JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 20

Market

resin

Resin manufacturers
are preparing for the
volumes to come
- Resin manufacturers are
preparing for the volumes
to come ......................... p20

The composites sector worldwide is growing, and this clearly draws
along in its wake the resins sector. The consolidations in our sector
continue apace, and thermoplastic compounders have an appetite
for more and more, with the growth rates for thermoplastic composites exceeding those for thermosets. There is certainly no lack
of innovation, whether in terms of the new materials that may be
qualified as hybrids (here, concerning the matrix) or the applications,
with automotive combustion engines a particular case in point.

the caprolactam supplies for DSM Engineering Plastics in Europe and in North America
for the next 15 years. NewCo will also
he last six months have seen some ma- supply DSM Engineering Plastics in China
jor consolidations, for both thermoset in order to underpin DSM's position as one
and thermoplastic resins. For therof the leading suppliers of polyamide 6. In
moset resins, DSM and CVC have formed
the same period, Sika confirmed the buyout
NewCo based on the Polymer Intermediates of Axson Technologies, first announced in
and Composite Resins activities of DSM;
January 2015. Thanks to this acquisition,
Sika has taken over Axson Technologies;
Sika is expanding its Tooling and Composand Momentive Specialty Chemicals has re- ites offering, based mainly on polyurethane
turned to its roots by renaming itself Hexion. and epoxy resins - for which Sika is already
Concerning thermoplastics, A. Schulman
a specialist - to include tooling & prototyphas bought out Citadel Plastics (also involv- ing, composites and electrical/electronics
ing thermosets); RTP Company has taken
usages. Axson Technologies products are
over some production units of Alloy Polyused in design, prototyping and tooling,
mers; Solvay now owns Ryton PPS; and
structural bonding, composite materials
Bayer Material Science is the new owner of
and potting compounds. In parallel, Sika is
Thermoplast Composite. The newly-found- extending its distribution network and the
ed NewCo deals in thermoplastics, too.
number of its production units through the
Solvay has also formed a partnership with
incorporation of six Axson Technologies
3A Composites. In March, DSM and CVC
sites (USA, Mexico, France, Slovakia, China
Capital Partners announced a partnership
and Japan). In mid-January, Momentive
with the objective of creating a new comSpecialty Chemicals was renamed Hexion
pany (temporarily called "NewCo"), based
in order to benefit from a well-known name.
on the Polymer Intermediates (caprolactam This leader in thermoset resins is thereby goand acrylonitrile) and Composite Resins
ing back to basics, considering that Momenactivities of DSM. DSM wishes to refocus
tive Performance Materials was born from
on its acyclic activities (Nutrition and Perthe merging of Hexion Specialty Chemicals
formance Materials) and only holds a 35%
and Momentive Performance Materials by
share in the new entity. NewCo will operate Apollo Management. Hexion, which was
independently under the leadership of CVC the largest of the two companies, operates
but will continue to provide at least 80% of
via four divisions: Epoxy Resins, Phenolic

20 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

Resins, Coating Resins and Forest Products.
In mid-March, A. Schulman - an international supplier of high-performance compounds, powders and resins -announced
the acquisition of Citadel for $800 million,
thereby doubling its revenues in the United
States while balancing its global offering and
augmenting its product portfolio with more
thermoset composites and thermoplastic
compounds (see Figure 1). The Engineered
Composites branch of Citadel includes
resin grades for compression and injection
moulding, short glass or carbon fibre-reinforced compounds, BMCs, TMCs, SMCs
and high-performance composites. With this
takeover, A. Schulman now employs 5,100
people (1,200 from Citadel), and possesses
63 production units worldwide (including
21 Citadel: 10 thermoplastic compounding units in the USA and Canada, and 11
thermoset units of which seven in North
America, one in Germany, one in Brazil and
two in China, via a joint-venture).
Still with regard to compounders with an
interest in composites, RTP Company
announced in the second half of December
the purchase of three Alloy Polymers plants,
at Richmond (Virginia) and Crockett and
Orange (Texas). This new purchase follows
on from the purchasing of the Gahanna,
Ohio plant (again, of Alloy Polymers).
These plants come under the umbrella of
the Alloy Polymers Group, a wholly-owned

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015