Seattle, WA, USA--(Jobwerx News)--Solvay Solexis a multinational plastics and chemical company launches two major capacity expansions in fluorinated polymers.

Solvay Solexis will expand fluoromaterials production, which are scheduled to be operational in 2007, at its largest production site in Spinetta Marengo, Italy.

Solvay Solexis, the new standard in fluorochemistry, is a multinational plastics and chemical company focused on the development, production, and marketing of fluorinated materials.

Solvay Solexis, Ausimont, a global fluorinated specialties group, and Solvay, a world leader in chemicals and pharmaceuticals have joined forces to become the world’s second largest producer of fluorochemicals and a guiding force in fluorine chemistry research.

The planned investment in world-class equipment at the Spinetta facility, includes a new Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Algoflon® fine powders production unit and an additional Hyflon® PFA/MFA production line. They are intended to fuel double digit growth in sales, as Solvay Solexis meets a strong increase in demand and anticipates further development with the introduction of a new grade in the Hyflon® range.

These expansions will reinforce Solvay Solexis’ position as global leader in high performance thermoplastic fluoropolymers as well as one of the major actors in PTFE specialty grades used in the most demanding plastics applications.

The success of Hyflon® MFA 1041, a high productivity grade of Hyflon® used in plenum wire and cable applications encouraged Solvay Solexis to invest in this range of value-added materials. The company’s R&D effort generated a new Hyflon® MFA grade with much better performance in terms of fire resistance and smoke emission, which is intended for high end applications in the information technology sector – more specifically: for the cabling of local area networks (LAN).

The Algoflon® expansion will boost Solvay Solexis’ portfolio of high performance PTFE grades which, thanks to their properties – extreme chemical and fire resistance, exceptional dielectric properties, etc. – are used in global markets such as aerospace, automotive, electronic, medical, electrical and consumer goods, cables for high capacity signal transmission, micro filtration membranes as well as gasket and tubing able to resist extreme temperatures and aggressive chemicals.

“With the successful acquisition and integration of Ausimont’s fluoromaterials activities, from 2002, Solvay has built a world leadership position in fluoropolymers through the creation of Solvay Solexis. With the broadest range of monomers and polymers, Solvay Solexis is now focusing its strategy on a rapid development in valueadded products with a strong commitment to provide to customers worldwide new solutions for their most demanding applications”, commented Bernard de Laguiche, CEO of Solvay Solexis and Member of the Solvay Group Executive Committee.

“Solvay has today a unique position in the high performance polymer market, as it is the only producer which can offer both a broad portfolio of Fluoromaterials and a range of high temperature, high stiffness engineering polymers, which were added in 2001 through the acquisition of BP Amoco activities,” stressed Vincenzo Morici, General Manager Specialty Polymers Strategic Business Unit. “Last December, we announced a major investment in a new Polyethersulfone unit (PES) and are looking at more initiatives for both internal and external growth opportunities,” he added.

Plastics are a large and varied group of materials, the overwhelming majority of which are derived from petroleum and consist of different combinations or formulations of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and some other elements. They all share one essential characteristic: they are easy to form into whatever shape we desire. Most are what are known as thermoplastics, which means that they require heat to take on their definitive form.

They start out life as a powder or as granules. Others, which take their definitive form when cold, and don't soften when heated, are known as thermosets. These are usually in liquid or powder form as a raw material. There is also a third branch of the family called elastomers which can be greatly distorted before returning to their original shape.

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