Factory UTV Talks About UHMW Protection

| January 7, 2010 | 0 Comments

Darcie On UTV Weekly TV

We talked to Darcie from Factory UTV on the last episode of UTVWeekly TV about UHMW skids and what makes them better than standard aluminum skids.  Watch the episode to find out her answer…  I went to their website to do some more research and found this interesting information.

UHMW stands for Ultra-High Molecular Weight.  It is a plastic compound that is tough, wear resistant, and combines an incredibly low coefficient of friction with outstanding impact strength, and will outwear carbon steel 10 to 1. Unlike aluminum, UHMW also has memory, meaning after a big impact hits aluminum it will bend, gouge and break while UHMW maintains it’s original shape. These skid plates are very TOUGH!

I still was curious about the structure and why it claimed to be so strong, so kept on researching and went to the Wikipedia for the following definition.

Factory UTV UHMW Skid Plate

Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE or sometimes shortened to UHMW), also known as high-modulus polyethylene (HMPE) or high-performance polyethylene (HPPE), is a subset of the thermoplastic polyethylene.

UHMWPE Molecular Structure Diagram

UHMWPE Molecular Structure Diagram

It has extremely long chains, with molecular weight numbering in the millions, usually between 2 and 6 million. The longer chain serves to transfer load more effectively to the polymer backbone by strengthening intermolecular interactions. This results in a very tough material, with the highest impact strength of any thermoplastic presently made.

It is highly resistant to corrosive chemicals, with exception of oxidizing acids. It has extremely low moisture absorption, has a very low coefficient of friction, is self-lubricating, and is highly resistant to abrasion (15 times more resistant to abrasion than carbon steel).

Its coefficient of friction is significantly lower than that of nylon and acetal, and is comparable to that of Teflon, but UHMWPE has better abrasion resistance than Teflon.

It is odorless, tasteless, and nontoxic.

And there is of course a lot more information on this topic at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high_molecular_weight_polyethylene

Sounds like Factory UTV has the answer with skid plates constructed from UHMW which offers full protection for the under carriage of your UTV.  Research complete!

http://www.factoryutv.net/uhmw.htm
916-207-8335

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