Innovative materials and technologies for wide range of applications on show at SABIC stand during Plastpol exhibition

Kielce, Poland – 25 May, 2012 – Sustainability + Performance is the theme of SABIC’s stand E-7 at the international Plastpol 2012 trade fair from 29 May to 1 June. SABIC will highlight solutions in established and new market sectors - including consumer goods, LED lighting, packaging, infrastructure and healthcare – to demonstrate how processors and end-users of its wide range of thermoplastic polymers and compounds can create applications that meet tough performance targets while being advantageous in terms of resource usage.

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS WITH ENGINEERING THERMOPLASTICS

SABIC is showcasing its broad portfolio of industry-leading engineering resins that help customers achieve more sustainable design, and differentiate their products in four key ways. These benefits are: cutting weight to improve fuel economy; reducing waste and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through up-cycling of post-consumer plastics; providing exceptional flame-smoke-toxicity performance without the use of halogenated additives; and providing a longer life to applications without compromising design freedom.

Solutions for Weight Reduction

SABIC’s materials are good candidates to replace metals and other traditional materials to reduce part weight. They have better performance per unit weight, they can enable thin-wall molding and part consolidation. Here are two examples:

Lexan* BFL 4000 polycarbonate (PC) resin is a highly reflective material that is a good candidate to replace metal in such typical applications as automotive lighting reflectors. It enables part integration, and moldings can be metalized in a single step.

Ultem* polyetherimide (PEI) resin can be used in many forms, for example carbon-fiber reinforced compounds, structural foam, and even as a textile fiber, providing the potential to slash part weight by up to 50 percent to reduce vehicle fuel consumption, particularly in aircraft interiors and other transportation applications.

Solutions for Reducing Waste and CO2

The incorporation of post-consumer recycle (PCR) materials is an important component of SABIC’s sustainability strategy and another example of the company’s proactive approach to changing customer needs. Up-cycling, which is a chemical vs. a mechanical process, extracts the feedstock in its pure form, helping to ensure the high performance of materials containing PCR content.

Award-winning Valox iQ* resin is based on polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) that uses post- consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) feedstock. It is upcycled into a new engineering plastic for typical electronics and automotive applications, converting waste from a product whose life was measured in weeks, into an engineering resin for durable products with lifetime measured in years. Valox iQ PBT resin helps to divert waste from landfills, and provides up to a 49 percent reduction in both CO2 emissions and process energy utilization per kilogram of PBT. Further, Valox iQ resin provides molded-in color capability to replace painting, which can add cost and pose an environmental hazard from volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.

Valox resins also enable soft yet resilient monofilaments, staple fibers and continuous filament yarns for woven and nonwoven fabrics. Valox fiber provides good dyeability and colorfastness, better favorable stretch and recovery when compared to PET resin, and good chemical resistance. This fiber is typically used to develop filtration fabrics, performance apparel such as swimsuits, stretch fabrics and monofilaments.

Solutions with Non-halogenated Flame Retardance

Lexan CFR (Clear Flame Retardant) polycarbonate copolymers offer good flame retardance plus high flow for clear, ultra-thin-wall parts. Consumer electronics and appliances continue to shrink in size and thickness, calling for new materials that can provide excellent FR performance at ever-thinner gauges. Lexan CFR copolymer meets a previously unmet market need by giving consumer electronics and appliance manufacturers a clear material with superior flame resistance at thin gauges compared to commonly used products, enabling customers to create the next generation of thinner, lighter products.

New LED Design Opportunities with Engineering Plastics

“LED lighting offers huge potential to reduce energy usage, leading to environmental benefits and cost savings”, says Ilknur Gur, General Manger Specialty Resins Europe, “and with our engineering plastics, we believe we can help turn that potential into reality”.

“Effective thermal management is a key factor in ensuring a long life span and low energy usage of LEDs. As LEDs become brighter and more powerful, new thermal management materials and designs are needed to handle increasing heat. We believe that high performance thermoplastic compounds can replace traditional metals, providing the best combination of performance, design flexibility, aesthetics and production efficiency.”

