Polymers Engineering Plastics Segment Launches New SAN Resins Colors

The Lustran Polymers business unit part of the LANXESS Engineering Plastics segment launches program for clearer, brighter resins of SAN colors.

The Lustran Polymers business unit of LANXESS, part of the Engineering Plastics segment, recently launched a new color initiative with its LUSTRAN* SAN resin. The program consists of four base SAN (styrene-acrylonitrile) colors that are produced from a continuous SAN facility in Addyston (Cincinnati), Ohio. The colored SAN resin can be molded individually or blended together to produce transparent products in varying degrees and shades of color. The blending of the four primary colors of SAN (red, blue, yellow, and green) using different formulations provides the basis of the new colored SAN platform.

LANXESS manufactures high-quality products in the areas of chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastics. The Company’s portfolio comprises basic and fine chemicals, color pigments, plastics, synthetic rubber and rubber chemicals, leather, material protection products and water treatment products.

This program allows the Lustran Polymers NAFTA Color Excellence Center (CEC) and the customer to create many different color hues simply by blending the different colored resins together in various proportions. In addition, the lightness or intensity of the color is lessened by adding the LUSTRAN SAN 31 natural product or the well-known LUSTRAN SAN 31-552160 product into the blend. The resultant mixture is then molded directly into the finished product.

“The SAN colors platform offers the advantage of in-house color correction, simply by increasing or decreasing the amount of specific colors that comprise the blend,” said Robert Shinn, product portfolio manager and head of the CEC. “For example, the blueness of a finished part can be increased simply by increasing the percentage of blue LUSTRAN SAN in the blend.”

One important advantage of the program is the solubility of the colorants that are used to color the SAN resin. These colorants are highly soluble in SAN, allowing the plastics molding process to intermix the blend of colored SAN into an end use product that meets expectations. At no point in the process does the SAN resin undergo compounding, a process that degrades and yellows SAN resin. The end result is a clearer and brighter product.

“The SAN colors platform is an improved approach not only because of improved in-house color flexibility, but also because smaller volumes can be easily mixed,” added Shinn. “This gives Lustran Polymers the capability to supply colored SAN in smaller quantities.”

Ultimately, the SAN Colors platform provides advantages in color appearance, color flexibility, and color consistency in plastics, while providing a product that meets the requirements of both plastics molders and end-users.

The combinations of colorants and LUSTRAN SAN are currently under evaluation for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for repeated use in food contact applications such as house wares. Approval is expected in the near term.

Lustran Polymers is one of the biggest suppliers in the sector. Their products are familiar in a wide variety of applications that touch our lives everyday. For example, our LUSTRAN ABS and SAN products are well recognized and effective in a range of applications such as appliances, house wares, medical devices, telecommunications, recreational equipment, smart cards, construction, and transportation. TRIAX* (ABS-Nylon) alloys use proprietary technology to provide an attractive balance of mechanical and thermal properties for innovative applications in electronics, outdoor equipment, power tools, sports and automotive body components.

CENTREX* (ASA, AES and ASA-PC blends) has been proven for more than 20 years in the spa, lawn and garden, marine, and recreational vehicle markets. Centrex provides a protective cap for PVC construction materials, and Centrex resins have also incorporated new developments specifically for the construction and marine industry.

On June 29, LANXESS announced that it found a partner for its global Lustran Polymers business unit and established a joint venture with the British chemical group INEOS. Effective September 30, 2007, LANXESS initially will hold a 49 percent financial interest in the joint venture, while the operating business is run by INEOS ABS. This minority interest held by LANXESS will also be acquired by INEOS in two years' time as agreed. LANXESS will thus be withdrawing completely from the ABS plastics business.

* LUSTRAN, TRIAX and CENTREX are registered trademarks of LANXESS AG, one of the biggest polymers suppliers in the plastics sector.

The SAN facility in Addyston (Cincinnati), Ohio, USA, is part of LANXESS Corporation, North American Operations, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. The Company began operating as a legal entity in the United States on July 1, 2004. LANXESS Corporation is a member of the Leverkusen, Germany based LANXESS chemicals group, that was spun-off from Bayer in January 2005. In 2006, LANXESS Corporation employed about 1,400 persons in the United States.

The Lustran Polymers business unit, part of the LANXESS Engineering Plastics segment, achieved sales of EUR 1.708 billion in the 2006 business year.

Read a recent press release about - Evonik subsidiary Colortrend will demonstrate its POLYTREND color system for plastics products at the K 2007 international plastics trade show in Dusseldorf.

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