Sabic has introduced Noryl GTX 9500 resin, a new addition to a range of unfilled Noryl GTX resin grades, which delivers excellent dimensional stability under hot and humid conditions, addressing the challenge for highly demanding automotive applications. Ranked among the leading petrochemicals manufacturers, Sabic is a company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Sabic’s Noryl GTX 9500 resin retains a better balance of mechanical properties when exposed to heat and humidity typical of automotive under-hood environments, than polyamide (PA) resins (PA66 and PA6), as well as comparable high flow and high-temperature performance. Its dimensional stability and mechanical property retention under a wider range of temperatures and humidity, together with high flow performance, can open opportunities for thin-wall designs that reduce weight. Target applications for Noryl GTX 9500 resins include vehicle junction boxes, connectors, and other applications requiring dimensional stability. These materials also demonstrate a potential for use as the base resin in carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites used in structural and body components, and for applications in the industrial, aerospace, and marine markets, Sabic said in a media statement.

The strong tendency of PA resins to absorb moisture and water, which is exacerbated by elevated temperatures, may cause softening, loss of stiffness and warpage. NORYL GTX 9500 resin offers significantly lower water and moisture uptake than PA, even under high heat conditions, up to 150 degrees Celsius. In fact, SABIC testing demonstrated that NORYL GTX 9500 resin absorbed 21 percent less moisture at equilibrium than PA66, and 58 percent less than PA6. 

With moisture absorption at equilibrium, Sabic’s Noryl GTX 9500 material surpassed PA in dimensional stability. Noryl GTX 9500 resin had a total dimensional change (flow direction and crossflow direction) at equilibrium of 0.29 per cent, while PA66 has a total change of 84 per cent and PA6 had a total change of 165 per cent higher than Noryl GTX 9500 resin. This improved dimensional stability offers benefits for moisture-sensitive applications, including reducing warpage to minimise scrap rates and enabling designs with thinner walls to support light-weighting. 

Noryl GTX 9500 resin also demonstrates exceptional retention of mechanical properties, flexural modulus, tensile modulus and flexural strength, under wet conditions compared to PA66 and PA6. Furthermore, this material surpasses incumbent Noryl GTX grades based on PA in terms of water and moisture uptake, dimensional stability and property retention, according to Sabic.

“Our global development teams excel in formulating thermoplastics with targeted properties that resolve long-standing customer challenges such as the propensity of nylon to soften under exposure to moisture,” Darpan Parikh, global product management leader, resins and compounds, Sabic’s specialties business said in a statement.

“We designed Noryl GTX 9500 resin to give our customers innovative new material options for applications that must retain their shape and performance in hot, humid environments. The launch of this new grade demonstrates our leadership in materials innovation and our focus on continuously improving and expanding our portfolio,” Shinsuke Nakamoto, senior business manager, Noryl Portfolio, Asia Pacific, Sabic’s specialties business said.