The difference between PTFE wire and FEP wire

Advantages and disadvantages of PTFE wires

Polytetrafluoroethylene material (TFE or PTFE), abbreviated as F-4, is a gas plastic made by polymerizing tetrafluoroethylene.

Advantages: PTFE has various excellent properties, including a wide frequency range, a wide range of high and low temperature applications, excellent chemical stability, high electrical insulation strength, high mechanical strength, and good resistance to atmospheric aging. Therefore, wires insulated with polytetrafluoroethylene have the above excellent characteristics.

Disadvantage: Due to the complex processing of polytetrafluoroethylene material, it cannot be melted and extruded, and can only be pushed. Therefore, modified fluoroplastics have been continuously developed in the future.

Common UL PTFE wires include:

Advantages and disadvantages of FEP wires

FEP fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer, FEP is a copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene.

Advantages: Although both F-46 resin and polytetrafluoroethylene are composed of carbon fluorine elements, the carbon chain is completely surrounded by gas atoms. However, the main chain of F-46 has branches and side energies. Due to this structural difference, F-46 resin has a relatively certain melting point and can be molded using general thermoplastic processing methods, greatly simplifying the processing technology.

Disadvantage: When FEP materials are used in winding, bending, oven, dipping, and other situations, they may cause the molecular structure of the material to move and recombine, resulting in overall instability of the product, manifested as cracking of the product skin. The tensile strength of tetrafluoroethylene hexafluoropropylene copolymer (FEP) is about 20-25Mpa, and it can withstand temperatures of 200 ℃ for a long time and 230 ℃ for a short time, with a certain risk of cracking. However, due to the fact that FEP wires can be processed by melting and are relatively cheaper than PTFE wires, they have a wide range of applications.

Common UL FEP wires include:

In application scenarios that require extremely high heat resistance and chemical stability, PTFE wires must be used instead of FEP wires. ‌

PTFE wires and FEP wires have significant differences in performance and application scenarios. PTFE wires have extremely high heat resistance and can be used for a long time in environments up to 260 ℃, while FEP wires have a maximum operating temperature of 200 ℃. In addition, PTFE wires have better chemical stability than FEP wires and can resist corrosion from various acids, alkalis, and organic solvents34. Therefore, in application scenarios that require extremely high heat resistance and chemical stability, such as electrical equipment in high-temperature environments, chemical production equipment, etc., PTFE wires must be used.

Specifically, the following application scenarios require the use of PTFE wires:

Electrical equipment in high-temperature environments, such as high-temperature motors, transformers, etc., PTFE wires can maintain stable electrical and physical properties at high temperatures.

Chemical production equipment: In corrosive environments such as strong acids and alkalis, PTFE wires have much higher corrosion resistance than FEP wires, which can extend the service life of equipment by 35.

Special industrial applications such as geological exploration, oil well cables, and radiation resistant wires require wire materials with extremely high heat resistance and chemical stability. PTFE wires are an ideal choice.

In short, when choosing wire materials, it is necessary to decide whether to use PTFE wire or FEP wire based on the comprehensive requirements of the specific application scenario. In situations where high heat resistance and chemical stability are required, PTFE wires are an indispensable choice.