High-performance thermoplastics for

sensors and actuators under the hood

High reliability through low-stress encapsulation

Dipl.-Ing. Laurent Zielezinski,

DuPont Deutschland GmbH, Bad Homburg/Germany

Abstract
Sensors and actuators used in the engine compartment are being exposed
to higher temperatures, more aggressive media and more extreme thermo-
mechanical loads than ever before. These combined stresses are imposing
requirements that increasingly exceed the capabilities of the polymers
traditionally used to encapsulate and mount electronic components. In such
cases, switching to engineering polymers that offer higher performance can
provide a cost-effective solution.
High-performance polyamides and optimized thermoplastic polyesters, in
particular, have the required performance reserves. With reference to
selected examples of underhood applications, innovative solutions are
highlighted and pointers to the future discussed.

Internationale Jahrestagung
Spritzgießen 2007
14./15. February 2007, Baden-Baden/Germany
VDI-Gesellschaft Kunststofftechnik

© VDI-K, Düsseldorf
Growing market and increasing requirements

The main applications for sensors and actuators in motor

vehicles are engine management (to reduce emissions),
safety and protection (ESP, pedestrian protection, etc.)
and comfort (driver assistance systems). The challenging
conditions in the engine compartment are placing in-
creasing demands on the properties and processability
of the plastics used (Fig. 1). Reduced installation space,
higher engine performance, engine encapsulation to
suppress noise, and sensors positioned closer to the
measuring point to increase the accuracy of signal de-
tection – these are all factors that lead to a general in-
crease in temperature and moisture effects, severely re-
stricting the number of suitable plastics. In actual fact, Fig. 2 Many different factors determine the success
the performance of a component is influenced both by of a concept
material selection and by component design, processing
parameters and mold construction. The complexity of Wide-ranging potential for polyamides and thermopla-
these individual factors is well illustrated in the encap- stic polyesters
sulation of a solenoid coil (Fig. 2).
Underhood applications are traditionally an area for
semi-crystalline engineering thermoplastics, specifically
polyamides of the PA66 type and thermoplastic poly-
esters, which DuPont sells under the trade names Zytel®
and Minlon® (nylon resins) and Crastin® (polybutylene
terephthalate, PBT). Polymers that offer even higher per-
formance, such as semi-aromatic polyamides (e.g. Zytel®
HTN), Rynite® (polyethylene terephthalate, PET) and
Thermx® polycyclohexylene dimethyl terephthalate,
PCT) are attracting increasing interest today.

Semi-aromatic polyamides withstand heat, chemicals

and moisture

The main advantages of semi-aromatic polyamides over

the classic PA66 grades lie in their higher resistance to
Fig. 1 Increasing demands on material properties moisture, high temperatures and media typically en-
and processability countered in the engine compartment, such as fuels and
lubricants. Semi-aromatic polyamides have a much
Melt viscosity and crystallization rate determine the flow lower tendency to thermooxidative degradation and offer
properties of a material and – given the right material an overall improvement in dimensional stability (Fig. 3).
choice – permit “low-pressure” flow around the insert.
The width of the processing window has a crucial influ- The special properties of semi-aromatic polyamides are
ence on process stability. High resistance to cyclic tem- determined by the aromatic monomers used in the poly-
perature stress and heat aging and low thermal expan- merization process, such as isophthalic acid or tereph-
sion decide the long-term reliability of the finished com- thalic acid, and the choice of the aliphatic component in
ponent. Compatibility with other materials (bond copolymerization, e.g. PA66. In addition, the property
strength in overmolding) determines the fluid-tightness parameters can be further influenced by blending with
of the encapsulation. Wire friendliness depends on opti- other polymers. The larger the aromatic component (e.g.
mizing the material in terms of its processability (low- PA6T) is in such materials relative to the aliphatic PA66,
pressure encapsulation) and purity (long-term compati- the higher the resulting glass transition temperature and
bility in contact with metal inserts) – and these are only the lower the undesirable water absorption. In DuPont’s
some of the factors that need to be taken into account. product portfolio, the grade Zytel® HTN 51 receives top
marks on both counts (Fig. 4).

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Fig. 3 Advantageous properties of semi-aromatic Fig. 5 Shrinkage comparison between glass-fiber-
polyamides reinforced PA66 and corresponding semi-aromatic
grades

The Zytel® HTN grades from DuPont score very well on all
counts but differ between themselves in relation to their
specific formulation to meet certain key requirements of
individual applications.

