ContiMech — Polyurea Potting for Vibration, Humidity & Heat

A connector that works on the bench can still die in the field. Months of vibration crack the solder joints; humidity creeps in and corrodes the contacts. The fix is older than it sounds: fill the empty space. We pot small housings and connector bodies with a polyurea that pours in as a thin liquid, wraps every pin and component, then cures to a thick protective gel — stable to 130 °C, springy enough to absorb shock, and sealed against water.

Thermally stable to 130 °C Vibration & shock damping Moisture barrier Small housings & connectors

Related case study

This capability note came from a real factory-use adapter case. We selected a polyurea compound and potted the housing of an interface-conversion adapter that had to withstand vibration, handling drops, humidity, and warm operating conditions. Open the case study →

Why small electronics die in the field

An empty enclosure is an invitation. Nothing holds the board, the wires, or the pins in place, and nothing keeps the outside world out. Two failure modes dominate, and they are exactly the two your product faces if it lives on a machine or outdoors.

Vibration fatigueConstant shaking works solder joints and fine wires until they crack. Connector pins fret and lose contact. It rarely shows on the bench — it shows after a few thousand kilometres or a few months on the line.

Moisture ingressHumidity and condensation bridge contacts, raise leakage currents, and corrode metal. On a dense board it grows dendrites and intermittent faults that are almost impossible to diagnose.

Heat on top of bothWarm operating environments accelerate everything — and rule out cheap compounds that soften or break down. The protection has to survive the temperature too.

What we pour in

Polyurea is a two-component compound: mix the parts and it polymerizes on its own clock. We pour it while it is still a low-viscosity liquid, so it runs into the tightest corners of a housing, flows around every pin, and pushes the air out instead of leaving voids. Then it cures — not into a hard brick, but into a thick, rubbery gel. That gel state is the whole point.

Cured orange polyurea gel filling a small black housing, with pins protruding — Cured polyurea in a small housing — poured over the board and pins, it sets into a compliant block bonded to the enclosure walls.

Three properties that do the work

Stable to 130 °CHolds its properties across a wide operating range, so the protection doesn't soften or break down in a warm enclosure.

Damps vibrationAn elastomeric gel absorbs shock and shaking, taking the cyclic load off solder joints, leads, and connector pins.

Seals out moistureA continuous barrier around the electronics keeps humidity, spray, and condensation away from the contacts.

Why a gel, not a hard block

It is tempting to fill a housing with rigid epoxy and call it sealed. The problem shows up the first time things get hot or cold: a hard block and the parts inside it expand at different rates, and that mismatch pulls on the very joints you were trying to protect — sometimes hard enough to crack the compound itself.

A compliant gel does the opposite. It moves with the components, soaks up vibration instead of transmitting it, and relieves thermal stress rather than storing it. It also stays workable: if a unit ever needs repair, a gel can be cut or dug out without destroying the board — something a rigid pot makes nearly impossible.

The trade we make on purpose

Soft beats hard for protection. A gel gives up rigidity it never needed and buys back vibration damping, stress relief, and reworkability — exactly what small housings and connectors are missing.

Low-viscosity polyurea poured around connector pins before it gels — Poured thin, it flows around every pin and into each void — then gels.

Connector pins fully encapsulated in cured polyurea gel — Pins fully encapsulated — sealed against moisture, still free to flex.

The process

PrepareClean and mask the housing; fixture the part and protect any surfaces that must stay clear.
PourMix the two components and pour while thin, letting it flow around pins and into every cavity, air pushed out ahead of it.
CureLeave it to polymerize from liquid to a thick gel that bonds to the enclosure and locks the internals in place.
VerifyCheck fill, adhesion, and that nothing that should move or mate has been fouled.

Where we use it

This is the right tool for small, busy enclosures that have to survive a hostile environment — not for large volumes or where a hard structural pot is genuinely required.

Connector bodies and cable entries that see vibration and weather

Small control and sensor housings on machinery or vehicles

Electronics exposed to humidity, spray, or condensation

Assemblies in warm enclosures up to ~130 °C

What you get from us

ContiMech handles the whole step, not just the pour: choosing and qualifying the right compound for your environment, designing the potting process so it's repeatable, and building it into your housing or connector — with an eye on rework, inspection, and the standards your product answers to.

Start a conversation

Have a housing or connector that keeps failing in the field?

Tell us what the part is, what it's exposed to, and how it's failing now. We'll tell you whether potting is the answer, which compound fits your temperature and environment, and how we'd build the process — straight, with no upsell.

The part Housing or connector, size, what's inside

Environment Vibration, humidity, temperature range

The problem How it fails today, volumes, timeline

Send the part details → View capabilities Cooperation models

An empty enclosure is a liability. Fill it with the right gel and the same part shrugs off the shaking, the damp, and the heat that used to kill it.

Potting Encapsulation Polyurea Vibration Humidity Connectors Electronics Protection