SABIC Expands Flexible Noryl* Portfolio to Offer Wire & Cable Customers First Total Solution for AC and DC Standards in the US, Europe and Japan

Pittsfield, MA, June 01, 2012 --(PR.com)-- SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business announced another major step forward to support its customers’ commercial ambitions and growth: the expansion of its Flexible Noryl* polyphenylene ether (PPE) resin portfolio for wire and cable coating applications. With the addition of two new grades – Flexible Noryl WCD883 and WCD933 resins – this high performance PPE resin family is now the first and only end-to-end solution for wire and cable customers that comply with U.S., European and Japanese standards for both DC and AC cables. Further, the Flexible Noryl materials deliver non-halogenated flame retardance for sustainability, plus light weight and an exceptional balance of properties. This milestone underscores SABIC’s proactive efforts to help customers design more-sustainable solutions and standardize their products across major global markets with a single material portfolio to achieve cost and efficiency benefits.

“Our global consumer electronics and appliance customers, and the wire and cable companies that support them, are always striving to proactively improve the sustainability of their products,” said Matthew Gray, Pacific marketing director, Innovative Plastics. “Our Flexible Noryl materials are already an industry benchmark for environmental responsibility that, thanks to their clean chemistry featuring non-halogenated flame retardance, is enabling these customers to replace a patchwork of competitive wire and cable coating materials with one high-performance, sustainable resin family that meets all major standards around the world.”

The new Flexible Noryl WCD883 and WCD933 grades, which comply with Europe’s HD 21.14 S1:2003 standard for AC cords, round out the existing Flexible Noryl portfolio of materials that meet UL 758 for appliance wiring materials and UL 62 for flexible cords and cables in the U.S. and Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) C8303 for AC cords in Japan.

New Grades Complete SABIC’s Total Offering

New Flexible Noryl WCD883 is an extrusion grade for flexible AC cord and cable jacketing. The material has a Shore A hardness of 88. Flexible Noryl WCD933 for insulation applications is also an extrusion grade and has a Shore A hardness of 93. The addition of these two materials brings the full Flexible Noryl resin portfolio to a total of 18 grades.

SABIC’s Flexible Noryl materials combine sustainability benefits with high performance for demanding wire and cable applications. They provide robust flame retardance meeting the UL VW-1 vertical wire test without the use of halogens or heavy metals. Good dielectric strength permits the use of thinner walls to reduce shipping weight and associated emissions without impacting electrical properties.

These flexible resins offer outstanding mechanical and electrical performance and are available in a wide range of Shore A hardness levels and deliver an optimal balance of softness and durability to resist scratching and pinching. Flexible Noryl resins also offer easy processing and can be used on standard polyvinyl chloride (PVC) lines.

For additional information on SABIC’s Flexible Noryl solutions, please go to www.sabic-ip.com. For technical product inquiries, please contact us at www.sabic-ip.com/prtechinquiry.