5 Benefits of Nylon as an Engineering Plastic

Nylon is growing in popularity as an engineering plastic, and it's used in applications from timing screws to snowboards. Wondering if nylon is right for your next engineering project? Here's a look at some of its key advantages.

1. Corrosion Resistance

If the final product is going to be used outside or in a factory setting where it may be exposed to a lot of chemicals, you need the corrosion resistance of plastic. Metal tends to break down or corrode in these situations. Nylon, in particular, has a lot of corrosion resistance.

2. Wear Resistance

Just as nylon boasts high levels of corrosion resistance, it also has high levels of wear resistance. For applications where the product is exposed to a lot of use or a lot of friction, this can be very important. For example, if you are making a timing screw, both the land and the pockets on the screw tend to rub against the other parts of your equipment. Nylon plastic can survive that constant use.

3. Heat Resistance

Nylons tends to have even more heat resistance than other engineering plastics. That is ideal. It means the plastic survives the heat but that it also doesn't absorb the heat, and that makes it easier to work with.

4. High Bearing Properties

Nylon also has high bearing properties. It can withstand working at high velocities, and it can also hold heavy loads relative to its size. If you want to improve the bearing properties of the nylon you are using, you should look into nylon that has been modified with internal lubricants.

Putting extra lubricants into the nylon makes it bear more weight and withstand higher velocities. With the right internal lubricants, nylon can even have higher bearing properties than ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, acetal and polyethylene terephthalate.

5. Low Water Absorption Rates

Naturally, nylon tends to absorb water. Unfortunately, that is one of its downfalls that makes it not right for certain applications. In particular, if the nylon absorbs too much water, it may not retain the right shape, and in some delicate applications, that can create issues with the functioning of that part.

However, there are ways to make nylon have low water absorption rates. In particular, you can have the nylon submerged in water during the manufacturing process. When it soaks for an extended period of time, it absorbs all the water it can. By extension, it doesn't absorb any more water after that proofing.

For more information about nylon and other engineering plastics, contact professionals at companies like E-Plas.


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