Rulon® and Meldin® Materials for Industrial Equipment

There are a wide variety of industrial applications that require high performance polymers which exhibit extreme temperature resistance, broad chemical compatibility, low wear characteristics, or a combination of all three. While many generic polymers available on the market today may offer one or perhaps even two of these properties, Saint-Gobain’s Rulon® and Meldin® polymers meet all the stringent requirements of the most demanding industrial applications.  As a result, a single component made from Rulon or Meldin can often serve the purpose of multiple parts fashioned out of different materials allowing, for example, for a temperature resistant, durable wear surface. Where previously a series of polymer components were used to each serve one purpose, customers now have the possibility to integrate these functions into a single component, saving on the overall cost-of-ownership (reduced number of parts to assemble, fewer stock items, more robust design, longer life, etc.).

Rulon® materials are used extensively inside machinery as bushings, washers and slide strips, replacing expensive metal roller bearings or multi-component linear guide ways. In many dynamic applications where a sealing function is required, traditional O-rings do not provide the longevity and sealing performance that Rulon materials can give, thanks to the high conformability to the counterface of the Rulon parts.

Meldin® materials generally offer even higher performance than Rulon® in both thermally challenging applications such as plasma cutting torches (electrical insulation properties at extreme temperatures), as well as in dynamic applications where the material is typically used as a bearing material in the form of bushes, washers and general sliding surfaces.

Case Study

Application:  Plasma Cutting Torch
Material:  Meldin® 7001

Case Study

Application:  Commercial Refrigeration Unit Compressor
Material:  Rulon® 1410 Gold; Rulon® 1045