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Karen Laird

September 13, 2016

2 Min Read
Biosourced polyamides are ‘a choice material’ for specific applications, says Arkema

Arkema, a leading specialty chemicals and advanced materials company headquartered in Colombes, near Paris, France, has announced that it is expanding its specialty polyamides production capacities in China and the United States. Rising demand for these specialty materials, which mainly find application in fast-growing markets such as sports equipment, consumer electronics and the automotive industry, prompted the company’s decision in order, as it said, to be able “to support its customers’ growth around the world”.

In the ten years since the spin-off from Total in 2006, Arkema has steadily pursued the course it set out and described simply at that time as becoming “an important player in the world chemicals industry that is independent from Total” – a goal, it may be said to have achieved. The company, which was primarily Europe-oriented has successfully grown its business in Asia and the US, to the extent that these two regions now account for just under 60% of sales, and has continued to invest in research - with a focus on emerging technologies, including biosourced products.

Arkema commenced production of Rilsan S, a partly biobased polyamide 6.10 that closes the gap between long-chain polyamides and PA6/PA6.6, last year at its Zhangjiagang facility in China. The company is now increasing its compounding capacities at this site and plans to bring two additional production lines on stream here in 2017 for the manufacture its castor oil-based Rilsan polyamide 11, as well. Lightweight and offering excellent dimensional stability, Rilsan PA1, with its chemical resistance, strong mechanical properties and ease of processing, is highly suitable – ‘a choice material’, says Arkema - to meet the specific needs of applications in the automotive, consumer electronics and sports sectors. These and other developments at this site in recent years bring the total investment to €10 million overall.

In the United States, Arkema is making a new investment at its Birdsboro site Pennsylvania to enable the production of new polyether block amide bio-sourced grades, which the company markets under the brand name Pebax. The new Pebax grades are specifically targeted at the sports and electronics market. As part of the Pebax thermoplastic elastomer range, these materials are particularly sought-after for their light weight, impact resistance, sturdiness and flexibility at temperatures as low as -40°C, according to Arkema.

These investments are part of the development of the Group’s research and growth platforms related to weight reduction of materials, design of materials, solutions for electronics, and the development of biosourced products.

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