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High-performance Materials

Calm has introduced 4 heat resistant synthetic fibers - PBO (600˚C), Kevlar (480˚C), Nomex (280˚C), and Polyester (180˚C).

These heat resistant felts are durable, hard-wearing with a clean and smooth surface. Combining industrial grade materials with our modern production equipment makes our industrial felt products affordable and competitive. We have the edge in both quality and price to provide our customers with high-class products and services.

Kevlar

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Have you been looking for an excellent new material to use for your high-performance needs, Kevlar could be just what you need. Kevlar polymer materials offer numerous potential benefits, and as a result, they’re growingly popular for use with countless different applications. But what are Kevlar materials, how do they work, and could Kevlar be the right choice for you? We’ve outlined everything you need to know to get started with Kevlar as follows to help with this decision.

What is Kevlar?

Before we go further, we first need to define some of the key properties and features of Kevlar materials and what these might mean for your own projects. Kevlar is a highly specialized synthetic fiber designed to provide a highly heat-resistant solution for many applications.

Kevlar first appeared on the scene after it was invented by the incredibly talented Stephanie Kwolek, whose work on Kevlar polymers has irrefutably changed the way that many industries operate.

Importantly, Kevlar polymers feature repeating interchain bonds, cross-linked with hydrogen bonds; these bonds help contribute to the overall strength and durability of Kevlar materials. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that Kevlar’s unique properties further help in this regard, ensuring that the material is versatile for use in many different applications and fields.

Key Properties of Kevlar You Should Know

Kevlar has numerous critical properties, making it an excellent material for use in a wide array of applications. Perhaps most importantly, however, is its incredible strength. Unlike many other materials, Kevlar is ideal for use in applications requiring high tensile strength and the like. In fact, it’s capable of providing roughly 3,600 MPa in tensile strength, making it a wonderfully durable material.

Its exceptional durability and strength-to-weight ratio make it an amazing material for applications requiring a higher degree of strength without compromising on weight. Furthermore, Kevlar materials offer exceptional heat resistance, making them an amazing option to consider in high-temperature applications.

What are the Drawbacks of Kevlar?

While Kevlar can offer many great benefits, there are several drawbacks of Kevlar that you should know. Notably, Kevlar is poor in terms of compressive strength and is also non-resistant to UV light. This means that Kevlar materials may degrade more quickly when used in outdoor applications.

Common Kevlar Applications

Thanks to its impressively strong yet lightweight nature, Kevlar is used in various applications in modern settings, including bulletproof gear, boats, aerospace engineering, car brakes, and more. These applications call for a material that’s strong enough to withstand heavy pressures but not so heavy as to cause significant additional weight in the system. It is also an increasingly common replacement for asbestos roofing and in those applications requiring a material that’s strong, durable, cost-effective, and reliable for the long term perspective. Furthermore, Kevlar materials offer exceptional heat resistance, making them an amazing option to consider in high-temperature applications, such as Kevlar Belts for aluminum industry.

To learn more about Kevlar materials and how they might work for your requirements, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly team here at Calm today. We can’t wait to help you find the ideal solutions for your own manufacturing material needs!

PBO

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Have you been looking for top-quality materials? If so, you may want to consider the benefits that PBO could provide. PBO is a highly specialist, professional material that’s widely used for its high-performance nature. But what is PBO, what properties does it offer, and could it be a good option to consider for your own needs? We’ve outlined some key things you should know about PBO to help you discover a little more; hopefully, this will allow you to find the ideal solutions for your manufacturing needs.

What is PBO?

Before we go any further, one of the first things we need to outline is what PBO is. PBO is a specialist manufacturing polymer. It was originally developed in the 1980s and has since become one of the strongest man-made fibers in the world, lending itself to numerous potential applications.

The material’s chemical structure features benzene-fused oxazole rings in a repeating pattern. Synthesis of polybenzoxazole occurs through a condensation and cyclization reaction with terephthalic acid and 4,6-diamino-1,3-benzenediol dihydrochloride.

PBO stands for polybenzoxazole. The material is highly praised for its excellent performance, which makes it incredibly popular for applications requiring a highly lightweight yet exceptionally strong material.

What are the Main Properties of PBO?

PBO is an incredibly popular material for its impressive high-performance nature, which helps ensure that the material can live up to numerous different applications. Unfortunately, the complex production process for PBO means it is more expensive than some other materials, which may limit its applicability for low-cost applications. However, if the project’s budget can justify the expense, some of the main beneficial properties of PBO materials include:

Exceptional tensile strength, making PBO materials roughly ten times stronger than PBI
Impressive temperature and flame resistance up to approximately 650 degrees Celsius, coupled with reliable and dependable thermal stability
Strong levels of resistance against the majority of chemicals

Weaknesses of PBO Materials

While PBO materials are undeniably popular options for many people to consider, they’re not perfect for every project. There are several key reasons why PBO might not be the ideal material for every application, and a few drawbacks of PBO that you should consider are as follows:

Unfortunately, PBO has very poor UV resistance, which means it is prone to degradation or weakening on exposure to strong sunlight.
PBO has very poor compressive strength, meaning it is not suitable for such applications.
While PBO is generally chemical resistant, its performance and tensile strength both fall significantly after exposure to strong acids.

In the end, no material is ideal for every requirement. If you need further support regarding your own project and the most effective type of materials to use, please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly experts today to learn more!

