Latest USB connectors use Dupont material

According to Dupont, requirements for use in USB Type-C and Type-C 3.1 connectors proved to be challenging for existing engineering plastics. “Devices are smaller, thinner and transmit data at extremely high rates and those needs proved to be too demanding for current polymer materials,” said Chun-Ku Chen, Asia-Pacific marketing manager of Diversified Industry at DuPont Performance Polymers, adding that wall thickness in Type-C connectors can be as little as 0.18mm – less than 2 stacked sheets of paper.

“We developed a new grade of the Zytel HTN FR52 Non Halogen product family with excellent flow rates, superior dimensional stability and low dielectric constant specifically for molding Type-C connectors.” Zytel HTN FR52 non-halogen products also offer processing advantages compared with other PPA resins. Zytel HTNFR52 NH products can handle the processing requirements of overmolding metal that is needed to manufacture these connectors and exhibits lower moisture absorption than other high performance polyamides.

With the very high flow performance, Zytel HTN FR52 non-halogen products allow customers to inject the materials at lower temperatures, which creates less mold deposit. This combination of features helps improve the productivity by reducing cycle time, increasing uptime and minimizing maintenance costs. The new DuPont grade also can be readily colored to meet OEM and customer requirements. “We applied our compounding expertise to ensure that even colored USB Type-C cables connectors possess the right property balance for the application,” said Chen.