Delrin

[SPEEDSTER]

Is it plastic or metal? I just bought a spool marketed as halcyon. I always thought delrin was a metal, but perhaps I am wrong, as the spool is definately flexible like plastic.

THANKS
Mike

 

[Scubaroo]

Here's a link to the manufacturer's website: DuPont. They describe it as bridging the gap between metal and plastic

 

[SPEEDSTER]

I guess that would explain my confusion, it's both. Glad I didn't get ripped off. (Well, except that I paid $40 for a piece of plastic and nylon)

Mike

 

[SPEEDSTER]

oh, and a spiffy stainless double-ender!!

 

[Green_Manelishi]

If I correctly recall my chemistry lessons, "plastic" is a product
that uses petroleum products in its manufacturer.

Substances such as "delrin", etc. are actually something other
than plastic because they are made of a man-created substance.

 

[rcohn]

Nothing metallic about it. You'll see it's listed under the engineering plastics section of the DuPont web page and defined as an "acetal resin".


http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?z=1&pg=2&ti=761553604

Plastics, materials made up of large, organic (carbon-containing) molecules that can be formed into a variety of products. The molecules that compose plastics are long carbon chains that give plastics many of their useful properties. In general, materials that are made up of long, chainlike molecules are called polymers. The word plastic is derived from the words plasticus (Latin for "capable of molding") and plastikos (Greek "to mold," or "fit for molding"). Plastics can be made hard as stone, strong as steel, transparent as glass, light as wood, and elastic as rubber. Plastics are also lightweight, waterproof, chemical resistant, and produced in almost any color. More than 50 families of plastics have been produced, and new types are currently under development.

http://dictionary.msn.com/find/entry.asp?refid=1861583335

ac·e·tal [ásst'l , áss tàl ] (plural ac·e·tals) noun
........
2. organic compound: an organic compound similar to acetal that contains a particular chemical group. -CH(OR1)OR2

http://dictionary.msn.com/find/entry.asp?search=resin

res·in [rézzin ] noun (plural res·ins)
......
2. CHEMISTRY synthetic compound resembling resin: a synthetic polymeric compound physically resembling natural resin, for example, polyvinyl, polystyrene, or epoxy, used in the petrochemical and plastics industries

 

[ToddK]

Wow! I'm having flash backs to my chemical engineering university days!

I wrote a report on this for a class about 6 years ago, and as I recall, Delrin is a simple polymer (plastic), made from formaldehyde (simple molcecule made of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen).

When not woven into a thin line, Delrin is a white plastic. It is very easy to machine, and wears very well.

-Todd.

 

[Paul & Leila]

Can be had in black as well Has a lower coefficient of friction than nylon and is used in many places where anti-friction rings/plates are needed.

 

[sheck33]

Rcohn is correct, Delrin is a plastic.
Plastics are a huge group of diffferent polymers with widely varying properties and they are certainly NOT metals.