On 19 and 20 January 2020 the Palais de l’Élysée celebrates “Fabriqué en France” as part of an exhibition showcasing 120 products or articles emblematic of French know-how, creativity and genius. Among these items is Arkema’s Rilsan® powder, selected from 1750 candidate products! The exhibition is an opportunity to discover – or rediscover – a 100% biosourced material at the cutting edge of performance, used inter alia to produce 3D-printed parts. This Rilsan® material is far from new, however: a multi-talented product that now features in dozens of everyday applications, it is indeed the result of know-how spanning over 70 years.
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Rilsan® is manufactured in Arkema’s plants in Marseille and in Serquigny (Normandy) from castor seeds (the castor plant grows in semi-arid regions mostly in the Gujarat region of India), and is a 100% biosourced, ultra-tough, lightweight, durable and recyclable polyamide! This material ticks all the boxes in terms of environmental assets! But its qualities go far beyond this.
Depending on its grade and its appearance – granule or powder –, it is used in countless finished products: to begin with, in the 1950s, it was used in fabrics for socks and bathing suits, before finding myriad applications in car manufacture (fuel lines, brake circuits, engine pipes and hoses), in oil production (pipe lining), and in sport (soles of shoes, ski protective films). It is also applied in thin layers to dishwasher baskets to protect them from harsh detergents, and to water steel pipes as a barrier to corrosion.
From the outset, this timeless material has successfully remained at the cutting edge of innovation: in recent years, a transparent grade has been developed for spectacle frames, and so have powder formulations to 3D-print articles, e.g. a mascara brush manufactured by Erpro factory for Chanel, also at the exhibition.
Arkema is proud to showcase this renewable polyamide which has proved a winner over and over again thanks to the expert know-how of the company, a global chemical major and France’s leading chemical manufacturer.
