Nylon is a general term for polyamide fibers, the world’s first synthetic fiber, successfully developed by American scientist Carothers and his research team. The emergence of nylon has brought a new look to many industries. Its synthesis is an important step in the synthetic fiber industry and a significant milestone in polymer chemistry. Nylon also called PA(polyamide), is an engineering plastic with excellent performance, excellent mechanical properties, outstanding corrosion resistance, oil resistance, heat resistance, high modulus, and other advantages. It is widely used in automobiles, electronics, electric tools, and other industries. The main varieties of PA are PA6, PA66, PA11, PA12, PA610, PA612, etc.
What is heat resistant nylon:
Heat resistant nylon refers to the material of nylon that can be worked for a long time at temperatures above 150°C is an important engineering plastic. Heat resistant nylon has better good performance than traditional nylon material, such as wear resistance, heat resistance, oil resistance, corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, etc. Up to now, the emergent industrialized nylon varieties include PA46, PA6T, PA10T, PA9T, PA5T, etc. In 1990, the DSM company in Holland first worked out the industrialization of heat-resistant nylon PA46. It fills the gap in general engineering plastic material. Since then, the curtain has been opened for the research of Heat resistant nylon.
The types of heat resistant nylon
PA46
Compared with PA6 and PA66, PA46 has more amides on the structure chain and a more symmetrical structure chain, which makes its crystallinity as high as 70% with a very fast crystallization speed, its melting point is 295°C. After being reinforced with glass fiber, its heat deformation temperature can be as high as 290°C, and the temperature is 163°C for a long time. The unique structure of PA46 makes it unique properties that other materials haven’t.
As the owner of PA46, DSM company is gradually industrializing its excellent performance through continuous innovation. While ensuring its heat resistance, various special applications such as ultra-wear resistance, ultra-high rigidity, and ultra-high fluidity have been continuously developed. It has long-term heat resistance stability and can work normally at a high temperature of 230°C for more than 3000 hours, while the mechanical properties drop by no more than 15%.
PA6T
PA6T’s melting point is 370°C, because of this temperature, its performance has been changed, and the PA6T circulating in the market is a copolymer or compound with a lower melting point after copolymerization with other monomers. PA6T has a large number of benzene rings based on the fatty chain. The characteristics of PA6T are higher Tg, lower water absorption, dimensional stability, nice corrosion resistance, and oil resistance. The heat resistance of PA6T can be increased more in the future by innovation. Among them, Shanghai Jieshijie Company has also successfully developed a series of PA6T heat resistant nylons and has started mass production.
PA9T
PA9T was independently developed by KURARAY Co., Ltd. of Japan. The melting point of pure PA9T is 306°C, PA9T’s high glass transition temperature (125°C) and high crystallinity give it good toughness in high temperature environments. And it also has chemical resistance that other PA materials haven’t. Lower than PPS, its water absorption rate is 0.17%, this is the lowest water absorption among all nylon materials. The comprehensive performance of PA9T is one of the best traditional heat resistant nylons, and as the production increases, its cost will be close to that of ordinary PA, so PA9T is a variety with great development plastic material.
PA10T
PA10T‘s melting point is 316°C. The characteristics of PA10T are nice heat resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, low water absorption, oil resistance, and good dimensional stability. The temperature can be more than 280°C by lead-free soldering after becoming glass fiber, and has perfect comprehensive performance. PA10T is suitable for rapid prototype machining and making some small electronic components, such as LED reflective brackets, connectors, etc. Due to its excellent properties such as rigidity and corrosion resistance, PA10T can also be applied to some chemical reagents and heat-resistant environments, such as water treatment equipment and engine peripherals, etc
The innovation of PA10T products fills the gap in my country’s independent research and development of new heat resistant nylon materials. The main domestic manufacturers in China include Shanghai Jieshijie and Kingfa Technology.
PA4T
PA4T is the first synthetic heat resistant nylon since the 21st century, launched by DSM, which has the world’s only industrialized solution for butane diamine. Similar to PA6T, PA4T also with a high melting point of 430 °C, and it is generally copolymerized with other nylons, such as nylon 66 and nylon 6.
It is the first new polymer in the 21st century and it has excellent dimensional stability, lead-free soldering compatibility, high melting point, good hardness and mechanical strength, and lower water absorption compared to DSM’s PA46 material.
PA5T
The melting point of PA5T is 313 °C which is lower than PA6T. Up to now, the main reason restricting its development was that the industrialization of pentamethylenediamine was still in the research stage. However, in the second half of 2018, China’s Cathay Biotechnology successfully put into production 50,000 tons of bio-based pentamethylenediamine, which means that the industrialization of PA5T is one step closer.
The application of heat resistant nylons
Since the heat resistant nylons can provide a heat distortion temperature of more than 270°C, it becomes the perfect engineering plastic for heat-resistant parts in the automotive, mechanical, medical, and electronic industries. At the same time, heat resistant nylons are also an ideal choice for parts that must maintain structural integrity under short-term high temperatures.
| Automobile Industry | Structural parts, thermostat housing, power pump, clutch parts, oil pump, etc. |
| Electronic and electrical Industry | Connectors, SMT connectors, circuit breakers, SMD components, card slots, etc. |
| Mechanical Industry | Water pump, oil pump accessories, impellers, hot water pipes, bearings, gears, etc. |
As a synthetic fiber and engineering plastic, nylon has excellent wear resistance, heat resistance, high strength, and toughness, and is widely used in various fields. With the continuous development of science and technology, we believe that there will be more application fields and innovations in application technology in the future to meet more needs of people. DMTC can provide different types of nylon material for machining parts, if you are looking for parts made by nylon, welcome to contact us. Susan.yu@szdmtc.com