In Fig. 5, the shrinkage values of a typical PA66 grade

(Zytel® 70G35HSL, 35% w/w GF, heat-stabilized, lubri-
cated) are shown alongside those of two comparable
high-performance polyamides with the same glass fiber
content (Zytel® HTN 53G35HSLR and 54G35HSLR). The
clear superiority of the HTN grades is consistently appa-
rent, whether freshly molded or annealed, and irrespec-
tive of the selected injection molding parameters. The
Fig. 4 Comparison of semi-aromatic polyamides differences compared with the PA66 tested are in the re-
gion of 30%. This means that the cooling process is cor-
Optimum requirements for low-stress processing respondingly more gentle when the sensor and actuator
components have been encapsulated with these semi-
Above and beyond the need for wide-ranging resistance, aromatic polyamides.
sensors and actuators also make special demands on
the processing behavior of a material during encapsula- Processors can exploit these shrinkage advantages with-
tion. Among the critical factors are: out compromising the mold filling capacity of the Zytel®
HTN grades. Fig. 6 compares the results of flowability
• The shrinkage behavior of the plastic and the re- measurements in the spiral flow test. The results for the
sulting internal stresses lower wall thickness of 1 mm are more strongly influen-
• Flowability, which determines the required pressure ced by the crystallization rate of the material, while the
in overmolding data for 2 mm wall thickness tend to be indicative of the
• Dimensional stability, which decides the thermo- material’s melt viscosity. Both the grades Zytel®
mechanical stress to which the electronic compo- HTN53G35HSLR and HTN51G35HSL attain the familiar
nent is subjected in the event of temperature good values of the 30% w/w glass-fiber-reinforced com-
changes parative material, the PA66 grade Zytel® 70G30HSR2.
• Weld line quality The corresponding HTN54 and HTN52 grades surpass the
• The strength of the material’s adhesive bond to it- comparative material in all cases by around 20%. This
self and to other thermoplastics used to encapsu- makes it possible to reduce the injection pressures used
late the same component in processing these semi-aromatic polyamides and so
• Resistance to cyclic temperature stress, which is co- prevent unacceptable damage to the electronic compo-
determined by weld line strength. nents.

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Fig. 6 Comparison of the flow properties of Fig. 8 Comparison of ‘self-adhesion’ in butt and
conventional and semi-aromatic polyamides overlap joints

Fig. 7 Comparison of the thermal expansion of Fig. 9 Comparison of weld line strength as a function
conventional and semi-aromatic polyamides of glass fiber content and PA grade

Thermal expansion (and dimensional stability generally) and adhesive bond strength decide the fluid-tightness
is crucial in determining the mechanical stress imposed of the entire encapsulation and therefore the reliability
on encapsulated electronic components due to ambient of the encapsulated electronic components.
temperature changes. Such changes are characteristic of
the environment in the engine compartment and can To test the adhesive bond, DuPont produced two special
range from -40°C for a cold start in winter to over 150°C test bars, which were injection molded in two successive
in the vicinity of the running engine. On account of their cycles. In one test bar, the weld was designed with so-
significantly higher glass transition temperature, the called melt ribs, simulating common industrial practice,
semi-aromatic polyamides once again have clear advan- while, in the other case, the weld took the form of over-
tages in the upper temperature range – similar to their laps, which are also frequently used (Fig. 8). With the
shrinkage advantages in cooling from melt temperature. butt joints in the tensile test, two of the test specimens
As Fig. 7 shows, the thermal expansion of Zytel® (Zytel® 70G33 and HTN51G35HSL) exhibited adhesive
HTN54G35HSLR at 160°C is only half that of the PA66 failure at high tensile force. The HTN grades 53G50HSLR
comparative grade. and 54G35HSLR even displayed the desired cohesive fai-
lure, in which the material fails outside the weld, which
The resistance to cyclic temperature stress of an encap- is a sign of very good adhesion in insert molding/over-
sulated component is primarily determined by the load- molding. In the case of the overlapping, shear-stressed
bearing capacity of the weld line (where the divided melt interfaces, all three semi-aromatic polyamides tested
streams reunite) and the strength of the adhesive bond showed a significantly better result, withstanding ten-
between the materials (in overmolding). Weld line quality sile forces up to six times higher than PA66.

