New PMMA Molding Compound With Higher Heat Deflection Temperature And Improved Flow

Darmstadt, Germany — Degussa's Molding Compounds Business Line now offers PLEXIGLAS® FT15 for components exposed to high temperatures. The new product has a much higher heat deflection temperature than standard PMMA molding compounds such as PLEXIGLAS® 8N, as well as offering improved flow.

These advantages, combined with the familiar weather resistance and high transparency of PMMA molding compounds, make PLEXIGLAS® FT15 particularly suitable for a wide range of lighting applications. Vehicle lights are one example. For these, more powerful light sources are increasingly being employed, and at the same time, these light sources are being placed closer and closer to the lamp cover, with the aim of achieving slimmer lamps. This calls for a higher heat deflection temperature. Other uses such as the upgrading of different plastics and wood by applying an injection-molded layer to their surface, and the extrusion of technical profiles, are among the privileged fields of application for the new Degussa product.

With conventional transparent PMMA molding compounds, an increased heat deflection temperature is usually achieved at the cost of flow. That is not the case with PLEXIGLAS® FT15. The development team at Darmstadt succeeded in improving both material benefits in just one product. The Vicat softening temperature of PLEXIGLAS® FT15 is 115°C, which is 7°C higher than that of standard molding compound PLEXIGLAS® 8N - with a simultaneous increase in melt volume rate (MVR) of approximately one third.

This has obvious advantages for molding compound processors, since PLEXIGLAS® FT15 broadens the processing scope. Owing to its good flow, processing can be performed at comparatively low melt temperatures. The resulting reduction in cooling time for the molding makes it possible to achieve shorter cycle times.

Moreover, PLEXIGLAS® FT15 offers advantages when it comes to designing components with demanding wall thickness/flow path ratios that are also required to withstand higher temperatures. In addition, the new Degussa product is suitable for injection molding, injection blow molding, extrusion and coextrusion.

Degussa's PMMA Molding Compounds are marketed under the PLEXIGLAS® trademark worldwide except for the Americas (marketed in the Americas under the ACRYLITE® trademark of Cyro Industries).

SOURCE: Degussa