SABIC is delivering a range of highly advanced polymer and engineering thermoplastic solutions that allow manufacturers in the consumer electronics and lifestyle industries to create sleeker, more stylish products that meet environmental, high-performance and aesthetic requirements. A range of relevant applications that demonstrate this will be showcased at K 2016 in Hall 6 Booth D42 providing examples of how SABIC delivers "Chemistry that Matters™" to help create a better future for everyone. The market for consumer electronics and lifestyle products is growing rapidly, propelled by an expanding global middle class. According to OECD Development Centre by 2030; 4.9 billion of the world population will be middle class and a report conducted by Clearwater Corporate Finance, annual spending by the global middle class will reach $20 trillion by 2020. Furthermore, the consumer electronics sector alone l is expected to reach USD 838.85 billion by 2020, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc.

“SABIC is committed to being an innovative and trusted partner to our customers, delivering material technologies that help them adapt to the rapidly growing and evolving global consumer markets,” Fabrice Bertinchamps, General Manager, Global Segments for SABIC, says. “Our solutions help our customers create more sustainable products, while simultaneously enhancing design freedom to help set their brands apart in the ultra-competitive consumer markets. In addition, a suite of SABIC material solutions has been developed with an eye on sustainability, allowing customers to use post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, as well as achieve enhanced energy efficiency and flame retardance. Our innovations enable our customers to not only meet consumer needs today, but also the needs of tomorrow in a more resource tight and environmentally savvy world.”

SABIC’s solutions have allowed its customers to excel in the markets where they operate by helping them create products that look and perform better than their competitors. A customer of ours for over 15 years, Samsonite has chosen SABIC’s® PP (polypropylene) copolymers for the majority of its hard shell range of suitcases. Compared to traditional grades of polypropylene used in rigid packaging, our advanced solutions offer substantial cost savings in the injection moulding process through faster cycle times, lower mould pressure, wall thickness reduction and energy savings. The end result has also helped our customer create lighter, stronger suitcases with more eye-catching designs.

SABIC’s® PP block copolymer solutions have also been selected by Dorel Juvenile for use in its award winning Maxi-Cosi car seat range. The SABIC materials helped all Maxi-Cosi car seats meet the most recent European safety standard, ECE R44/03, by delivering very high impact resistance and light-weight, combined with an excellent stiffness level. From a design point of view, SABIC’s PP solutions also delivered the exceptional flow properties that were necessary to fill the complex shaped molds and give the product an attractive surface appearance. SABIC’s solution also delivered reduced cycle times, leading to increased efficiency and cost reduction.

With large format interactive displays becoming more ever-present – from large indoor and outdoor displays to electronic whiteboards – the need has increased for advanced materials that are highly sensitive, quick to respond to touch, and capable of achieving a variety of complex forms and shapes. At the K 2016, SABIC will showcase a transparent, conductive polycarbonate (PC) film that represents a completely new class of display materials with outstanding transmittance and resistance, especially in large formats, with exceptional 2.5 and 3D formability. In addition to its potential performance capabilities in large format displays, this solution also stands apart in its ability to be thermoformed into complex 2.5 or 3D shapes, such as those required for a variety of displays in consumer electronics, automotive interiors and healthcare devices, as well as for architectural uses. SABIC’s renowned LEXAN™ film used in this new product can help achieve highly sensitive touch screens that are also impact resistant and formable.