TPI April 2009

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Victrex Plc is a manufacturer of high
performance materials, including
Victrex® PEEK ™ polymer, Vicote®
coatings and Aptiv™ film. Thesematerials
are used in a variety of markets and
offer a combination of properties to
help processors and end users achieve
cost savings, quality, and performance.
All Victrex material production comes
under the company’s ISO 9001 quality
registration.
The company recently celebrated the
30th anniversary of Victrex PEEK polymer,
a high-temperature, high-performance
polyketone.
“The history of Victrex stems back to the
original patent of PEEK, and since then
we have been able to further expand our
product offerings with the development
of unique polymers, proprietary blends,
and high performance compounds,”
commented Richard Okupniak,
managing director for the Victrex PEEK
polymer business. “In November 1978,
the business (then a plastics unit within
ICI) began its PEEK production. The
business was small-sized with a handful
of employees. Today, Victrex employs
more than 500 people around the
world and operates two state-of-the
art manufacturing facilities with a total
production capacity of 4,250 tonnes.”
The company’s products are featured
in a variety of commercial applications
in numerous markets, from automotive
and energy to consumer electronics.
30 years of Victrex PEEK polymer innovation
Since 1978, the use of Victrex PEEK
polymer has spread around the world,
initially into western Europe and the
United States to address customers’
needs in the automotive and
transportation sector. As businesses
became global, Victrex moved into
Japan and, during the last decade, has
delivered its polymer into China. The
company continues expansion into high
growth markets such as India, Russia
and Brazil.
Being focused on the development of
polyketones, Victrex is able to offer
a comprehensive polyketone product
portfolio, giving customers the flexibility
to choose from a wide range of materials
to help solve performance challenges.
The company continues to focus on
Victrex PEEK polymer research and
development.
Victrex has a £1.5 million, 900m2 Applied
Technology Centre in the UK that is an
extension of the company’s product
and application development facilities,
providing material specification and
testing services. The centre houses
processing labs featuring extrusion
and compounding equipment for new
product development, as well as state-
of-the-art injection moulding machines,
with the capability to support customer
trials on-site, and tooling for moulding
experimental samples and test pieces.
The processing labs can bring a
customer’s product design to life,
making use of the latest injection
moulding and compression moulding
techniques. Victrex can help optimise
a customer’s design and can assist
in establishing a set of manufacturing
parameters according to the particular
materials being selected, as well as
carry out an extensive set of relevant
analytical and application-related tests
to confirm the real-world feasibility of a
part. This can take away any uncertainty
from a customer’s product design and
in many cases opens up new design
alternatives for customers.
The UK centre complements the Victrex
Asia Innovation and Technology Center,
located in Shanghai, China. Based on
the same advanced services, the state-
of-the-art 2,000m2 facility is dedicated to
Victrex PEEK polymer-based application
and testing. Customers benefit from
local-language staff, technical seminars,
process and troubleshooting support,
moulds validation and prototyping.
Victrex is a multiple winner of the
prestigious Queen’s Award for
Enterprise: International Trade in 1987,
1997, 2002 and 2006. It also attained
the Royal Society for the Prevention
of Accidents (RoSPA) President’s
Award in 2008, in recognition of
sustained occupational health and
safety achievement after winning ten
consecutive RoSPA Gold Awards.
Victrex Plc – UK
Photo – Unifit Boru Baglanti, Turkey – see page 26
developments
products &
22 Tube Products International April 2009