Samyang Corporation, a chemical and food division of Samyang Group, has successfully developed eco-friendly and flame retardant transparent polycarbonate (PC) that is free of toxic substances.

The company has established a full-fledged mass production system of the PC where it will be manufactured at Jeonju EP Plant of Samyang Corporation and Jeonju Plant of Samyang Kasei.

Flame retardant PC is necessary in products that generate heat or are vulnerable to fire. Materials vulnerable to fire may lead to greater damages such as secondary fire and toxic gases, so home appliances, interior and exterior materials in cars, construction materials, helmets, etc. assure safety by using flame retardant materials.

Typically, a flame retardant substance is added to produce a transparent flame retardant PC, but this reduces transparency and impact strength, which are the strengths of PC.

The environmental pollution caused by the substance is another issue. Halogen substances such as chlorine and bromine, which are also flame retardant substances, generate toxic gases when burned.

Eco-friendly and transparent flame retardant PC resin developed by Samyang Corporation and a transparent panel thinly processed by using this resin.

In the past, non-halogen substances were regarded as an alternative but, in recent years, these too have been the center of a controversy with respect to their harmful effects.

Samyang Corporation’s eco-friendly and transparent flame retardant PC was developed based on silicone PC (Si-PC) that the company had localized in 2012 by changing the substance bonding structure without adding any flame retardant materials. Thus, it shows higher impact strength and chemical resistance at low temperatures than typical PC.

It also satisfies “V-0” standard, which is the highest grade in the “UL 94” vertical burning test. UL 94 is a plastics flammability standard developed by “UL (Underwriters Laboratories)” in America, a safety standard development and authorization agency, and V-0 grade is given only to the plastics on which burning stops within 10 seconds of setting a vertically placed specimen on fire.

With its high shock resistance, chemical resistance and transparency at low temperatures compared to existing kinds of transparent flame retardant PC, Samyang Corporation plans to target all markets in need of aforementioned properties, including electricity and electronics, automotive, outdoor lighting and displays, electric vehicle charging stations, exterior materials of airplanes, interior and exterior materials of buildings, and medical devices.

In addition, it maintains similar mechanical properties as the common PC even if it is processed in thin films, including sheets and profiles, of about 1mm in thickness, which enables it to be utilized not only for functional packaging materials but also in many other industries that require transparency and flame retardancy.

For the expansion of the eco-friendly, flame retardant PC market, Samyang Corporation will provide it in the form of base resins (plastics constituted of single materials) to other chemical corporations.

The chemical companies supplied with the base resins will be able to manufacture and sell compounds (products with improved properties by mixing base resins with additives) according to the features needed by final products in construction, automotive and aviation industries.