Important Things You Need to Know about High -Performance Resins

 

At times, rather than using standard plastics, special engineering grade plastic or high performance plastics are considered for certain application segments. These include insulation of electrical wires, flow tubes, fiber optic cables, and some architectural applications, among others. Manufacturing resins out of high performance plastics has good business prospects as they can be readily bought by manufacturers in the mentioned application segments to make their end products. High performance resins are more robust than standard ones in terms of heat resistance and mechanical strength. This post discusses various types of plastics that can be used to make high performance resins and the benefits of the same.

Characteristics of High-performance Resins

Here are the two important characteristics of high performance resins:

• Thermal stability: As mentioned, thermal stability and heat resistance are important features of high performance resins, and their mechanical strength quite depends on this feature. The thermal stability of resins is improved by adding stabilizing agents or mixing materials such as carbon fiber or glass. Addition of aromatic compounds also strengthens this feature, particularly if you require heat resistance beyond 100 to 120°C.


• Crystallinity: High performance resins can be either amorphous or crystalline. Some of them are semi-crystalline. For instance, polyeherimide (PEI) is amorphous, while polyether ketones are semi-crystalline. Crystallinity is an important feature in terms of achieving the upper limit of the melting point. Especially, with the required additives, they can achieve far higher melting points then most plastics. Crystalline resins have a better organized molecular structure than amorphous resins, and hence they can maintain their current properties until they reach their melting point. On the other hand amorphous resins, because of their random molecular structure, soften with the rise in temperature, thus distorting the current properties.

Get Introduced to Different Types of High Performance Resins

Here are a few types of high performance resins:

1. Polyether Ether Ketone(PEEK): This is a semi-crystalline polyaryletherketone, and it offers excellent temperature resistance, mechanical strength, and dimensional stability. Also, it is resistant to abrasion.


2. Polyphenylene Oxide(PPO): This high performance resin, poly (p-phenylene oxide), finds applications in the automotive and electronics industries. However, it cannot be used in its pure form and is usually blended with polystyrene to ease processing.


3. ULTEM: This is polyetherimide and hence amorphous. However, it does offer good strong mechanical and heat resistance dimensional stability and thickness.


4. Polyphenylene Sulfide(PPS): Polyphenylene sulfide finds applications in electronics and automotive industries. It is used in the medical sector to make certain dental and medical equipment. It is stiff and robust, and hence does not undergo much wear and tear for a long time. It offers a good mechanical strength and dimensional stability.

Common Benefits offered by Various High Performance Resins

The fact that these resins are robust and have higher melting temperatures is a huge advantage for many applications where sturdy yet lightweight material is required. Here are some benefits of high performance resins:

• Most high performance resins can be blended with other polymer compounds easily to achieve the required results.
• They have a good mechanical and tensile strength.
• They have good heat resistance, which can be improved with the help of certain additives.In terms of thermal resistance, they have substantial flame resistance.
• They are a good option for use in tubing where initially metal were used. This is because they are relatively lightweight and do not rust or corrode.
• By and large, plastics are non-reactive and hence this specially made ones offer a good chemical and abrasion resistance.

By and large, we cannot stop using plastic in its entirety, whether on a commercial, industrial, or domestic level. Plastics would continue to be used in various sectors because of the advantages they offer over metals, especially the high performance resins. However, selecting the correct type of resins for your application is important. In case of high performance resins, their resistance and quality can be checked by performing certain tests on them, and you can enquire the same with the manufacturer. Veejay Plastic uses a variety of these high-performance resins for injection molding processes to make high-quality industrial components.