Polyetherimide components improve on aluminium
A
Minnesota Rubber and Plastics product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 19, 2005
PEI is an amorphous thermoplastic with excellent hydrolytic and UV stability as well as radiation resistance.
Spacers used to mount interconnect devices in telecommunications equipment are moulded of high performance polyetherimide (PEI) by Minnesota Rubber/QMR Plastics resulting in longer operating life with lighter weight and far easier assembly than the aluminium components they replace.
Designed with 0.125in through holes on each end to accommodate wires that connect to other components, these spacers have a closed 0.125in centre hole and measure 0.75 x 0.625 x 0.25in.
During operation, these spacers provide heat resistance and electrical shielding to connected components.
Previously used aluminium spacers were electrically conductive and transmitted heat to adjacent components.
With the new PEI components from Minnesota Rubber/QMR Plastics, spacer performance and durability was increased significantly while weight and material costs were reduced.
According to Minnesota Rubber/QMR Plastics, PEI is an amorphous thermoplastic with excellent hydrolytic and UV stability as well as radiation resistance.
With high strength and modulus, PEI has high heat resistance and can be used in continuous temperature extremes to 190C.
In addition to this telecomms application, PEI material is ideal for applications where repeated steam, hot air and cold chemical sterilisation are factors.
In addition, the material can be unreinforced or reinforced with glass fibre or other materials including carbon and minerals.
This new PEI telecomms spacer also provides assembly benefits.
The previous aluminium component design had locating holes that required riveting operations.
Accurate alignment was essential to avoid wasted components and potential performance issues.
By contrast, the new Minnesota Rubber/QMR Plastics component is self-aligning, allowing fast, press-fit assembly into the telecomms assembly.
Potential alignment issues were thus eliminated along with scrapped components.
In addition to costing less than aluminium components, requiring less assembly time and providing longer operating life, the Minnesota Rubber/QMR Plastics components weigh 50% less, an important consideration in today's miniaturised telecommunication system designs.
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