The 631 resin, which is being launched on to both the European and North American markets, is the latest addition to the fast-growing Zylar family. As well as cosmetics, it is also suitable for a variety of other packaging applications, including medical devices and housewares.
"Zylar 631 offers molders and part designers the crisp clarity of our clearest grades, combined with the impact toughness of our toughest grades. It is simply the best product in our group of Zylar resins," said Holly Wilson-Jene, marketing director, Styrenics.
An alternative to polycarbonate, clear ABS and impact acrylic, the company claims that new resin also delivers superior value through its density advantage, which results in more parts per pound versus other clear resins. In addition, energy and labor costs associated with processingare up to 40 per cent lower than competing materials.
These benefits make it ideal for creating injection molding applications for a host of cosmetics packaging products at a reduced cost.
Wilson-Jene said that in particular molders and designers had received the resin particularly well in view of its ease in processing and its overall product performance, even in demanding conditions.
Nova Chemicals says that the success of Zylar resins has helped the company's division grow at an average of 30 per cent during the course of the past five years, with reductions in labor and energy costs combined with reduced cycle times proving to be the chief selling points.
To support this growth demand, the company added a new,twin-screw extruder that is said to improve production capacity, efficiency and quality, and enables enhanced custom color matching.