Polyimide Film Is Used In A Variety Of Ways

By Dawn Williams


For many people the mention of polyimide film is met with a blank look. Yet it might surprise these people to find out how extensively its used in the modern world today. Thanks to the properties possessed by this material it has proved to be extremely useful. They are lightweight, very flexible and resistant to both heat and chemicals.

A popular field that it can be found in is that of electronics, a couple of these properties do make it ideal for this purpose. One simple item really shows how it can utilized, this is the flexible flat cable which links the body of a laptop with the screen. This flexibility is a necessity when you consider who often a laptop gets opened and closed during a day.

If ever you see a laptop laid open, this flexible cable is very easy to spot. The metal tracks will be noticeable through an amber colored plastic sheet. It is this amber colored sheet that is the material in question.

The metallic tracks will be firmly fixed to the sheet by an adhesive. Due to the insulating properties of the sheeting its even possible to have tracks running either side of the sheet, but further insulation will be required to prevent any possible shorting between the tracks and the case. Other uses in the electronics world also includes masking areas of circuit boards, also providing insulation to such devices as capacitors and transistors.

Possibly one of the most important factors that this material has is the heat resistance. As a consequence this material can often be used in areas which would be subjected to high temperatures. The material will withstand temperatures into the region of 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Routinely any material which becomes affected by heat will either distort or degrade. It will either shrink or stretch. Either effect will cause the affected material to become unfit for the original purpose. Its therefore a real plus when you note that this material suffers virtually no obvious effects when subjected to the same treatment. In fact the only thing that people might notice will be a slight darkening.

Initially this material was mainly used within the military and defense based industries. As it as become more widely available it has been used in many more applications. These can range from modern electronics right up to the space industry.

A prime example of something which operates at high temperatures could be something like an engine. They could be from a family car, an airplane, even a rocket used to put a satellite into orbit. This film does not conduct heat through itself so it is ideal if you need to protect something like engine cables. These previously unprotected cables often used to fail due to heat damage.

Another property that this polyimide film demonstrates is that it is extremely hard wearing. This will mean that there will be less necessity to constantly replace these items, and in turn this will lead to cost savings. So it really does make sense for industries to make even more use of this material.




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