Teflon Braided Hose Applications: A Comprehensive Overview
Teflon is a trademark owned by Dupont. Teflon is a polymer discovered by Mr. Roy Plunkett in 1957. It was discovered accidently when Mr. Plunkett was conducting experiments.
Teflon is a white sticky powder with exceptional chemical, mechanical & electrical properties.
Teflon is chemically very inert and does not get affected by most alkalies, acids and solvents. Teflon Braided hoses hence exhibit the same property. The reason Teflon Braided hoses exhibit this property is because The carbon atoms are completely surrounded and hence isolated and protected by Florine atoms. One of few chemicals that can chemically affect Teflon and Teflon Braided hoses are molten alkalies.
Teflon Braided Hoses Manufacturing
Teflon is paste extruded into flexible Teflon tubes. These Teflon tubes are then braided with steel wires or other fabrics to manufacture Teflon Braided Hose. The Teflon tubes have interesting and useful mechanical properties. for example, do not absorb water due to large contact angle in the range of 100 degrees.
The coefficient of friction of Teflon Braided hoses is 0.05 which is the lowest in man made substances. Due to very low coefficient of friction the surface is smooth and doesn’t not let media accumulate on its surface. This behavior is very desirable in pharmaceutical industry and is called anti-bacterial property.
The Teflon tube inside Teflon braided hoses had a specific gravity of 2.2. Due to this high specific gravity Teflon tube inside Teflon braided hoses has a very high vicat melting point of 327 degree Celsius. Typical operations temperatures of Teflon Braided hose is from -70 to +200 degree Celsius.
Applications of Teflon Braided Hoses
Teflon Braided hoses are used in many applications across different industries. Automobile, Heavy Electrical , Power, Chemical Process Industry, Pharmaceutical, Footwear, Food Processing, Defence and many more.
Teflon Braided hoses are preferred hoses for saturated steam applications like rubber vulcanization and steam cleaning equipment. Rubber hoses do not exhibit a long life in steam cycles specially when a heat cycle followed by a cold cycle. Given the low thermal expansion and high glass transition Teflon braided hose last longer than any other hoses. In this case the steam pressure is around 16 bar and temperature can reach up to 200 degree Celsius.
Chlor Alkali industry used some of the most corrosive chemicals and solvents in their process. Due to corrosion and chemical compatibility material selection is critically important. Over the years Teflon braided hoses have proved to the right choice for fluid conveyance. All the piping in Chloralkali process is generally Teflon lined pipes and where flexibility is required Teflon braided hoses are preferred.
Chemical process industry involves transferring large volume of chemical liquids from one process point to another. Teflon braided hoses have universal chemical compatibility CPI process industry and a high pressure rating even at elevated temperatures. Typical example is loading and unloading of sulphuric acid typically of 10 to 15 thousand kilo liters in fertilizer industry.
Fuel hose and oil hoses are very critical component of IC engine. Due to high temperatures and chemical compatibility Teflon braided hoses are universally used for these applications.
