Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP)

For high precision, thin walled parts that may need to survive high heat exposure, many designers and processors specify liquid crystal polymers (LCP).

LCPs are highly crystalline, inherently flame retardant, thermotropic (melt-orienting) thermoplastics. They are similar to semi-crystalline polymers, but have distinctive attributes.  When melted, conventional semi-crystalline polymers have a random structure, which, as they cool, form highly ordered crystalline regions surrounded by an amorphous matrix. LCPs take this order to another level.

LCP molecules remain well ordered even in the melt and slide past each other easily under shear. The result is very low melt viscosity making it easy to fill extremely thin walls and to replicate intricate features. They exhibit little or no shrinkage in the flow direction and require very little time to set-up or solidify. Quick fills and shorter cycle times mean increased productivity.

Injection moldable LCP products have proven successful in a variety of applications including sockets, bobbins, switches, connectors, chip carriers, sterilizable trays, dental tools, surgical instruments, pumps, meters and valve liners. Unfilled polymers can be extruded for film or sheet, co-extruded for barrier packaging or melt spun for applications needing high performance fibers or yarn.

Ticona manufactures a broad product line of standard and specialty grades of Vectra® LCP using several polymer systems with various fillers and reinforcements for injection molding, as well as a range of neat polymers for extrusion and melt spinning processes.