Engineering / High performance plastic at lower cost

Many industrial applications require materials combining: - low density / weight - temperature resistance - chemical and hydrolysis resistance - mechanical properties including impact resistance. Existing plastics such as PA, PPS, sPS... fulfil only a subset of these properties and therefore often need to be compounded (rubber, glass fibres…). These plastics are often sold at prices above 5 €/kg.

We intend to develop a new syndiotactic polystyrene grade offering a set of high-level properties (thermal, chemical, mechanical resistance, good electrical properties), even without any compounding.

Our new process should allow a sales price of about 3 to 4 €/kg.

Key figures for the “neat” polymer:

- Density: 1.2 g/cm3

- Melting temperature: 250 - 270 °C

- Tensile modulus: 2-3 GPa

- Elongation at break: over 50%

- Notched impact: 7-12 kJ/m²

- Processing temperature: 270-300°C

- Heat deflection temperature at 1.80 MPa: 85-95°C

- Dielectric constant at 23°C, 1 MHz: 2.6

- Excellent chemical resistance

Combination with glass fibres (for instance) could further boost mechanical performances.