Delrin Success Story

Plastek Werks Blazes New Trail with DELRIN Welds

A consumer products manufacturer contacted their process engineering company to discuss ways to reduce the cost of using DELRIN plastic components in the manufacturing process. Traditionally, the process engineering company bought large round bars of DELRIN and, over a period of days, cored and machined the large bars to get the desired end product. This process was labor intensive and created a huge amount of waste DELRIN.

The consumer products manufacturer did some research and asked the process engineering company to contact Plastek Werks to investigate an alternative production method. Plastek Werks staff were familiar with DELRIN (acetal homopolymer) and understood DELRIN‘s resistance to liquids and low coefficient of friction have made it an excellent material of choice for bearings, gears and sprockets. In this case, the proprietary part is used as a type of roller cover because of its self-lubricating properties, wear properties, and release properties. It was the product of choice so Plastek Werks welders were charged with creating the same quality end product at a reduced cost.

Working on trial to weld DELRIN, butt welds were used to weld tubes using sheet stock material instead of the traditional 18” cast DELRIN bar stock. Historically, DELRIN has never been welded in a part this large – 20” diameter X 48” long. Small parts have been butt welded and ultrasonically welded. Once again, Plastek Werks has provided the first commercially welded part made of DELRIN of this size.

This ability to weld very large DELRIN components has opened the door for other DELRIN welded products, an option that had previously not been considered possible. This new fabrication option means that DELRIN can be welded into complex shapes for unique applications. The welding process used by Plastek Werks provides a high tensile strength weld that comes extremely close to the strength of the parent material, sometimes exceeding the strength of the sheet stock. Post welding machining of the part produced a surface finish where process engineers could not find the original weld. “This exceeds any solvent bonding process that was evaluated and has considerably lowered the cost of the part from machining it out of bar stock.