The K.D. Feddersen Ueberseegesellschaft affiliate of German distributor K.D. Feddersen (Hamburg; www.kdfeddersen.com) in November 2015 started marketing Hyosung Corporation’s (Seoul / South Korea; www.hyosung.com) polyketone (PK). The German company will distribute the material mostly to European compounders as well as companies in Latin America, with the exception of Mexico, a spokesman told Plasteurope.com. The range available includes high-flow, medium-flow and high-impact PK.

Polyketone made a comeback in 2011, when Hyosung started producing the material that Shell took off the market in 2000. Since reintroducing the grade, whose resilience is higher than that of both POM and PA 12, the South Korean company has commissioned a 50,000 t/y line (see Plasteurope.com of 20.07.2015). Hyosung has already invested in doubling output at the plant, located in Ulsan / South Korea.

Unmodified PK has a stiffness of 1,500 MPa, same as that of PA 12, but its terpolymer only melts at 220 °C – which is 40 °C higher than the melting point of PA 12. Another outstanding characteristic of the material is its resistance to acids, halogenated hydrocarbons, and aldehydes, K.D. Feddersen said.