Page 291 - Engineering Plastics Handbook

Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) 253

Concerning the demand for LCP according to applications, connectors
including sockets make up more than one-half of the whole demand for
LCP, and more than 85% of the whole demand for LCP is considered to be
for electrical and electronic parts. As other important applications, slide
bases of optical pickup for CD and DVD, parts of hard disk drives, and parts
of copiers and facsimiles are examples. Although LCP has enlarged its
demand especially in the market of electronic parts appropriate for SMT,
recently new prospective applications such as for the automobile have
begun to germinate. Here we show the important applications of LCP
according to these categories:
1. Electrical and electronic parts, various types of connectors (board-to-
board connectors, flexible printed circuit connectors, card connec-
tors, flash memory connectors, optical connectors), various types of
sockets (PGA sockets, ZIF sockets, SIMM sockets, RIMM sockets,
SO-DIMM sockets), relay casings, switches, quartz oscillators, piezo-
electric elements, capacitors, sensors, coil bobbins, optical sensors,
and encapsulant
2. Office equipment, audiovisual devices, various parts for still cam-
eras and camcorders, mechanical parts for FDD and HDD, optical
pickup parts for CD and DVD (lens holders, slide bases), parts for
mobile phones, chassis of copiers and facsimiles, mechanical parts for
laser printers, and speaker cones
3. Other parts for microwave ovens, lighting parts, dental trays, IC
transport trays, and parts for various pumps
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Toray’s LCP SIVERAS is widely used in OA equipment and IT devices
due to its above-mentioned excellent properties. In particular, its flowa-
bility during injection molding is far superior to that of other LCPs, and
it is suitable for precise molding with low-pressure and fine-pitch mold-
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ing. In consequence, SIVERAS achieved high market share as a mate-
rial for connectors attached to flexible printed circuits used in mobile
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phones and digital cameras. On the other hand, SIVERAS is used in
SO-DIMM sockets, which need good flowability and low warpage. As the
specialty grades, L204G50EC is used as coil encapsulant of HDD actua-
tors due to its antistatic character, and L304A35 is used as an optical
pickup of portable MD players due to its high flowability, antiabrasion
property, and excellent dimensional stability.

Appendix
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A1. Typical Properties of SIVERAS (Fig. A.1)
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A2. Properties of SIVERAS Compared with Other Materials (Fig. A.2)
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A3. Comparison of Toray SIVERAS and PPS Resin TORELINA (Fig. A.3)