Revealed! PPO, the "hard core" material in the 5G era

石榴姐

Revealed! PPO, the "hard core" material in the 5G era [Copy link]

Polyphenylene ether (PPO for short) is a thermoplastic general engineering plastic and is the most consumed variety among engineering plastic alloys. It has the advantages of high rigidity, high heat resistance, flame retardancy, high strength and excellent electrical properties.

Compared with other general engineering plastics, it has the lowest specific gravity, lowest water absorption, highest dielectric strength and highest glass transition temperature, but PPO has poor melt fluidity, solvent resistance and oxidation resistance, high cost and difficult thermoplastic processing, so it is often necessary to expand its application range through modification. Modified polyphenylene ether (MPPO) has excellent thermal, electrical and mechanical properties and is widely used in electronic appliances, office automation equipment, automotive dashboards, electrical parts, interior and exterior decorative parts and mechanical appliances.

PPO structure

Application of PPO in 5G

Antenna

5G base stations can be divided into macro base stations and small base stations according to their power size. The antenna cover of 5G macro base stations is long and large in size. The injection molding process has high cost and is easy to deform. Extrusion molding can be used. The main materials are weather-resistant low-dielectric PPE, long glass PP, etc.

Phase Shifter

Phase shifter is a necessary component of base station antenna. The dielectric block in the phase shifter usually requires good dimensional stability, various adjustable dielectric constants and extremely low dielectric loss.

PPO has important applications in 5G base station dielectric blocks due to its advantages such as good dimensional stability, excellent electrical properties, low dielectric loss and little change in dielectric properties with frequency. The dielectric blocks can change the transmission of force and energy, the transmission of light and sound, and can determine the transmission direction and speed of wave energy.

Radome

The antenna cover of 5G macro base station is long and large in size. If injection molding is used, the mold and injection molding equipment are extremely expensive and easy to deform. Due to the heat resistance and good dimensional stability of PPE, it is suitable for extrusion of large products. The antenna cover and shell of 5G base station are protective structural parts, which need to be high in strength, low in density and lightweight.

The modified weather-resistant low dielectric constant and low dielectric loss PPE material has six major characteristics: low dielectric constant (DK=2.3~2.5) and low dielectric loss (DF=0.002~0.003), extrusion molding, weather resistance (reaching F1 grade), good comprehensive strength, low density and dimensional stability, and surface metallization. It is suitable for 5G macro base station antenna covers.

High frequency PCB

At present, the low molecular weight PPO used in my country's copper clad laminate industry basically comes from foreign companies such as SABIC, Asahi Kasei and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. No domestic company has supplied low molecular weight PPO to the copper clad laminate industry.