NEWS
Polykemi to invest €10m to manufacture in US
Polykemi is to invest close to €10m to set up its first production plant in the US. The plant, which will be located at Gastonia in North Carolina, will start up in 2022 and will be the Swedish compounder’s largest ever single investment. The company has been active in the US market since 2013 working with toll compounding partners but the long term plan has always been to have its own production capacity. “The whole time, our goal has been to start up production in the US, and we have now reached that milestone. The new plant is geographically close to our existing customers, which gives us a clearer presence and even
Above: Polykemi’s planned US production site is its largest ever investment
stronger customer relation- ships,” said Johan Hugoson, CEO of the US business. The new facility will initially cover 4,600m2
but
the site will allow expansion to 9,200m2
. It will start
production with two produc- tion lines — 75mm and 90mm — ramping up to a full complement of six. The
intention is to produce virtually all the compounds it currently manufactures at its sites at Ystad in Sweden and Kunshan in China. Polykemi Group recorded
sales of around €140m for 2019 and had a capacity of around 65,000 tonnes globally. �
www.polykemi.se
Romira adds recycled carbon fibre
Rowa Group subsidiary Romira has devel- oped a series of lightweight, high strength PA compounds based on reprocessed post-industrial carbon fibre. The compounds are said to offer mechan-
ical properties comparable to 20% glass fibre-reinforced PA6 together with a significant reduction in weight and reduced carbon footprint. �
www.romira.de/en
Black PA for laser welding
Domo Chemicals has launched Technyl Star AF 219 V30 Black LT, a laser-transparent PA66 that is suitable for laser welding. The new grade will shortly be joined by a glass fibre-reinforced PA6. The company says laser welding is increasingly used to join thermoplastic components, especially complex and small shaped parts.
Light transmission tests
at a wavelength of 940nm have shown the new PA66 grade is suitable for use at up to 3mm thickness. According to Vincent de Givry, Marketing Director for Engineered Materials at Domo, Technyl Star AF 219 V30 Black LT “will be important for the electric vehicle market where there is a growing demand for sensor boxes, cases and control units.” Domo’s Technyl PA
resins are currently available only in Europe. �
www.domochemicals.com
Sulzer/Borealis pair up in ePP technology
Fluid engineering specialist Sulzer Chemtech and polyolefins producer Borealis have completed development of a process for extrusion of ePP beads that they claim will cut manufacturing costs by up to 60%. The process uses extrusion with
direct gas impregnation instead of conventional autoclave methods. This, Sulzer claims, means foam moulders can implement their compounding line to greatly reduce costs associated with
8 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2021
material supply, warehousing and intermediate transportation. Additional claimed benefits include
improved control over ePP properties such as bulk density, closed cell content and bead size distribution, and greater flexibility in fine- tuning the recipes. The beads can also be processed at standard pressure in steam chest moulding machines.
IMAGE: SULZER/ BOREALIS
Sulzer is to set up a new production line to support large-scale adoption of the technology. �
www.borealisgroup.com �
www.sulzer.com
Left: Sulzer claims its new direct gas impregnation ePP process cuts costs by up to 60%
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: POLYKEMI
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