China XD Plastics, Harbin Research join forces for modified PP research

18-Apr-09

Harbin Xinda Macromolecule Material Research Institute (China) has announced to join forces with Harbin Institute of Technology (China) on the pre-research of pre-foamed modified polypropylene (PP) and have successfully completed a small trial testing. Harbin Xinda Macromolecule Material Research Institute is a wholly owned subsidiary of China XD Plastics Company Ltd., China's largest developer of modified plastics for automotive applications. The pre-foamed modified PP exhibits high-temperature resistance, sound insulation, energy conservation and noise reduction characteristics and is commonly used in the production of automobile interior parts and components and the production of packaging materials. It replaces the pre-foamed polyurethane (PU) and pre-foamed Polystyrene (PS) which are deemed poisonous and unsafe in the production and the application process, and have therefore been ruled out by the United National Environment Protection Organization. On the other hand, pre-foamed modified PP has been determined to be safe during the production and the application process. Currently, the domestic market in China relies on imports of pre-foamed modified PP, particularly for applications automobile interiors parts and components as well as packaging materials for commercial product exports. The use of pre-foamed modified PP in China for the microwave technology and sporting goods is currently uncommon, and for use in food packaging is almost non-existent. If all the pre-foamed plastics in China are replaced by the pre-foamed PP, the expected annual demand would reach 400,000 tons. The Company expects to use this opportunity to penetrate the domestic market with the development of pre-foamed modified PP, in order to achieve scale of production, and replace the need for imported pre-foamed modified PP.