Interstate Plastics is proud to offer acetal - an engineering plastic used in precision applications requiring high stiffness, low friction and excellent dimensional stability.
Acetal is an ideal plastic solution due to desirable toughness properties and extreme temperature performance, making it widely used in auto, mechanical, electrical, food and beverage, medical and consumer industries.
- High strength and stiffness
- Excellent dimensional stability
- Continuous use temperature of 180°F
- Porosity free
- Consistent properties in wet or moist environments
- Very low moisture absorption
- Excellent electrical properties
- Easy to machine to close tolerances
FDA & USDA compliant grades available
With high strength and stiffness, thermoplasticity, high resistance to moisture, chemicals, solvents, and friction, acetal is used in many versatile applications across a wide range of industries.
Typical applications include gears, springs, plates, bushings and housings. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Acetal for use in the food industry.
Mechanical and Industrial Applications
Acetal is the ideal candidate for products that require inherent durability or high resistance to friction, making it widely common among mechanical and automotive industries.
Mechanical and industrial parts have become increasingly more reliable and safer due to the tough and rigid properties of acetal plastics. Acetal plastic is commonly used in the construction of valves, bearings, gears and any component that requires strength and a low coefficient of friction.
Sliding and guiding elements, housing parts, springs, chains, screws, nuts, and fan wheels are stronger and more reliable when constructed with acetal. Acetals are used to make pump parts, valve bodies, cams, clips, lugs, conveyor links and watch gears.
Acetal plastic is used to compose fuel sender units, door lock systems, articulated shells, door handles, housings, fuel systems, seat belt components, steering columns, window support buckets, and cranks and handles.
Electrical Engineering
Acetals are widely used for their stability, making them popular in electrical components. In electrical engineering industries, acetal can be machined to create insulators, bobbins, connector, and parts for electronic devices such as television and telephones. Acetal plastics are especially convenient in the electrical engineering industry because they are able to resist many kinds of chemical and solvents.
Extreme Temperature Applications
Due to acetal's rigidity, resilience, toughness and strength, it does not easily become brittle even with long-term exposure to unfavorable conditions including extremely high temperatures. Acetals absorb minimal amounts of moisture and with a high level of heat resistance, can be heated or cooled without affecting form or dimensionality. Acetals are commonly used in hot water applications up to 140°F without any hydrolysis effect.
FDA Approved Items
Available in lot-controlled FDA-compliant grades, acetal is used in items such as milk pumps, coffee spigots, filter housings and food conveyors. Due to their high level of heat resistance, acetals can be heated or cooled repeatedly without affected food taste or appearance. In addition, acetals can be disinfected and sterilized without fear of degradation, as they're highly resistant to soap solutions.
Plumbing
When dealing with wet environments, acetal plastics are a strong performer. Acetals are beneficial in creating water supply lines due to their durability and extremely low water absorption rates. Hard water does not harm the material, unlike many other materials, which may erode from acidic water. Valves, valve stems pumps, impellers, faucet cartridges, shower heads and various fittings use acetal plastics. With desirable high chemical resistance, acetal is able to work with many other fluids, including waste water components.
Medical Grade Copolymer
Interstate Plastics is proud to carry Celcon® M25 Medical Grade acetal plastic. Medical grade acetals (such as Celcon®) are used specifically for blood and tissue contact. Medical grade acetals can be sterilized time and time again without risk of degradation.
Medical industry consumers rely on high quality products such as acetal Celcon® when creating products that are used in both high-risk surgeries and routine procedures. Medical grade acetals are most commonly used in surgical instruments and size trials. These materials are backed by testing, regulatory review, and high ratings of customer satisfaction.
Consumer Items
Acetal plastics are used to make toys and product accessories including paintball accessories, airsoft guns, K'Nex® pieces, doll arms and legs, clothing zippers, audio and video cassette parts, fully automatic coffee brewers, knife handles, garden sprayers and butane lighter bodies. Acetal is the perfect plastic solution for endless commercial applications including hardware tools, mechanical pens and pencils, aerosols, locks and hinges.
Mechanical: gears, sliding and guiding elements, housing parts, springs, chains, screws, nuts, fan wheels, pump parts, valve bodies
Electrical Engineering: insulators, bobbins, connectors, parts for electronic devices such as televisions & telephones
Vehicle: fuel sender unit, door lock systems, articulated shells
Medical: insulin pens, metered dose inhalers (MDI)
Furniture: hardware, locks, handles, hinges, curtains roles
Packaging: aerosol cans, vehicle tanks
Sports: paintball accessories, airsoft guns
Clothing: zippers
Music: picks, Irish flutes, bagpipes, practice chanters
Dining: fully automatic coffee brewers; knife handles
Acetal vs. Delrin®
Delrin® is DuPont's trade name for acetal hom*opolymer.
Acetal is the name generally used in the plastics industry to refer to acetal copolymer.
Copolymer acetal features no center-line porosity and has better property retention at elevated temperatures. It's available in FDA compliant grades and has better chemical resistance to hot water and high pH (basic) solutions versus Delrin®.
In comparison to acetal copolymer, hom*opolymer Delrin® features a higher crystallinity, providing better mechanical properties including tensile strength, creep resistance and impact strength. Delrin® demonstrates a high strength and stiffness in addition to good dimensional stability and very low moisture absorption.
Delrin® can operate in wet environments with little effect on performance and an increase in part life. Its natural grade is FDA, NSF and USDA compliant.
Property
Acetal
Copolymer
Delrin
hom*opolymer
Density (lb/in3)
0.051
0.051
Water Absorption @24 Hours
0.2%
0.2%
Tensile Strength (psi)
9500
11000
Tensile Modulus (psi)
400,000
450,000
Elongation at Break
30%
30%
Flexural Strength (psi)
12000
13000
Flexural Modulus (psi)
400,000
450,000
Compressive Strength (psi)
15000
16000
Hardness, Rockwell
M88/R120
M89/R122
Dielectric Strength (V/mil)
420
450
*Values listed are typical and are meant only as a guide to aid in design. Field testing should be performed to find the actual values for your application.
