What is this "Acetal" material?

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Hey guys,

 

Any time I look at watercooling stuff I always see things with "Acetal" in the name. Curious as to what it was, I looked it up a few weeks ago but I couldn't really understand it.

 

As far as I can tell (and remember), it seems to be some sort of alloy or ceramic material. That's all I know so far.

 

So what is it and what are the pros/cons of using it compared to the other metals?

 

I'm aware that I know next to nothing about it and might be asking the wrong questions, so I'd love to hear anything interesting you guys have to say about it. I geek out a fair bit over metallic stuff.

[Enderman]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene

 

 

olyoxymethylene (POM), also known as acetal,[1] polyacetal and polyformaldehyde, is an engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction and excellent dimensional stability.

 

 

POM is characterized by its high strength, hardness and rigidity to −40 °C. POM is intrinsically opaque white, due to its high crystalline composition, but it is available in all colors.

 

 

POM is a tough material with a very low coefficient of friction.

 

 

POM advantages:

 

High abrasion resistance

Low coefficient of friction

High heat resistance

Good electrical and dielectric properties

Low water absorption

[Toddwjp]

it a resin with very good resistance to fatigue

[W-L]

Hey guys,

 

Any time I look at watercooling stuff I always see things with "Acetal" in the name. Curious as to what it was, I looked it up a few weeks ago but I couldn't really understand it.

 

As far as I can tell (and remember), it seems to be some sort of alloy or ceramic material. That's all I know so far.

 

So what is it and what are the pros/cons of using it compared to the other metals?

 

I'm aware that I know next to nothing about it and might be asking the wrong questions, so I'd love to hear anything interesting you guys have to say about it. I geek out a fair bit over metallic stuff.

 

In simple terms it's a plastic with some special characteristics, it's basically a polymer that has certain properties such as high heat resistance, high wear, low friction, and high rigidity and toughness with low creep or flexibility.

 

In most cases it's much more cost effective to use plastic over a metal for a top cover or plate in a waterblock, many also use thick acrylic but they tend to stain if you run coloured coolant but get teh advantage of seeing the guts of the block inside, not to mention also the LED light show you can do with them.

Edited September 17, 2014 by W-L

[Murdoch]

It's plastic. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyoxymethylene

 

Edit: oops beat to it.

[cooperred]

Like other people have said, it's a plastic. For water cooling use, it doesn't do much other than look attractive. Many blocks and pump tops from EK for example have an acetal version and a "normal" non acetal version.

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Ah right, dunno why I thought it was metal. Probably my bad memory.