A new generation of thermoset materials for your technical parts
As a specialist subcontractor, particularly in thermosets, CLAYENS provides its customers' projects with a new generation of thermoset composites with unique properties.
As a reminder, thermosets (or thermosetting plastics) are plastics that, under the effect of heat, gradually harden until they reach an irreversible solid state. Once cured, they cannot be recycled. Before going into detail about this new generation, let us review the characteristics of thermosets.
What are the advantages of thermoset composites for technical parts?
These materials offer many advantages for various applications, particularly in electrical materials. Among their main strengths, we can cite:
- Reduced material cost,
- Excellent temperature resistance, ensuring dimensional stability of parts, even after exposure to thermal shock.
- Very good fire resistance, particularly in the event of a short circuit, without the use of toxic or hazardous substances,
- Very good durability: over 20 years,
- Wall thickness can be very substantial without risk of sink marks.
These characteristics make them materials of choice for many applications, in our case structural and/or safety elements of electrical equipment. This composite meets the strict safety, longevity and performance standards required in this sector.
Thermoset composites: limits to consider
Les thermodurs traditionnels, de types SMC ou BMC, comportent toutefois certaines limites :
- Relatively long production cycle times, counted in minutes. This duration is mainly due to the polymerization process required to transform the material. Compared with thermoplastic materials, which allow much shorter cycles, often under one minute.
- Mandatory deburring. In addition, the presence of sprues* leads to material loss and non-recyclable waste.
These limits today motivate efforts to develop innovative processes aimed at preserving advantages and reducing these limitations.
A new generation of thermoset material for technical parts
The new generation of thermoset composite we are developing at CLAYENS largely addresses these constraints. Indeed, we work closely with material manufacturers, mold makers and our customers to:
CLAYENS : un accompagnement au service de vos projets
This new generation of thermoset composites is already used in our customer projects, mainly in the electrical sector.
Thanks to our R&D team, at CLAYENS we do everything we can to guide you in the optimal choice of materials, based on the technical constraints and requirements of your parts, to co-build a solution perfectly suited to real market needs.
*Sprues: the solidified portion of material through which the material is injected. It is generally separated from the part after molding and cannot be reused for thermosets.