Rulon is the trade name for a family of PTFE plastics produced by Saint-Gobain

Saint-Gobain

Saint-Gobain S.A. is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety of construction and high-performance materials.The company has its head...

 Performance Plastics. Rulon plastics are known for their low coefficient of friction, excellent abrasion resistance, wide range of operating temperature

Operating temperature

An operating temperature is the temperature at which an electrical or mechanical device operates. The device will operate effectively within a specified temperature range which varies based on the device function and application context, and ranges from the minimum operating temperature to the...

s, and chemical inertness. Common applications for Rulon include seals, piston rings, bearings, and electrical insulation.

History

Rulon was produced by Dixon Industries Corporation in 1952 and named for its then President, Robert Rulon-Miller. This first type of Rulon was dubbed "Rulon A" (which was later replaced with type AR). Dixon was then bought by the Furon company. Furon was then bought by Norton Performance Plastics, which finally was purchased by Saint-Gobain.

Properties and types

There are many different types of Rulon produced for specific applications. These include:

• Rulon A, obsolete
• Rulon AR, maroon
  Maroon (color)
  Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...
  
  , used for seals & stronger than Rulon LR
• Rulon LR, has low deformation characteristics
• Rulon J, gold
  Gold (color)
  Gold, also called golden, is one of a variety of orange-yellow color blends used to give the impression of the color of the element gold....
  
  , polymer filled for more abrasion resistance and softer mating surface
• Rulon 641, white
  White
  White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
  
  , U.S. Food and Drug Administration compliant
• Rulon W2, used in fresh water applications
• Rulon 123, FDA compliant with low and consistent friction characteristics
• Rulon 488, inorganic filler used for compatibility with most surfaces
• Rulon 957, green
  Green
  Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
  
   speckled, bearing grade with noise dampening characteristics
• Rulon XL, tan
  Tan (color)
  Tan is a pale whiteish, tawny shade of white. The name is derived from tannum used in the tanning of leather.The first recorded use of tan as a shade name in English was in the year 1590....
  
  , low friction; suitable for aluminum; excellent outgassing
  Outgassing
  Outgassing is the release of a gas that was dissolved, trapped, frozen or absorbed in some material. As an example, research has shown how the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has sometimes been linked to ocean outgassing...
  
   characteristics for use in vacuums
• Rulon F, green, polymer filled with excellent anti-abrasion characteristics
• Rulon 142, aqua
  Aqua (color)
  Aqua is a tone of the color cyan which is identical to the color electric cyan, one of the three secondary colors of the HSV color wheel, along with magenta and yellow. It is precisely halfway between green and blue on the color wheel...
  
  , low deformation material for used in linear bearings and slides
• Rulon 945, black
  Black
  Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
  
  , very low deformation characteristics for use in high heat and impact applications
• Rulon 1045, gold, highly elastic and moderately deformable for use as bearings, rings and seals
• Rulon 1337, tan, FDA compliant with low coefficient of friction and excellent chemical resistance
• Rulon 1410, gold, highly elastic
• Rulon 1439, white, FDA compliant for use in submerged applications with low wear characteristics

Rulon A has a 1000 fold increase in wear resistance as compared to TFE

Tetrafluoroethylene

Tetrafluoroethylene is a chemical compound with the formula C2F4. It is the simplest alkene fluorocarbon. This gaseous species is used primarily in the industrial preparation of polymers.-Properties:...

. However, it machines much like TFE. It can also be molded

Injection molding

Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts from both thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic materials. Material is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced into a mold cavity where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity...

, extruded, skived

Skiving machine

Skiving or scarfing machines cut material off moving strips, usually metal, but also leather or laminates, to leave a desired edge shape or cross section...

, stamped

Stamping (metalworking)

Stamping includes a variety of sheet-metal forming manufacturing processes, such as punching using a machine press or stamping press, blanking, embossing, bending, flanging, and coining. This could be a single stage operation where every stroke of the press produce the desired form on the sheet...

, and hot and cold formed. Below is a table of properties pertaining to Rulon AR, but note that the other types of Rulon have similar properties.

Properties of Rulon AR

Properties	Test procedure used	Units (metric)	Value (metric)
Specific gravity Specific gravity Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. Apparent specific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for...	ASTM D792	n/a	2.22
Hardness	ASTM D2240	Shore D	60 - 75
Water absorption	ASTM D570	%	0
Tensile strength Tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength , often shortened to tensile strength or ultimate strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before necking, which is when the specimen's cross-section starts to significantly contract...	ASTM D4894	psi (MPa)	2,000 (13.8)
Elongation	ASTM D4894	%	175
Deformation under load 1500 psi, 24 hr, RT	ASTM D621	%	5.0
Izod impact strength	n/a	ft-lb/in (J/m)	6.0 (320)
Thermal conductivity Thermal conductivity In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....	ASTM D2214	BTU·in/(hr·Ft2·F°) (W/m·K)	2.3 (0.33)
Operating temperature range	n/a	°F (°C)	-400 to 550 (-240 to 288)
Flammability	ASTM D635	in/min (m/s)	non-flammable
Maximum pressure (P)	n/a	psi (MPa)	1,000 (6.9)
Maxiumum velocity with no pressure (V)	n/a	ft/min (m/s)	400 (2)
Maximum PV	n/a	psi x ft/min (MPa x m/s)	10,000 (0.35)
Minimum mating surface hardness	n/a	RC	35