PolySource to distribute polyketone in North America

POLYSOURCE LLC has recently sealed an agreement with Hyosung Group of South Korea for the distribution of polyketone in North America. Hyosung is the world’s only producer of polyketone

 

 

Polyketone is a highly crystalline polymer with a backbone consisting of only carbons. It features a compact crystal structure that provides excellent gas barrier properties and impact, abrasion, chemical, and fuel resistance. Its strong coefficient of friction performance and good wear and hydrolysis resistance makes it ideal for use in materials handling, gearing, and industrial applications replacing lubricated nylons and acetals. Its fuel resistance and gas barrier properties, meanwhile, render it highly suitable for automotive fuel system components.

 

The eco-friendly material offers twice the impact strength and 30% more improvement in chemical resistance compared with nylon. Its wear resistance is about 14 times greater than polyacetal (POM) and its off gas properties are equivalent to that of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH).

 

“This unique performance profile offers designers across multiple industries a new material solution to meet tough application requirements,” said PolySource executive vice president Bill Feldman. 

 

Hyosung announced the new polymeric material in November 2014. The company has completed application and registration of 133 patents in Korea and 27 patents overseas, including the United States, Europe, China, and Japan. It set up a polyketone polymerization plant in Ulsan, South Korea in 2012 with an annual production capacity of 1,000 tons.

 

PolySource CEO Greg Jacobson said, “With this agreement, we reinforce our focus of delivering creative resin solutions to our customers. The addition of Hyosung polyketone to our portfolio provides our customers access to some of the newest technology available anywhere in the engineering polymer industry.”

 

Founded in 1993, PolySource is a privately held, value-added distributor of thermoplastic resins and compounds. It focuses on delivering resin solutions via stocked material, application development, process support, or alternative resin searches.