September 28, 2010 - Pittsfield, MA - SABIC Innovative Plastics today announced that Chiangyu Electric, a leading Chinese wire and cable manufacturer and long-term customer, is helping to lead the rapid growth of Flexible Noryl* resin, a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and halogen-free, flame retardant alternative for wire cables into high-end direct current (DC) charger and data cables. Producing ultra-white, custom-colored cables from this high-end product, Chiangyu Electric can now offer consumer electronics OEMs fashionable new alternatives to traditional black and gray cables. SABIC Innovative Plastics’ ongoing investment in innovative technologies and sustainable solutions is enabling customers in the dynamic consumer electronics industry to keep pace with changing aesthetic trends and heed the call for ever-improved performance while meeting tough, global requirements for environmental protection.
Flexible Noryl resin not only provides a solution for customers concerned about the environmental performance of halogenated materials such as PVC, but also surpasses other non-halogenated materials such as polyethylene (PE) with an excellent balance of flexibility, mechanical properties and processing ease. It also offers exceptional indoor ultraviolet (UV) performance to resist fading and degradation.
“Collaborating with SABIC Innovative Plastics has given our company a major competitive advantage in the eco-savvy consumer electronics industry,” said Sunny Wu, president, Chiangyu Electric. “We selected Flexible Noryl resin for its superior stability under exposure to indoor UV light – reducing yellowing of the white cable – and its green, non-halogenated flame retardant technology. Thanks to this SABIC Innovative Plastics solution, our customers are very pleased with handsome, ultra-white cables, which add a fresh and stylish look to their products, while also giving them extreme high performance.”
Replacing PVC with Flexible Noryl Resin Helps Customers Meet Halogen Reduction Targets
Previously, Chiangyu Electric used PVC for its cable products, but recognized the environmental drawbacks of this traditional wire and cable coating material, and wanted to substitute a material that not only provided non-halogenated flame retardance but also could be processed on its existing extrusion equipment to keep production costs down. Further requirements for the new material included: tensile strength, elongation, flexibility, heat aging, cold bending and custom color. Based on a longstanding relationship and previous experience with Flexible Noryl resin in its DC charger cable, Chiangyu Electric again turned to SABIC Innovative Plastics for a solution.
SABIC Innovative Plastics provided two new grades of Flexible Noryl resin: WCD801AU, designed for cable jacketing and WCP821U, designed for molded cable components. Ultraviolet weathering tests, performed at the company’s China Technology Center, located in Shanghai, per the ASTM D4459 standard, resulted in a color shift Delta E value of less than 3 after 300 hours of exposure to a CWF2 light source.
“SABIC Innovative Plastics is intensely focused on developing advanced material solutions such as Flexible Noryl resins to address our customers’ concerns for the environment,” said Wilson Chan, general manager, Noryl resin Greater China, SABIC Innovative Plastics. “Flexible Noryl resin continues to break new ground by meeting high customer standards for environmental performance in the most demanding wire and cable applications, together with superior color stability. This application demonstrates SABIC Innovative Plastics’ commitment to working with our customers to achieve environmentally progressive solutions and fashion-leading products.”
In addition to meeting all of Chiangyu Electric’s performance and environmental criteria, Flexible Noryl resin offers a lower specific gravity than PVC, reducing the weight of cable products. The new resin was able to be extruded on the same equipment as the previous material with only minor adjustments.
SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Flexible Noryl resins have achieved the UL 80dc rating for VW-1 flame retardance, provide Shore A hardnesses of 80 to 89, and can be customized for different levels of flexibility. The resins offer easy processing and fast throughput, and do not require secondary processing.
For additional information on SABIC Innovative Plastics’ Flexible Noryl resins, please go to www.sabic-ip.com.
SABIC is Exhibiting at K’ 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany in Hall 6, Stand D42
For K’ 2010, SABIC’s focus is A Culture of Innovation, which means investing in Growth, Technology, Sustainability and Customer Focus. We help our customers to innovate, differentiate their applications and optimize costs by:
- Investing in global expansion;
- Providing the broadest product portfolio that delivers better performance and adds value;
- Developing environmentally responsible products and solutions that provide significant and measurable performance advantages; and
- Working closely with our customers to build long-term, lasting relationships.
About SABIC Innovative Plastics
SABIC Innovative Plastics is a leading, global supplier of engineering thermoplastics with a 75-year history of breakthrough solutions that solve its customers’ most pressing challenges. Today, SABIC Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 35 countries and approximately 9,000 employees worldwide. The company continues to lead the plastics industry with customer collaboration and continued investments in new polymer technologies, global application development, process technologies, and environmentally responsible solutions that serve diverse markets such as automotive, electronics, building & construction, transportation, and healthcare. The company’s extensive product portfolio includes thermoplastic resins, coatings, specialty compounds, film, and sheet. SABIC Innovative Plastics (www.sabic-ip.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), one of the world’s top six petrochemicals manufacturers.
