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High Performance Materials Make their Mark in Manufacturing

by Austin Ganly, Applications Engineer, Beswick Engineering Co., Inc.

Throughout the industrial manufacturing world, there is an increasing trend toward the use of high performance materials. Designers are moving away from using brass and standard elastomeric seals and are instead implementing stainless steels, nickel alloys and higher grade elastomers within their designs. This is particularly evident within the Fluid Handling Industry, where components designed for compressed air are now also used for the movement of specialty gases and corrosive fluids.

Several industries utilize specialty gases and fluids such as DI water, hydrogen, helium, anesthesia gases, propane, solvent, ink, methane, alcohol, acids, lubricants and more within their product or manufacturing process. These industries rely on the characteristics that high performance materials offer in order to make their products work effectively. High performance materials provide several advantages, including cleanliness for high purity applications, low out-gassing for analytical equipment, corrosion resistance, long life, strength, reliability, weight reduction and durability. Many of these characteristics are critical to manufacturing within the pharmaceutical, semiconductor, medical, inkjet printing, fuel cell, toxic gas detection, chemical processing and analysis instrumentation industries.

Imagine if the security scanner that detects toxic gas residue at the airport malfunctioned due to the breakdown and failure of an inferior material within the system. Or if the analyzing machine at the oil refinery that supplies quality fuel for your car suddenly stopped working. These are just a few examples where the use of high grade materials is essential to maintain the operation of the product and provide safety to the public. Industrial manufacturers can save time and money by utilizing these materials and limiting failures and lengthy repair times.

The demand from designers for higher quality components is driving manufacturers and suppliers to master machining and assembly techniques for these high performance materials. It has created the necessity for suppliers of fluid handling items to offer their products in alternative, higher performance materials, such as stainless steel, magnesium, nickel alloys and titanium. It has also required that they provide gasket and O-ring seals made of materials like Dupont’s Kalrez®, Teflon® and Viton®, Greene Tweed’s Chemraz®, and other compounds such as EPDM and flourosilicone.

A selection of high performance fluid handling products from Beswick Engineering, manufactured in PEEK®, titanium, 316-stainless steel and a collection of various high performance O-rings.

A handful of manufacturers who supply the fluid handling industry have already begun implementing these alternative materials into standard products. These companies now offer high pressure regulators for the pharmaceutical/biotech industry in either Hastelloy-C® or Monel®, both of which are nickel alloys. These regulators are available with optional seal materials to maintain high purity within a system. Other fluid handling manufacturers have made the switch to machining Teflon®, Kynar® and even PEEK® to combat harsh environments. The need for smaller, lighter and higher performance fluid handling components within the laboratory equipment marketplace has prompted a miniature fluid handling manufacturer based in New Hampshire to work with several high performance materials. They have expanded their standard product line to now include products manufactured in 316-stainless steel, titanium, magnesium and other materials, while offering application-specific high performance elastomers for sealing.

There is a growing need for suppliers to manufacture their standard products in alternative, high performance materials and offer them as catalog items. As fluid handling manufacturing companies improve their machining and assembly processes when working with these materials, the marketplace will offer more products made of higher grade components. The products containing these components will last longer, have a greater reliability and survive the harshest environments. Industrial manufacturers need to become familiar with these alternative materials as it is expected that they will soon be commonplace.

Austin Ganly can be contacted at 603-433-1188 ext. 16, or austin-ganly@beswick.com.

AT A GLANCE
•More stainless steels, nickel alloys and higher grade elastomers are being used in industrial manufacturing
•High performance materials provide low out-gassing for analytical equipment, corrosion resistance, long life, and durability •There is a growing need for standard products to be manufactured in high performance materials

ONLINE
For additional information on the companies / technologies discussed in this article, see Laboratory Equipment magazine online at www.LaboratoryEquipment.com or the following Web sites:
•www.beswick.com