Arkema's Pebax elastomer family completes 40 years in shoe industry
March 31, 2021 - France
Arkema’s famous range of high performance thermoplastic elastomers, Pebax, has proved to be a hit in the sports shoe industry for 40 years. Arkema is a specialty chemicals and advanced materials company, headquartered in Colombes, near Paris, France. The company is a leading innovator in amino 11 chemistry derived from sustainable castor seeds.
The Pebax elastomer family has also established itself as a reference material in a wide variety of industrial, consumer electronics, wearable device, and medical device applications, which celebrate its outstanding energy return, lightness, and durable flexibility, Arkema said.
The company has launched an entire range of Pebax Rnew bio-based grades whose ‘hard polyamide blocks’ are derived from Arkema’s flagship polyamide 11 chemistry. These are available in Shore D hardness range of 30 to 80. A wide range of partially bio-based lightweight foams are also available commercially through Arkema’s network of partner foam producers, lighter and more resilient than traditional foams used in high performance sports shoes while retaining the explosive energy return for which Pebax polymers have become world famous, according to Arkema.
Arkema has unveiled new partially bio-based hydrophilic grades, particularly suited for breathable membranes for the sustainable apparel market. It has also announced the Virtucycle partnership programme for recycling post-industrial and post-consumer polymers. Arkema and its partners have recently celebrated four years of successful implementation of the Pragati programme, which drives sustainable castor bean farming in India; over 4,500 castor seed farmers in India have now been certified, Arkema said in a press release.
In support of its partner customers in the high performance sports market, Arkema has created a dedicated consumer-facing website, www.pebaxpowered.com, to educate consumers in terms of technical and sustainable performance.
“Sustainability has been a major driver of our innovation. We are proud to deliver advanced bio-circular materials to our customers. We continue to innovate in exciting new arenas such as 3D printing, sustainable toys, and a wide variety of consumer applications,” Erwoan Pezron, senior VP, high performance polymers at Arkema said in a statement.
The Pebax elastomer family has also established itself as a reference material in a wide variety of industrial, consumer electronics, wearable device, and medical device applications, which celebrate its outstanding energy return, lightness, and durable flexibility, Arkema said.
The company has launched an entire range of Pebax Rnew bio-based grades whose ‘hard polyamide blocks’ are derived from Arkema’s flagship polyamide 11 chemistry. These are available in Shore D hardness range of 30 to 80. A wide range of partially bio-based lightweight foams are also available commercially through Arkema’s network of partner foam producers, lighter and more resilient than traditional foams used in high performance sports shoes while retaining the explosive energy return for which Pebax polymers have become world famous, according to Arkema.
Arkema has unveiled new partially bio-based hydrophilic grades, particularly suited for breathable membranes for the sustainable apparel market. It has also announced the Virtucycle partnership programme for recycling post-industrial and post-consumer polymers. Arkema and its partners have recently celebrated four years of successful implementation of the Pragati programme, which drives sustainable castor bean farming in India; over 4,500 castor seed farmers in India have now been certified, Arkema said in a press release.
In support of its partner customers in the high performance sports market, Arkema has created a dedicated consumer-facing website, www.pebaxpowered.com, to educate consumers in terms of technical and sustainable performance.
“Sustainability has been a major driver of our innovation. We are proud to deliver advanced bio-circular materials to our customers. We continue to innovate in exciting new arenas such as 3D printing, sustainable toys, and a wide variety of consumer applications,” Erwoan Pezron, senior VP, high performance polymers at Arkema said in a statement.