Carbon fibre and plastics specialist Teijin (Tokyo / Japan; www.teijin.co.jp/english) has developed a PC resin suitable for in-mould decoration of plastic parts during the injection moulding process. The new PC resin will allow manufacturers to enhance productivity while reducing product weight, the company claims. Potential applications include casings of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks as well as medical devices and automotive parts.

Incorporating glass fibres and additives, the resin achieves high rigidity and dimensional stability for thin-wall moulded casings as well as optimised surface flatness for in-mould decoration and 40% higher fluidity than conventional glass fibre-reinforced PC resins. In addition, Teijin’s proprietary flame-retardant technology enables the resin to achieve top-level flame retardancy – equivalent to UL94V-0 at 0.6mm, the company said.