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Fig. 10 Zytel HTN underhood applications Fig. 12 Results of fluid-tightness testing on
encapsulated components

perature stress, low creep and low thermal expansion,

so ensuring fluid-tight encapsulation. It also allows an
economic water-heated mold to be used.

Valeo (B) uses a Zytel® HTN in the 54 series for a sole-

noid valve in the exhaust gas recirculation system. Here
the level of glass fiber reinforcement can be increased,
because a more robust metal part is being overmolded.
The higher glass fiber content is also required to mini-
mize thermal expansion and the occurrence of thermo-
mechanical stresses, and to ensure the necessary rigi-
dity at the high exhaust gas temperatures.

Fig. 11 Flowability of different engineering plastics as Woco (C) produces the housing and components for a valve
a function of melt temperature and injection pressure block from a Zytel® HTN in the 53 series, so ensuring low
material shrinkage, high dimensional stability, low war-
To assess the weld lines formed at the point where two page, retention of mechanical properties and fluid-tight
melt streams unite, tensile test bars were produced by encapsulation, despite the high ambient temperatures.
injection molding in one cycle and gating from each end.
They then underwent tensile testing. The results in Fig. 9 PA612 for ‘soft-fill’ requirements
show that, although the semi-aromatic polyamides te-
sted did not achieve the familiar good weld line strength The polyamide grade Zytel® 612 is specially formulated
of the PA66 grades, the reductions in tensile strength to minimize the stress on electronic components during
and elongation at break were low, especially with the encapsulation and is a standard material for encapsula-
highly filled Zytel® HTN53 and HTN54 grades. ting sensitive sensors. Its specific advantage lies in its
extremely low water absorption of 0.16% (GF33, 24 h im-
Semi-aromatic polyamides successfully proven in practice mersion), which is way below that of PA66 (0.7%) and
also that of semi-aromatic polyamides. It ensures very
The excellent property profile of the semi-aromatic po- high dimensional stability and very good retention of
lyamides has been confirmed in many successful indu- mechanical properties. In addition, this material has very
strial applications (Fig. 10). high resistance to chemicals such as the CaCl2 used as
road salt in Asia or aggressive blow-by gases.
Siemens VDO (A) uses a Zytel® HTN in the 54 series to
encapsulate engine speed sensors. The semi-aromatic Besides high dimensional stability, the exceptionally
polyamide offers good mold filling capacity, despite the good mold filling behavior of Zytel® 612 is crucially im-
35% glass fiber reinforcement, and permits low-stress portant. Although its melting point (217°C) is signifi-
processing. This results in high resistance to cyclic tem- cantly lower than that of PA66 (262°C), its very wide pro-

Page 5
Fig. 13 Zytel PA612 application in the wheel arch Fig. 14 ‘Wire-friendly’ optimized PA grades from
DuPont

cessing window allows the melt to be heated up to Hydrolysis-stabilized PBT withstands moisture
around 80°C above the melting point. This results in very
low viscosity. In addition, the crystallization rate is very Where moisture effects are serious and extremely high
low (slower freezing of the melt front) so that, even with dimensional stability is required – for example in the en-
glass-fiber-reinforced PA 612 grades, very long flow capsulation of sensors and actuators mounted in the
paths can be achieved in very narrow cavities (Fig. 11). close confines of the engine compartment – hydrolysis-
This means either that high-strength parts with extre- stabilized, glass-fiber-reinforced polybutylene tereph-
mely thin walls can be produced when space is critical thalate (PBT) can offer a solution. Crastin® PBT HR from
or that exceptionally reliable encapsulations can be ob- DuPont is a material that meets these requirements,
tained with low injection pressure and therefore minimal combining exceptional resistance to hydrolysis (compa-
stresses on the electronic components (i.e. ‘soft fill’). red with standard PBT) with high flowability (Figs 15, 16).
In-house tests carried out by DuPont on special test spe-
A current example of a Zytel® PA612 application is the cimens also showed that the resistance of hydrolysis-
wheel speed sensor shown in Fig. 13. The selection cri- stabilized Crastin® to cyclic temperature stress (number
teria for this material were fluid-tightness after encap-
sulation, melt flowability, media resistance, dimensio-
nal stability, low moisture absorption and resistance to
cyclic temperature stress.

