Victrex Provides Manufacturers With an Alternative to PTFE

Before the commercial launch of the Victrex ST Polymer several years ago, designers at United Kingdom-based Victrex Polymer Solutions tested the material extensively by subjecting it to some of the most demanding industrial environments, particularly manufacturing processes using high temperatures. The polymer held up well. And while the company has been selling Victrex ST since 2009, the product only recently encountered its first true field test, when Escontrol, a Brazilian manufacturer of control and electronic instruments, needed to replace electrode insulator connectors in its thermal equipment instruments for high-pressure vessels. Escontrol’s instruments are used in the medical, food and petrochemical industries; the products are key to the proper functioning of fluid phase power generation equipment. The insulator connectors used in Escontrol’s instruments originally were made with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, also known by the brand name Teflon), a non-stick material that reduces friction, wear and energy consumption of machinery. Escontrol executives, however, claimed the PTFE connectors could not withstand the high-temperature, high-pressure environments to which they were subjected. So they turned to the Victrex ST polymer for its durability and reliability amid high temperatures and pressures as well as its electrical and chemical resistance, dimensional stability and low permeability-moisture absorption. The material comes in two grades: STG45, an unfilled granule grade that can withstand temperatures between 150 degrees and 200 degrees Celsius, and ST45GL30, a glass-filled granule grade that can survive temperatures as high as 380 degrees Celsius. The polymer is an ideal replacement option for various applications including seals, connectors, turbo charge impellers, rings, test sockets, wire coatings and valve plates.