What is Super Engineering Plastic?
Super engineering plastic is a type of engineering plastic with superior heat resistance.
General plastics are heat-sensitive and are not suitable for use in high-temperature environments or for parts where frictional heat is generated. They are also susceptible to degradation from ultraviolet rays, which limits their outdoor use.
Super engineering plastics are a new material that overcomes these shortcomings of plastics.
Uses for Super Engineering Plastics
Super engineering plastics are expected to replace metal parts because of their high heat resistance, mechanical properties, durability, and ability to be mass-produced. Super engineering plastics with high mechanical strength and heat resistance, such as polyetheretherketone, polyphenylene sulfide, and polyamide-imide, can replace parts around automobile engines, electrical parts, valves, pumps, and other components that previously could only be realized with metal.
Super engineering plastics are also increasingly being used for gears and bearings in industrial equipment, aircraft parts, and medical equipment parts that require high reliability. They are also used in the electrical and electronic fields that require high electrical insulation and heat resistance.
Characteristics of Super Engineering Plastics
Although there is no clear definition of super engineering plastics, they are generally characterized by their ability to be used at temperatures of 150°C or higher for extended periods and by their extremely high mechanical strength. Super engineering plastics are also classified as those with extremely high heat resistance, cold resistance, and chemical resistance, even if their mechanical properties are not that high, such as fluoropolymers.
In terms of high heat resistance and mechanical strength, thermosetting resins, which are cured by three-dimensional cross-linking when heated during molding, also fall under this category. However, they must be thermoplastic resins to be classified as engineering plastics or super engineering plastics. Thermoplastics can be reversibly melted and solidified, and thus are characterized by high flexibility in the molding process and recycling.
Plastics are formed by the aggregation of polymer chains. In engineering plastics and super engineering plastics, each molecular chain is long and the constituent molecules have strong intermolecular forces. As a result, they have high crystallinity, high strength, and heat resistance. In addition, engineering plastics and super engineering plastics can be further enhanced in mechanical strength and chemical stability by adding glass fiber or carbon fiber.
Types of Super Engineering Plastics
There are several types of super engineering plastics, each with different characteristics.
1. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK)
Maintains high mechanical strength even at high temperatures, with a continuous use temperature of 250°C. It also has excellent chemical resistance, hot water resistance, and abrasion resistance.
2. Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS)
Maintains high mechanical strength even at high temperatures in continuous use temperatures of 200~240℃. It has excellent chemical resistance and dimensional stability and is flame retardant (self-extinguishing) due to the presence of aromatic rings in the molecule. Reinforced grades filled with glass fiber or carbon fiber are also available.
3. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
PTFE is a fluorinated resin, well known by the registered trademark Teflon of Du Pont de Nemours and Company. It has top-class chemical resistance, lubricity, and electrical insulation properties, but its mechanical strength is inferior to that of other super engineering plastics.
4. Polyimide (PI)
An abbreviation for a resins with imide bonds. In the case of super engineering plastics, it refers to aromatic polyimides with aromatic groups in their molecule. It has the highest class of heat resistance, with continuous use temperatures of 260-300°C. It also has high insulation properties, making it suitable for electronic components. It is also widely used in electronic components because of its high insulation properties.
5. Polyamideimide (PAI)
PAI has the second-highest heat resistance after polyimide at a continuous operating temperature of 260°C. It also has excellent mechanical strength, chemical resistance, and electrical insulation properties.
6. Polyethersulfone (PES)
Amber-colored, transparent resin with excellent impact resistance at a continuous service temperature of 170°C. It has excellent chemical and hydrolysis resistance. It also has high resistance to chemicals and hydrolysis, and is flame retardant (self-extinguishing) because most of its molecules are aromatic rings.