Success Story

Styron Working Together with Market Leaders Athlone and VitasheetGroup for the Development of MAGNUM™ Resin

Styron, a leading materials company recently launched MAGNUM™ MATT ABS resin, a new resin with an excellent matt finish, ideal for use in applications such as panels and interior components of public transport, automotive and leisure vehicles. Athlone Extrusions Ltd. and VitasheetGroup of Vita Plc, leading producers of custom-made extruded plastic sheet, were both valuable partners in the development of this new and improved matt ABS.

The Value of Development Partners

Mauro Bonaventura, Technical Engineering Manager from VitasheetGroup explains: "Styron's MAGNUM™ ABS resins are unique in the marketplace because of their excellent processing characteristics with great product performance. As a result of the MAGNUM mass polymerization process of Styron, they are very stable on the line, have very low gel content and are ideal for self colouring. When Styron asked us to be part of their development project for a matt grade in the MAGNUM portfolio, we were excited to participate because we knew we would benefit greatly from joining forces."

Within a year, Styron developed several different matt grade samples following specific recommendations provided by both technical teams. Intimate collaboration allowed trials with the grades to be executed quickly and efficiently, speeding up the completion of the project. After this short trial period, Styron delivered a matt ABS resin that met both development partners' requirements concerning process technology benefits and end product quality.

Robert Kearney, Technical Manager at Athlone adds: "Styron knows our industry very well. The responsiveness of their technical team was exceptional for a material supplier and is a major reason why we brought this project to fruition. Thanks to their commitment, we could exchange information in a very efficient way and the speed of raw material delivery in the trial phase was impressive."

The Value of MAGNUM™ MATT in the Marketplace

The partnership with the industry leaders resulted in the development of MAGNUM™ MATT, a matt ABS grade with equal and even enhanced mattness levels when compared to competitive grades. More importantly, tests conducted by Athlone and the VitasheetGroup proved that MAGNUM™ MATT exhibited superior performance than incumbents in terms of processing behaviour, colour flexibility and matt consistency.

As a result, the majority of Athlone's matt ABS sheet production today utilizes MAGNUM™ MATT and the The VitasheetGroup uses it as its core resin.

"MAGNUM™ MATT is our preferred matt ABS resin because it has more to offer than its outstanding matt surface performance. Thanks to its beneficial properties during production, it helps us succeed in a demanding marketplace and service our customers in the best possible way. On top of the excellent properties of its products, Styron can offer us consistency of supply which is a critical success factor in our line of business," James Murtagh, Product Development Manager of Athlone.

Mauro Bonaventura summarizes as follows: "As far as MAGNUM MATT is concerned, Styron not only delivered on its promise to provide a matt ABS resin better than competitive grades, but also created a resin with good processing properties allowing us to spread the matt capping layer consistently on base materials during co-extrusion or with our cap sheet technology. In addition to these key characteristics, no sacrifices were made to the properties we have come to expect from MAGNUM resins such as consistency of quality."

Looking Forward

Styron has a long-standing tradition of helping its clients to evolve and succeed. The company is also focused on working together with its customers to help them innovate and prepare for future challenges in the sheet industry.

Sean Breen, Purchasing Manager of Athlone adds: "We value Styron in particular because they are very forward thinking in terms of grade development. Together we look beyond the commercial aspects of our business and focus on future trends in the industry to identify specific needs for our clients. And when the time comes to turn ideas into technical solutions and new resins, we know Styron will deliver."

About Athlone

Athlone Extrusions Ltd is a privately owned, independent thermoplastic sheet extruder and compounder. The core business of Athlone Extrusions Ltd is the manufacture of extruded sheets and film in polystyrene, ABS and Acrylic Capped ABS. The modern manufacturing facility is located in the town of Athlone, Ireland.

A factory space of some 14000 sq. metres houses the extrusion division consisting of fourteen sheet and film lines, all with co-extrusion or multi-layer capability, and the masterbatch and compounding division, containing seven compounding extruders. The plant capacity is currently 28,000 tonnes p.a.

Athlone Extrusions Ltd. has sales offices in Ireland, England and the Netherlands and exports to over 40 countries worldwide.

About VitasheetGroup

VitasheetGroup is Europe's largest producer of custom-made extruded plastic sheet, supplying high quality products to customers in over 40 countries worldwide.

Combining the strengths of eight separate European companies: Carolex, Axipack, Metzeler Plastics, VTS Royalite, Royalite Italy, Gaillon, Esbjerg Thermoplast and Iroplastics, VitasheetGroup leverages over 50 years of production experience to produce high quality materials used in the manufacture of components for a variety of markets, including specialist markets of transport, construction, industrial, packaging and graphic arts industries.

Used in many thousands of different applications around the world, from automotives to graphic arts, VitasheetGroup offers the most extensive product range to the market - VitasheetGroup has a multitude of colours, textures and finishes of thermoplastic sheet and films. Through 50 year history of process development, product innovation and customer partnership, VitasheetGroup has just become the customers' first choice in supply of engineered thermoplastic sheet. More information about Vitasheetgroup can be found at www.vitasheetgroup.com

About Styron