‘Wire-friendly’ optimized grades in all Zytel® families

PA grades are described as ‘wire-friendly’ if, during pro-

cessing and use, they have only minimal effects on elec-
trical and electronic components, i.e. they combine ‘soft-
fill’ with other properties. On account of their good flow
behavior, such grades exert only low mechanical forces
on the insert during encapsulation. Even in the long
term, they cause no chemical changes in the metal (cor-
rosion) and – depending on the base material – they can
be so dimensionally stable that, even in aggressive che- Fig. 15 Hydrolysis resistance of different Crastin®
mical environments, they retain their geometry within PBT grades
close tolerances. This prevents internal stresses in the
plastic that could damage the electronic components. of cycles to appearance of the first cracks) is three times
DuPont offers suitably optimized grades in all Zytel® PA higher than that of the corresponding standard grade
families (Fig. 14). (Fig. 17). Fig. 18 shows a typical application of this
material – a housing part for a sensor found in the front
headlights.

Page 6
Fig. 16 Flowability of different Crastin® PBT grades Fig. 19 Material selection for laser transmission
welding

components. It is a highly automated and therefore cost-

effective assembly method with fast cycles. In addition,
it offers the possibility of producing hermetically sealed
joints in a very narrowly limited, exactly defined space
without subjecting the environment (i.e. the electronic
components being encapsulated) to either thermal or
mechanical stresses, such as occur with conventional
welding methods. The resulting welds are ‘clean’, i.e.
with no weld bead or flash, and the quality of the welds
can be checked very easily (in-line) by monitoring the
welding operation. The high-performance plastics Zytel®
HTN, Zytel® PA612 and Crastin® PBT from DuPont are ge-
nerally very suitable for laser welding, although the ac-
Fig. 17 Underhood application for a Crastin® HR grade tually attainable mechanical strength of the weld de-
pends on the particular material pairing (Fig. 19).

Fig. 18 Use of a Crastin® HR grade in engine compartment

Suitable for laser welding Fig. 20 Typical application for laser transmission
welding
Modern joining methods can achieve a permanent re-
duction in manufacturing costs. At the present time, A practical application for laser transmission welding
laser transmission welding is being increasingly used in that has proved successful a million times over is this
the production of electrical and electronic underhood electropneumatic transducer from Pierburg, in which the

Page 7
cover is produced from a laser-transparent Zytel® PA66
and the coil bobbin from a laser-absorbing grade of the
same material (Fig. 20). To distinguish between specific
applications, the individual parts are colored in different
combinations.

Partnership ineases competence

The interrelationships between the functioning of highly

sensitive electronic components, such as sensors and
actuators, the type of encapsulation and the encapsula-
ting materials used are extremely complex. The decision
to use a certain thermoplastic is therefore too much for
either the manufacturer or the raw material producer
alone. Only the cooperation of both in partnership, and Fig. 21 Special test methods for materials used to
the inclusion of the processor, provide the necessary encapsulate sensors and actuators
competence for successful new and further develop-
ments. nology and encapsulation (Fig. 21), the development and
validation of specific material pairings for laser welding
DuPont brings to such cooperative projects its wide ex- in close cooperation with an experienced equipment ma-
perience in the use of high-performance plastics in the nufacturer, and access to computer capacities and the
automotive and electrical/electronics industry, as well latest software for component design and stress simu-
as the extensive technological resources of a science- lation with the aid of CA technologies. The earlier such
based company. These include the production and te- cross-disciplinary cooperation begins, the shorter the
sting of special test specimens for two-component tech- route can be from the initial idea to commercialization.

The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™ and all product names denoted with ®
are registered trademarks or trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates.
February 2007

Page 8
The data listed here fall within the normal range of properties, but they should not be used to establish specification
limits nor used alone as the basis of design. The DuPont Company assumes no obligations or liability for any advice
furnished or for any results obtained with respect to this information. All such advice is given and accepted at the buyer’s
risk. The disclosure of information herein is not a license to operate under, or a recommendation to infringe, any patent
of DuPont or others. Since DuPont cannot anticipate all variations in actual end-use conditions, DuPont makes no
warranties and assumes no liability in connection with any use of this information.

CAUTION: Do not use in medical applications involving implantation in the human body. For other medical applications,
see “DuPont Medical Caution Statement,” H-50102.

Copyright © 2007 E.I. duPont de Nemours and Company. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™,
Tyvek®, Corian®, Teflon®, Kevlar®, Zenite®, Zytel®, Thermx®, Rynite®, Crastin®, Delrin®, Hytrel®, DuPont™ ETPV and Minlon®
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