Novel BASF fiber will encounter competition Germany-based BASF plans to intro duce in 1996 a high-performance fiber that promises to compete in the already crowded market for synthetic heat- and flame-resistant fibers. Last month, BASF disclosed it will build a 3 million-lb-per-year, $18 million plant at Enka, N.C., to produce commer cial quantities of the melamine-based fi ber the company calls Basofil (C&EN, June 13, page 26). When the plant starts up during the first quarter of 1996, the new fiber will compete against fibers al ready in production, such as paraaramids like DuPonfs Kevlar, Akzo-Nobel's Twaron, and Teijin's Technora; the higher temperature resistant metaaramids like DuPonfs Nomex and Tei jin's Teijiconex; Hoechst Celanese's polybenzimidazole fiber (PBI); Amoco's polyphenylene sulfide fiber (PPS); and Lenzig's polyimidefiberP-84.
With little demand from military and commercial aerospace markets and slow demand for fire-protective clothing, supply currently exceeds demand for high-temperatureresistant fibers. But BASF is betting that a combination of lower cost and a pickup in fire protection applica tions will allow Basofil to compete against other high-performance fi bers in the market. BASF marketing executives say the price of Basofil will be signifi cantly lower than comparable heatand flame-resistant fibers. Market sources estimate the price of metaand para-aramid fibers at more than $7.00 to nearly $30 per lb, depending on the grade; PBI at around $50 per lb; PPS at around $8.00 per lb; and A fire protection suit made with Basofil is polyimide at between $10 and $60 tested by exposure to flames. per lb, depending on the grade. It is ironic that, although Basofil will originally developed the fiber. Work on have a cost advantage relative to other Basofil fiber began around 1980 in Ger synthetic heat-resistant fibers, it is too many, says BASF's Karl Ott, an indus high priced to use as building insula trial engineer in Ludwigshafen who tion, the application for which BASF was involved in the early work on the
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new fiber. At first, BASF, a major Euro pean melamine producer, developed melamine foam insulation. Because the fiber insulation market was larger than the market for foam insulation, the com pany developed a melamine fiber that could substitute for the then high-priced mineral wool widely used in insulation. When prices for mineral wool dropped a few years later, Basofil's principal in ventor, Heinz Berbner, took a look at other markets for the fiber and saw in Basofil an asbestos fiber substitute for automotive clutch and brake linings, gaskets (where the aramids are a major factor), and fire protection clothing (where the aramids and PBI are major participants and polyimide is a factor). Other potential markets include coal boiler and incinerator flue-gas filtration (where PPS is a major contender and polyimide also plays a part) and fireblocking fabric for airplane seats (where the aramids, PBI, and polyimide are used). Ott says that the development of a fi ber from melamine, a resin more com
monly associated with laminates, glues, and coatings, gives new life to an old polymer. Basofil has a continuous-use temperature of 200 °C and can with stand momentary exposures to tempera tures as high as 300 °C. The fiber will not burn or melt when exposed to very high temperatures, but it will char. BasofiTs material safety data sheet notes that the fiber may release "trace" quantities of formaldehyde during handling and ex posure but reports no adverse health ef fects in the use of the fiber. Toxicological testing has so far shown that the fiber poses no dangers to human health. Ott says Basofil fiber's diameter ranges from 8 to 20 μιη—too big to cause lung damage by inhalation. Although BASF already operates a pi lot plant for Basofil in Ludwigshafen, the company decided, for a number of rea sons, to place its first commercial-scale plant for the fiber in North Carolina. Walter J. Rushing, director of BASF in dustrial fiber operations based in Char lotte, N.C., says one factor in the deci sion was that the U.S. has a better cost
structure in terms of building a plant and producing the fiber than does Ger many. BASF pays no penalty in placing the plant in North Carolina, he notes, be cause the fiber can be easily shipped to global markets from Enka. In addition, BASF has no fiber production ability in Germany, but it does have that ability in North Carolina. So it made sense to in stall the new fiber operations in North Carolina, where BASF has its only com mercial fiber operations. Rushing thinks Basofil will expand markets for heat- and flame-resistant fab rics because of BasofiTs lower cost relative to meta-aramids, PBI, and PPS. But not everyone agrees. Hoechst Celanese's PBI business manager, Keith W. Nagy, thinks Basofil will increase the competition for business among existing flanrieprotective fibers. He believes that lower performing fibers that are already less expensive than PBI, such as treated flame-retardant cotton and wool, will initially feel competitive pressure from Basofil because of the new fiber's low cost. Marc Reisch
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