News

High-tech Materials for Tribologic Applications

TER HELL PLASTIC is selling a new class of PA/PTFE composites / nano fillers for an additional quality enhancement.

Herne, October 14, 2008 - TER HELL PLASTIC GMBH has secured the rights to the production and marketing of a new class of tribology materials. Under the brand name TEREZ^® the company recently started selling chemically coupled PA/PTFE compounds which were developed and patented by the Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden, Germany.

The high-tech plastics, which are created by the chemical coupling of polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) to polyamide 6, polyamide 66 or polyamide 4.6 (PA) and can additionally be offered with added quantities of nano fillers, are virtually predestined for a whole range of application areas where friction is created between components, such as in building engines or cars, or where lubrication is required and component wear seems to be unavoidable. That includes sliding bearings, conveyor and transportation systems, gears or even ball bearing cages.

Based on the compatibilization (phase transfer) and the fixation of the nonpolar PTFE in the polar PA matrix, the new TEREZ^® compounds exhibit substantially higher wear resistance compared to conventional plastics or other PA/PTFE products, prolonging the performance of the finished components significantly. Especially the product series based on the high-performance polymer PA 4.6 exhibits very good temperature stability and a very strong resistance to high temperatures. For short periods the PA 4.6 compounds are resistant to temperatures of up to 290 °C (554 °F).

TER HELL strongly believes that the new engineering plastics will soon compete for the applications now exclusive to metal materials. In fact, the use of nano-composites as reinforcements allows the mechanical properties of the PA/PTFE composites to be influenced in such a way that they closely resemble those of metal. During compounding, the filler particles are distributed extremely evenly in the polymer matrix because of the optimized use of shear and kneading zones as well as an adjusted process time. Some are smaller than 100 nm but have a very large specific surface (> 200 m²/g). This explains their enormous effectiveness which is exhibited, for example, in clearly improved abrasion properties, lower loss of mass than in non-reinforced types, or significant improvements in the modulus of elasticity.

The compounds are available from TER HELL PLASTIC with a PTFE content of between 7.5 and 50 percent. The company produces the materials using reactive extrusion. TEREZ^® products can be processed on commercial injection molding and extrusion systems. For drying, we recommend the use of dry air dryers, and for heating injection molding tools water heating equipment is adequate.

Additional Information:

Founded in 1977, TER HELL PLASTIC GMBH (www.terhell.de) is one of the leading German distributors of plastics. In the recent past, the company has especiallly sharpened its focus on international growth. Sister companies of the HSH Group today are working on plastics markets in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ukraine. The rapidly growing market in China is managed by a proprietary subsidiary in Suzhou. The involvement in these countries to a large degree supports the work of the sales offices already established in Austria, Switzerland and France.

TER HELL PLASTIC has agreed to continually expand business relationships with its current production and distribution partners, among them important producers such as Arkema, Borealis, Chevron Phillips, Clariant, DSM, Evonik, Franplast, Polimeri, SABIC, Samsung, TOTAL and Azoty Tarnow. This will ensure the continued growth of TER HELL PLASTIC in the distribution market. In 2007, the company and its 92 employees achieved sales of 122 million Euro. The company's current market activities include Distribution, Compounding, Recycling and Trade. Its current compounding capacity is approximately 13,000 metric tons a year.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Manager Application Technology
Tel. +49 (0)2323 941 - 216
Fax +49 (0)2323 941 - 137
Email: brkljac@terhell.de

TER HELL PLASTIC GMBH
Bochumer Straße 229
44625 Herne, Germany

Bei redaktionellen Fragen wenden Sie sich bitte an das
PRESSEBÜRO Dieter Müller, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Tel.: 069 / 979811-72
Fax: 069 / 979811-74
E-Mail: dmueller@pbdm.de
www.pbdm.de