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Nylon 6, Nylon 6/6 and Nylon 6/12 – What is the best Nylon rod or sheet to use

Nylon 6, Nylon 6/6 and Nylon 6/12 – What is the best Nylon rod or sheet to use

by | Jun 4, 2013 | Choosing A Plastic Material, Machinable Plastic, Made In The USA, Mentor Nuggets

Nylon® Rod and Sheet (Polyamide) Grades available

The Nylon® Family of plastics are all very tough, strong, machine well, and have excellent wear properties. Nylon is a very popular plastic material, and is found in numerous applications. One of the largest usages is the production of household carpeting because of the excellent wear resistance. Nylon frequently replaces materials such as UHMW, PET, Acetal Copolymer – Acetal Homopolymer, and ABS. It will outwear most plastics and is self lubricating.

The wide variety of types and colors is one of the largest in the plastic industry.Common uses for Nylon Plastic materials

Nylon® Type 6/6 Rod, Sheet and Plate

The extruded Nylon 6/6 (Nylon Rod, Nylon Sheets and NylonTubes) material (aka: Polyhexamethylene Adiptimide) is available as Natural (tan – straw), Black, Glass filled (medium tan) and a molybdenum disulphide filled which is very dark gray. The most common size range for the extruded Nylon 6/6 is .125″ – 4.0″ diameter rod, and .125″ – 4.0″ thick sheet. The thicker materials should be cast due to cost and stress issues. For addition details on the Nylon Rod and Sheet 6/6 – see the data sheet.

Nylon Type 6 Cast Polycaprolactam

The cast Nylon type 6 has almost limitless possibilities. Many colors are available in Cast Nylon, the natural color, black, blue, dark gray (normally molybdenum disulphide filled again), green and many more. Sometimes the color is determined by the additive (oil filled) or by industry. Because of its relative ease of manufacture, many companies prefer to get their Nylon in a special color to help ‘brand’ their parts.

Cast Type 6 Polyamide can be made in Nylon rod from about 1.25″ diameter to almost any size. Nylon sheet normally starts at about .75″ thickness, and

Large Cast Nylon Type 6 Rod

Cast Nylon Type 6 Rod – 26″ OD X 8.0″ Thick

once again, can be made to almost any thickness. In addition to standard rod and plate, other sizes and shapes can be cast from Nylon Type 6 – ie. discs, tubes, near net shapes, large profiles, etc. The only limitations are how much money you have, and the size of the truck to get it to you! We have had cast very large blocks (11″ X 11″ X 48″ solid), sheaves up to 66″ OD, large tubes 36″OD X 12″ ID X 14″ long, and many more massive Nylon Cast parts.

Nylon 6/12 -Low Moisture Absorption

The claim to fame for the Nylon Type 6/12 is the low moisture absorption of the material. This grade of Nylon Sheet and Nylon rod is more stable that the type 6 or 6/6, and with the lower water absorption, this resin can handle a wider range of environments. Our manufacturer partners can run this as an Extruded Nylon Rod or Nylon sheet item or as a Cast Nylon Rod item. This opens the door to a wide range of sizes and shapes. This material exhibits most of the same properties of the Nylon 6/6 and Cast Type 6, with some slight improvements in key properties.

Filled Grades of Nylon

Because of the processing of Cast Nylon, many additives can be mixed into the material. The most common are: glass filled, oil filled, Kevlar fiber filled (Hydlar Z) and the molybdenum disulphide (M0S2). In addition, other fills and colorants (pigments) can be added to assist in manufacture or processing.

Common specifications for Nylon are: L-P-410, ASTM D-4066, L-P-395C, Mil-M-20693B Comp A, Ty I, IA, II and III, Mil-M-20693B Comp B, Ty 4, Mil-P-17091B Type 1, and Mil-P-46060, PA0613, ASTM D-5989 S-PA0511, and more.

Before buying your next big chunk of Nylon, contact us for information on the benefits of a filled  or near net-shape Cast Nylon part.

Contact us with your specifications, we look forward to assisting you.

Email us with questions or comments, or call us at 866-832-9315

Topic: Nylon Rod and Sheet

What is Oilon PV80

What is Oilon PV80

by | Feb 24, 2013 | Informational Post, Material Comparison, Mentor Nuggets

What is Oilon PV80

We have recently received a question from a client on an old product called Oilon PV80. This was one of the first attempts to make a plastic ‘slicker’, and they achieved this by adding an oil agent to Acetal resin. The Oilon PV 80 material failed miserably due to the oil additive not blending well with the base Acetal. The product had vastly uneven oil content throughout the extrusion. Don’t let this failure sway you away from Acetal products, as they are excellent machining and wear resistant materials, Acetal just doesn’t take the blending with oil. It does blend well with PTFE, and that is the very popular Delrin® AF (also known as LF13) product and this is a common replacement for the Oilon PV 80.

Since then, our factories have figured it out, and they now use Nylon as a base. The Nylon has made this a widely accepted success providing excellent performance and longevity. With a few different versions, this product line works extremely well in OEM, Manufacturing and many Food Processing applications. Check out this and other Nylon varieties on the Nylon page. Look in the upper right corner for the variety of material you are interested in.

Oilon PV80 vs. NylonHuge Cast Nylon Pulley

Nylon provides the best of all worlds when it comes to filled wear resistant materials. It is a rigid material with natural wear resistance. In addition, Nylon can be cast with a variety of fillers and additives (ie. Oil, Glass, Pigments, Graphite, etc.) that extend and improve many properties – and they are equally dispersed through out the material. The Nylon is superior in this blending process, whereas the Oilon PV80 did not blend well at all. Cast Nylon also is available in a huge range of sizes and shapes.

Also, let us know if you want more info on the old, antiquated and abandoned materials of old. Most of those old materials have been replaced by superior performance materials. Some of the older call outs were just trade names, like Bakelite (the first high pressure laminate – phenolic sheet). Some members of our team remember the first materials invented, and of course all the materials that followed. Give us a try.

While Nylon has been a staple for many years, the casting process has been perfected and is made in huge range of sizes and grades. Take a step up to one of the newer high tech grades of Nylon. Most Cast Nylons can be produced with a variety of fillers to meet the demanding design requirements you need.

Choose a newer and superior material, and forget the old Oilon PV80.

**Note:  Delrin® is a registered Trademark of Dupont