SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Lexan* XHR Sheet Helps Aircraft OEMs Meet New Heat Release Compliance Challenges

HAMBURG, Germany — April 2, 2008 — SABIC Innovative Plastics introduces the new Lexan* XHR6000 (extremely low heat release) sheet to help aircraft manufacturers meet safety, aesthetic, and performance requirements in business- and first-class seating and other interior components, while at the same time improving passenger comfort. This new product fully complies with the Ohio State University (OSU) 65/65 standard and flame/smoke toxicity regulations, avoiding the need for waivers, and providing better weight-out for fuel economy than traditional polyvinyl chloride (PVC/acrylic) sheet products. The new Lexan XHR6000 sheet strengthens SABIC Innovative Plastics’ commitment to provide aviation industry customers with unique and leading-edge solutions that enable their success.

The move to enlarge seating/sleeping areas on some aircraft has caused additional interior components to fall under the OSU heat release standard, which applies to parts larger than two square feet. New planes and retrofitting existing ones feature fresh designs and aesthetics, requiring materials that can provide excellent colorability and creative design freedom. Lexan XHR6000 sheet not only meets these requirements but also enables lower-cost tooling and ease of forming.

“We understand that our aviation customers face multiple, often contradictory, pressures to increase safety, lower costs, and improve their customers’ flying experience, and we made sure that our new Lexan XHR6000 sheet addressed all of them,” said Tammy Rucker global product manager, Opaque Sheet, SABIC Innovative Plastics. “With this material, it will be easier for OEMs and suppliers to produce attractive, lightweight, and compliant interiors for the next generation of aircraft while keeping costs down.” Potential applications for Lexan XHR6000 sheet include seating, cockpit linings, windows surrounds, door shrouds, and other interior components. The material is available globally.

Full compliance avoids time-consuming material waivers

The OSU standard for heat release is evolving; today’s 65/65 standard is gradually being tightened. Because Lexan XHR6000 sheet is fully compliant with the current standard as well as the upcoming 55/55 requirement, manufacturers can be prepared for the future. The material also meets FST regulations. With full compliance in both areas, Lexan XHR6000 sheet spares manufacturers and suppliers the time-consuming process of obtaining waivers from OEMs and airlines for non-compliant materials.

The sky is the limit for new design options

Lexan XHR6000 sheet offers designers many new options for creating unique and elegant aircraft interiors. The opaque material provides excellent colorability, including popular bright whites, and can be formed into deep draws, crisp angles, and thin walls.

In addition to enabling thin-wall forming for weight reduction, Lexan XHR6000 sheet is inherently lighter than competitive materials: it has a specific gravity of 1.34 vs. 1.47 for OSU compliant PVC/acrylic, for example.

Improved processing and costs

The new sheet has excellent colorability and improved texture retention and can be thermoformed at lower temperatures than polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) resin based sheet products, enabling the use of lower-cost tooling, and giving the potential to eliminate painting. Both of these advantages help lower part cost and boost productivity.

For more information on SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Lexan sheet, please visit the company’s website at www.sabic-ip.com.

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SABIC Innovative Plastics Media Contacts
Global
Banu Kukner
SABIC Innovative Plastics,
Specialty Film & Sheet
Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 164 291 605
Email: banu.kukner@sabic-ip.com

Agency Media Contacts
The Americas
Jim Allison
AH&M Marketing Communications,
Pittsfield, Mass.
Tel: +1 413 448 2260, Ext. 25
E-Mail: jallison@ahminc.com

Europe
Tessa Vroegop
Marketing Solutions, Bergen op Zoom,
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 164 317 013
E-Mail: tvroegop@marketingsolutions.be

China
Shona Liu
Edelman, Shanghai, China
Tel: +86 21 6289 2929 x470
E-Mail: shona.liu@edelman.com

About SABIC Innovative Plastics

SABIC Innovative Plastics is a global supplier of plastic resins widely used in automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building and construction, telecommunications and optical media applications. The company manufactures and compounds polycarbonate, ABS, ASA, PPE, PC/ABS, PBT and PEI resins, as well as the LNP* line of high-performance specialty compounds, under such well known brand names as Lexan, Cycolac*, Geloy*, Noryl*, Cycoloy*, Valox* and Ultem*.

The Specialty Film and Sheet division of SABIC Innovative Plastics manufactures high-performance Lexan sheet and film products used in thousands of demanding applications worldwide. The dedicated automotive organization is an experienced, worldwide supplier, offering leading plastics solutions for five key automotive segments: body panels and glazing; under the hood applications; component; structures and interiors; and lighting.

SABIC Innovative Plastics is part of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the 10 largest petrochemicals manufacturers in the world.

* Trademarks of SABIC Innovative Plastics IP BV.

Media Note: The proper name of the company is SABIC Innovative Plastics, and excludes any abbreviations or variations when referring to the company. As an acronym, SABIC should be all caps whenever it appears in print.

This release was published on openPR.