Polysulfone Plastic
Polysulfone is a thermoplastic resin containing sulfone (-SO2-) and arylene in the main chain of the molecule. Its English name is Polysulfone (PSF or PSU for short). There are three types: ordinary bisphenol A PSF (commonly known as polysulfone), polyarylsulfone and polyethersulfone.
PSF is a slightly amber amorphous transparent or translucent polymer with excellent mechanical properties, high rigidity, wear resistance, high strength, and excellent mechanical properties even at high temperatures. Its outstanding advantages are that it can maintain excellent mechanical properties in the range of -100~150℃, long-term use temperature of 160℃, and short-term use temperature of 190℃. It has high thermal stability, hydrolysis resistance, good dimensional stability, small molding shrinkage, non-toxic, radiation-resistant, flame-resistant, and extinguishable. It has excellent electrical properties in a wide range of temperature and frequency.
It has good chemical stability. Except for concentrated nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid, and halogenated hydrocarbons, it can resist general acids, alkalis, salts, and swelling in ketones and esters. It has poor UV resistance and weather resistance. Poor fatigue resistance is the main disadvantage. PSF must be pre-dried to a moisture content of less than 0.05% before molding. PSF can be processed by injection molding, compression molding, extrusion, thermoforming, blow molding, etc. The melt viscosity is high, and viscosity control is the key to processing. After processing, heat treatment is recommended to eliminate internal stress.
What are the properties of PSU plastic?
High temperature resistance: Polysulfones are ideal for high temperature applications, such as aerospace, automotive, and medical devices, as they can withstand continuous use temperatures up to 180°C (356°F) and short-term exposure temperatures up to 250°C (482°F).
Chemical resistance: Polysulfones are also resistant to a wide range of chemicals, including acids, bases, solvents, and oils, making them ideal for the chemical processing and food and beverage industries.
Durability: Polysulfone materials are durable and have excellent impact strength and abrasion resistance. This makes it ideal for use in demanding applications where other materials may fail.
Transparency: Polysulfone materials are transparent, making them ideal for applications where visibility is important, such as medical devices and optical components.
Lightweight: Polysulfones are lightweight, making them ideal for applications where weight is a concern, such as aerospace and automotive parts.
Biocompatibility: Polysulfone materials are safe for use in the human body, making them ideal for use in medical devices and implants.
Flame Retardant: Polysulfone is naturally flame retardant, making it ideal for use in applications where fire safety is a concern.
Electrical Insulation: Polysulfone is an excellent electrical insulator, making it ideal for use in electrical and electronic components.
Performance
A. Polysulfone is an amber transparent solid material with high hardness and impact strength, non-toxic, good heat resistance, cold resistance, aging resistance, and self-extinguishing properties. It can be used for a long time at -100–175 degrees. It is resistant to corrosion by inorganic acids, alkalis and salts, but not resistant to aromatic hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons.
B. The wear resistance of the material can be greatly improved by glass fiber reinforcement modification.
C. Polysulfone can be made into modified products of polysulfone with ABS, polyimide, polyetheretherketone and fluoroplastics, mainly to improve its impact strength and elongation, solvent resistance, environmental resistance, processing performance and electroplating performance. Such as PSF/PBT, PSF/ABS, PSF+mineral powder.
D. Polysulfone can be used continuously in 300 °F steam. In 180 °F water, the maximum pressure is 13.8MPa (static load) and 17.2MPa (intermittent load). In order to maintain long-term transparency and impact resistance, the maximum pressure it can withstand in 180 °F water is 3.5MP (static load) and 6.9MPa (intermittent load).
E. Polysulfone has good comprehensive electrical properties: although the dielectric constant and loss factor are very low, it still has high dielectric strength and volume resistivity. And it can remain constant over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies (even microwave frequencies).
Uses
A. Suitable for making heat-resistant parts, insulating parts, wear-reducing and wear-resistant parts, instrument parts and medical equipment parts. Polysulfone is suitable for making low-temperature working parts.
B. Polysulfone is often used in the electronic and electrical industry to make integrated circuit boards, coil racks, contactors, sleeves, capacitor films, and high-performance alkaline battery shells.
C. Polysulfone is used in household appliances for microwave ovens, coffee heaters, humidifiers, hair dryers, cloth steam dryers, beverage and food dispensers, etc. It can also replace non-ferrous metals for precision structural parts of clocks, copiers, cameras, etc.
D. Polysulfone has passed the relevant specifications in the field of medicine and food in the United States and can replace stainless steel products. Due to the characteristics of polysulfone resistance to steam, hydrolysis, non-toxicity, high-temperature steam sterilization, high transparency, and good dimensional stability, it can be used as surgical tool trays, sprayers, fluid controllers, heart valves, pacemakers, gas masks, dental trays, etc.
Main Applications
Mechanical Industry:
Used in manufacturing watch cases and parts, parts for copiers and cameras, and used as hot water valves, refrigeration system appliances, transmission parts, etc. for food machinery. Polysulfone plastics can be used as high-temperature load bearings, piston rings, bearing retainers, hot water measuring instruments, warm water pump bodies, impellers, etc. after adding wear-resistant fillers such as polytetrafluoroethylene or graphite.
Electronic appliances:
Can be used to manufacture integrated circuit boards for televisions, audio equipment and computers, and can also be used to make housings for electronic and electrical equipment, electroplating tanks, sleeves and coil frames for oscilloscopes, capacitor films and wires, cable coatings, and various small precision electronic components. Polyarylsulfone can be used as Class C insulating material to make various high-temperature resistant coil frames, switches, connectors, etc. Polyethersulfone can also be used as coil bobbins, coil frames, micro capacitors, etc. Glass fiber reinforced polyethersulfone can be used as thyristor insulators, micro potentiometer housings, integrated circuit sockets, etc.
Transportation:
Used in the manufacture of dashboards, differential covers, guard plates, ball bearing cages, engine gears, thrust rings, etc. on automobiles; hot air ducts and frame windows on aircraft, etc.
Medical equipment:
Due to its transparency and resistance to hot water, steam, ethanol and hygienic characteristics, it can be used to make gas masks, sterilizers for contact lenses, endoscope parts, artificial heart valves, artificial dentures, etc.; polyethersulfone can be made into artificial respirators, blood pressure test tubes, dental mirror brackets, syringes, etc. Polysulfone and polyethersulfone can also be made into ultrafiltration membranes and reverse osmosis membranes, etc.
PSU Material Recycling
Physical recycling
It is one of the main ways to recycle PSU materials. Through pretreatment steps such as cleaning, crushing, and drying, waste PSU materials are converted into reusable small pieces or granular substances. These recycled particles can be used to make new plastic products, such as pipes, wire and cable sheaths, and automotive parts.
Chemical recycling
Waste PSU is decomposed into monomers or small molecular compounds through high-temperature cracking or solvent extraction, and then new polymer materials are generated through polymerization reactions. This method can obtain high-quality recycled products, but it has high energy consumption and high costs, so its popularity is low.
Modification technology
In order to improve the performance of recycled PSU materials, their mechanical properties and heat resistance can be improved by adding modifiers such as reinforcing fibers or impact agents. This modification technology can broaden the application field of PSU recycled materials and enable them to be used in more high-performance demand scenarios.
The significance of recycling
The recycling of PSU materials not only helps to reduce environmental pollution, but also saves resources and promotes the development of a circular economy. For example, efficient recycling of PSU materials can be achieved by combining physical recycling with chemical recycling.
