SABIC launches Material Finder website with easy data access for selecting specialty thermoplastics

30 Jun 2023 --- Chemical industry leader SABIC is launching a website to allow customers to search, compare, evaluate and select specialty thermoplastic materials for a wide range of applications. Material Finder website users can review information on more than 2,000 SABIC specialty resins, copolymers and compounds – one of the largest portfolios in the industry.

“We created the SABIC Material Finder website to give customers the advantages of convenience and control in selecting our specialty materials,” says Sanjay Mishra, who heads R&D and manufacturing for specialties at SABIC.

“By providing digital tools for accessing authentic, validated product data directly from SABIC, this new website can significantly streamline decision-making. Customers are encouraged to go beyond the data and work with us one-on-one to ensure they have all the information and insights to evaluate the best materials well-suited for their applications.”

The website also provides practical details on purchasing materials in Asia, Europe and North America and lists buying contacts. For color services, users can directly access SABIC’s ColorXpress website to search for available colors and special effects, order color chips or request a color match.

The SABIC Material Finder website provides up-to-date product data that can be easily searched and filtered to meet consumer requirements.Digital supply chain
The Material Finder website provides up-to-date SABIC product data that can be easily searched and filtered to meet consumer requirements. For each product grade, users can obtain a list of key features, target industries and potential applications and use cases. 

A deeper search reveals specific properties, values and test methodologies, appropriate processing methods and available or custom color options. Registered users can also make a profile and save their favorite products to revisit later.

The comparison tool within the website allows users to select up to five grades for a side-by-side evaluation of key performance properties, including electrical, mechanical, impact, thermal, physical and flame characteristics. 

The comparisons also include equipment specifications, settings and conditions recommended for injection molding, extrusion and other applicable processes, such as wire coating.

For registered users, SABIC’s Specialties business’ product material data is available for download in multiple computer-assisted engineering (CAE) platform formats to simplify the material selection process.

Registered users gain access to additional technical data and resources, including curve data, design and processing guides and other product literature. Designers can now obtain CAE cards from seven platforms, and more CAE software formats will be added soon, says SABIC.Registered users can request color-matching services or place orders for color chips directly from the website.

Online platforms
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently introduced its Circular Startup Index to help businesses search and pick from an evolving database of start-ups driving a circular economy across different sectors, industries and geographies. “There is no shortage of circular economy innovation – we just need it to scale,” Ella Hedley, project manager of Startups at the Foundation, told Packaging Insights. 

“The packaging space is a great example of this – businesses have set ambitious targets, governments are working on creating the right policies and countless entrepreneurs are innovating to create solutions that eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials and regenerate nature. Yet signs of scale are emergent at best.” 

To help companies across sectors disclose their plastic-related impacts, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) launched its global environmental disclosure platform. Through the CDP’s online disclosure platform, companies will disclose information on the production and use of plastics – including plastic polymers, durable plastics and plastic packaging. The data will be made available in September. 

Meanwhile, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has set up a pan-EU enforcement project to crack down on online sales of products, such as toys, common household goods or chemicals, with EU regulations. ECHA reports that online sale of chemicals is an area of high non-compliance and aims to strengthen enforcement with the upcoming project.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria