TAGS: High Heat Materials Automotive Electrical & Electronics
SABIC has announced that the company is making significant investments in expanding the capacity of its ULTEM™ and EXTEM™ high heat resin production in order to meet growing demand. The new production plant in Singapore is due to come on-stream in the first half of 2021, making SABIC the only high heat resin producer with manufacturing capability in all regions. In addition to this, investments to stretch our short term capacity were made to support the immediate growing demand. Rudy Miller, Director, High Heat Business, shares the company’s strategy for the ULTEM™ and EXTEM™ business.
ULTEM™ Resin - Amorphous Thermoplastic Polyetherimide
ULTEM™ resin is a family of amorphous thermoplastic polyetherimide (PEI) resins that offer outstanding elevated thermal resistance, high strength and stiffness, and broad chemical resistance. With a seamless balance between mechanical properties and processability, ULTEM™ materials offer design engineers exceptional flexibility and freedom.
ULTEM™ resin can be extruded, thermoformed, extrusion blow molded and injection molded and key benefits include: long-term heat resistance up to 180°C; outstanding strength and stiffness up to 200°C; dimensional stability over a wide temperature range; strength retention and inherent flame resistance without additives.
EXTEM™ Resin
SABIC’s EXTEM™ resin is able to meet even higher heat requirements than ULTEM™ resin, with enhanced creep and strength performance at elevated temperatures. This resin has the capability to fill thin-wall, complex, miniaturized parts, IR transparency and the benefit of offering potential lead free solderable solutions.
Investment in ULTEM™ Resin
In total, SABIC is expanding production capacity by (more than) 50%. It is currently progressing the investment in a new ULTEM™ resin facility in Singapore which will come on-stream in 2021 and which will enable it to produce closer to our customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Growing Demand for High Heat Polymers
Fundamentally, it is their ambition to support their customers and customers’ growth. There is a growing demand for high heat polymers, driven by stringent requirements in an increasing number of applications that are exposed to challenging or tough environments. Their existing customers have been loyal to our ULTEM™ brand while new applications and customers are also rapidly driving new demand and opportunities. SABIC wants to deliver global high quality products to local producers as responsively and reliably as possible. Markets and product life cycles are moving faster than ever before. That is why they believe they are making the right investments now.
Future Requirements
Innovation is a major driver for ULTEM™ and EXTEM™ resins. In fact, more than half of our High Heat Thermoplastics organization is closely working with customers on new applications, and there are plenty in the pipeline. In electrical and electronics everything needs to be smart, driven by real-time direct communication and connectivity. These days everything is packed with electronics, from increasingly autonomous vehicles, to smart grids in solar and wind energy harvesting, and from sophisticated appliances or consumer portable devices to telecom infrastructure, smart meters and connectors. The current trends, such as miniaturization, weight reduction, improved optics and connectivity, call for dimensionally stable materials, with tight tolerances, ease of processability and the possibility for mass production, all combined with minimization of waste and optimization of potential post-consumer recyclability.
Talking of the Environment
SABIC has a strong commitment to sustainability - and our high heat resins are making their contribution. Firstly through their use in medical, automotive and aerospace applications already available today. With multi-sterilizable materials enabling re-use of equipment in Healthcare, metal replacement solutions in Automotive offering weight reduction and less fuel consumption and recyclability of materials used in the Aerospace industry.
With the current expansion of global capacity, the improvements in local compounding in Asia Pacific and even further expansions yet to come, they are confident to tell customers that ULTEM™ resin supply is back today and here to stay.
Source: SABIC