Hats Off to Materials & Assembly Mousetrap Winners

The growing sophistication of materials and assembly technology was very evident in the entries to this year’s Design News Golden Mousetrap competition.

The winner in the engineering plastics category, for example, is an advanced tribological polymer using nano-sized particles from igus, a German compounding specialist with a plant in Rhode Island.

Use of nanotechnology improves the lifetime of its high-performance plastic plain bearing predecessors by a factor of six, according to igus.

Another interesting example comes from PennEngineering, a perennial winner in the fastening category based in Danboro, PA. One major ongoing activity at PennEngineering, known for its brand name PEM, is solving some of the most vexing problems facing electronics manufacturers, such as how to remove heat from micro structures and how to solve tough assembly problems for very small electronic packages. PennEngineering can be a tough company to write about because their blue chip, big-name customers, for obvious reasons, want those solutions kept very secret. We are recognizing Penn Engineering this year for development of a micro self-clinching standoff fastener for spacing or stacking applications in compact electronic assemblies.

The other winners also stand out:

No first-place was awarded this year in the rapid prototyping category.

Go here for a full list of winners.

We also salute our finalists in 2011:

ENGINEERING PLASTIC: igus Inc. for Twisterband TB30.

METALS AND OTHER MATERIALS: Dow Corning for DEFLEXION technology;  Seatek for the RSK-185 Tool

FASTENING, JOINING AND ASSEMBLY COMPONENTS: Henkel for Loctite threadlockers; Lee Springs for a PEI composite helical compression spring; Smalley Steel Ring Co. for its Windpower series of retaining rings; and Norden for its BackPack Valve Actuator.