Connector Housing

A connector housing provides mechanical support for the contact members, electrically insulates contact members, and helps exert and maintain a contact pressure to ensure proper electrical connection. The properties of connector housing materials include heat deflection temperature, glass transition temperature, mechanical strength, flammability, dielectric strength, dielectric constant, dissipation factor, dimensional stability, and chemical and moisture resistance. The chapter discusses the characteristics of connector housing followed by a discussion on housing materials. A variety of materials are available for connector housings. The majority of these materials are polymers, macromolecules (large molecules) formed by the union of many identical small molecules (monomers). The number of repeated units of a polymer can be from several to tens of thousands. This number is called the “degree of polymerization.”