ADDITIVES | POLYAMIDE
Pushing performance with PA additives
Additive technologies allow PA performance to be optimised to meet new and demanding requirements, providing opportunities to cut cost. Chris Saunders reports
Due to their inherently favourable combination of good mechanical properties, thermal stability and chemical resistance, polyamides are widely used in engineering applications across a broad variety of industries. However, keeping pace with the diverse and ever-changing demands of end-users means enhancing formulations to optimise and improve specific properties. Compounders able to identify and select the right choices from the extensive range of additives available for polyamide (PA) formulations are well positioned to tailor products to deliver precisely the levels of performance and functionality their customers require. US-based CAI Performance Additives markets
a wide range of additives for compounders of polyamides, including ST-NA22D. It says what sets this particular additive apart from alternatives is its improvement in Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT), which it claims exceeds the performance of typical competing nucleator additives by 14°C in
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side-by-side testing. In unfilled resins, ST-NA22D can elevate HDT by 28°C compared to the original base polymer, delivering an improvement in both thermal performance and dimensional stability. The company says improvements in thermal stability are becoming more important than ever as compounders look to supply electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers with materials that meet their lightweighting demands but also allow for opera- tion at higher peak temperatures. PA6T, PA9T and PA10T polymers offer exception- al mechanical, thermal and chemical resistance, making them especially useful in EV parts such as motor mounts, battery enclosures, and thermal management systems. CAI says another of its additives - ST-PA216 – has been developed to improve melt flow to allow parts produced in compounds based on these performance PA grades to be more easily processed, to accept higher filler
Main image: Electric
vehicles are just one
end-use market driving
demand for enhanced polyamide compounds
April 2024 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 35
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK/CAI PERFORMANCE ADDITIVES
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