Internally lubricated plastics reduce wear

A Sabic Innovative Plastics product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 4, 2006

LNP Lubricomp PCAL 4010 and PCAL 4020S compounds deliver improved wear resistance and reduced noise levels during part operation compared with unmodified PC/ABS blends.

Repetitive movement of a plastic part - say, the battery or lens cover on a mobile phone - can wear down the material and lead to a malfunction.

Even worse, it can cause an annoying squeaking noise.

To help address the twin issues of premature wear and noise from friction, while providing enhanced performance characteristics, GE Plastics has introduced a new series of internally lubricated polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC/ABS) compounds.

LNP Lubricomp PCAL 4010 and PCAL 4020S compounds deliver improved wear resistance and reduced noise levels during part operation compared with unmodified PC/ABS blends.

In addition, they provide good processability, excellent impact performance, and colourability, including GE's Visualfx special effects colours.

In applications such as mobile phone, PDA, business machine and ATM parts, lubrication of the plastic material can make the difference between smooth, quiet operation and impaired, noisy performance.

By incorporating internally lubricated PC/ABS compounds, the new LNP Lubricomp grades surpass standard PC/ABS blends in wear resistance and sound reduction.

As a result, products moulded with these new compounds can provide longer service life and higher performance for a competitive advantage and fewer customer complaints.

GE's new LNP Lubricomp PCAL 4010 compound provides medium wear resistance, and new LNP Lubricomp PCAL 4020S compound provides high wear resistance.

Both grades offer high dimensional stability, high ductility even at subzero temperatures, and easy processing that allows thin-wall moulding.

Another major advantage of these new compounds is their excellent colourability through the use of moulded-in colour or GE's Visualfx resin colours with special effects such as metallic and sparkle.

They can also be painted thanks to their excellent paint adhesion.

"The new LNP Lubricomp PCAL compounds are one of the first of their kind on the market", said William Hamersma, European Product Manager, LNP Specialty Compounds, GE Plastics.

"They are based on the same resin technology that has been used successfully for years in mobile phone shells, and now have the added enhancements of excellent wear and friction performance".

"GE's unique internal lubrication technology offers our customers a fresh approach to the challenges of ensuring long life and quiet, reliable operation for wear parts".

"There are a wide range of applications that can benefit from the reduced friction and noise that these compounds deliver".

GE's family of LNP Lubricomp wear-resistant compounds can help eliminate the need for external lubricants in demanding wear applications through the addition of internal silicone, graphite, PTFE, Aramid or molybdenum disulphide lubricants to the thermoplastic base resins.