A meeting of materials

For the ultimate in demanding environments, where seals face the harshest chemicals and temperature extremes, perfluoroelastomers (FFKM) are the material solution of choice. 

Steering innovations
With global reach and local presence, Trelleborg has invested in perfluoroelastomer development and manufacturing capabilities for over 30 years. As the Product Manager at its Tewkesbury facility in England, Tom Ashby is steering innovations in new grades to meet emerging industry needs. 

He explains where FFKM is vital. “In aerospace, chemical processing and semiconductor manufacturing, there are processes where standard materials are not capable of performing to our customers’ needs. The material extends service life and lowers total cost of ownership. For aircraft manufacturers, it is lengthening the service lives of planes, reducing unplanned maintenance and helping meet emission targets.”

Changing market demands
James Harrison, Materials Manager at Tewkesbury, outlines the transformation he sees in the market. “While the demands of our chemical processing customers have remained similar, the requirements in the semiconductor and aerospace industries have increased. They have demanded more change in the last few years than in the 20 years I have worked with the material,” he says. 

“There are more problems to solve,” continues Harrison. “Since COVID, the material situation has become more difficult to manage as companies have rationalized their production lines. This, combined with the potential for legislative changes, creates a constantly evolving scenario where we must react quickly, day-to-day to meet requirements dictated by industries.”

Significant investment
Responding to this rapidly changing market for FFKM, Trelleborg has invested heavily in the people, infrastructure and processes for, as well as the development and production of Isolast, Trelleborg’s perfluoroelastomer brand.

“In addition to new presses and equipment for industrial products, we’ve enlarged our semiconductor cleanroom. It started as a single room and has grown significantly in the last three years to meet our growing customer orders,” Feyzan Durn, Lab Manager and Senior Material Development Engineer – Semicon, points out. 

The state-of-art cleanroom now measures 415 meters squared and was part of an 18-month upgrade project that more than doubled the previous cleanroom capacity at the Tewkesbury site. It operates to ISO 5 / Class 100 standards, ensuring ultra-clean conditions for high-performance elastomer manufacturing such as the Isolast PureFab 

Meeting specific requirements
Based on long-term partnerships and trends within the market, Trelleborg works with its customers proactively to create strong relationships. This has, in some cases, involved meeting specific requirements of clients in the most challenging sectors. 

“A leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer needed a material that had defined damping properties,” Durn explains. Trelleborg developed a unique compound for them to protect sensitive components from external vibrations that would have affected the performance and precision of their equipment.

“We’re used to testing for characteristics that are vital to semiconductor equipment applications, such as plasma and ozone resistance, and we boast market-leading capabilities in this,” she continues. “A specific request for damping applications, however, was a new challenge for us.” 

Keeping the customer producing
Harrison cites another example of meeting a specific customer’s needs. “A major FFKM supplier left the fluoropolymer market, which created a need to manage obsolescence with one of our aerospace customers. This was a problem but also an opportunity as it allowed us to reassess the marketplace for new available technology and partners.  We had to redevelop and qualify a replacement quickly, starting from scratch.

“To do this, we combined resources with our semiconductor team and used some of their technology to help develop the material and with internal and external testing, achieved customer acceptance,” he continues. “We managed to switch over from the unobtainable grade to the newly developed one without stopping our customer’s production line.” 
Group-wide experience of design for engineering and manufacture has been put to effective use at the Tewkesbury facility to help enhance its customers’ products and lower their total cost of ownership. 

Innovative bonding techniques
“At Trelleborg we’re often challenged to support our customers with the most technically demanding applications, targeting improvements in products and processes. The bonding of FFKM to substrates and component rationalization is one area where this is happening,” says Ashby. “We have numerous projects involving bonding of Isolast not just to metal, but also to plastics.

“Working in close collaboration with our customers and looking holistically at their production processes, bonding can yield major savings in total cost of ownership,” Ashby points out. “With our experience of design for manufacture, we can help reduce the number of components in an assembly. Instead of having multiple elastomer and metal parts, assemblies can become a single component.”

Lighter weight, lower cost
There is now an increasing desire for FFKMs bonded to plastic. Due to the chemical inertness of FFKM materials, this can be almost unachievable.

“As plastic is lighter in weight than most metals, such as stainless steel, it is a substitute for customers to either reduce weight or the number of components in an assembly,” Ashby says. “We’ve had a number of requests to look at applications where there is a rubber-to-metal bonded part inside a plastic housing; removing the metal and bonding the rubber directly onto the plastic can save not only weight but costs as well.”

“Our results bonding FFKM to Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) have been excellent and we are now selling a number of FFKM-to-PEEK bonded components” says Harrison.
“This development is ongoing, and we are always willing to take on new challenges to enhance customers’ offerings and our unique capabilities.” adds Ashby.

Pushing boundaries
For the future, development-wise for Durn and Harrison, it is about pushing the boundaries.
“Customers in the aerospace sector are asking us to create grades that last longer, running hotter and colder to increase whole-life cost savings,” explains Harrison.

“The semiconductor market is ramping up, with the industry shifting focus toward AI technology,” adds Durn. Chip manufacturers are continually innovating, seeking materials that can withstand higher operating temperatures, deliver exceptional performance and meet increasingly stringent reliability standards. Low-temperature capabilities are also gaining attention for certain applications.

Simulation cuts development time
“To complement our materials innovation and further support the fast-paced chip manufacturing industry, we’ve also introduced advanced simulation methods that transform how seal performance is predicted,” says Durn. 

Instead of relying solely on time-consuming physical trials, these tools compress weeks of data into models capable of forecasting years of seal reliability. She explains; “Whether it is for rotary seals in vacuum pumps or static seals in plasma etch chambers, our predictive capabilities help customers optimize preventive maintenance cycles and reduce downtime.” 

People are the key 
Long term success for Ashby though is not just about the product. “For development and the growth of Isolast, we need a team of people with skills, experience and knowledge.  One of our key goals is to attract and retain people with unique and advanced talents. It's not just about the equipment; you need the people. That is the key to our future growth.”

Writer: Donna Guinivan
Photos: Ross Vincent