Drake Plastics Advances Torlon PAI Heavy-Wall Injection Molding Technology

Cypress, Texas — Drake Plastics, a Solvay Certified Torlon® PAI Injection Molder, has developed technology for molding consistently porosity-free parts in the high-performance polymer at up to three times the wall-thickness of the historical maximum. The company routinely produces defect-free parts up to 50 mm (2”) thick, far exceeding even Solvay’s design and molding guidelines for maximum wall thickness of 15.9mm (5/8”) for the polymer.

According to Steven Quance, DRAKE’s President, “The technical leap that makes Torlon PAI available in a far wider range of injection molded configurations was made possible by our team’s development of a unique process control system. It includes sensors installed within the mold cavity that control forming conditions for processing Torlon PAI. Customers know they can count on DRAKE to deliver high quality Torlon parts in every production run, and now that includes very thick Torlon parts as well.”

Originally established to extrude Torlon PAI rod nearly 30 years ago, today DRAKE is a leading worldwide supplier of semi-finished machinable shapes in a range of advanced polymers. In addition to Torlon, its extruded shapes comprise several grades of PEEK, PPS, PEK, PAEK, Ultem PEI, Ryton PPS and CryoDyn cryogenic polymer. The company expanded initially into machining, then into injection molding to serve customers whose growing production requirements warranted a shift from machined parts.

Through its Certified Torlon PAI Injection Molder program, Solvay works to ensure only those processors that make the specialized investments necessary for producing quality Torlon parts have procurement access to this unique polymer.