Under the name “Solfiga”, Teijin (Tokyo / Japan; www.teijin.com) has officially launched its new brand of speciality high-performance PPS compounds. Full-scale production is planned to begin in summer 2018 at the Mihara plant in Hiroshima prefecture and later at regional subsidiaries Teijin Chemicals Plastic Compounds Shanghai in China and Teijin Corporation (Thailand). In Thailand, a new compounding and R&D complex is due to start up next year – see Plasteurope.com of 27.02.2018. The Japanese group targets annual sales of JPY 30 bn (USD 260m) with the compounds up to 2025.

Teijin’s new compounds are made with the PPS resin produced by Initz (www.initzpps.com), its 34:66 joint venture with South Korea’s SK Chemicals (Seoul; www.skchemicals.com). In future, the group expects to leverage its compounding technology and experience to develop Solfiga primarily for automotive and electronics solutions, to meet the diverse demands of its global customers. The Solfiga lines also include aramid and carbon fibre, along with speciality compounds of PC and PPS. The resins and films specialist operates some 170 companies, and has around 19,000 employees in 20 countries.