Turning Polymers Into Possibilities

| Amanda Kole

Turning polymers into possibilities. That’s what our great friends at Zeus are known for. WireMasters and Zeus have been developing our relationship as manufacturer and supplier for many years now. As one of WireMasters’ top suppliers, Zeus supplies us with high-quality aerospace protective.

Zeus’ high-performance polymer components are manufactured to accelerate and enhance customer’s aerospace and defense systems with weight reductions, extreme temperature ratings, radiation resistance, and reduced friction.

To accomplish weight savings Zeus, replaced heavy metals with high-performance engineered polymer plastics such as PEEK (polyetheretherketone), which is a great alternative to materials like aluminum, steel, glass and other polymers. PEEK is currently replacing many metal parts, allowing applications to have maximum design innovation due to its flexibility and ability to reduce system costs. The extruded resin has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios and density levels (1.10-1.48g/cc) of any thermoplastic and is available in convoluted, spiral wrap, heat shrink (PEEKShrink®), insulated wire, extruded tubing and more.

PEEK along with PVDF (also known as Kynar®), are great resisters of gamma and nuclear radiation. Often in space and medical applications materials need to be able resist radiation while enhancing the performance of that particular system or application, therefore it’s important to have products like PEEK and PVDF for these serious situations.

Often aerospace and defense systems will encounter extreme temperatures during operation. Zeus can help your systems adapt by providing products with their developed extruded ECCtreme® ECA 3000 by DuPont™ insulation. Their engineers have done extensive research with this material and it’s the first perfluoroplastic that breaks the maximum temperature threshold of 260° C/500° F.

Friction is a characteristic most aerospace engineers hate. They seek to optimize their protection to reduce friction with Fluoropolymers such as PTFE which have a smooth surface. PTFE’s coefficient of friction is actually .1, which is comparable to ice on ice. The fluoropolymers lubricity provides increased flow rates, abrasion resistance, and a smooth slickness to the material for reduced friction.

With these types of advantages and protection provided by these products it’s no secret why Zeus is a great choice for your operating systems and it’s these reasons why WireMasters cherishes our relationship with this outstanding company. We thank Zeus for their commitment to quality and helping us supply these enhanced products to military, aerospace, and defense.

Stay tuned for WireMasters two-part blog series on our Zeus products. As we will be discussing how and where you can utilize these products throughout your aerospace applications and wiring harnesses.