Growth in Electrical Systems

Polyetherimide is in competition with other less expensive high performance polymers such as PSU and PES. It is however a very cost effective material and the total systems cost of using PEI compares favourably with competing materials. 

Attention is focused on improving the flow of the material in order to reduce cycle times for injection moulding complex and thin-walled components. GE Plastics has found for example that the viscosity of PEI can be reduced by 50% with the addition of a small amount of PPO polymer. The mechanical properties of PEI remain constant with the addition of the PPO. 

There are also advantages with glass fibre-reinforced materials. For example, the typical processing temperature with 30% glass fibre-reinforced PEI (360-380 °C) blended with 21% PPO can be reduced to 310-340 °C. This flow-optimised technology can find applications in, for example, automotive headlamp reflectors, lamp bases, throttles, chip carriers and aerials. 

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