Gharda becomes first Indian manufacturer of high performance friction & wear polymeric materials at K 2013

Gharda Plastics, the high performance engineering polymers business of Gharda Chemicals Limited, is launching a speciality lubricious solution for industrial and business appliances, incorporating various reinforcements in G-PAEKTM and GAZOLETM grades; this collaborative development with other industrial partners is aimed at applications that require very high wear resistance. G-PAEKTM product family is based on Poly Ether Ketone (PEK) and GAZOLE represents freshly commercialized thermoplastic alloys of PEK and Poly benzimidazole (PBI). The two featured wear grades, G-PAEKTM 1230FCT and GAZOLETM 6430FCT are easy flow for injection moulding of intricate multi-cavity parts. The heat deflection temperature of 350 degree C - 360 degree C makes them suitable for demanding high heat resistance applications. These are far superior in performance to the commercially available engineering alternatives of polyether imides (PEI), Polyimide (PI), poly phenylene sulphide (PPS), poly ether ether ketone (PEEK) and exhibit exceptional wear, chemical and thermal resistance. Additionally, the FCT grades display excellent mechanical properties, creep properties, and dimensional stability. PTFE has a low coefficient of friction, however its wear resistance especially at high temperatures is poor. The FCT grades also have low coefficient of friction, and display low wear rates even at high temperatures. The comparable specific flexural strength of FCT grades to metals provides a significant cost savings opportunity to the manufacturer. The high performance thermoplastics offer weight savings, easy machining and moulding options with greater design flexibility. This allows the customer to produce parts with challenging geometries as required in the applications. It eliminates the costly production steps that are necessary for metals. The high fatigue strength and wear resistance with temperature make FCT grades suitable for automotive/transportation segment for gears, bearings and bushes. Other key applications of FCT grades are in printer parts and textile parts such as thrust pads, roller bearings and dry lubricating bushes that are continuously moving at low to high speeds and at high temperatures.