About Torlon Plastic
- High performance thermoplastic
- Resistant to corrosion from chemicals and organics
- Excellent strength at high temperatures
Torlon is a type of polyamide-imide plastic that performs very well under severe stress conditions, making it an ideal choice for manufacturing a wide variety of products. Torlon plastic can be extruded into a range of shapes and injection molded to create parts for the automotive, aerospace, oil & gas, electrical, and alternative energy industries.
Torlon Plastic Properties
Torlon is characterized by high thermal stability, meaning it can maintain its form in very high temperatures, and excellent resistance to chemicals and organics.
- It can take the heat –The heat distortion temperature is the temperature at which a plastic will start to deform under load. The temperature for Torlon plastic is 500°F. Even under this level of heat, Torlon will outperform most other engineered plastics at room temperature. It also has a very low CLTE rating, so it won’t expand or contract much with temperature changes, and it has low flammability properties and will generate very little smoke.
- Chemical resistance –Torlon is resistant to corrosive acids and most organic material, and it is virtually unaffected by aliphatic, aromatic, chlorinated, or fluorinated hydrocarbons.
- Wear resistance – Torlon outperforms other engineered plastics when it comes to wear rates in both dry and lubricated environments under load. It also maintains high impact strength in very low temperature environments.
- High strength – Torlon plastic delivers very high tensile and compressive strength, which can be boosted even further in grades reinforced with glass and carbon fibers.
- Lightweight – Components made from Torlon plastic are about half the weight of aluminum, 1/6 the weight of steel, and even lighter than many other metal components. These qualities make it more efficient and desirable than metal in many mechanical applications.
- Compressive strength – Unreinforced Torlon’s compressive strength, or the resistance of it to breaking under compression, rivals that of glass fiber and carbon reinforced high performance polymers.
What makes Torlon plastic unique?
Torlon is different from other engineered plastics because it can handle very harsh environments and exposure to extreme heat and cold, chemicals, high speeds and pressure, and organic material. Its excellent thermal and mechanical properties are created by an extended curing process that lengthens the PAI polymer chain and builds up its molecular weight. This process allows Torlon to be used under conditions that would generally be considered too severe for most plastics. There are also multiple grades of Torlon that offer increased wear or thermal resistance, strength, or electrical insulation to make it better suited to specific applications and environments.