Japan’s Polyplastics (Tokyo; www.polyplastics.com), a supplier of engineering and high-performance plastics, is now bringing a series of long fibre-reinforced compounds to market. The “Plastron” products are essentially polyamide and polypropylene compounds with highly filled carbon- or glass-fibre reinforcement. The material is suitable as a substitute for metal and can also be used for structural components in applications such as automotive engineering, the company said.

This expansion of the product portfolio is also directed at competitor and ex-co-owner Celanese (Dallas, Texas / USA; www.celanese.com) after years of acrimony over the former JV with Daicel (Osaka / Japan; www.daicel.com), which ultimately led to the two partners’ separation (see Plasteurope.com of 14.10.2020). Celanese has been supplying similar compounds since the early 2000s, including “Celstran” brand high glass-fibre filled PBT grades.

The Plastron range takes in a dozen or so different grades. The matrix materials include PA 6 and PP as well as partially aromatic and partially cross-linked polyamides (PA-X) and PA 9T. Reinforcement is available in the form of 40% and 60% by weight carbon and glass fibres and, in the case of PP compounds, between 20% and 50% by weight. Polyplastics also reported that it is developing compounds with cellulose long fibres (LFT).