Page 333 - Engineering Plastics Handbook

Polyarylethersulfones (PAES) 291

It offered essentially the same 220°C T as that of PES but significantly
g
superior performance attributes relative to both PSF and PES in terms of
mechanical toughness, chemical resistance, and flammability resistance.
In 2005, Solvay Advanced Polymers, LLC, is in the early stages of com-
mercial introduction of a next-generation sulfone polymer that extends
the thermal capability even further. This new high-temperature sulfone
®
polymer is being introduced as Supradel HTS, and it offers a glass
transition temperature of 265°C, the highest of any fully amorphous
thermoplastic resin commercially available today. While it is a poly-
arylethersulfone in the general sense, the exact repeat unit structure of
®
Supradel HTS is not disclosed at this writing.
The commercial importance of sulfone polymers derives from their
unique ability to offer a combination of performance features and attrib-
utes. Key among these performance features are the following:
1. High strength and stiffness even at elevated temperatures
2. High heat deflection temperatures and long-term use temperatures
3. Outstanding hydrolytic stability
4. Excellent resistance to acids and bases
5. Inherently good flammability resistance
6. Good dielectric properties over a broad temperature range
7. Good chemical resistance (relative to other amorphous plastics)
8. Transparency, low inherent color, and good colorability
9. Ease of melt fabrication
10. Ability to hold precise dimensional tolerances in injection molding
11. Safety for food and potable water contact

While many thermoplastics exist that offer high-temperature perform-
ance capability in some fashion, very few high-performance resins on the
market offer the attributes listed above as a combination. In addition to
the above list of features, PPSF offers supertoughness mechanical attrib-
utes, which include a high notched impact resistance on par with that of
polycarbonate. There are four commercial producers of sulfone polymers
today: BASF, Gharda Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemicals, and Solvay
Advanced Polymers. The resin types offered by each of these suppliers
along with trade names and some of the grade designations corresponding
to the different resin types are listed in Table 13.1.
The rest of this chapter explores the synthesis processes of the sul-
fone polymers in general and discusses the property profiles of these
polymers. The main areas of commercial applications of the sulfone
polymers are also presented.