HYOSUNG TNC

“Every morning, I wake up to make a cup of coffee and a piece of toast for myself. With a functional T-shirt on, I would drive to work. After work, I get home to drink a cup of water from the water purifier and get a quick dinner from a retort pouch. Then I search my phone to get my nephew a toy while TV is on. Over the weekend, I would go for a bike ride with my helmet on and get a hot shower afterwards to release the stress and tension.”

This may be similar to your everyday life. But do you notice the one thing that underlies and connects every movement here? Chips. Not the potato chips we munch on but plastic chips that are used as materials for manufacturing daily products.

Excessive use of them could threaten our environment but in fact they are essential to our daily life. Plastic chips are extensively applied in our everyday products thanks to materials such as Polypropylene (PP) and Engineering Plastic (ENPLA) that are highly functional without emitting environmental hormone.

Let’s take a look at a bigger and more convenient world built on plastic chips led by the global chemical name Hyosung. Hyosung, global innovator and leader in the future chemical industry, has developed and produced a variety of materials such as PP, and nylon and polyketone ENPLA.

Engineering Plastic, the plastic beyond plastic

Engineering Plastic or ENPLA is a type of high-performance plastic that can even serve as an alternative to metal and ceramic. They are known for excellent yield strength, resilience and heat resistance of up to over 100 degrees.

Unlike conventional plastics, ENPLA is custom manufactured to cater to the various needs of global customers across different industries. It has excellent mechanical strength, chemical resistance, weather resistance, thermal resistance, fire retardant, and insulation resistance and has been applied to industrial products such as automobiles, electronic parts and goods, and architecture.

Thanks to the superb properties and machinability, the ENPLA market has been growing around the world. It reached $66.2billion in 2016, and is continuing to grow, estimated to reach the market size of $132.8billion by 2026. Hyosung’s ENPLA products are polyketone, the world’s first and only material developed by Hyosung Chemical, and nylon chips.

Three key plastic chips offered by Hyosung

ENPLA besides, Hyosung offers various plastic products that are widely used through our daily life.

To name a few, there are three types of plastic chips Hyosung offers. ENPLA Polyketone, the world’s first and only commercial plastic chip of its kind, nylon chips that boast the world’s best quality and technology, and polypropylene chips that are extensively applied in our daily life.

1) Hyosung’s Polypropylene (PP)

Hyosung Chemical’s polypropylene (PP) is the output of the company’s high-molecule polymerization technology and various catalyst application skills. It is applied not only in everyday goods such as helmets, car seats and furniture but also in various applications including different packaging materials (i.e. automobile manufacturing and food), textiles for clothing and diapers, and medical devices (i.e. syringe and fluid packages).

Manufactured through the combined process of HYPOL method and UNIPOL method, the polyprolylene comes in various forms such as Homo-polymer, Block co-polymer, and Random co-polymer. It is applied to numerous sectors for general use while some are specially designed for high temperature and thermal resistance, high stiffness, high impact resistance and transparency to meet the different needs of global customers. Especially, the R200P is a global leading polypropylene brand specially developed for hot and cold water supply pipes and fittings as well as radiator connecting pipes.

This material is also well known for the high quality when it comes to retort films and protective films. Other products incorporating the PP have received excellent reviews from customers for their excellent machining characteristics and properties. To secure a stable supply of the main material for polypropylene production, Hyosung Chemical obtains high-purity propylene from the propane dehydrogenation (DH) process where it has adapted cutting-edge manufacturing technology. With this Hyosung Chemical has successfully established vertical integration of its supply chain from raw materials to the finished products.

2) POKETONE™

POKETONE™ is Hyosung’ Chemical’s brand name for the world's first commercialized polyketone, a non-toxic and biocompatible polymer that is FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) and NSF (National Science Foundation) approved. It exhibits outstanding chemical resistance, toughness and abrasion resistance. It is made of CO₂, one of the key air pollutants and olefins which is a raw material for petroleum. It emits less CO₂ during the manufacturing process, thus cutting down on carbon footprint.

Its application includes automobile parts, water meters, water purifier parts, conveyers, toys, medical parts and pipes. Thanks to Hyosung’s continued efforts in R&D, its application has been expanding to high-tech industries such as films and airplane parts. This eco-friendly and safe polymer material has been increasingly adopted in the toy industry for its safety and flexible properties. Thanks to its non-toxic characteristics, it also has been applied in products that are related to water and food such as water purifiers.

3) Nylon chips

Nylon chips are widely used for general industrial use as well as for nylon yarns for clothing. Hyosung TNC is a global leader in nylon yarn manufacturing with over 50 years of track records in supplying the top quality and high performance nylon yarns to various customers around the world. Hyosung’s nylon chips are extensively used in various areas such as automobile parts, electric and electronic devices, cable ties, various films and fishing nets. More recently, it has been adopted in hydrogen storage and transport container liners that require high resistance to pressure. Hyosung TNC has been actively engaging with customers at home and abroad to develop hydrogen tank liners built with its nylon chips.

With plastics increasingly being held responsible for environmental degradation, Hyosung TNC has put a lot of efforts into developing products and techniques to recycle waste. Hyosung’s world-first fishing net recycled nylon yarn, the regen® Ocean Nylon, is not only eco-friendly but also offers the same quality to that of conventional nylon yarn.

Hyosung TNC has conducted a life cycle assessment on nylon chips as part of its efforts to protect the environment.

To offer various high-performance chips to help humanity

Hyosung is the only Korean name that develops and sells both high-quality PP and nylon chips. By engaging in theR&D and sales of both products, it has created unparalleled synergy effects in the two materials. On top of it, Hyosung has also developed the world’s first polyketone material, emerging as the world’s largest supplier of varying plastic materials, offering more options to customers.

Hyosung Chemical and Hyosung TNC have participated in the world’s largest plastic exhibition, ‘K-Fair 2022’ held in Düsseldorf Germany in October ’22 to showcase their PP, nylon chips and polyketone. Hyosung has been striving to work together with other players by offering multiple options and catered solutions to global customers. Hyosung is committed to growing into a global plastic chip leader that offers high-quality customized chips to meet various needs of customers, by continuing its R&D efforts and maintaining agility in the ever-changing global market. Hyosung will continue to strive to usher in a new era of plastic materials.