Ticona Vectra

Ticona Vectra Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) Product Information, Ticona, Snmmit, NJ, 07901 (2000). 

Aromatic polyesters that do not contain any flexible structural units are often nonmeltable or extremely high melting polymers that cannot be processed. Copolymerization is a way to obtain processable wholly aromatic polyesters The Tm versus copolyester composition curve is a U-shaped curve exhibiting a minimum that is generally well below the Tm of corresponding homopolymers. Liquid crystalline aromatic polyesters, for instance, are usually copolymers.72 An example is Ticona s Vectra, a random copolyester containing 4-oxybenzoyl and 6-oxy-2-naphthoyl units in ca. 70 30 mol ratio. This copolymer melts at ca. 

Injection molded thermoplastic bipolar plates made of Vectra LCP (liquid crystal polymer) and Fortron PPS fabricated by Ticona Engineering Polymers, (http //www.ticona.com/redesign/ index/markets/innovation/fuel cell.htm Ticona Engineering Polymers. 2008 accessed March 2008.)... 

Styrenic block copolymer (63) Vectra (Series) Hoechst Celanese Corp. (Ticona)... 

Vectra A950 t[Ticona http //www.ticona.com]] Vectra B420 j[Ticona http //www.ticona.com]] Vectra B950 t[Ticona http //www.ticona.com]] Zenite 7223 WT050 [DuPont Engineering Polymers http //www.dupont.com] http //www.piastics. dupont. com]... 

Random copolymerization is an effective way to disturb the regular molecular structure of the polymer chain. The lack of periodicity along the chain inhibits crystallization and, thus, reduces the crystal size and perfection and depresses Tm. If the chosen comonomer is essentially linear, losses of chain mesogenicity can be minimized. This approach has been followed in designing thermotropic copolyesters, such as Vectra A by Celanese (now Ticona), which continues to enjoy commercial success. Vectra A is the copolyester of p-acetoxybenzoic acid (ABA) and 2,6-acetoxynaphthoic acid (ANA) with a mole ratio of 73/27. The melting point of this LCP is around 280°C, which is much lower than the melting points of the either poly (ABA) or poly (ANA) [6]. 

Ticona and Xydar from BP-Amoco. The key advantages of Vectra are its fast cycling and ease of processing. Xydar offers improved retention of mechanical properties at high temperatures. Both Vectra and Xydar are very resistant to chemical and solvent attack. In addition, LCPs are little affected by radiation [6]. 

The thermal degradation kinetics of Ticona s Vectra, BP-Amoco s Xydar, EHiPont s Zenite, and Mitsui s polyimide and polyamide LCPs are analyzed below. 

Anon. Processing Vectra , Processing and Troubleshooting Guide (VC-6), Ticona (formerly Hoechst Technical Polymers), Summit, NJ. 

II 240-270 Solvay (Amoco)/XYDAR , Sumitomo/SUMIKASUPER LCP , DuPont/ZENITE, Ticona (Hoechst) / VECTRA , Toray/ SIVERAS , Mitsubishi/NOVACCURATE , Ueno/UENO LCP ... 

Polymers are nsed in fnel cells. Those of particular interest are the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and the phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) designs. The latter design contains the liquid phosphoric acid in a Teflon bonded silicon carbide matrix. In March 2005 Ticona reported that it had bnilt the first fnel cell prototype made solely with engineering thermoplastics. They claimed that this approach rednced the cost of the fuel by at least 50% when compared with fuel cells fabricated from other materials. The 17-cell unit contains injection moulded bipolar plates of Vectra liquid crystal polymer and end plates of Fortron polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). These two materials remain dimensionally stable at temperatures up to 200 "C. The Vectra LCP bipolar plates contain 85% powdered carbon and are made in a cycle time of 30 seconds. 

As consumer products become smaller and offer more services to the user, one frequent consequence is that they contain increasing numbers of physically smaller components. A typical example of this trend is the hearing aid where the emphasis is on providing a more powerful and efficient device which will improve the wearer s quality of life. The Acuris P hearing aid from Siemens incorporates a moulded interconnect device (MID) made from Ticona s Vectra E820i LDS liquid crystal polymer (TCP). This novel plastic permits complex, fine-line circuit patterns to be laser-etched and then plated. The MID itself, whose function is to connect the microphone module to other electronic components in the unit, is approximately 3 mm wide and 25 mm long. 

In parmership with GL Carbon, Ticona have developed a highly graphite filled Vectra grade for the injection moulding of bipolar fuel cell plates. These plates can be moulded on a 10 second cycle time and... 

Thermotropic liquid crystalline polyesters (TLCP) such as DuPont s Zenite or Ticona s Vectra have unique properties because a very high degree of orientation can develop under the action of shear. This arises because of the presence of rigid groups in the polymer backbone (often based on hydroxybenzoic acid) which form ordered domains in which the chains are aligned in the same direction. In general the advantages of TLCP are as follows ... 

Thermotropic aromatic copolyesters (liquid crystal polymers) (LCP) Vectra Xydar Zenite Ticona Solvay Dupont High temperature fabricated parts, E/E interconnects, connectors, medical equipment, aerospace, automotive and industrial parts... 

In 2002, Ticona engineering polymers doubled capacity of its Vectra LCP plant at Shelby, North Carolina, USA, to 6,000 tpa. The company also produces LCP in Fuji City, Japan, in cooperation with 45% affiliate Polyplastics Co Ltd (a joint venture with Daicel Chemicals Industries). In 2000, Polyplastics increased capacity for Vectra by 2,000 tpa of neat polymer, lifting its annual output to 8,000 tpa of neat polymer or 12,000 tpa of compounds. 

Ticona has introduced the heat-resistant Vectra T LCP series, developed jointly with Polyplastics Co Ltd, Tokyo. According to the company, this liquid crystalline pol5mer, which has a melting point of 370 °C, offers improved dimensional stability in heat and also good melt stability, despite its higher heat resistance. Productivity increases will be possible in injection moulding, in particular. 

The materials used in this study were poly (ethylene terephthalate) (Shell Cleartuf 7202C) with a 0.72 intrinsic viscosity, and a liquid crystalline polymer, produced by Ticona under the trade name Vectra A950. The LCP is a co-polyester of 73 mol% HBA (4-hydroxybenzoic acid) and 27 mol% HNA (6-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid). 

Vectra Product Line , Ticona GmBH, http //www.ticona.com/vectrabr e.pdf (October 2007). 

The matrix material used for this project was Ticona s Vectra A950RX liquid crystal polymer (LCP), which is a highly ordered thermoplastic copolymer consisting of 73 mol% hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) and 27 mol% hydroxyn hthoic acid (HNA). This LCP has the properties need for bipolar plates, namely high dimensional stability up 250"C, extremely short molding times (often 5-10 s), exceptional dimensional... 

The materials used in this study were LCP (Vectra A950, Ticona) and PET (Eastapak PET 7352, Eastman Chemical Company). Both resins were in pellet form and were dried at 120°C in a vacuum oven for 24 h before use. 

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