Using Polymer Components for Aerospace, Commercial, Defense and Space Solutions

Performance plastics such as PEEK can be used to replace heavy metals. Among any thermoplastic, this extruded resin is known to have the highest strength-to-weight ratios. Performance plastics are available in Extruded Tubing, Insulated Wire, Heat Shrink, Spiral Wrap, Convoluted, etc.

Polymers in Aerospace

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Radiation

PVDF and PEEK provide excellent material options for space components or other related applications, where radiation resistance is required to improve performance.

Reduce Friction

Engineered Surface tubing, through the extrusion of micro-structured channels along the tube, reduces strain and friction on fiber optics when employed as sheathing.

MIL-Spec Guide

Fiber Optics – 1

Sheathing

Zeus’ extrusions now hold machine greade tolerances (~0.001”/ 0.025 mm) on plastic tubing employed in fiber optics. Typical extruded performance resins such as PEEK, FEP, THV, PTFE, and ETFE are employed for fiber optics. Glass and other similar fillers can be introduced to boost the robustness of items and maintain the smooth bore of the furcation tubing.

There are annealing options to lower the coefficient of thermal expansion in plastics at high temperature ranges. Convoluted products can serve as a conduit for the delicate fibers. Aeos^® ePTFE tubing can be supplied as a sheathing that will increase flexibility and reduce chafing and vibration impact.

Coated Optical Fiber

Zeus offers specialty coated optical fibers that are resilient even in adverse operating environments. These coatings shield against chemicals, radiation, abrasion, and high temperatures up to 260 °C. Zeus also provides a range of optical fiber coating options in PFA, PEEK, PVDF, ETFE, etc.

Composite Forming - 2

Heat Shrink Release Aids

PEEK, PTFE, FEP, and ETFE are approved contact resins meat for composites. Zeus develops Sub-Lite-Wall^®(~0.004”/0.102 mm) heat shrinks that provide flawless coverings to forming bladders or mandrels that expand with pressure and heat for composite manufacturing. The novel heat shrinks from Zeus substitute labor-intensive tape or film. This saves both time and manpower and creates an enhanced surface finish on the end composite part.

Wire Harness – 3

Spiral wrap

Spiral wrap is a highly flexible and expandable product used for harnessing and insulating cables, wires, bundles, hoses, etc.

Convoluted Tubing

Convoluted tubing, generally known as flexible conduit, is employed for housing multiple wires to avoid chafing. The extrusion can be marked with part numbers, drilled with holes that serve as drain passages, or slit to easily cover and protect wires. Special sizing or AS81914 certification is also available upon special request.

Heat Shrink

Heat shrink tubing offers a sophisticated method for applying a tight, protective covering to items that are exposed to harsh environmental conditions such as extreme heat, moisture, shock, corrosion, etc. Zeus develops high-performance heat shrink tubing from many different polymer resins such as (AS23053™/11) PEEK, PFA, ETFE; PTFE (AS23053™/12) FEP; and PTFE/FEP Dual-Shrink^®.

Drawn Fiber

ETFE, PVDF, ECTFE, FEP, PFA, and PEEK are exceptional braiding fibers, which boost chafe resistance and reduce weight. It is possible to customize tensile, shrinkage, and elongation for braiding applications.

Custom Extrusions

Spline shapes can reduce vibration impact and are used to center wiring. They also allow the passage of moisture or air. There are other specialized shapes that provide isolation of wires in multiple geometries or lumens.

Motor/Magnet Winding – 4

PEEK Insulated Wire and heat shrink has excellent dielectric properties of up to 3000 V/mil, is resistant to abrasion, and has thermal endurance reaching up to 260 °C/500 °F. Generally, this product is utilized in motor winding applications as a faultless wire insulation that drives motor performance. Wire coating option such as round, square, solid, rectangle, stranded, and hexagon profiles are available for PEEK. Zeus extrudes over multiple conductors such as copper, nickel-plated, and silver-plated materials. PEEKshrink^® product is often used to splice wires together.

Extra wire coatings in FEP, ETFE, PFA, or PTFE are available for designs. In addition, Zeus can develop custom extrusions over wire to maximize insulation requirements in creative ways.

Fluid Management - 5

Tubing

Upon special request, Zeus can customize the wall thickness or tolerances on all materials to improve burst pressure. Performance tubing offerings from Zeus are chemically inert to standard aerospace fluids such as Skydrol, JP fuels, salt spray, and deicing and anti-icing fluids.

Fillers

Carbon is used as a filler for PTFE and melt extruded resins and increases static dissipation. Moreover, Zeus can customize percentages and introduce other unique fillers to suit specific requirements of customers. Homogeneous or dual-layered extrusions are available on special request.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.

For more information on this source, please visit Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.