Turning Up the Heat: Considerations for High Temperature Applications

Customers frequently ask sales people about the maximum service temperatures for various high performance plastics. In many cases, an engineer has come across a single piece of information such as a material’s heat deflection temperature, glass transition temperature or continuous service temperature, and the individual mistakenly believes that a single property value specifies the maximum temperature at which a thermoplastic can be used.

Although the maximum operating temperature for a plastic material may seem like a simple question, the answer actually involves considerable complexity and multiple characteristics of the polymer must be considered when making this determination. The purpose of this article is to examine some of these characteristics and provide a framework for richer discussions with customers about the use of plastics in high temperature applications.

Read The Article Originally Published In The Iapd Magazine