Delrin® Acetal Homopolymer Outperforms Acetal Copolymer and Reduces Cost Per Part
Designing for Delrin®, a global customer gained significant cost savings
A major customer used Delrin® acetal homopolymer over acetal copolymer to redesign the next generation of their part. The result: thinner, lighter part design at same part performance that allowed the company to shorten production cycle time and to gain significant cost savings in part production cost.
The Challenge
The customer was considering acetal copolymer for the next generation of their part, as the company was offered acetal copolymer at a discount to the price of Delrin®.
The Solution
Delrin® technical specialists offered support in part design to demonstrate the increased design flexibility with Delrin® at same part performance, and the potential for significant cost savings by delivering:
- More strength and stiffness
- More impact toughness
- More creep and fatigue resistance
- Higher flow rates
Delrin® outperforms acetal copolymer in mechanical properties. For the customer, these features translate into the potential for:
- Increased design flexibility with thinner and lighter parts
- Faster processing time
Both of which can lower cost per part through reduced material consumption and improved productivity of molding machines.
Optimized Part Design
In order to optimize the design of the part to fully exploit the superior mechanical properties of Delrin® while maintaining the necessary stiffness for part performance, Delrin® engineers started with Delrin® 300TE, removed the ribs, reduced the diameter of the center thick section, and reduced wall thickness along the face of the part.
The Advantages
By optimizing the part design for Delrin® the customer saw:
- 21% weight reduction
- 11% faster cycle time
This translated into 12% lower overall cost per part, relative to the copolymer alternative.
Key Takeaway
By focusing on design optimization using a resin with superior mechanical properties, a lower cost per part was achieved.