Pittsburgh, PA – March 20, 2015– Specialty chemicals company LANXESS Corporation will bring together three business units – High Performance Materials, Inorganic Pigments, and Rhein Chemie Additives – to present a comprehensive range of products and services for the plastics industry at the 2015 National Plastics Expo in Orlando, FL. 

Automotive lightweight design technologies

The High Performance Materials business unit will showcase a variety of exhibits featuring Durethan polyamides, Pocan polybutylene terephthalates (PBTs) and Tepex continuous fiber-reinforced composites in lightweight automotive applications. One key highlight is a hybrid design infotainment carrier made from a continuous fiber-reinforced polyamide composite and a polyamide 6 overmolding material that is being used for the first time in the Audi A6.  Fabricated with Tepex and Durethan from LANXESS, this mass-produced component weighs almost 50 percent less than its steel counterpart, underlining the huge weight-saving potential this technology offers for structural components.

Another key showcase features the evolution of front end carriers – from plastic-metal hybrid to hydroforming-hybrid design to the first full-plastic design – constructed with LANXESS’ Durethan highly reinforced polyamides.

“In spite of the current temporary low gas prices, the need for innovative lightweight solutions in automotive engineering is unbroken,” says Dr. Marcus Schaefer, general manager, Americas for business unit High Performance Materials. “LANXESS is continuously developing new materials and engineering tools to support our customers with sustainable solutions to meet the CAFE standards.  The evolution from replacing full steel applications with plastic-metal hybrid, and now even full-plastic and composite solutions shows that LANXESS has been, and will be a reliable and technology driven development partner for the automotive industry.”

Expanded Tepex range for consumer electronics

LANXESS will also spotlight the recently expanded range of Tepex composites that now includes halogen-free flame retardant (FR) versions with a polycarbonate matrix.  These new FR grades demonstrate exceptionally high flame retardance in UL 94 fire safety standard testing and have achieved top V-0 classification on UL’s Yellow Card at specimen thicknesses between 0.4 and 2 millimeters, giving them major potential for consumer electronics applications such as notebooks, tablets and TV sets.

Other highlights from LANXESS High Performance Materials include various automotive electrical and electronics circuits and a car seat shell made of Tepex composite that absorbs a great deal of energy in the event of a crash and weighs far less than similar steel solutions.

Sustainable pigments to support the urbanization megatrend

The Inorganic Pigments business unit will present its Colortherm brand high-tech pigments for the plastics industry.  One example on display is artificial turf featuring Colortherm Yellow iron oxide, where as little pigment as four percent by weight in the polypropylene (PP) fiber “blades of grass” is enough to provide rich, vibrant color to make this turf virtually indistinguishable from real grass.  Another display features various shades of Colortherm pigments in wood-plastic composites, showcasing the realistic-looking natural wood and earth tones that are achievable.  The Colortherm range of iron oxide and chromium oxide pigments includes yellows, reds, browns, blacks and greens, with a wide variety of additional shades in between. 

LANXESS will also be promoting a new line of Bayferrox brand highly saturated red pigments – “New Reds” – which represent a global portfolio enlargement.  As previously announced, the company is constructing a new plant for iron oxide red pigments in Ningbo, China, and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.  Here, LANXESS will manufacture high quality red pigments using an improved and highly sustainable Penniman process. 

“We’re very excited for the completion of the new plant,” says Peter Baldus, head of Inorganic Pigments Group (IPG) Americas. “The urbanization megatrend has increased worldwide demand for high quality, sustainably produced pigments, and this new plant aims to raise the bar in terms of water treatment, waste gas cleaning and energy consumption in the production process.  Additionally, we expect the new reds produced in Ningbo will have a very clean color red shade with the advantage of a light yellowish color shade – opening the door for new application possibilities.” 

Stabilizers and brilliant dyes for many types of plastic

The newly formed Rhein Chemie Additives business unit will focus on FDA-compliant Macrolex solvent-soluable dyes, Bayplast and Levascreen pigments, and Stabaxol hydrolysis stabilizers. A variety of end-user products, including plastic toys, drink bottles, household appliances, power tools and an automotive tail light, will show the wide range of applications these products touch. 

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 8.0 billion in 2014 and about 16,600 employees in 29 countries. The company is currently represented at 52 production sites worldwide. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of plastics, rubber, intermediates and specialty chemicals. LANXESS is a member of the leading sustainability indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and DJSI Europe) and FTSE4Good.

www.lanxess.us

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by LANXESS AG management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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