Thermally conductive plastic

TCP is an engineering thermoplastic compound (PP, PA, PBT, or PPS resin) loaded with 30 – 70 % by weight of ceramic or metal-oxide filler that provides a continuous thermal path through the bulk plastic. Conductivity is typically 0.7 – 5 W/m·K — orders of magnitude below aluminum (~200 W/m·K) but enough for many low-to-mid-power heatsinking applications. The win comes from injection moulding: complex shapes (fins, hollow channels, snap-fits, integrated mounting features) that would be expensive to machine in aluminum can be moulded as one part, with dielectric isolation built-in (no anodisation needed).

Pick TCP100 (PP backbone) for cost-tuned consumer parts — LED lamp housings, low-power adapters — where service temp stays below 100 °C. Pick TCP200 (PA / PBT backbone) for industrial and automotive parts in the 100 – 150 °C range; TCP200-50-02A delivers the highest λ in the catalog at 5.0 W/m·K. Pick TCP300PS (PPS backbone) when you need 200 °C+ continuous service, fuel/oil resistance, or chemical exposure — λ is lower (~0.9 W/m·K) but the resin survives where PA and PP fail.

Sometimes — it depends on the dissipated power and the airflow available. As a rule of thumb: parts dissipating below 10 W in convective airflow can usually move from aluminum to TCP200 with comparable surface temperature; parts above 50 W typically still need aluminum unless forced airflow or a much larger surface area is on the table. The thermal-design exercise is to compute the convective resistance Rth = 1 / (h·A) and check that the bulk-conduction Rth through the TCP wall is small relative to the convective term. Engineering can run a simple FEA with your CAD if you share the geometry.

Yes — all TCP grades are electrically insulating with volume resistivity ≥ 10¹² Ω·cm and dielectric strength of 15 – 30 kV/mm. A TCP enclosure simultaneously dissipates heat and provides dielectric isolation between live components and the user — eliminating the anodisation step that's required when a metal heatsink doubles as a chassis. Verify the per-grade datasheet for high-voltage applications above 1 kV continuous; some grades derate at thin walls.

TCP200 and TCP300PS grades typically achieve UL 94 V-0 at 1.5 mm or thicker — confirm per-grade datasheet. TCP100 (PP backbone) is harder to bring to V-0 without significant flame-retardant loading; check the specific TCP100 grade if your application has a UL-Yellow-Card requirement. For final-product UL listing, the part-as-moulded usually needs to be re-tested at the actual wall thickness, which engineering can arrange via Ziitek's lab partners.

TCP grades mould on standard injection-moulding machines with no specialised equipment. Recommended barrel temperatures and mould temperatures vary by resin (TCP100/PP runs 200 – 230 °C, TCP200/PA runs 270 – 290 °C, TCP300PS/PPS runs 320 – 340 °C). Mould shrinkage is typically 0.3 – 0.7 % — comparable to filled engineering plastics. Tool wear on metal-oxide-filled compounds is slightly higher than unfilled grades; spec mould steel hardness ≥ HRC 50 for high-volume tools.