Syensqo’s Amodel® PPA Power Module Portfolio addresses CTI (600), Temperature (> 150 C), & Compactness Requirements

By: Nicolas Batailley, Ysée Genot, Elisa Piedimonte, Carlos Abomailek, Alyssa Arend, Brian Baleno

Syensqo Materials

The electrification of vehicles throughout the powertrain continues to increase the need for material solutions that enable engineers to design for performance and reduced packaging space. Over the past few years, Syensqo has developed a range of Amodel® PPA (polyphthalamide) materials that offer a combination of thermal performance, electrical insulation and comparative tracking index (CTI), as well as toughness to meet the new packaging requirements for power modules.

Power modules are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in today’s cars. They are used in everything from electric oil and water pumps to power steering systems.  With the accelerating growth of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), power modules can be found in inverters, DC-DC converters and on-board chargers, playing a critical role in transferring power and energy from the battery to the various systems required to power a PHEV or BEV.

Syensqo has recently developed two new Amodel® PPA (polyphthalamide) grades for power electronic components including power modules and high voltage PCB connectors. The Amodel® PPA BIOS HFFR R133 and Amodel® PPA Supreme AE-1133 HFFR. Key features of these products include  CTI 600V, V0 flammability and mechanical and electrical property retention above 150°C. Table 1 below details the technical aspects of these products.

Table 1: Amodel® PPA Power Electronics Property Data

The ability to package power modules in a more compact form is highly desirable to save space and reduce weight. High CTI plays an important role in material selection. Amodel® PPA's CTI retention of 600 volts at elevated temperatures offers the potential to design thinner and smaller packages. Figures 1 and 2 below show the CTI performance of various new Amodel® PPA grades at temperature compared to historical grades.

Figure 1: Amodel® PPA BIOS CTI at 120 ℃

Figure 2: Amodel® PPA Supreme CTI at 150 ℃

In addition to CTI retention, mechanical and dielectric strength performance at higher temperatures are also key requirements for next generation power electronics designs. As voltages increase, materials that provide a safety factor with dielectric strength above 150 ℃ are desired. Figure 3 shows the superior dielectric performance of Amodel® PPA Supreme above 150°C.

Figure 3: Amodel® PPA Dielectric Strength at 175 ℃

Sustainability, or more specifically materials with a lower carbon footprint, is also becoming part of the material selection process. Syensqo has developed Amodel® PPA BIOS with the aim of significantly reducing the global warming potential (GWP) of commercially available PPA grades. Amodel® PPA BIOS grades are made from partially bio-based (22%) non-competing feedstock resins. Without compromising performance, Amodel® PPA BIOS is a long chain PPA designed with a Tg of 135°C, ensuring electrical and mechanical performance at elevated temperatures.

The manufacturing plant in Augusta, Georgia, where Amodel® PPA BIOS is produced, uses 100% renewable electricity. Figure 4 below shows the sustainability improvements in manufacturing and formulation, while Figure 5 shows the progress in GWP reduction.

Figure 4: Sustainability Improvements at Amodel® PPA Manufacturing Plants

Figure 5: Sustainability improvements of Amodel® PPA

In summary, Syensqo's Amodel® PPA portfolio of new power module solutions has been designed to provide engineers with greater design flexibility. With a combination of high CTI (600), UL V0 flammability rating and high temperature mechanical and electrical property retention, these new Amodel® PPAs offer the potential to design lighter and more compact power modules. In addition to performance, these Amodel® PPA solutions have been developed with sustainability in mind, providing designers with lower GWP materials without compromising performance.

Disclaimer: LCA information is provided in good faith and is believed accurate as of the date of this document. According to ISO 14040-44 standards, the use of LCA results to support comparative assertions intended to be disclosed raises special concerns and requires specific critical review. No critical review of these data was performed.