Evonik: New, Bio-Based Polyamide on Market

Germany-based Evonik Industries AG (www.evonik.com) has added a group of bio-based polyamides to its VESTAMID® family. The polymers, sold under the VESTAMID® Terra brand name, are based on monomers produced partly or entirely from fatty acids. The most important source is currently castor oil, obtained from the seed of the castor oil plant, which is not used as food or animal feed, so its cultivation does not compete with that of food crops. Evonik is also forging ahead with the development of further polyamides from renewables based on palm kernel and rapeseed oils.

Evonik currently offers two new castor oil-based polyamides. VESTAMID® Terra DS is a 100-percent bio-based polyamide 1010. Its property profile bridges the gap between high-performance long-chain polyamides such as PA 12 and PA 1212 and the shorter chain standard polyamides PA 6 and PA 66. VESTAMID® Terra DS is particularly suitable for manufacturing glass-fiber-reinforced molding compounds. VESTAMID® Terra HS is a polyamide 610 that contains approximately 60 percent renewable raw materials. From a technical viewpoint, this variant occupies a position between the high-performance polyamide 612 and the standard polyamides PA 6 and PA 66.

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VESTAMID® Terra molding compounds are semicrystalline and therefore distinguished by high mechanical strength and good resistance to chemicals and stress cracking. They also have high to very high heat deflection temperatures and a low absorption capacity for water, so that the good mechanical properties are retained even at high humidity. VESTAMID® Terra DS has yet another advantage over other polyamides: Despite its crystallinity it is translucent and can therefore be processed into components with good contact transparency, for example. Evonik also offers blends based on VESTAMID® Terra DS with even better translucence.

High-grade bio alternatives with favorable CO2 balance
Demand for organic materials has increased significantly over the last few years, due to continuously rising prices of petrochemical raw materials and customer concerns regarding sustainable protection of resources. "With VESTAMID® Terra we are respecting customers´ wishes and offering a bio-based alternative for high quality polyamide components such as are used in sports equipment, electronics, and automotive construction," says Dr. Joachim Leluschko, head of Evonik´s High Performance Polymers Business Line. The CO2 balance is another plus point, being more favorable, over the entire lifetime of the product, for VESTAMID® Terra than for polyamides based exclusively on petroleum. VESTAMID® Terra products therefore contribute significantly toward protecting fossil raw materials and reducing the greenhouse effect.

VESTAMID® Terra DS and VESTAMID® Terra HS molding compounds are each available in two different viscosities and also as glass fiber-reinforced grades with glass fiber content of 30 to 65 percent. They can be processed on any injection molding machine suitable for polyamides and can also be used for production of filaments.

In addition to polyamides based on renewable raw materials, Evonik has also been producing polyamide 12 and 612 compounds and polyamide 12 elastomers (PEBA) for about 40 years, and, more recently, polyphthalamide compounds-all under the VESTAMID® brand name. Major manufacturers have been using all these materials for decades.

Evonik Industries AG, Essen, Germany

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