Polyamide engineering plastic

Polyamide (abbreviated PA), commonly known as nylon, is the common name of the thermoplastic resin containing a repeated amide group -NHCO- on the main molecular chain. PA has good overall properties such as mechanical properties, heat resistance, abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, etc. It is easy to process and usually reinforced with glass fiber and other fillers.

Features of polyamide engineering plastic

Nylon is one of the most important engineering plastics, and its production ranks first among the 7 general engineering plastics.

Nylon is a tough, angular, translucent or opalescent crystalline resin, the molecular weight is generally between 15,000-30,000 g/mol. It has high mechanical strength, high softening point, heat resistance, low coefficient of friction, wear resistance, self-lubricating, shock absorption and sound absorption, oil resistance, good electrical insulation.

However, PA has the disadvantage of high hydroscopicity, which affects its dimensional stability and electrical properties. This defect can be remedied by reinforcing with fiberglass.

Main types of polyamide engineering plastic

There are many kinds of polyamide plastics, including PA6, PA66, PA11, PA12, PA610, PA612, PA1010, and the semi-aromatic nylon PA6T and special nylon developed in recent years.
Nylon 66 has the highest hardness and stiffness of these variants, but the toughness is less. Different nylons in order of toughness are: PA66 < PA6 < PA610 < PA11 < PA12

Applications

• Automotive interior and exterior decoration; reinforced modified PA filled with glass fiber or other materials has excellent comprehensive performance, so it is particularly suitable for the development of automotive lightweight requirements. At present, polyamide is applied to a wide variety of automotive parts, such as automotive engine parts, electrical parts, airbags and other exterior parts.
• Electronic device parts; PA has good mechanical properties, thermal properties and flame retardancy, it can withstand the long-term work requirements of electronic and electrical devices. So it is suitable for the production of all kinds of switches, gears, household electrical parts and manual power tool parts.
• In addition, nylon engineering plastics can also be used for industrial parts such as: pedal, pulley, etc.

Why is it necessary to add additives to nylon enigneering plastics?

Once the UV energy absorbed by the chemical bond of the polymer exceeds the bond energy, the atom will enter the excited state and the excited chemical group is more likely to oxidize and chain scission to occur. The free radicals formed during this process can start a chain reaction, resulting in accelerated degradation of the polymer.

Polymers have different sensitivity to UV wavelengths, so it is necessary to select a certified UV absorber to protect materials from UV aging degradation.

Nylon (PA) material is very sensitive to ultraviolet light in the range of 290-315nm. Therefore, we should choose a UV absorber with strong absorption for the UV-B band, and this kind of UV absorber absorption concentration in the UVB band, so as not to affect the use of fluorescent brighteners in the formula.

Omnistab additives for PA plastics

• UV 312 has a strong absorption band in UV B band. It is possible to use in combination with fluorescent brighteners without cross effect.
• UV 1164 is a triazine UV absorber, especially suitable for plastics processed at high temperatures, such as PA.
• LS 5519 is compatible with nylon through molecular recognition and cross-chain amidation. Gives the product stable performance, ecological compatibility and deep dyeing properties
• LS 3346 has low color, low volatility especially suitable for nylon, and has excellent synergistic effect with UV absorbers.
• AN 1425 works best in a high temperature processing system and has a long term thermal stabilizing effect on nylon.
• AN 626 is a low volatility auxiliary antioxidant for PA.

Frequently asked questions

Follow us on LinkedIn to receive regular updates about our products!