Cable tie
Nylon 6,6 moulded into a flexible strap and locking head.
Material
Strap and locking head: Nylon 6,6
Material selection rationale
- Bendable strap
- Wraps around a group of cables.
- Tough locking features
- Let the teeth and head hold the tightened loop.
- Ratchet and strap design
- Teeth engage the head to resist pull-back; hydrogen bonding supports the nylon, but tooth shape and moisture state set the assembled behaviour.
How it becomes a product
- Prepare and mould: PA66 resin is dried, melted and injection-moulded into the strap, teeth and head.
- Condition for use: Moisture conditioning and the selected grade affect how the finished tie bends and holds a load. After moulding, the chosen conditioning and storage control moisture; a very dry tie need not bend like a conditioned tie.
Preparation routes
Adipic acid and diamine route
Nylon salt formation, then polycondensation. The acid and diamine form a balanced salt. Heating allows amide links to form, releasing water as the nylon 6,6 chains grow. The balanced pair supplies alternating acid-derived and amine-derived sections. The two carbonyl carbons count among the six carbons of the acid segment.
Heat and water removal support chain growth. Both the acid and the diamine are required. The acid route releases water; a laboratory acid-chloride demonstration has different reagents and by-products.
- PA 6 and PA 66 intermediatesBASF
- Reference document on best available techniques in the production of polymersEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre · 2007
Sources
- T50I cable tie: PA66 material and product specificationHellermannTyton
- Reference document on best available techniques in the production of polymersEuropean Commission, Joint Research Centre · 2007
- Ultramid polyamides: processing, moisture and conditioningBASF