What are the Physical Properties of PTFE?

Polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE or Teflon as it is more commonly known as is an extremely versatile material. It is ivory-white and made up of opaque plastic fluoropolymer; it is composed of free-radical polymerization and many tetrafluoroethene molecules. PTFE tube is used for a wide number of applications in industries ranging from the food and drink industry, aerospace, telecoms, and pharmaceuticals.

The Important Properties of PTFE

Are you trying to build a chemically resistant, highly flexible, non-stick, thermally resistant and electrically resistant material, well, then you would be surprised to know that kind of material has already been discovered and used, and yes you have guessed right it is PTFE tubing.

The properties that set PTFE apart from other materials are

• PTFE’s melting point which is around 327°C, and unadulterated PTFE is chemically inert and it is highly insoluble in most of the chemicals and solvents and what’s more, it is thermally stable so it can withstand extremely high and extremely low temperatures such as -200 degrees C and +260 degrees C. The material remains the same and does not undergo any degradation despite undergoing extreme high and low temperatures.
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• Other important PTFE properties that PTFE tube manufacturers take into account are its flexural strength so that it does not change its composition under very low temperatures, it has the high dielectric strength and high electrical resistance and also resistance to water (thanks to fluorine’s high electronegativity), and its low coefficient of friction. PTFE’s also boasts of high density at 2200 kg/m3.It does not react with chemical agents and solvents such as xenon difluoride, chlorine trifluoride, elementary cobalt (III) fluoride, or elementary fluorine if it undergoes conditions such as high pressure and temperature). There is only one factor which needs to be taken into consideration and that is PTFE is not resistant to high energy radiation, and it will consequently cause breakdown of the PTFE molecule.

Modified PTFE Properties

Apart from pure PTFE, there are other copolymers which are actually as useful as PTFE, but it boasts of some different properties.

The other two copolymers are PFA or Perfluoroalkoxy whose properties are as similar to PTFE as it is also flexible, thermally stable and also chemically resistant and it can withstand high temperatures as high as 260 degrees C), in some ways PTFE may tend to creep but fortunately PFA is creep resistant and that is why it is used for a number of processes such as injection moulding, melt-processing, compression moulding, extrusion, blow moulding, and transfer moulding.

TFM, or PTFE-TFM, is a polytetrafluoroethylene equipped with perfluoropropylvinylether used as an additional modifier and it gives a pretty dense material that is stiff and is also creep resistant such as PFA, and what’s more, it is weldable, as well.