through a four-storey chamber. This creates sheets of the substrate used as the base material by many central banks in the printing of polymer banknotes. Polypropylene is processed to create pellets. These pellets are extruded from a core extruder in conjunction with polyolefin pellets from two "skin