Engineering Plastics

Engineering plastics provide performance superior to ordinary plastics under a wide range of conditions. By improving existing technologies and developing new, advanced materials, Idemitsu's petrochemical R&D division has further pushed the boundaries of engineering plastics to produce a new lineup of enhanced, high-end products. Behind our development are three types of high-performing resins: polycarbonate (PC), a resin with excellent toughness and transparency, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), for extraordinary dimensional stability; and syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS), a new, highly-functional material well-suited for a wide range of applications.

Idemitsu's R&D network combines core technologies with our years of practical experience and knowledge, allowing us to develop new products and materials, and write important patents protecting our innovative ideas. In this way, we secure the future growth of our business, enabling Idemitsu to meet the demands of emerging fields based on new technologies and highly valuable products.

TARFLON® Polycarbonate is an amorphously engineering plastic produced in our unique, integrated petrochemical complex in Chiba, Japan. It offers superior impact strength, transparency, heat resistance and dimensional stability. Produced from phenol and bisphenol A, the halogen-free fire retardant grade of TARFLON® is of particular importance because of its low environmental impact with all of its extraordinary qualities.

After years of extensive research and development, XAREC® is the first syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS) produced by Idemitsu. XAREC® boasts remarkable heat and chemical resistance, as well as superior dimensional stability, making it the preferred SPS in many fields. As a result, XAREC® has been endorsed by the automobile industry for use in critical electrical parts and components. XAREC® is often applied to lead-free reflow soldering to comply with current environmental regulations such as RoHS.

Our original compounding technology has made Idemitsu's Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS) the choice for superior mechanical strength and high heat resistance. This remarkable material is widely used for optical pickups, semiconductor packages, fiber-optic communications and other cutting edge fields.