-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Electrolube Solves Unusual Underwater LED Application
March 22, 2017 | ElectrolubeEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Electrolube, the global electro-chemicals manufacturer, was recently approached by a company in Australia for assistance with a particularly unusual application: protection for an underwater LED lighting unit. The encapsulation resin needed to be light blue for aesthetic purposes and had to be able to withstand water temperatures between 5 to 40°C, as well as being flame retardant. The customer specifically asked for a sample of a very flexible encapsulation resin that could resist attack from constant immersion in pool water. Critically, this water could be salt water or fresh water.
Electrolube's encapsulation resin was to replace the customer's existing epoxy resin from a different supplier, which was causing problems with slight deformation of the base unit, due to the exotherm. The customer specified that the desired resin needed to be highly resistant to both salt and fresh water immersion. Water naturally corrodes most metals due to electrochemical oxidation, however, when a salt water medium is used, the rate of oxidation is significantly increased due to the presence of dissolved sodium and chlorine ions.
Electrolube's Technical Support team swung into action to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and offered two possible solutions – polyurethane resins UR5118 and UR5097. After further testing, UR5118 was discounted, but the first production batch of UR5097 resin material was manufactured and shipped to Australia with good results. Mike Woods, Electrolube’s Australia and New Zealand Manager, together with Electrolube's Global Business Technical Director for the Resins Division, Alistair Little, visited the customer and discovered that there were a couple of issues with the material.
The first issue to overcome was the material had sedimented over time and was increasingly more difficult to reincorporate back into the resin mix, the second was that there was a slight bleed of resin through the gap between the resin and the LED unit. With a bit of lateral thinking, the logical solution was to increase the thixotropic nature of the resin, which would help to slow down the rate of sedimentation to an acceptable level and prevent the resin bleeding through the gap.
Following two weeks of laboratory work, where a number of different options were tested, Electrolube's R&D team produced a material that had sufficient thixotropy to slow down the sedimentation and prevent flow through the gap. The resin material was also still very easy to mix and pour into the unit, in fact the increase in the mix viscosity of modified resin was only slightly higher than the original resin and the colour of UR5097 was altered to the desired colour shade, matching against a RAL standard. This produced a completely bespoke solution that effectively resolved the customer's issues.
Importantly for this application, the resin is designed to withstand both fresh and salt water ingress and prevent the transmission of metal ions that could attack any metal present. The polymer used in the resin is also highly resistant to the transmission of water even at various pressure differences experienced due to the depth of the water.
Electrolube Managing Director Ron Jakeman said, "We are delighted with the outcome of this particular application challenge. At Electrolube, we are perfectly set up to solve issues for customers quickly and reliably with our international distribution, state-of-the-art in-house testing facilities and global manufacturing sites ready to deal with any challenges. Our responsive, friendly and flexible approach is one of our strengths, and sets us apart from our competitors. We believe the proven quality of our products and easy product application processes, combined with our knowledge of the needs of LED manufacturers, helped assure the success of this project."
About Electrolube
Electrolube, a division of H.K. Wentworth Limited, is a leading manufacturer of specialist chemicals for electronics, automotive and industrial manufacturing. Core product groups include conformal coatings, contact lubricants, thermal management materials, cleaning solutions, encapsulation resins and maintenance and service aids.
The extensive range of electro-chemicals at Electrolube enables the company to offer a ‘complete solution’ to leading manufacturers of electronic, industrial and domestic devices, at all levels of the production process. Through collaboration and research, the company is continually developing new and environmentally friendly products for customers around the world and their commitment to developing ‘greener’ products has been endorsed by the ISO 14001 standard for the highly efficient Environmental Management System in place at the company.
Winners of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2016, Electrolube is now represented in over 55 countries with an established network of subsidiaries and distributors. By offering genuine security of scale and a reliable supply chain, the company is able to deliver a truly tailored service.
Further information about new products on show can be found at www.electrolube.com.
Suggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
04/26/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineIn this week’s roundup, we have a variety of articles covering everything from design through assembly, and even box build. I’ve always wondered whether box build was all it was cracked up to be. Do customers really pick one EMS provider over another because one company offers box build? And if you’ve ever wanted to volunteer, IPC’s Thought Leaders Program is looking for a few good technologists to help them on their mission. Check out Stanton Rak’s article, which was published in the spring issue of IPC Community.
NCAB Group Posts Interim Report Q1 2024
04/26/2024 | NCAB GroupNet sales decreased by 17% to SEK 950.6 million (1,146.4). Compared with the year-earlier period, sales were affected bylower prices and continued inventory adjustments by customers. In USD, net sales decreased 17%. For comparable units, net sales decreased 24% in both SEK and USD.
KYZEN Announces Exclusive Partnership with Manufacturers’ Representative Restronics Florida
04/25/2024 | KYZEN'KYZEN, the global leader in innovative environmentally responsible cleaning chemistries, proudly announces its strategic partnership with Manufacturers’ Representative Restronics Florida. Just like KYZEN’s commitment to continuously improving precision cleaning, Restronics Florida serves as a consultative OEM sales representative organization dedicated to educating customers to enhance their processes and productivity.
Determining the Value-add of Box Build
04/24/2024 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007At a strategic level, adding box-building services makes sense for customer loyalty. But is it really that simple? Jon Schmitz, who manages customer engagement at RiverSide Integrated Solutions, talk about about what it really takes to be successful in offering EMS and final assembly services under the same company banner.
Fujitsu, METRON Collaborate to Drive ESG Success
04/24/2024 | JCN NewswireFujitsu Limited and METRON SAS, a French cleantech company specializing in energy management solutions for industrial decarbonization, today announced a strategic initiative to contribute to the realization of carbon neutrality in the manufacturing industry.