Seattle, WA, USA--(Jobwerx News)--Nano particles resin enhancement enables difficult parts to be easily manufactured and improves cycle time for plastic injection molded thin-wall products.

Ultradur High Speed polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) from BASF, introduced at the K 2004 show last October in Duesseldorf, Germany, is now commercially available in North America. The new product line features advanced flow properties that deliver improved cycle times, especially for injection molded thin-wall products.

Ultradur is the trade name for BASF’s partly crystalline, thermoplastic polyester based on polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). It is used as a material for high-quality, highly stressed engineering parts in a wide variety of industrial sectors. Ultradur features high stiffness and strength, very good dimensional stability at high temperatures, low water absorption, good resistance to many chemicals, and outstanding heat aging performance.

Ultradur High Speed PBT grades can flow up to twice the distance as standard PBT resins, depending on the glass fiber content. This is accomplished through a special additive BASF developed that contains nano particles. The additive particles are significantly smaller than house dust mites, between 50 and 300 nanometers in size, and greatly influence the rheology to reduce the melt viscosity by up to 50 percent.

This enhancement enables difficult, thin-walled parts to be easily manufactured. In addition, the other attributes of BASF’s Ultradur High Speed PBT, such as mechanical properties, shrinkage and heat resistance, are very similar to traditional PBT products.

“Ultradur High Speed PBT opens up many design opportunities for our customers,” said Joe Venner, Director of Product Management for BASF’s Engineering Plastics business in North America. “The change in rheology brings a series of benefits for plastics injection molders because the lower viscosity of these advanced grades means that smaller injection and holding pressures can be applied, or the molding temperature can be lowered and the holding time shortened. Overall, this increases the application capability range for PBT products, as well as improves cycle times for our customers.”

According to Venner, Ultradur High Speed PBT will be targeted for applications in the automotive and electrical/electronic markets. “The easier flow properties of Ultradur High Speed PBT will allow parts with higher filler contents, like glass fibers, to be molded, resulting in better mechanical properties at a reduced wall thickness in these sectors,” he said.

One of BASF’s customers recently developed a commercial application for its Ultradur High Speed PBT in Europe molded with the B4300 G2 10 percent glass-filled grade. The exceptional flow properties of this resin enabled the production of a plug-in connector for laptop computers, telephones and other devices with an Internet connection. The small and very intricate component, which weighs just 1.5 grams, was challenging to produce because the complex tool had eight cavities that were difficult to fill using conventional PBT. In addition, air was often found on the thin connector ribs, resulting in a high amount of scrap. Using the Ultradur High Speed PBT grade led to improvements in the filling and de-aerating of the tool, and resulted in reducing cycle time by 20 to 25 percent.

BASF’s Engineering Plastics business is one of the largest plastics suppliers in the world. BASF offers a comprehensive product line and market expertise ranging from commodities to engineering and high-performance materials in thermoplastics, foams and urethanes. Research and development operations for BASF’s plastics businesses in North America are based at the Plastics Application Center in Wyandotte, Mich. Our Engineering Plastics business also operates an Applications Development Laboratory in Mount Olive, N.J.

The portfolio of BASF’s Engineering Plastics business is comprised of the "4 Ultras" - Ultramid® polyamide (PA) nylon-based resins, Ultradur® polybutylene tererphthalate (PBT), Ultraform® polyacetal (POM), and Ultrason® polysulfone (PSU) and polyether sulfone (PES). The other products are Petra® post-consumer recycled polyester and Nypel® post-industrial nylon 6.

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