Electronics Plastics Manufacturing
Natech Plastics engineers and manufactures plastic injection-molded components and subassemblies for electronics applications. Military communications, medical device, and consumer electronics clients draw upon our comprehensive analysis and testing for design verification and evaluation to build lighter, more durable parts.
Custom Plastic Injection Molding for Electronic Devices
Ruggedized, military-grade electronics must perform reliably in demanding environments. Components must pass strict testing requirements in chemical resistance, heat resistance, high altitude performance, and heavy load. A deep expertise in novel resins is required for metal-to-plastic conversions with extreme requirements.
Natech's Engineers are experts in custom injection molding with high-performance polymers. Over half our output is in ultra-polymers, high performance resins, and engineering-grade resins. With such a high output of engineering-grade polymers, our engineers have built a solid foundation in selecting, processing, and testing novel resins for challenging performance requirements. We process both thermoplastics and thermosets.
Engineering Grade Resins
- Polycarbonate (PC)
- Acrylic (PMMA)
- Polyphenylene Oxide (PPO)
- Glycolised Polyethylene Terephthlate (PET-G)
- Polyoxymethylene (POM)
- Polyamide 6 - Nylon 6 (PA 6)
- Polyamide 6/6 - Nylon 6/6 (PA 6/6)
- Polyamide 6/12- Nylon 6/12 (PA 6/12)
- Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthlate (PET)
- Polybutylene Terephthlate (PBT)
High Performance Resins
- Polyether Imide (PEI)
- Polyamide Imide (PAI)
- Polyphthalamide (PPA)
- Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS)
- Cyclic Olefin Copolymer (COC)
Additional Electronics Plastics Solutions
Ruggedized electronics must be designed and manufactured to perform with reliability in punishing conditions. Secondary operations and material reinforcements provide components robust enough for extreme conditions.
Manufacturing Operations
- Micro Molding
- Insert Molding
- Over Molding
- Hermetic Sealing
- Ultrasonic Welding & Cleaning
EMI/RFI Shielding
- Impregnated
- Electro-plated
- Insert molded
- Metalized
Advanced Physical Properties
- Extreme temperature resistance
- Chemical resistance
- Enhanced load bearing
- Wear capabilities
- High Altitude
- Flame Resistance
Mechanical Assembly
- Punching
- Pinning
- Multi-component assembly
- Gluing
Resin Reinforcements
- Glass
- Carbon
- Nickel-coated carbon
- Mineral fillers
Design and Project Management
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA)
Natech's Engineers offer deep DFMA expertise for ruggedized electronics applications.
Hermetic Sealing – The top and bottom components of a housing must hermetically seal together. Achieving the proper hermetic seal on a highly filled part requires proper weld joint design. Ultrasonic welding is the typical way to seal two halves in electronics. As the glass-fill increases the weldability goes down. If the glass is on the surface, the glass does not melt, so the hermetic seal is very difficult to achieve.
EMI/RFI Shielding – Metal typically shields against EMI/RFI interference while plastics do not. Any interference must to be controlled. Metal, paint, and plating are typically used to achieve this requirement.
Low-Draft and Deep Draw – Some applications require a near 0-degree draft over a 6-inch core.
Extreme Temperature – From a mechanical perspective, cold temperature drops are the limiting factor for plastics in the -40 degree Celsius drop tests. Few resins hold up to this temperature demand.
Project and Process Management
Quality and precision are not optional in military-grade electronics. Natech delivers quality with:
- End-to-end business project management system certified to ISO 9001
- Multi-tiered inspection system running from first article to final inspection
- Statistical sampling using ANSI/ASQ Z1.4
- Project Management Professional (PMP)© certified project management expertise
- Exhaustive analysis, including failure testing, load testing, dimensional and mold flow analysis
Electronics Applications
Natech designed and manufactured the highlighted examples of electronics below:
- Handheld Communications
- Battery Housings
- Electrical Arc Barriers
- Operatory Illumination
- Currency Acceptance
- Dental Optics
- Power Supplies
- Security Systems
- Survival Beacons
- Undersea Acoustics
- X-Ray Imaging
- Potentiometers