Gur cites LNP* Konduit* filled compounds for heatsinks. These combine high thermal conductivity with electrical isolation properties, and adjustments to the amount and type of filler can be made to suit certain typical application requirements. “Compared to aluminium and other metals, thermally conductive compounds have lower coefficients of thermal expansion that help reduce stresses from differential expansion”, Gur points out. “They also weigh significantly less than aluminium.”

“Thermally conductive compounds are also better suited to high volume production than metal heat sinks, which require time-consuming secondary operations. We believe that Konduit will do more than simply and effectively dissipate heat - it will open all doors for visionaries and designers to create a whole new world of LED lighting.”

SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business will also present the NEW Lexan LUX polycarbonate resins for typical light emitting diode (LED) applications such as light guides and lenses.

The Lexan LUX grades (LUX2110T, LUX2010T and LUX2910T resins) utilize new technology that offers improved initial color, color stability and light transmission during heat aging vs. standard PC. These next generation PC resins are engineered using an innovative, technologically advanced process, resulting in high-purity resins that provide significantly improved light transmission as molded and after heat aging, as compared to standard and optical grade PC.

Enhancements to the LUX portfolio also offer a choice of flow characteristics for a variety of LED applications including automotive light guides and inner lenses and general lighting lenses.

The latest additions to the Lexan LUX portfolio complements SABIC’s existing Lexan LUX resins, which were introduced in 2011. The first launch provided non-chlorinated, non-brominated FR resins that meet the UL 94 V-0 standard at 1.5 mm in all colors. They also offer a choice of customizable diffusion levels or transparency and good luminance. Customers typically use clear Lexan LUX9610 resin for injection molding and extrusion applications. Customers can select from two customizable diffusion grades. Lexan LUX9612 resin offers low diffusion and Lexan LUX9616 resin provides high diffusion with well-balanced transmission.

“LUX means thinner walls in lenses and tubes, which in turn means important cost reduction opportunities and new possibilities for our customers to win through design and meet their sustainability goals” says Ilknur Gur.

Solutions for Providing a Longer Life

SABIC will also be showcasing materials from their broad portfolio for customers where toughness is needed to provide a longer life span while enabling designers and architects to leverage design freedom.

The new Lexan HFD (High Flow Ductile) copolymer is made of a minimum of 10 percent castor oil and offers high flow while keeping the toughness property that Lexan resin is known for. Although Lexan HFD is produced in part from bio-content, its true sustainability value is its combination of high flow and durability. With help from Lexan HFD resin, customers can either design thinner parts with the same durability, thereby reducing resource consumption, or they can design products that may be more durable and last longer. Lexan HFD is a potential fit for the optical market (e.g. optical lenses, glasses, visors) and lighting fixtures.

Lexan Thermoclear* polycarbonate (PC) multiwall sheet portfolio scored another winning goal, adding a major showpiece to its already impressive list of over 50 stadium applications worldwide. The Ultra-Stiff Lexan Thermoclear sheet, with its ability to withstand high winds and heavy snow loads typical of the region, was used to construct the 43,000 m2, free-hanging
roof of the Silesian (Śląski) Stadium in Chorzów, Poland. This 25 mm, three-wall, X-structure material protects up to 55,200 spectators from the elements while enabling natural light to fill the stadium. Building on three decades of proven performance in stadium roofing with Lexan sheet products, SABIC continues to push forward with state-of-the-art materials to help architects and designers improve safety, durability and comfort.
HIGH PERFORMANCE WITH POLYOLEFINS

High growth in film applications

SABIC is helping satisfy the rapidly increasing demand from customers for polyolefins across a broad range of applications. Piotr Kwiecien, Country Leader for SABIC and Managing Director for the SABIC Polymers sales office in Poland, points out that growth in consumption of polyethylenes, for example, continues to grow at double-digit rates.

“Important Polish producers of cast stretch film for pallet wrap are making substantial use of SABIC linear low density polyethylenes (LLDPE). The market for these materials has grown five-fold, over the last ten years, with growth currently at around 10% annually.
Blown film processors are looking to increase quality of their output as well as the quantity”, Kwiecien says, citing recent investments in co-extrusion lines capable of producing up to nine layers.

