New breed of chemically resistant polymers
MECHANICAL applications calling for purpose-built components which can operate in harsh, corrosive and chemical environments are no longer the sole domain of metals and alloys.
Tetron PTFE meets the growing demand for durable materials.
Tetron Fluoropolymers (PTFE) thermoplastics are being custom-designed at Dotmar EPP to meet the growing demand for durable materials capable of delivering extended performance in very harsh environments.
Dotmar's engineering director Bruce Armstrong says industry is increasingly turning to materials such as PTFE because it is almost impossible to achieve such remarkable and advanced properties from traditional materials.
"It is a proven fact that PTFE is a reliable handler of acid and caustic soda transfer in the food and chemical industries when used in the shaft sleeves of stainless steel pumps to reduce excessive wear of pump shafts and housings,” he says.
“Dotmar EPP has gone one step further in designing a PTFE that is effectively a crystalline polymer filled fluorocarbon designed to perform in environments that would be unsuitable for just about any other material currently available.”
Known as Ticomp S, this US FDA approved tetra-fluorocarbon performs well in pumps and valves that are used to transport highly corrosive chemicals and other dangerous goods.
Independent test results reveal that Ticomp S has a stress yield of 29MPa, an elongation of 305 per cent and a Shore Hardness of 64D.
Other applications of Ticomp S include back-up rings, lantern rings in slurry pumps, ball valve seals, V-rings, washers and bushes and scrapers and slides.
In these types of operations, it is the crystalline polymer filler that provides the appropriate performance characteristics.
Dotmar EPP has also many other structurally modified as well as virgin PTFE polymers within its Tetron range that cover countless applications in many heavy industries.
Other specially filled PTFE formulations often incorporate glass, carbon fibres, graphite, bronze or stainless steel as well as other polymer fillers including Polyimides and Ekonol.
These specialist fillings impart on the PTFE polymer a number of varying and unique properties.
For example, hard and soft carbon alloys permit close tolerance machining, bronze fillers offer the best creep resistance and graphite has good wear properties against soft metals - all properties that are sought in hydraulic, pneumatic and fluid handling operations.
Tetron is available as a stock shape in rod, sheet and section sheet or rolls together with a range of custom moulded cylinders in 150mm and 300mm lengths.
17-Sep-2002