Plastics are replacing traditional materials as technological advances have allowed plastics to have more uses with less input.
In addition to replacing heavy metals in the transportation sector, plastics are being used as a substitute for wood in the building and construction sector. Plastics can significantly reduce the maintenance needs of products and increase their durability and aesthetic appeal.
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) plastics used for windows and doors, pipes, and packaging are structurally weak in impact resistance, processing fluidity, and heat deformation. So, modifiers and processing aids are added to improve the impact strength and machinability.
Recently, modifiers are also used to reinforce the impact strength, heat resistance and hydrolysis resistance of engineering plastics, which are in increasing demand for home appliances and automobiles.
MBS (Methacrylate Butadiene Styrene), one of the modifiers that improve the performance of plastics, is a powder-type material and has the same ductility as rubber.
This enhances the impact strength by absorbing or dispersing (dissipating) the fracture energy from the outside.
MBS has so far been dominated by Japan in the global market, but LG Chem internally-developed it for the first time in Korea in 1990 and supplied the product to domestic and overseas markets.
Even in recent years, where plastic materials have become commonplace in daily life and industrial sectors, research on improving impact resistance is becoming more important for general-purpose resins and especially for engineering plastics.
As improvements to impact resistance progresses, the markets will be able to expand further in the future.
LG Chem will continue to research high-quality plastic materials.