● SK chemicals New PCT Material Selected as National Leading Technology
- Korea’s first PCT material receives Korea Technology Award
- Excellent thermal property of withstanding high temperature of 260℃ …
Favorable review as a substitute of importsSK Chemical announced on Dec. 18, 2013 that its super-engineered plastics PCT material received the ‘Industry, Trade, and Energy Minister’s Award’ and ’10 New Technology Certificate’ at the 2013 Korea Technology Award held by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) and The Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology.
PCT (polycyclohexylenedimethylene terephthalate) is a super-plastic developed by SK Chemical for the first time in Korea. It is noted for its outstanding thermal property of withstanding temperatures of 260℃ or higher. Since it requires an advanced level of technology to develop, only two companies in the world – SK Chemical being one of them – were able to commercialize the material.
“Highly thermal-resistant materials like PCT are produced through polymerization at correspondingly high temperatures and thus require advanced high temperature polymerization technology. Such difficulties are a high entry barrier to would-be competitors,” a SK Chemical official said.
In addition to thermal resistance, PCT features outstanding properties like thermal stability, reflectivity, and light stability. The material is widely used in televisions or lighting LED reflectors, as well as in such electrical components as SMT connectors and thermal-resistant fibers and films.
SK Chemical was well received for developing the new material, which features properties that are outstanding in comparison to competing materials, and thus substitutes for LED reflector materials that were dependent upon imports.
SK Chemical plans to focus on expanding the sales of PCT by highlighting the technology that received such renowned awards.
“Currently, there is a PCT market of around 33,000 tons. Since 2010, it has been growing at the steep rate of 30% each year. We plan to quickly expand our share of the PCT market by developing new markets such as automobiles in addition to the existing electronic material markets such as LED reflectors and SMT connectors,” a SK Chemical official said.
2013 Korea Technology Award selected 34 new technologies in Korea. Of those, it selected the 10 most outstanding technologies and certified them as ’10 New Technologies’.
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SK Chemical’s super engineering plastics material PCT received ‘10 New Technology’ certification at 2013 Korea Technology Award. Jong-ryang Kim (right in the picture), Director of SK chemicals’ Chemical R&D Center, is receiving a plaque from the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Sang-jick Yun (left in the picture).