Mandatory requirements for aerospace polymers include light weight to lower fuel costs, excellent mechanical strength and dimensional stability, and the ability to meet industry standards and specifications regarding flame, smoke, and toxicity emissions.
High-performance Victrex Peek polymer is increasingly being specified since it meets these and other rigid requirements, especially in metal replacement opportunities across multiple aircraft platforms.
It combines these product characteristics with a processing flexibility that delivers increased efficiency and parts consolidation to lower costs. In addition to excellent high temperature and flammability properties, Victrex Peek polymer meets another key requirement for aerospace polymers – the ability to maintain its properties while withstanding extreme chemical environments, including jet fuels and hydraulic fluids.
Victrex Peek polymer offers exceptional resistance to a wide range of acids, bases, and hydrocarbons allowing for longer-lasting components. Tests have demonstrated that soaking Victrex Peek compounds in Skydrol hydraulic fluid at 70°C for 1000 hours led to a less than 10 per cent change in nominal properties.
These tests are backed by more than 20 years of proven performance in both commercial and military aircraft where Victrex Peek polymer has been specified in hydraulic and fuel system components.
Amphenol Pcd, a division of Amphenol Corporation, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of interconnect products, conducted testing to prove that their glass-filled Victrex Peek polymer injection moulded P-clamps were not adversely affected after being submerged in aviation Jet A fuel for twelve months at room temperature.
Jocelyn Belanger, senior design engineer at Amphenol, stated: “The results showed that there were no visual signs of softening, swelling, or loss of adhesion in the overmoulded fluorosilicone cushion in any of the submerged samples removed from the jet fuel.
Each sample exposed to the jet fuel passed both cushion adhesion and cushion retention testing.” The ultimate strength of each P-clamp sample after jet fuel submersion was greater than the design ultimate load of 556N (125lbf), with the average ultimate load being 28% higher than the design load.
“The ability of Victrex Peek polymer to retain its properties after exposure to jet fuel confirmed that the polymer has the strength and chemical resistance to perform in the fuel tank environment where the P-clamps are used to hold wire harnesses and fuel and hydraulic hoses,” said Belanger.
