Moulding of sensor housings used in demanding industrial processing

21 February 2018

Solvay announced today that Advanced Sensor Technologies Inc. (ASTi) selected Ryton PPS to mould protective housings for two industrial-grade sensors. The sensors, designed to evaluate either pH or oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) in industrial processes, are encased in housings moulded from Ryton R-4-230BL, an advanced 40% fiberglass-reinforced PPS compound that combines improved processability, excellent rigidity and strong resistance to chemicals even at high temperatures.

ASTi, a designer of electrochemical sensors for laboratory, medical and industrial applications, chose to encase its solid-state pH and ORP sensors within housings moulded from Ryton R-4-230BL to protect them from the harsh environments of inline process control and monitoring applications. The particular grade of Ryton PPS that ASTi chose offered optimal balance of superb processability, strong resistance to a wide variety of corrosive chemicals and excellent dimensional stability to allow moulding of complex components with very tight tolerances.

Ryton PPS reliably retains its chemical resistance and rigidity even after prolonged exposure to temperatures up to 200°C and, depending on the application, can maintain its properties for short periods at temperatures reaching 260°C.

“ASTi has increasingly relied on Solvay’s broad selection of advanced polymers to develop products for medical, biopharma and industrial applications, but we found Ryton PPS’s unique property profile best suited the environment in which our new pH and ORP sensors would operate”, said Martin Patko, president and founder at ASTi. “Ryton PPS promises to optimize the performance and lifetime of these sensors as well as future applications that require a combination of chemical resistance, thermal stability, electrical properties, and rigidity”.