Hello and welcome to this guest interview. Today I present to you Mr. Doug EOM from Hyosung Chemical and we have the chance to learn about polyketones, what they are and where they can be used.
Enjoy the interview!
Tell us about yourself, your current role, and activities
at Hyosung.
Thank you for having me on your blog. I am Doug EOM in
charge of POKETONE technical support in Hyosung Chemical. I have been working
in the plastic industry for 13 years, especially in Hyosung Chemical for 7
years. Basically, I provide technical and application assistance for the sales
group and process technical inquiries from the customer base and internally.
It’s been 6 years since we have launched POKETONE material, but I think
POKETONE is still ‘unknown’ material for many people in the industry. My daily
job is all related to how to position POLYKETONE in the existing engineering
plastic market and user’s minds as a reliable solution that doesn’t exist
before. Since the pandemic situation, I have been more focusing on web
marketing for more close support instead of the in-person meeting.
Tell us about the materials you produce, in particular, polyketone;
What is it? What are the performance attributes?
POKETONE™, the world's first commercialized polyketone, is
non-toxic polymers that are FDA and NSF-approved.
It exhibits excellent chemical resistance, excellent
toughness, and abrasion resistance. With its balanced properties, POKETONE™ is
widely used in markets such as automotive, water meter, water purifier, toys,
medical devices, pipes, films. Every time we introduce POKETONE, our customers
always ask us what is so special about polyketone. Polyketone can be
characterized as strong, tough, and ductile. Tensile yield stress is 60 MPa.
Stiffness is moderate, with a tensile and flexural modulus of 1.5~1.7 GPa.
Polyketone also exhibits good retention of stiffness. Superior Resilience and
Snap-ability. Elongation at yield is very high (25%), and Polyketone polymers
can be subjected to much larger deformation than any other engineering plastics
before permanent deformation occurs. Polyketone polymers are also very
resilient and well suited to snap-fit assemblies, allowing for relatively large
design strain. Polyketone polymers’ impact strength is unusually high and they
exhibit a high level of ductility over a broad temperature range.
Looking at the still ongoing tight market situation of
polyamides, POM, PBT in 2021 - would Polyketone be an alternative to these
engineering Polymers?
The current supply issue is not a short-term phenomenon.
The situation has become and will remain critical for PA66, POM, PBT consumers.
Since we started promoting the POKETONE in 2015, our customers have been
contacting us for substitutes for conventional engineering plastics like PA66
and POM and the current situation is just accelerating the development process
for the approval. I mean this situation cannot suddenly interest our unknown
customers who are not aware of polyketone. That is why we are more focusing on
promoting POKETONE as a potential substitute to the conventional engineering
polymers and how to maximize the value in use of POKETONE. Regarding the supply
stability, comparing to other engineering plastics, we can supply POKETONE with
a more stable price because the fluctuating raw material costs less affect its
price. For the smooth material replacement, when switching from PA66 to PK, you
have even less to worry about when it comes to different shrinkage and warpage
values – PK shrinks in a similar way to PA66. Tools designed for PA, PBT or POM
are often suitable for PK. If you have a concern about POM’s toxicity, PA’s
water absorption, PBT’s water resistance, or frequent supply shortages, PK
would be the reliable solution for your products.
What are some application examples and markets you can use
polyketone?
49% of the polyketone applications are related to food and
water contact safety for example toys, food conveyor belts, water purifier, and
cosmetics & medical products, and 52% are related to chemical/water
resistance like oil & gas pipes and water-contact area. I think one of the
most representative applications is the food conveyer belt. Food processing
facilities have unique challenges that require unique solutions. POKETONE’s
good hydrolysis resistance, as well as the dimensional stability, ensure that components
made of POKETONE are suitable for food manufactures to safely produced food.
Products made of POKETONE especially stand out for a longer life cycle of
long-term sanitation chemical exposure than POM. Moreover, POKETONE can
withstands mechanical stress very well and shows excellent friction and wear
behavior. Due to the combination of outstanding resilience, toughness behavior
POKETONE is highly suitable for the production of functional components such as
food conveyor belts, valves, plug-in connectors, gear wheels, and spring
elements. We offer complete assistance to meet the regulatory requirements for
a different region and industry like FDA, EU Directive, NSF, KTW, USP Class VI,
and ISO 10993.
How is the processing of Polyketone done? Which processing
methods can be used? What are some benefits?
Polyketone can be processed like other thermoplastics
through conventional processing techniques like injection molding (including
hot runner system), film and pipe extrusion, fiber spinning, etc. to yield
molded parts, films, pipes, tubes, or fibers. Like other thermoplastics,
polyketone activates material degradation when operated outside of their
required operating window. One unusual aspect of the rheological behavior of
polyketones its tendency to exhibit a gradual increase in melt viscosity with
increasing residence time. That is why we provide the customized technical
support for the new customers. Injection molding cycle times for aliphatic polyketone
are typically 15-30 percent shorter than those required for the same part when
molded from acetal (POM) or nylon (PA). This not only results in reduced
processing cost but also increases productivity.
Where can the readers find out more about you and POKETONE?
Whatever you would like to know about POKETONE including
your local distributor, sample request, grade selection, or applications in
use, you can visit our website.
With the pandemic continuing, we are more enhancing on
in-direct communication via social media posting and video conference. We also
encourage our employees to share technical content on LinkedIn. You can
directly contact our employees through their LinkedIn accounts (this is my account). You can also contact your
local polyketone compounder for the customized product (Listed below).
Country
Compounder
Brand name
Germany
LyondellBasell
Germany
Akro Plastic
Germany
Ria Polymers
USA
Avient
Swiss
SAX Polymers
Turkey
Eurotec
France
Eurostar
Germany
K.D.Feddersen
(Distributor)
That was the guest interview with Doug from Hyosung
Chemical – thank you Doug for the interesting insights into the polyketone
world!
Greetings and #findoutaboutplastics
Herwig Juster
