Which Metal Replacements materials to choose from Allplastics Engineering?

A diverse range of engineering plastics available from Allplastics Engineering have proven themselves in a wide range of applications where metals such as bronze’ stainless steel, ceramics, and cast iron have been traditionally used.

Acetal, Cast Nylon, HDPE, PTFE, PEEK and UHMWPE are some of the thermoplastics which are selected in order to reduce weight, avoid metal to metal contact, electrical insulation or almost eliminate the need for lubrication.

Some of the benefits of engineering plastics compared to wood or metal include:

• Corrosion resistance
• Wear resistance
• Weight reduction
• Noise dampening
• Isolate from metal contact
• Insulate electrically
• Chemical resistance
• Increase part life
• Recyclability
• Thermal conductivity reduction
• High impact resistance
• Cost saving from elimination of lubrication down time
• Flexibility in design and choice 

The selection of the correct thermoplastic can be a challenging task due to the expanding range of engineering plastics.

Allplastics will be pleased to assist by applying its knowledge and experience.

However, the following points should be considered while selecting:

• Bearing/wear applications or static/dynamic application
• Environment- temperature, moisture, chemicals
• Exposure to UV
• Mating part or surface
• How important is impact and load resistance?
• Cost and Budget
• Volume (prototype are production run)
• Machineability (Is the material readily available in Sheet/Rod/Tube  form?)

Some examples of metal replacement include:

• Shute liners made from steel replaced with wear resistance UHMWPE with superior sliding properties
• High Density Polyethylene  slide panels replacing timber panels that rot and crack in removalist trucks
• PETP replacing metal manifolds in printing equipment, offering precise tolerances and good chemical resistance where the metal was quickly eroded by constant ink exposure
• Cast Nylon Gears Machined to replace steel gears in harvesters eliminating lubrication, thus  reducing down time
• Acetal bushes replacing steel bushes in carwashing equipment
• Polypropylene separators in a canning factory where metal or timber were previously used
• Nylatron GSM sheaves increasing  the wire rope life normally limited by metal sheaves.

For more details please contact Allplastics Engineering