Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a hydrophobic synthetic fluoropolymer that cannot be wetted by water.

More commonly recognised for its non-stick coating on cookware, Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has more far reaching applications.  Several growth industries are driving a global demand for the material including healthcare and the electronics industry.

What is PTFE?

PTFE is a hydrophobic synthetic fluoropolymer unable to be made wet by water.  It is considered to be a generally tough, flexible, non-resilient material.  SBR utilise three key elements of the material including excellent thermal properties, resistance to chemicals and an ability to resist the passage of an electrical current.

 
What applications use PTFE?

Several manufacturing/ production sectors are realising the benefit of PTFE material properties.  The electronics industry is the largest sector with extensive applications and as consumers purchase more and more electronic devices.

The healthcare industry use PTFE as an antibacterial barrier for catheters.  Its versatility to create a medical-grade coating on a range of other materials makes it useful on many other medical devices.  Handles, attachments and medical tubing used by clinicians to manipulate a device are key application areas.

Within the chemical industry, PTFE gives outstanding chemical resistance with the addition of a non-reactive barrier. In addition, the material has excellent ability to create a lubricant to reduce friction in various manufacturing processes.

Learn more about how Southbourne Rubber use PTFE to produce parts for the healthcare and aircraft industry. 

For more details on our stringent testing and certification requirements for this and other materials, click here.