Plastic Hardware Materials

Dealing with material suppliers as frequently as we do, we many times wish that a specific material could be specified as being the ideal candidate for a specific application. Unfortunately, what is considered "ideal" is many times elusive. Consequently, we cannot over-emphasize the need for our customers to thoroughly test the varieties we have to offer, in the specific application they have intended the product to be used. Recently, we have seen a good amount of mixing of materials where a male buckle might be in an acetal, and the female in nylon, in order to better maximize the properties of each material. We have found this approach to be quite effective in balancing characteristics of impact resistance, water absorption and price economies.

ACETAL
You can not beat this stuff for its stiffness and tensile strength and consequently, people (especially in the U.S.), prefer the "macho" feel in side release buckles. However, Acetal's biggest strength lies in its ability to resist moisture absorption, and it consequently performs very well under freezing or arid conditions. The acetals we mold are Dupont's Delrin® and Hoechst Celanese Celcon®. Be careful, however, Acetals high stiffness can make it susceptible to impact.

NYLON
We have seen nylon grow from being accepted only in the European market to being used in over 60% of the applications in the U.S. Why not? Nylon offers great impact resistance under normal operating temperatures. It is light, flame retardant and has a softer feel for side release buckles. When used on a typical single piece product it is not unusual to obtain a 20 - 30% increase in tensile strength over acetal. The kicker, of course, is that nylon absorbs water and under freezing conditions can become embrittled. We mold Dupont and Monsanto nylons.

POLYPROPYLENE
Its major advantage is that it's cheap. Use this material where load bearing and impact are minimal. Another advantage is that the material offers a very soft feel for side release buckles, which is ideal for children.