Technifab's New Aerospace Ducting System Features End Caps and Anchors Made of Solvay's AvaSpire® PAEK

Ultra-High Performance Polymer Delivers Greater Toughness and Cost Benefits for Structural Components

Hamburg, Germany., April 9, 2014– Technifab Inc., Avon, Ohio, a leading solutions provider to the aerospace industry, has developed a new high-performance polymeric foam ducting system that features structural components made of AvaSpire® polyaryletherketone (PAEK) resin from Solvay Specialty Polymers. The new ducting system is a key element of a newly developed aerospace Environmental Control System (ECS) for a major aircraft manufacturer. Solvay made the announcement at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIE), Booth 7A29, in Hamburg, Germany.

AvaSpire® PAEK provides greater toughness and reduced cost compared to standard polyetheretherketone (PEEK) for interior aerospace applications such as the structural end caps and anchors used in this design. The ultra-high performance polymer also offers greater strength, better creep resistance, and improved hydrolytic stability compared to nylon and other competitive engineering thermoplastics that were also considered, according to Jack DeRuyter, vice president of business development for Technifab. The unfilled AvaSpire® PAEK grade also meets the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Flammability, Smoke Density, and Toxic Gas Emission (FST) requirements.

The injection molded end caps made of AvaSpire® PAEK serve as part of a rigid connector system for the ducting. The 0.25 cm (0.10 in) thick end caps, which range in diameter from 5.1 to 15.2 cm (2 to 6-in), are attached to the ducting with an epoxy-based adhesive. AvaSpire® PAEK is also used to injection mold the anchors that serve as mounting brackets for the ducting. They have the same dimensions as the end caps and are also attached to the ducting with an adhesive.

Technifab’s new ducting system is being installed on current airframes produced by major aircraft manufacturers.

AvaSpire® PAEK is a family of customizable high-performance polyketones tailored to fill cost and performance gaps between PEEK and other high-performance polymers. These materials are part of Solvay’s Spire® Ultra Polymers portfolio, which includes KetaSpire® PEEK.

About Solvay Specialty Polymers
Solvay Specialty Polymers manufactures over 1500 products across 35 brands of high-performance polymers  luoropolymers, fluoroelastomers, fluorinated fluids, semi-aromatic polyamides, sulfone polymers, aromatic ultra polymers, high-barrier polymers and cross-linked high-performance compounds  for use in Aerospace, Alternative Energy, Automotive, Healthcare, Membranes, Oil and Gas, Packaging, Plumbing, Semiconductors, Wire and Cable, and other industries. Learn more at www.solvay.com.

As an international chemical group, SOLVAY assists industries in finding and implementing ever more responsible and value-creating solutions. Solvay generates 90% of its net sales in activities where it is among the world's top three players. It serves many markets, varying from energy and the environment to automotive and aerospace or electricity and electronics, with one goal: to raise the performance of its clients and improve society's quality of life. The group is headquartered in Brussels, employs about 29,400 people in 56 countries and generated 9.9 billion euros in net sales in 2013. Solvay SA is listed as SOLB.BE on NYSE Euronext in Brussels and Paris (Bloomberg: SOLB:BB - Reuters: SOLB.BR).