25 March 1999: According to a recent report, the use of Vespel parts has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars through lower maintenance needs, fewer production losses and improved quality at two Tec…
25 March 1999: According to a recent report, the use of Vespel parts has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars through lower maintenance needs, fewer production losses and improved quality at two Techneglas Inc. plants making precision glass parts for cathode ray tubes (CRTs). The two plants, one in Pittson, Pennsylvania, and one in Columbus, Ohio, USA, turn out more than 24 million glass parts for CRT makers each year. Techneglas, a subsidiary of Nippon Electric Glass of Japan, is North America“s largest producer of glass components for colour CRTs. One of the difficulties in making these components, the report said, is to avoid “thermal checking“, glass industry terminology for introducing stresses and impurities into the hot glass. According to a maintenance specialist at the Pittson plant, Vespel is the only product they have found that does not cause thermal checking in the glass components, which may be at over 540 degrees Centigrade. DuPont supplies Vespel parts as standard shapes (rods, plaques and tubes), or as direct-formed parts produced by a technique like that used in powder metallurgy.