DuPont Materials Help Bridge PA12 Polymer Shortage

In response to the PA12 shortage resulting from the unfortunate fire at Evonik’s manufacturing site, DuPont is working with industry associations and with customers to identify alternative materials that can be used to help manufacture components in fuel and brake systems.

DuPont recognizes the magnitude of the reported shortage will require close collaboration throughout the value chain to quickly qualify alternative materials to manufacture these components — there likely won’t be a “one answer fits all” solution.
For applications such as mono- and multi-layer fuel lines, fuel vapor tubes, PCV hoses, air brake hose and tubing, brake line coatings, servo brakes and vacuum brake tubes, DuPont Performance Polymers products that could be used to replace PA12 include specialty DuPont™ Zytel® nylon resins and Hytrel® TPC-ET. Zytel® HTN PPA is a proven solution in many fuel line quick connectors.

DuPont offers 3 specialty Zytel® nylon families — 6/12, 10/10 and 6/10 — which are based on long-chain polyamide technology. They offer varying degrees of flexibility balanced with resistance to zinc, calcium chloride, hydrolysis and permeation making them potential replacements for PA12 in critical fuel and brake line applications. Many of the products are based on renewable content from castor oil derived from the non-edible castor plant.

Many of the Zytel® nylon specialty polymers are commercial today in applications that typically rely on PA12. For example, Fiat is using Zytel® RS 10/10 nylon in bio-diesel fuel lines and was honored last year with a “most innovative use of plastics” award for replacing PA12.
DuPont was aggressively developing PA12 alternatives prior to the shortage related to the fire at Evonik and plans to bring additional products to the market in the coming year.

Source: DuPont