Goggles and protective masks by Cabel Company made from Eastman's Spectar plastic - Photo courtesy of Eastman Chemical

Seattle, WA, USA--(Jobwerx)--APRIL 4, 2005--Cabel Company, a Mexican leader in the manufacture of industrial safety equipment, is using Spectar copolyester from Eastman Chemical Company as a replacement for glass and acetate in the company's line of goggles and protective masks. "Spectar plastic offers excellent transparency and resistance qualities that protect the user's face and neck,” said Arturo Rivera Martinez, project manager at Cabel.

“The glass and acetate combination in our goggle and mask assemblies presented handling limitations. We also had problems with streaking on the acetate," said Rivera. "Additionally, we needed a material that could compete with the quality and price of both domestic (Mexican) and imported products."

Eastman Chemical Company manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide, and provides key differentiated coatings, adhesives and specialty plastics products. Eastman is the world’s largest producer of PET polymers for packaging; and is a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers.

To solve Cabel's material dilemma, distributor GE Polymershapes recommended extruded sheets of Eastman’s Spectar copolyester to Cabel. Most streaks that appear in the Spectar plastic during manufacturing can be eliminated by simply applying hot air with a blow-dryer. "Doing this reduces the significant amount of scrap that we had when we used acetate," said Rivera.

Spectar copolyester is easily handled, thanks to its great flexibility, which allows the sheets to be worked at different angles, minimizing breakage. As well, the plastic's toughness clearly factored into Cabel's material selection. "Thanks to Spectar plastic, our products are recognized by Mexico's national regulatory committee for worker’s safety, Comité Nacional de Normalización de Seguridad para el Trabajo," said Rivera.

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