MATERIALS | HIGH TEMPERATURE THERMOPLASTICS
Electric vehicles are proving to be a dynamic, new application area for high temperature plastics. Chris Saunders reports on new products
Coping with the heat
Main image: Optical interconnect lens produced by Nalux is made with SABIC’s new ultra-high-heat, NIR-transparent Extem
RH1016UCL resin
High temperature plastics (HTPs) have been used predominantly in the electrical and electronic (E&E) and electric vehicle (EV) industries, but they are becoming increasingly common elsewhere. The E&E industry has been growing strongly for many years, but it is the rise of the EV market which presents the biggest challenges for HTP manufac- turers. In EV applications, parts not only have to be lighter and smaller to fulfil practical requirements, but also need to have more resistance to higher temperatures for longer, and sometimes boast additional properties like flame retardance, tracking resistance, and oil resistance, all while maintaining stability and mechanical integrity.
Additives and reinforcement materials are important in HTP compounds, says RTP
RTP Company is focused on proliferating technologies commonly found in standard engi- neering compounds into high temperature polymers. The result is a wide range of engineered materials that offer both performance and aesthet- ics in high temperature applications in various markets. RTP compounds with additives to modify colour, surface finish, and scratch resistance are especially important in applications where appearance is crucial, such as medical devices that must be spotlessly clean and be able to withstand harsh cleaning agents and high heat sterilisation. If the issue is static control, as in the case of sensitive electronics, antistatic or static dissipative technologies can be compounded with high temperature resins. For example, PEEK resin can be modified with carbon fibre or carbon nanotubes to provide permanent static dissipative and antistatic performance. This fills a gap in the electronics and semiconductor markets, where equipment, tooling, and fixtures need to be ESD-safe, but not conduc- tive enough to allow flow of electric current. “Standard reinforcements such as glass, miner-
als, and carbon fibre are still staples in high temperature thermoplastic compounds for high performance applications,” says Brett Weishalla, Senior Product Development Engineer at RTP
46 INJECTION WORLD | April 2023
www.injectionworld.com
IMAGE: SABIC
IMAGE: RTP
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