Common Applications of PBO

Overall, PBO materials provide impressive stability and resistance, and these make it widely used in industries requiring equipment for such applications. Some common uses of PBO materials hence include safety gear, bulletproof clothing, and the like. Its excellent weight-to-strength ratio supports this, ensuring that the gear is safe without compromising overall strength for the user.

Nomex

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Have you been looking for a polymer that delivers exceptional resistance for chemical, thermal, and radiation applications? If so, Nomex might be just the material you need. Nomex materials are exceptionally strong and durable, making them some of the most widely used materials for protective polymers on the market. However, before you invest in Nomex materials for your property, it’s crucial to consider whether the properties of Nomex align with your requirements overall.

What is Nomex?

Nomex is a unique form of polymer that’s similar in nature to nylon but has several distinct properties that make it substantially more rigid and durable. Generally speaking, Nomex is made through a condensation reaction, which serves to join multiple monomers into a long repeating polymer chain. Then, the Nomex material is sold in either sheet or fiber forms, depending on the requirements of the customer. Sheets of Nomex materials can vary in size between 0.05mm and 0.76mm, making them exceptionally thin.

The DuPont brand originally developed Nomex materials in the 1960s as a precursor to Kevlar materials (the latter being a para aramid material, in contrast to Nomex, which is a meta aramid). The scientist who worked on Nomex achieved a DuPont Lavoisier Medal in 2002.

What are the Main Beneficial Properties of Nomex?

There are numerous beneficial properties of Nomex, and considering these may come in handy when determining whether or not Nomex is the right material for your needs. Perhaps the most notable benefits of Nomex materials, however, include the following points:

Excellent heat and flame resistance compared to many other polymers
High inherent dielectric strength
Impressive resistance to tearing and abrasion
Incredibly resistant to temperature and chemical degradation, ensuring long-term use
Thin grades of Nomex are incredibly flexible, ideal for many different applications

What are the Drawbacks of Nomex?

There are several excellent benefits of Nomex materials, but perhaps one of the most obvious is the cost of the material. Unlike some other materials, Nomex is relatively expensive, which can make it less versatile for low-value budgets and projects.

How is Nomex Typically Used?

Nomex materials are used in a wide range of applications, depending on your requirements. Generally speaking, most Nomex materials are used for clothing and equipment, such as equipment for fire fighters, military pilots and tank drivers, and racing drivers. These materials offer a simple personal protection solution and many additional applications depending on your unique requirements. It’s also common in electrical laminates. Nomex has even been used in the US space program and in acoustic materials with the EMPAC.

Find Out More About Nomex

If you’d like to find out more about Nomex materials and the benefits that they could offer, our friendly experts will be on hand today to help. We’re proud to deliver some of the best solutions for top-quality polymer products. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us today if you’d like to learn more about the properties of Nomex, alternative materials to Nomex, and the like.

Polyester

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If you have been looking for a highly versatile material for your manufacturing requirements, polyester could be an excellent option to consider. However, before you make this crucial decision, we’ve outlined some of the vital things you need to know about polyester materials, what they are, their properties, and the like. Hopefully, this will help you find the ideal materials for your needs as well.

What are Polyester Materials?

Polyester materials are among the most common synthetic polymers today, with a vast amount of polyester being used in numerous industries. Synthetic polyester was originally designed in the 20th century and is a synthetic polymer. It is made from petroleum, coal, air, and water. However, some natural polyesters also exist.

All polyesters contain the ester functional group. Unfortunately, the majority of synthetic polymers are entirely non-degradable, which may inform your decision as to the most effective product. However, a small number of polyesters are biodegradable with time.

The most common type of polyester is polyethylene terephthalate. However, some other forms of polyester may also be available.

Features and Properties of Polyester Materials

There are numerous features and benefits of polyester materials that can make them highly popular for many applications. Their excellent affordability is undoubtedly one of the main reasons polyesters are often chosen over other materials. However, some additional benefits of polyester materials for clothes and fabric manufacturing include:

Excellent durability, making them strong for many applications
Highly flexible, allowing for good ease of movement
Easily dyed for use in fashion applications
Highly stable compound that’s considered very safe to wear and use
Extremely lightweight fibers help keep every garment comfortable without compromising warmth
Rapid drying times make polyester materials easy to wash and maintain

Drawbacks of Polyester Materials

While polyester materials are incredibly popular, manufacturers should keep a few drawbacks in mind. Notably, polyester materials are not always biodegradable; polyesters tend to build up static a lot, and they commonly hold odors for a longer duration than many other materials. This may make them somewhat less suitable for certain applications. They are also limited in terms of breathability, too, which can make them a little uncomfortable to wear for extended durations of time.

How are Polyester Materials Used?

Among the most common applications for polyester materials in the modern world include clothing and equipment manufacturing, largely for their excellent value for money. Their superior fire resistance than many natural materials may also make them more suitable for this particular application. However, perhaps surprisingly, polyesters can be used in many other applications as well, such as in jet engine seals, heat resistant felt belts.

Find The Perfect Solutions for Your Manufacturing Needs

If, by now, you think that polyester materials could be the perfect solutions for your manufacturing needs, be sure to reach out to our friendly experts for further support. We’re immensely proud to be one of the leading providers of quality polyester felt belts and solutions. So, if you have any questions or queries, we’d be thrilled to help!