SEOUL, KOREA- SK Chemicals has begun supplying a "super engineering plastic" material that it has developed on its own to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. Engineering plastic is a group of plastic materials that have superior mechanical and thermal properties than the more widely used commodity plastics.According to industry sources on July 28, the SK Group company is selling "Puratan" PCT polyester, a high-performance engineering plastic with high deflection temperature, toughness, and fast crystallization, as a deflector material for LED panels for TV. This is a second instance of successful commercialization after Eastman Chemical Co. of the United States.
Up until now, most Korean electronic makers have relied on Kuraray Co. of Japan for their LED deflectors. As SK Chemicals' Puratan is cheaper with higher performance, it is expected the new material would soon substitute the Japanese import.
The world's LED deflector market is about 400 billion won, with more than a 30-percent growth a year. Including other applications such as electric car connectors, non-woven fabric, and heat-resistant films, the market is close to 2 trillion won a year. An SK Chemicals official said, "By next year we want to take a 30-percent share in the world's market for LED deflectors."
