Materials News

Santoprene gets global medical push and Vistamaxx for packaging in Japan

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In the TPV deal, ExxonMobil will supply its Santoprene feedstock to PolyOne for the manufacture of custom compounded medical grade formulations to be marketed and sold globally by PolyOne under its GLS brands. This is to enable ExxonMobil to penetrate the medical and healthcare markets, areas that PolyOne has a strategic position in, aided by its compounding capability.

Under a separate agreement, ExxonMobil has also appointed PolyOne to distribute its medical grade Santoprene TPVs in the US, while Ashland Distribution will remain the distributor of ExxonMobil's non-medical TPV grades and T&T Marketing for the electrical TPVs. ExxonMobil says it will continue to work with select large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), systems suppliers and fabricators, directly.

Meanwhile, having gotten approval from the Japan Hygienic Olefin and Styrene Plastics Association (JHOSPA), ExxonMobil's Vistamaxx grades are now able to be used in flexible and rigid food packaging. The company says the JHOSPA food contact approval is particularly important for OEMs, brand owners, specifiers and designers who manufacture and then export products into Japan.

Based on its proprietary Exxpol metallocene technology, the Vistamaxx propylene-based elastomer is said to offer a combination of high elasticity, softness, toughness, flexibility and clarity.

The grades, used in compounding and films, are already compliant with the US FDA under the Food Contact Notification process and the compositional requirements of the EU-Directive 2002/72/EC for use in contact with food.