Need extremly durable, light weight plastic material.

[Long428]

I posted this question in the materials section and then decided to post it here also. I am designing a plastic part that is 4ftx3.5ftx1in. I can design in a majority of the lightness, but need to know several materials to begin looking at. Part will see some major abuse. Any suggestions on a material to try?

 

[RIVetron]

You might consider PFA (PerFluoroalcoxy Resin), it's expensive but has a very nice balance of engineering properties such as rigidity and abrasion resistance, and is well suited to abusive situations - (that sounds kinda funny), but true.<br>
<br>
Some other materials that come to mind include Phenolic, UHMWPE, HDPE, etc.<br>
<br>
Hope that is helpful<br>
<br>

 

[RIVetron]

I almost forgot, you can also probably do a search of various materials on

http://www.globalspec.com

- and on GE Plastics web site (I believe it's

http://www.geplastics.com

but not certain)<br>
<br>
best of luck!<br>
<br>

 

[muzzin]

As per RIVetron above UHMWPE is excellent for both mechanical and chemical abrasiveness. UHMW might be a better alternative to PTFE (teflon) in terms of cost but I believe it has a higher density.