To meet the needs of Nova Elektrik, a leading Turkish producer of electromechanical components for the white goods industry, DSM Engineering Plastics offered a halogen free grade of Akulon PA6, K225 KV, which is able to pass glow wire test on end product and to meet challenging design. Akulon K225 KV is the first halogen free material of its kind.Nova Elektrik serves customers producing refrigerators, cookers, hobs and cooker hoods. To produce a 5-way connection box with an earth terminal for ovens, the company was looking for a flexible and tough halogen free material. One of the key requirements was a solid GWT 750°C no ignition on end products.
Available in natural and black, Akulon K225 KV is a halogen free glow wire capable unfilled PA 6. The material offers a unique combination of properties and listings. At the same time it has a UL V2 listing and VDE approval with GWIT 775°C/GWFI 850°C from 0.4mm to 3mm. Most halogen free material has the problem of pass GWT test and having good flexibility at the same time. With these properties, Nova Elektrik is able to have VDE approval on a T-marked product (T-marked, 125°C). K225 KV also has a very high CTI value of 600 V, making it perfect candidate for high power and safety critical applications.
Rui Zhang, Application Development Engineer at DSM Engineering Plastics says: “This new material is the first halogen free material in the market with solid GWT performance on end product and good flexibility at the same time. As such it will help white goods manufacturers to take a significant step forward with an Eco+ solution.”
According to Suavi Atalay, General Manager Nova Elektrik, after new material ignition requirements were introduced into IEC 60335-1 in 2004, the biggest challenge facing electromechanical component manufacturers is to pass ignition tests while maintaining mechanical properties especially after heat aging.
He adds: “The other major difficulty has always been maintaining the non-igniting property of the material after the raw material has been turned into a finished product. By design, the finished product naturally has varying thicknesses at different places on the product. It is probable that while the ignition test result is a pass on material plate (at several thicknesses), the test on the finished product may not be a pass, even though the material’s thickness is exactly the same as that of the plate. We have faced this unfortunate situation several times, with a number of other materials of the same grade from various manufacturers.”
“We have had very good performance with Akulon K225-KV in our recent projects. We found the test results both before and after heat aging were significantly consistent. Naturally, this is a factor that strengthens our hand as a manufacturer of electromechanical components.” Mr Atalay concludes: “The big plus is that Akulon K225-KV is halogen-free, which is an important requirement from our customers.”