Impact and random PP copolymers for packaging

SABIC polypropylenes are proving increasingly valuable to Polish packaging processors. Last year, the company added to its range of grades for thin-wall injection moulding applications with a new impact copolymer, SABIC® PP Flowpact FPC 100. This was typically developed for the production of containers for yellow fats and packaging for dairy products such as yoghurts, cream, flavoured milk and cheese spreads.

SABIC® PP Flowpact FPC 100 contains a state-of-the-art package of processing and antistatic additives. It is distinguished by high flow and high crystallisation speed, which together result in reduced cycle times and potential savings in unit costs at converters, particularly in thin-wall packaging. The energy that can be saved will also have knock-on benefits for related environmental considerations.

During Plastpol, SABIC® FPC 100 will be run by Stork Plastics Machinery B.V. on its stand
G-8.

Now, SABIC is also extending its innovative range of very high clarity SABIC® PP Qrystal polypropylenes. These random copolymers for injection moulding were specially designed with notable flow behaviour, providing processors with the flexibility to produce parts faster and with lower energy consumption.

Two new grades, SABIC® PP QR674K and SABIC® PP QR678K, are aimed at transparent typical applications such as caps and closures, houseware, kitchenware and food/non-food containers.

All SABIC® PP Qrystal grades can be processed at much lower temperatures than many other random copolymer polypropylenes from the market, leading to significant reductions in cycle time and energy consumption, as a sustainable solution to decrease the molded article carbon footprint. They also have a good balance of impact strength and stiffness and enable customers to produce parts with no loss of transparency or aesthetics.

During Plastpol, SABIC® QR674K will be run at the stand of FERROMATIK MILACRON GmbH – G22.

Support for infrastructure improvements

Poland’s building and construction sector is benefitting in many ways from SABIC innovations too. SABIC® Vestolen A RELY bimodal HDPE grades not only meet the stringent requirements for typical pressure pipes, but also help customers with considerable energy savings when producing the pipe.

Two grades of SABIC® Vestolen A RELY are currently available, both typically suitable of producing pressure pipe that meets the PE 100 and PAS1075 standards.
SABIC® Vestolen A RELY 5924R delivers good low sag performance for large-diameter pipes and pressure pipes with a low standard dimension ratio (SDR). SABIC® Vestolen A RELY 5922R helps customers meet the stringent slow crack growth requirements for pressure pipe.

Apart from their good mechanical properties, SABIC® Vestolen A RELY 5924R and 5922R have a further convincing advantage: their unique rheological and morphological properties could provide processors with considerable energy savings.

Healthcare

SABIC has a wide range of polyolefins typically developed for the global healthcare industry and plans to reinforce its position as a "one-stop shop" for high quality-thermoplastics, with a growing portfolio compliant with the strict regulations of this industry. To emphasize this point, SABIC has recently launched two new grades: a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and a HEXENE linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), both of which have processing advantages that can yield lower system costs for healthcare product manufacturers.

SABIC is committed to helping customers advance their sustainability objectives and power their competitive advantage with solutions for more sustainable design, by supplying high-performance engineered materials, combined with unmatched technological expertise and value-added services.

For additional information on SABIC sustainability solutions, please go to www.sabic.com.
For technical product inquiries about Engineering Thermoplastics, please contact us at www.sabic-ip.com/prtechinquiry.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.

SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 29.24 billion (US$ 7.80 billion) in 2011. Sales revenues for 2011 totaled SR 189.90 billion (US$ 50.64 billion). Total assets stood at SR 332.78 billion (US$ 88.74 billion) at the end of 2011.
SABIC’s businesses are grouped into Chemicals, Polymers, Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals and Innovative Plastics. SABIC has significant research resources with 17 dedicated Technology & Innovation facilities in Saudi Arabia, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, India and South Korea. The company operates in more than 40 countries across the world with more than 33,000 employees worldwide.

SABIC manufactures on a global scale in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Headquartered in Riyadh, SABIC was founded in 1976 when the Saudi Arabian Government decided to use the hydrocarbon gases associated with its oil production as the principal feedstock for production of chemicals, polymers and fertilizers. The Saudi Arabian Government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares with the remaining 30 percent held by private investors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Media Notes

• As an acronym, SABIC should be all caps whenever it appears in print.
• ® Trademark of SABIC
• * Trademarks of SABIC Innovative Plastics IP B.V.

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This release was published on openPR.