Potential for Teijin’s Biofront polylactic acid has been extended through improved resistance to hydrolytic degradation in hot and humid conditions. Biofront has been developed by Teijin to improve on the drawbacks of standard PLAs, such as low heat resistance, as a means of pushing bio-sourced polymers into engineering applications.
With this latest improvement Teijin says Biofront is now 10 times more hydrolytic resistant than conventional commercial bioplastics, with virtually the same level of durability as PET. This opens potential as an alternative to PET and PBT in moulding applications, as well as increasing the durability of fabrics used in car seats, as prototyped two years ago in a Mazda hybrid car.
This new technology will be used in the production of Biofront at the medium-volume pilot production plant scheduled to be started in early August at Teijin’s Matsuyama plant.
Source: britishplastics.co.uk
