Custom Machined POM Material And Process

The material properties and machinability of POM together determine the advantages of its custom parts, which can be divided into the following categories:
 

1. Excellent Mechanical Properties, Close to Metals

  • High Strength and Rigidity: Tensile strength can reach 60-70MPa, and flexural strength is about 90MPa. Its rigidity is close to that of brass, enabling it to bear a certain load without easy deformation, making it suitable for replacing some metal (such as steel, copper) parts.
  • Good Toughness and Impact Resistance: The notched impact strength is 6-10kJ/m², and it can maintain toughness at low temperatures without easy brittle fracture, suitable for scenarios requiring impact resistance (such as automobile door lock components).
  • Outstanding Fatigue Resistance: It is not easy to fracture due to fatigue when subjected to repeated forces, suitable for parts with long-term high-frequency movement (such as gears, spring leaves).

2. Excellent Wear Resistance and Self-Lubrication

  • Low Friction Coefficient: The static friction coefficient is about 0.1-0.3, and the dynamic friction coefficient is even lower. The wear amount is small (wear rate is only 0.001-0.005 mm³/(N·m)), which is better than most plastics and metals.
  • Self-Lubricating Ability: It can work stably without additional lubricants, reducing maintenance costs, suitable for scenarios where frequent lubrication is impossible (such as textile machinery gears, food machinery bearings).

3. Good Dimensional Stability and Controllable Precision

  • Low Thermal Expansion Coefficient: The linear thermal expansion coefficient is about 1.5×10⁻⁴/℃, which is less affected by temperature changes, and the size is not easy to deform after processing.
  • High Machining Precision: There is no directional cracking or edge chipping during machining (cutting, drilling, milling, etc.), and the surface finish can reach Ra0.8-1.6μm, suitable for precision parts (such as fine-tuning components of instruments and meters).

4. Strong Chemical Resistance and Environmental Adaptability

  • Corrosion Resistance: It has good resistance to greases, organic solvents (such as gasoline, kerosene), and weak acids and alkalis (pH 4-10), and is not easy to be eroded.
  • Good Weather Resistance: It can be used for a long time in dry environments, and its anti-aging performance is better than that of ordinary plastics (but it is easy to age when exposed to ultraviolet rays or high temperatures for a long time, so it should avoid continuous environments above 120℃).

5. Excellent Machinability and Flexible Customization

  • Easy to Process: It has uniform texture and low cutting resistance. It can be made into complex shapes (such as special-shaped gears, grooved guide rails) through conventional machining methods such as turning, milling, planing, and grinding. The processing efficiency is 30%-50% higher than that of metals.
  • Lightweight: The density is about 1.41-1.43g/cm³, which is only 1/5 of steel and 1/4 of copper, and can significantly reduce the weight of equipment (such as automobile and UAV components).

6. Other Advantages

  • Good Electrical Insulation: The volume resistivity reaches 10¹⁴-10¹⁶Ω·cm, suitable for electrical insulation parts (such as switch contact bases, terminal posts).
  • Non-Toxic and Environmentally Friendly: It meets FDA, RoHS and other standards and can be used in scenarios involving food and medical treatment (medical-grade POM should be selected).

Application Scenarios of Custom Machined POM Parts

Based on the above characteristics, POM custom parts are widely used in many fields, with the core scenarios as follows:

1. Mechanical Transmission Field

  • Core Parts: Gears (spur gears, helical gears, special-shaped gears), bearings, pulleys, guide rails, screw nuts, couplings, etc.
  • Application Cases: Transmission gears of textile machinery (no lubrication required, reducing fiber entanglement), guide pulleys of printing machines (wear-resistant and quiet), screw nuts of CNC machine tools (high precision and low friction).

2. Automobile Industry

  • Core Parts: Door lock components (lock bolts, gears), wiper transmission parts, fuel pipe joints, seat belt adjustment gears, shock-absorbing bushings, etc.
  • Advantages: Lightweight (reducing fuel consumption), oil resistance (adapting to the engine compartment environment), impact resistance (not easy to damage when the door is opened and closed frequently).

3. Electronic and Electrical Field

  • Core Parts: Switch buttons, connectors, coil bobbins, precision instrument housings, potentiometer knobs, relay contact bases, etc.
  • Advantages: Dimensional stability (ensuring precise matching), good insulation (avoiding short circuits), smooth surface (meeting appearance requirements).

4. Medical Device Field

  • Core Parts: Infusion set flow regulators, surgical instrument handles, wheelchair transmission gears, medical device guide rails, disinfection box buckles, etc.
  • Advantages: Non-toxic (meeting medical-grade standards), resistant to disinfection (withstanding alcohol and high-temperature steam disinfection), easy to process (adapting to complex structural requirements).

5. Daily Necessities and Light Industry Field

  • Core Parts: Zipper sliders, toy gears (such as remote control car transmission wheels), stationery components (punch blade seats), kitchen utensil knobs, luggage rollers, etc.
  • Advantages: Wear-resistant (prolonging service life), no peculiar smell (safe to contact the human body), customizable colors (meeting aesthetic needs).

6. Fluid Control Field

  • Core Parts: Valve cores, pipe fittings, pump impellers, sealing rings, flowmeter gears, etc.
  • Advantages: Chemical corrosion resistance (adapting to water, oil, weak acid and alkali media), good sealing performance (low permeability), low friction (reducing fluid resistance).

Custom CNC Machining Acetal/POM Parts