Building blocks of electronics

This is the era of electronics for they form the backbone of the modern lifestyle.  Plastic is the enabler of electronics components because it improves miniaturisation, performance and cost.

An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated  fields.  Electronic components are mostly industrial products and can be classified as passive, active, or electromechanic.The main types are passive  (e.g.  resistors  and  capacitors) and active (e.g. transistors and integrated circuits).

BCC Research says that the global market for passive and other interconnecting electronic components is expected to grow and reach $213.5 billion by 2017, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4 percent between 2012 and 2017.

In a testament to the increased usage of plastics,the global market for plastics in electronic components is expected to reach 4.4 billion pounds in 2017, says Electronics.ca Research Network.

The global volume for plastics in electronic components is expected to reach 3.5 billion pounds in 2012 and increase to 4.4 billion pounds in 2017, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7 percent.The global market can be separated into two segments: thermoplastic and thermoset. In 2012, thermoplastics are expected to total nearly 2.5 billion pounds, and in 2017, the volume should reach 3.1 billion pounds, a CAGR of 4.9 percent.The thermoset segment is projected to reach nearly 1.1 billion pounds in 2012. By 2017, the segment should reach 1.3 billion pounds, a CAGR of 4.3 percent. 

Resin consumption in electronic components is made up of a select group of engineering  thermoplastics led by nylon and thermoplastic polyesters in volume. Based on value, however, higher performance resins such as polyphenylene sulfide, polyimides, polyketones, and liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have become more significant factors in the market. Engineering thermoplastics dominate the moulded electronic component segment, of which connectors are the most important.

Practical and economic

Founded in 1937, SPI is the plastics industry trade association representing the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States. SPI says that plastics offer durability and cost savings, parts consolidation and design  flexibility, weatherproof ability and chemical resistance. Without the use of plastics, the product life of some major appliances would be reduced nearly 50 percent. Major appliances would cost at least 25 percent more and use 30 percent more energy than similar products produced without plastics.

Without plastics, most of the electronic products would not have been practical or economical. Designers of computers and business equipment choose plastics for their toughness, durability, ease of fabrication into complex shapes and their electrical insulationqualities.

Plastics are the building blocks and stepping-stones of electronic progress for decades: housing electronics, insulating components from all types of interference and protecting their most delicate and sensitive parts against even the tiniest speck of dust. In fact, microprocessor miniaturisation  would  have been impossible without the qualities and cost effectiveness of plastics.

The continuing  miniaturisation of circuit boards and components, such as computer chips, increasingly relies on high-performance plastics to provide tough, dimensionally stable parts that canNike