Automotive
A European automotive OEM was faced with a dilemma - what material would offer the best performance in a sealing gasket for an antenna housing? A robust material was required to prevent water and dust ingress from harming electronics of an exterior antenna housing and would need to perform under a wide variety of environmental conditions. During material testing and evaluation, an EPDM material was failing during heat cycling leakage testing. Failures in the field due to leakage could jeopardize component function and lead to costly quality recalls. Reliable sealing, corrosion resistance, and long term performance over a broad range of temperatures and conditions would be critical to the gasket’s performance.
Rogers’ automotive sales team in Europe offered several potential solutions, including BISCO® silicone materials. The selected material would have to pass stringent tests conducted by the OEM including temperature shock immersion, salt spray testing, and damp heat cycle testing for 240 hours at -10°C and +85°C. In addition, the material had to withstand high pressure cleaning and water column sealing testing. BISCO® HT-800 silicone easily passed all the testing, even the critical temperature shock immersion test where the EPDM had failed.
The OEM chose Rogers’ BISCO® HT800 silicone over four other material options (among them EPDM, Polyurethane and rubber materials), assured that the material will provide reliable, long-term performance in sealing against moisture and dust ingress. None of the other materials were able to meet all the stringent requirements.