Structural thermoplastic compounds offer expanded resin formulations

Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials (MCAM), announces the expanded product line of its KyronMAX® structural thermoplastic materials with new resin formulations to meet the requirements of applications in the medical, oil & gas, aerospace, automotive, and recreation market segments. The KyronMAX line of structural thermoplastic compounds incorporate MCAM’s short carbon fiber technology, offering its customers the strongest moldable polymers available for metal replacement applications.

“While we began with a line of high-temperature engineering thermoplastics we have migrated to include the general purpose polymers as well, including polypropylene, nylon and polycarbonate,” says Dave Wilkinson, Technology Director for MCAM. “We’re agnostic in terms of the material we use. If the customer requires nylon 6/6, we can give them a nylon 6/6 that is stronger than anything on the market. If they need a polycarbonate, we can give them one that’s stronger than any other material. We’re not trying to force one or two solutions on our customers. We want to produce what our customers require, so we now offer a broad product portfolio.”

The KyronMAX line is based around structural compounds which are the strongest compounds for the injection molding process in the world. KyronMAX compounds can be used to replace steel in a structural component. As MCAM continued innovating and developing its broad product range, the company broke a barrier in the industry, offering materials with 60,000 psi (414 MPa) tensile strength.

“We keep moving the technology bar higher to give our customers a lot of options when they want to replace metals with polymers,” explains Wilkinson. “Additionally our materials are designed to be user-friendly and easily injection moldable.”

Metal replacement, particularly in automotive components, has become a part of OEMs lightweighting and sustainability programs, Wilkinson says. “We’ve done studies on the savings of using KyronMAX compounds to replace metal. When you start taking weight out of the material you get a massive CO2 reduction because you don’t need as much fuel to power the vehicle.” Additionally, KyronMAX technology enables very complex parts to be injection molded and retain the strength and mechanical performance of metal, with all the added benefits.

MCAM’s North American Research & Development Technology Center combined what were formerly four facilities into a single, newly-built facility comprised of 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters) where the company develops cutting edge materials in a vertically integrated operation. “We take in raw carbon fiber on a spool and do everything under one roof including chopping, compounding, molding and machining,” says Wilkinson. “We sell anywhere along the supply chain whether our customers need the raw materials shipped to their molder’s or require molded parts from their molds which they ship to us.”

MCAM’s technology center has 12 injection molding machines ranging from 20 to 700 tons to accommodate customers’ parts requirements. MCAM has technical centers around the world, which allows the company to transfer customers’ molds to other MCAM facilities globally.