Formpoly® Engineering Plastics mPPO compounds in pump applications

Typical configuration of Indian Pump sets, mainly centrifugal pumps consists of a piping system and the pump set. Hence the pump has a suction head , delivery head, sucking box and the impeller.

Formulated polymers Limited offers a wide range of modified mPPO grades for a variety of applications in the Pump industry. It is one of the most versatile materials for use in Pump Applications.

Metal to Polymer

Traditionally the Indian Pump Industry has been a SSI one with manufacturing being metal intensive – driven by forging and casting .The use of materials like Cast Iron, Brass, Gun Metal, Aluminum are still predominant .From the manufacturability side- these are all difficult to make in large volumes, are heavy and are difficult to cast. The drawbacks do not end there- they involve enormous energy, time and labor in secondary operations like machining, filing, drilling, deburring, finishing and polishing to get an end part ready to send to assembly. All these have costs associated which add to product cost.

From the material viewpoint metals corrode easily and in many household pump applications, consumers consume the water from these devices. The material is hard and machining is difficult.FPL with its high impact mPPO new grades have been able to overcome these challenges successfully

Existing mPPO grades to High Impact mPPO from Formpoly

Polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin is a macromolecule made mainly from 2,6-xylenol as monomer, and this amorphous resin is characterized by high thermal resistance because the glass-transition temperature (Tg) exceeds 200℃ as pure PPE itself. However, since the molten flowability of the pure PPE itself is extremely poor, this resin is widely used as polymer alloy materials (“Alloy” stands for mixed metal, then it represents a material made by blending different resins). One of the resins used for alloying with PPE is Polystyrene (PS) resin, freely compatible with PPE. The materials based on this polymer alloy method are generally referred to as modified Polyphenylene ether resin (modified PPE resin or m-PPE resin, where “m” stands for “modified”).

Due to its superior properties especially impact and processability, we can mould these new mPPO grades with part integration, reduced weight and improved efficiency which are adding value to the proven applications of Engineering Plastics in Pump components. Food approved mPPO grades are also available from FPL.
These Pump Components demand a high level of precision and performance from every part and yet allow manufacturing higher volumes with consistent tolerance and accuracy levels due to ease of processing & higher flow. From the material selection point the challenge involves satisfying number of Critical to Quality Requirements