By Frank Esposito
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: October 22, 2014 2:41 pm ET
Updated: October 22, 2014 2:46 pm ET

Image By: Caroline Seidel
Ernst Poppe, technical service manager for DuPont, shows a biopsy tool made from the company's Sorona EP.

Materials made by DuPont Co. are making inroads with products ranging from auto coolant pipes to circuit breakers to surgical devices.

A new grade of Zytel-brand nylon 6/12 can provide 60 percent weight savings in auto coolant pipes, said Ernst Poppe, DuPont’s performance polymers technical service manager, Oct. 15 at Fakuma. The grade — which has been nominated for a Society of Plastics Engineers award — will be used in pipes for small cars.

Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont developed the new pipes in conjunction with automotive suppliers Tristone Flowtech Group of Frankfurt and Teklas Kaucuk AS of Istanbul.

Circuit breakers and electrical switches are among target products for a new grade of Rynite-brand PET. Poppe said Rynite can replace thermoset resins in those applications by offering recyclability as well as similar performance. The material also is non-halogenated.

In the medical market, instrument maker DTR Medical of Swansea, England, is using DuPont’s Sorona-brand biopolymer in a single-use biopsy tool for taking a tissue sample from a patient. The glass-filled grade of Sorona used to make the instrument can be almost 40 percent renewable. Poppe said the new grade can replace metal because of its resistance to gamma radiation and its five-year shelf life.

Other new product grades highlighted by DuPont at Fakuma include a Hytrel-brand copolyester used in optical fiber cables and two new food-contact resins. A new grade of Zytel 6/10 nylon is being used in beverage dispensing tubes, while a new Rynite PET grade is aimed at ovenable trays and bowls that can withstand temperatures of up to 200° C.

DuPont ranks as one of the world’s largest producers of chemicals and specialty plastics. The firm employs about 70,000 worldwide and posted sales of almost $36 billion in 2013.