Saudi Basic Industries Corp. is marking the 70th anniversary of the LNP line of compounds.
In a news release, Sabic officials described LNP as the company's foremost brand for engineering thermoplastics. They added that LNP was a pioneer in compounding technologies and that the brand "has a string of important technological achievements behind it."
"Scientists and technologists behind the LNP portfolio continue to push the limits of technical performance, solving new challenges on a regular basis," Sabic LNP Business Director Joshua Chiaw said in the release.
LNP's line of engineering resin-based compounds are used for lightweighting in automotive, biocompatibility in health care, flame retardance in electrical and electronics or improved aesthetics in consumer products.
Officials credited LNP with launching the first fully dispersed short-fiber-reinforced compounds in the 1960s, developing the first carbon-fiber-reinforced compounds and the first statically conductive compounds in the 1970s and with patenting pultruded long-fiber-reinforced technology for long-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (LFRTs) in the 1980s.
LNP's brand names include Lubricomp, Thermocomp, Stat-Loy, Verton and Faradex. These compounds use more than 30 base resins and more than 200 different fillers to achieve various effects. The LNP portfolio is manufactured at sites all around the world — in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
LNP was founded in 1948 as a liquid nitrogen process grinder in a New Jersey garage. Over time, it evolved to become one of the world's largest engineering resin compounders. LNP for many years was based in Exton, Pa.
When LNP was sold to GE Plastics in 2002, the firm had 1,000 employees at 10 global locations and annual sales of almost $300 million. Sabic acquired GE Plastics in 2007.
The LNP business will likely have a new owner in 2019. On Sept. 18, Sabic announced plans to merge LNP and some other Sabic specialty materials with Clariant AG's additives and masterbatch business.