Technology | electrical & electronics
Electrifying progress
The use of thermoplastics in the electrical and elec- tronics (E&E) sector will continue to grow strongly in the future thanks to megatrends such as Industry 4.0, LED lighting and the digital networking of building services engineering, household appliances and entertainment electronics – often grouped as the Internet of Things (IoT). It should come as no surprise then to see numerous materials suppliers boosting their operations dedicated to the sector. Lanxess recently set up a new E&E marketing and
sales segment to organize resources for this industry in a more focused way. “Our objective is to respond faster to the wishes of our partners in the E&E industry. We also want them to have access to a wider selection of listed materials that precisely meet their technical requirements,” says Holger Mersmann, head of the new group. “We aim to provide E&E-specific services as part of a holistic approach, where we support our customers at all stages of component development.” New polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounds
are among materials being added to the Lanxess list. For a long time, halogen-free flame-retardant PBT compounds were inferior to types with halogen-based flame retardance packages, the company says. “Yet for environmental reasons, they were still used in numer- ous applications.” Their performance has since improved significantly by comparison and they are now a realistic alternative from a technical perspective, Lanxess says. One example is Pocan BFN glass fibre-reinforced
compounds, which Alexander Radeck, an expert in flame-retardant PBT materials at the company, says exhibit better electrical performance and greater thermal and UV stability. “Their mechanical properties
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Higher operating temperatures, new standards and a move to halogen-
free FR compounds are all pushing polymer compounders to develop materials that meet the growing needs of moulders in the E&E sector, writes Peter Mapleston
are only slightly inferior and can be adapted to the level of their counterparts with halogen-based flame retardance via the glass fibre content,” he says. The glass fibre content ranges from 13 to 25%. They achieve a UL 94 V-0 rating at 0.4 mm and, says Radeck, “an extremely low tendency to contact corrosion with metals was also confirmed in realistic application testing.” Tracking resistance is much higher than for PBT
grades with halogen-based flame retardance. The result is a CTI (Comparative Tracking Index, UL746A) with the best possible performance level category, PLC 0. “Designers gain greater freedom in component design thanks to the high tracking resistance,” Radeck goes on. “This is because they can make electrical assemblies even more compact without having to worry about short circuits and equipment faults due to leakage currents.” The dielectric strength, which is a measure of an insulating material’s resistance to high voltage, is also high, with values of around 30 kV/mm (ISO 60243-1) that are independent of the level of
March/April 2017 | INJECTION WORLD 31 Main image:
Model illustrat- ing Lanxess’ new focused approach to E&E sector
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