SK chemicals (www.skchemicals.com) has developed an advanced PTT fiber which has a higher expansion and contraction property and softer texture than nylon or polyester fibers. It won the 8th Chang, Young-Sil Award in the year 2000. This product has excellent expansion and contraction properties, dyes well at low temperatures and is resistant to contamination so it will provide high competition when used for clothes. SK chemicals has commercialized this product for the first time in the world, attains technical superiority and will contribute to fortify competitiveness of Korean fiber industry when the dyeing and weaving technologies are developed for this material in the future. Significance Last year, the fiber industry in Korea contributed 13 % of total exports from Korea which is 17 billion dollars. However, it is having hard time due to higher labor costs compared to developing countries such as South East Asia and China even though the technical margin is narrower. In synthetic fibers, 80 % of them are polyester but the production facilities in Taiwan, China and South East Asia have been greatly increased and profitability has deteriorated severely. To overcome this, new fiber materials are under development. Tensel from Kotles of Britain and Tectel from Dupont of the US are examples. The development of PTT fiber (brand name: Espol) is developed under these circumstances and will be commercialized for the first time in the world in cooperation with Shell of the US. PTT has been reported on since 1941 but the high price of main material PDO prevented its commercialization. At the end of 1998, mass production of PDO began and SK chemicals commercialize dPTT. Technical and economic effects Korea commercialized PTT fiber for the first time in the world. Therefore, product differentiation compared with developing countries like China can be maintained. The development of dying, processing and weaving technologies and dye production technology can enhance the competitiveness of the fiber industry. SK chemicals is planning to take 3~5 % of the world synthetic fiber market in 5 years which is 100,000 MT/Yr domestically and 1 million MT/Yr in the world. In the long term, the capacity of the world market will be as high as 2 billion dollars. SK chemicals is planning to equip a 10,000 MT capacity material manufacturing facility and fiber manufacturing facility by the end of the year. It will introduce new fibers and fabrics with natural fiber characteristics by conjugating PTT fiber with natural fibers. SK chemicals forecasts that the production of 10,000 MT/Yr will correspond to a sale of $ 41.7 million dollars and 20 % of rate of return. Comparison with competing products Competing products are polyester and nylon but PTT fiber has advantages of both the products. Nylon has a soft texture and clear color which make it suitable for women.s clothes and sports clothes but it fades easily by sun light. Polyester does not fade easily but colors are not clear, discoloring occurs easily by foods and the texture is not as desirable. PTT fiber is superior in feeling, dyeing, expansion and contraction properties. It is not easily contaminated and can be used for various clothes. It is considered competitive compared to existing nylon although the price changes depending on demand and supply. It will contribute to make fabric requiring new fiber materials and fashion businesses. [Background] ¨Most of the synthetic fibers including currently produced rayon, acetate, nylon, acryl, and polyester were developed early in the 20th century. New fibers have not been introduced and customers may think that it is about time for new product.? Mr. Se-Gi Kim, President of the Research Institute of SK chemicals, forecasted that PTT fiber will be breakthrough for the domestic fiber industry which is suffering from excess production of polyester and nylon. Mr. Kim said, ¨The late president, Jong-Hyun Choi, had showed strong expectations on the development of new fibers which has differences from other materials. SK chemicals studied the development of new fiber under his support.? The superior contraction and dyeing properties of PTT fiber is understood and intense research began in 1996 but it has a problem of high cost.. Incidentally, from the international journal it is found that Shell Chemical of the US has succeeded in producing the material at a low cost and a supply of the material was requested to Shell. Upon hearing the plan for PTT and expected market prospect from SK chemicals, Shell proposed a joint development instead of simple supply of material which resulted in technology development. Mr. Kim said, ¨PTT is a brand new fiber and conjugated development of related technologies such as yarn manufacturing, weaving, knitting, and dyeing processes are necessary to maximize its characteristics.? Furthermore, the PTT fiber material PDO produced exclusively by Shell and Dupont is a high value added technology to be developed in Korea. [Leaders in the development] We are proud of the first commercialization in the world. ¨The introduction of new fiber was a very difficult job. Fiber manufacturing process has to be designed to keep the characteristics of fiber and the weaving and dyeing processes have to be modified to maintain the characteristics of the fiber,? said Mr. Chung-Chul Kim, head researcher. He expressed that he and his staff are very proud of the first commercialization of the fiber through various technology developments. He added that in the beginning he was disappointed that the samples manufactured had no particular characteristics and were expensive. However, after the success of the development, consultants from Shell were surprised by its performance and were pleased with it, which he said he would always remember. He said that when he returned to Korea after finishing his study in US, he was proposed the development of PTT by the president of the Research Center.He participated in the project without hesitation because its development requires an academic background and English. A senior researcher, Ho-Jin Park, revealed an interesting story. When a good sample was produced for the first time during research, it showed very high expansion and contraction. The research team suspected that spandex fiber was added by mistake and were scrambling to find the truth. Mr. Park said that an optimal condition to go from polymer to a product is not selected and there is still a lot to study. He wished to contribute to the growth of PTT as a core business in the SK group and in the world fiber industry by working in the unfinished fields until its regular commercialization. Another researcher, Mr. Sung-Kyun Son said that he is proud of the first commercialization of a material which was born 40 years ago. It is important to note that the Chang, Young-Sil Award recognized technology of SK chemicals objectively. Mr. Son pointed out that the PTT product from competing companies in US, Japan or Europe is on the market without overcoming its technical problems completely so they are inferior to products from SK chemicals. All the development team members including Mr. Do-Kyun Kim cherish the memory that two days before commercial production, impurities were found from the polymer and the product was manufactured through an overnight filtration. The most recently joined fellow, Mr. Jae-Ho Lee expressed that he will do his best to make various products with superior quality develop in the world market without satisfying the fact that it was developed for the first time in the world. All the development team members are proud that PTT fiber was commercialized in Korea for the first time in the world even though the production technologies for most of synthetic fibers are transferred to Korea via Japan from Europe and US. They hope the new fiber will activate a depressed domestic fiber industry. [Table] Leaders of the Chang, Young-Sil Award Name : Kim, Jung-Chul Position : Head Scientist of Research Center Job : Coordination of Development Education : B. 1958, Graduated from Department of Polymer Science, Akron University of US (Ph.D.) Name : Park, Ho-Jin Position : Director of Research Center Job : Polymerization and Spinning Education : B.1964, Graduated from Department of Polymer Science, Seoul National University (M.S.) Name : Son, Sung-Kyun Position : Junior Scientist of Research Center Job : Polymerization and Spinning Education : B. 1970, Graduated from Department of Polymer Science, Seoul National University (M.S.) Name : Kim, Do-Kyun Position : Junior Scientist of Polymer Lab Job : Spinning and twisting Education : B. 1972, Graduated from Department of Materials Science and Engineering, K-JIST(M.S.) Name : Lee, Jae-Ho Position : Technical Service Team Job : Spinning supporting Education : B. 1969, Graduated from Department of Chemical Engineering, Dongkuk University (B. S.)