DuPont™ Vespel®Insulator Solutions

Meeting the insulator needs for scientific and analytical equipment using

DUPONT™ vespel® SP-1 and SCP-5000

The science of DuPont™ Vespel® helps parts endure extreme environments from reactor chambers to deep space.

Vespel® Polyimide polymers are superb as material solutions for insulator applications in scientific and analytical equipment.

Vespel® SP-1 and SCP-5000 not only provide strong electrical and thermal insulation, but they are low weight, easy to fabricate alternatives to traditional ceramics. Vespel®polymers outperform other engineering plastics at high temperatures for extended periods of time.

Challenges

• Fabricating precise dimensions in ceramics is difficult and expensive

• Designing light electrical and thermal insulators with impact toughness

• Selecting materials with predictable properties to enable accurate and repeatable analyses

• Identifying materials with a diverse combination of characteristics to reduce design complexity and improve system reliability

Mass spectrometry insulators require materials with high dielectric strength and low outgassing

Product Description

Vespel® SP-1 and SCP-5000 materials are high performance unfilled polyimides used to make tough electrical and thermal insulators. These products exhibit a unique combination of attributes:

• Excellent electrical properties: High dielectric strength, low dielectric constant

• Thermal oxidation and ion degradation resistance

• Low outgassing and inherently clean

• Broad chemical compatibility

• Ease of machining to precise dimensions with standard machining techniques

Solutions

A combination of material capabilities that transcends plastics and ceramics.

• Vespel® polymers machine easily yet they have electrical insulative properties like a ceramic. The advantage is low fabrication cost versus ceramics especially when there are precise design features such as under cuts, holes, or threads

• Vespel® materials are tough compared to traditional ceramics. This characteristic translates into lower scrap rates and better service life in high impact scenarios where cracking is an issue during fabrication, assembly, or operation

• Unlike most plastics, Vespel®SP-1 exhibits no glass transition temperature or melt point and maintains mechanical properties across a wide temperature range

• Vespel® SCP-5000 has a glass transition temperature at 626°F, but below this temperature it has higher strength, modulus, thermal oxidative stability, dimensional stability, and chemical resistance than Vespel® SP-1

Down hole analytical instruments need strong thermal degradation resistance, dimensional stability, and impact toughness

Where to use DuPont™ Vespel® SP-1 and SCP-5000 as an insulator?

Vespel® polyimides have been used as specialty insulators for decades in applications in scientific instrumentation, analytical equipment,avionics,communications, ultrasonics, andtransformers. Although appropriate use of Vespel® products is application specific

Vespel® SP-1 and SCP-5000 are often selected in the following instances:

• Operating temperatures to 550°F with thermal excursions to 900°F

• High differential voltages

• Hard vacuum down to 10–9 Torr

• Designs requiring multiple functions (insulator, seal conformity, low wear and low friction)

• Impact loads where ceramics fail

• Low weight requirements

• Geometries with fine features

Ultrasonic Transducers in high temperature service need strong thermal insulators with consistent material properties

Weight Loss Test Results - Exposure to Air at 662°F DuPont™ Vespel® Retains Its Weight and Shape