Building on over 40 years of innovation and market leadership, the DuPont™ Vespel® business expands its portfolio of products with the new Vespel® SCP part family developed to deliver improved part life, reduced weight and lower costs in jet engines and aircraft systems. Key application areas include wear, seal and insulator parts for compressors, augmenters, actuation systems, auxiliary power units, thrust reversers, pumps, valves and self-locking fasteners.
“The DuPont™ Vespel® SCP family of parts marks a step-change advance in the high-temperature capabilities of non-metallic parts, and can deliver substantial cost and performance advantages over metal,” said Mark Forkapa, Global Aerospace segment leader. “The introduction of these products is a direct response to the aerospace industry’s need to improve fuel efficiency and extend maintenance cycles.”
The SCP family consists of three compositions. Vespel® SCP-5000 parts are unfilled. Vespel® SCP-5050 and SCP-50094 parts employ new filler technologies for lower friction and enhanced wear resistance.
All compositions have exceptional high-temperature capabilities. In thermal oxidative stability tests, weight loss values are only a fraction of those of comparable traditional polyimides (see accompanying chart). In addition, Vespel® SCP parts are stronger at ambient and elevated temperature than the traditional types.
The Vespel® SCP family also excels in dimensional stability, a key attribute for maintaining fit and function with changes in temperature and humidity. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of Vespel® SCP-5050 parts is a virtual match for that of stainless steel, and the CTE value of SCP-50094 is lower than that of comparable polyimides.
The filler-enhanced compositions, Vespel® SCP-5050 and SCP-50094 parts, are particularly suited for parts such as wear pads or strips, bumpers, bushings and bearings that operate at an elevated temperature. In oscillating wear tests of bushings conducted at 343°C, thickness loss of an SCP 5050 part is 63 percent less than that of a traditional polyimide part.
Vespel® SCP-5000 parts, the unmodified composition, have the highest strength in the SCP family. They are particularly suited for applications such as seals and valve seats operating in high-temperature environments. For example, the compression strength of test specimens at 5 percent strain is about 60 percent higher than that of traditional polyimide parts at ambient temperature and 30 percent higher at 260°C. In heat aging tests at 370° to 430°C, SCP-5000 parts retain 50 percent of their original strength as much as nearly 10 times longer than their polyimide predecessors.
Vespel® SCP-5000 parts can also perform very well as insulators in severe environments. Complementing their high strength and excellent thermal resistance, they have outstanding dielectric properties over wide temperature and frequency ranges.
For more than 40 years, the Vespel® Parts and Shapes business has delivered ‘big science, part by part’ through high-performance, cost-effective solutions for aerospace applications. To learn more visit http://Vespel.dupont.com or call DuPont at 1-800-222-VESP (8377).
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.
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12/9/08
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Caption: DuPont™ Vespel® SCP parts provide more thermal stability than traditional polyimides.
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