Sabic Innovative Plastics (Booth W123011) will be at NPE2009 with one of the Chicago show's largest booths and an abundance of new materials for plastics processors.
“Our No. 1 priority is to help our customers succeed by continuing our long, rich history of innovation,” Sabic IP President and CEO Charlie Crew said in a news release.
“Our participation at NPE2009 allows Sabic to demonstrate our commitment to the plastics industry and our customers,” added Khaled Al-Mana, polymers vice president at Saudi Basic Industries Corp., parent firm of Sabic IP. “That's why we are here in Chicago — to emphasize our innovative technologies and outstanding polymers that create a vast range of applications.”
Sabic IP won't be hard to find at McCormick Place during the June 22-26 show, where its booth will cover almost 8,800 square feet — making it the largest occupied by a materials supplier at the event.
New efforts from Sabic IP at NPE 2009 include:
* Composites reinforced with natural fibers from its LNP Engineering Plastics unit.
* New forms of inherently flame-retardant Ultem-brand polyetherimide resins, film and fiber/foam composites.
* New natural and black HDPE resins for pressure pipe.
* iQ-brand resins made from upcycled water bottles.
* High-flow Valox-brand polybutylene terephthalate resins for greater miniaturization.
* Long-glass fiber PP materials with higher strength.
One of the new LNP composites is reinforced with fiber from the curaua plant, a small tree that grows in the Amazon region of Brazil. The fibers have been used in compounds with nylon 6 resin and come close to duplicating the performance of a glass-filled grade in automotive sun visors, brackets and chassis parts, according to Nitin Apte, general manager of specialty resins and LNP for Pittsfield, Mass.-based Sabic IP.
A second LNP composite uses wood shavings in a PP compound and has found applications in perfume bottles and brush handles, Apte said recently by telephone. Both of the new composites were developed in 2007 but are receiving a major market push this year. Both products are made at Sabic IP compounding sites in the U.S. and Brazil.
“We were looking at sustainability strategies within the company, and said we could go after resins or fillers that are sustainable,” Apte said. “Then we realized that in an ideal world we could do both.”
The LNP composites cover the filler side of that Sabic IP discussion, while the iQ resins — grades of Valox and Xenoy-brand PC/PBT blends that are based on recycled material — appear on the resin side.
Sabic IP also is researching ways to use jute or cotton in its plastic products in the future, Apte added.
Cost reduction is a focus of some of the new entries. The new Valox grades offer double the flow of traditional PBTs and can reduce cycle times by as much as 25 percent, officials said. Vertron-brand and Stamax-brand long-glass-fiber compounds can cut weight and assembly steps. New blends of Lexan-brand PC also can eliminate the need for some hard-coating steps, officials said.
The Ultem line also has been enhanced with an eye toward new uses, such as in composite skin/core/skin structure uses in aircraft.
Ultem foam can reduce density by as much as 30 times vs. traditional materials in those applications. Ultra-small parts can be molded with high-flow grades. In medical devices, Ultem's exceptional heat resistance can allow autoclaving beyond 4,000 cycles, Sabic IP officials said.