Recommended Working Temperature for Plastic
You may have had a hard time finding out what the heat resistance is about for various types of plastic. As a manufacturer of plastic bearings, we are fully aware of the importance of heat resistance and working temperatures for plastic.
What is the “recommended working temperature” for plastic in the first place? It is a temperature at which the sliding parts like bearings keep their best performance for a certain period of time.
Keep it in mind that that recommended working temperatures may vary depending on for which components or parts you use certain plastic. Also, the temperature some plastic fabrication company recommends might be different from a material maker. The “recommended working temperatures” we mention here are based on years of experience and records we achieved in fabricating various kinds of plastic.
The range of recommended working temperatures is extensive. Please note that the materials listed are without any fillers. If they contain fillers like glass or carbon, the recommended temperatures change.
Please see the chart below for the recommended temperatures of various plastic:
It is preferable to use the general-purpose plastic (e.g. nylon, POM, etc.) in the operation environment at under 100℃. They can be used at higher temperatures as well, but under 100 ℃ is the highest recommended temperature in order to maintain their performance.
Heat-resisting engineering plastic can be used at 100 to 200℃. The heat-resistance temperature of PTFE (Teflon) is 260℃, but 120-150℃ is best recommended for sliding parts as PTFE gets soft and starts to swell over 150℃.
PEEK can be used up to around 200 ℃, but its performance drastically declines at such a high temperature. The heat-resistance temperature of polyimide is higher than PEEK but we don’t frequently use polyimide due to its pricing. When we do, DuPont’s recommended temperature is adopted.
You might have noticed that the chart above says “The Cost and the Recommended Temperature of Plastic.” We’ll talk about the relationship between heat resistance and the price of plastic in the next newsletter. Until then, stay tuned!