Polyamides or nylons are the first engineering plastics and still represent the biggest and most important class of these types of material. The development of polyamide began with the first publications describing polycondensation which is the basic principle of nylon synthesis in 1929. The development of nylon production continued with the synthesis of poly (hexamethylene adipamide), the original “nylon” which was conducted by Wallace H. Carothers in a DuPont Laboratory in 1935. This invention resulted in the first patent for the production of synthetic polyamides in 1937 and the subsequent commercial production of nylon 6,6 for toothbrush filaments by DuPont in 1938. In 1941, DuPont introduced the first moldable nylon grades. The other commercially important polyamide, nylon 6 based on caprolactam was first produced at IG Farbenindustrie in Germany by P. Schlack in 1938 and the patent for nylon 6 was subsequently issued in 1941. Although the large markets of polyamides were traditionally for fiber appl cations, the use of polyamides as plastics grew gradually since the 1950s.
Polyamides comprise a wide range of materials, depending on the monomers employed. Commonly used products are designated as nylon 6; 6,6; 6,12; 11 and 12 with the nomenclature designating the number of carbon atoms that separate the repeating amide group. Nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 continue to be the most popular types among polyamide commercial products, still accounting for more than 90 percent of nylon used in the global market.
In the case of polymers based on two reactants that contribute chain segments (typically a diamine and dicarboxylic acid), the nomenclature is one in which the number of carbon atoms in the diamine is followed by the number of carbon atoms in the dicarboxylic acid.
Two basic reactions are used to synthesize polyamide engineering polymers: (1) polycondensation of a dibasic acid and a diamine or (2) polymerization of an amino acid or lactam. The most widely used nylon polymers are semicrytalline products with molecular weight of 10-40 thousand and chemical structures in which amide linkages connect aliphatic chain segments.
Polyamides are a versatile family of thermoplastics that have a broad range of properties ranging from relative flexibility to significant stiffness, strength, and toughness. Major properties such as resistance to chemicals, toughness, thermal stability, good appearance, and good processability are key considerations that make nylon suitable for engineering plastics applications. Traditionally, the majority of nylon produced was used in the fiber application. This consumption trend has changed substantially over the past decade with increasing proportion of nylon going into the engineering thermoplastics market. This is due to the fact that nylons have particular utility in performing mechanical duties that traditionally relied on metal parts.
In terms of properties, nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 appear to be comparatively similar although nylon 6 has better toughness and processability. On the other hand, nylon 6,6 has superior mechanical properties and higher heat resistance. For engineering plastics, both nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 can be used over an extensive range of applications including automotive, consumer, industrial, electrical and electronics segments. Overall, automotive applications have been the major driver for this positive growth in recent years in the trend towards replacing metal parts with plastics, in order to reduce weight and costs as well as meet vehicle emission standards.
Market outlook for nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 varies extensively depending on domestic demand and current market conditions in each country. Overall, developed markets of North America and Europe will experience sluggish growth over the foreseeable future as a result of the global economic downturn and movement of several manufacturing activities into lower-cost base countries. Japan, one of the very mature markets, will likely suffer low growth over the next coming years due to saturated market conditions and steady erosion of the Japanese manufacturing base. China is expected to be one of the fastest growing countries for ETP nylon, largely driven by phenomenal growth in the automotive and electrical/electronics markets.

1 Summary 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.2 CHEMISTRY 2

      1.2.1 Nylon 6 2

      1.2.2 Nylon 6,6 4

1.3 PRODUCTION PROCESSES 5

      1.3.1 Nylon 6 Batch Process 5

      1.3.2 Nylon 6 Continuous Process 6

      1.3.3 Nylon 6,6 Batch Process 7

      1.3.4 Nylon 6,6 Continuous Process 8

1.4 NYLON MAJOR MARKETS 11

1.5 ECONOMICS 13

1.6 COMMERCIAL ANALYSIS 15

      1.6.1 North America 15

      1.6.2 Europe 17

      1.6.3 China 19

2 Introduction 22

3 Chemistry and Technology 24

3.1 CHEMISTRY 24

      3.1.1 Nylon 6 24

      3.1.2 Raw Materials of Nylon 6 Production 25

      3.1.3 Nylon 6,6 26

      3.1.4 Raw Materials of Nylon 6,6 Production 27

3.2 PRODUCTION PROCESSES 30

      3.2.1 Nylon 6 Batch Process 30

      3.2.2 Nylon 6 Continuous Process 32

      3.2.3 Nylon 6,6 Batch Process 34

      3.2.4 Nylon 6,6 Continuous Process 36

4 Current Commercial Technologies 42

4.1 INTRODUCTION 42

4.2 LURGI ZIMMER GmbH 42

      4.2.1 Background 42

      4.2.2 Technology Features 42

      4.2.3 Process Description 43

      4.2.4 Licensee 45

4.3 UHDE INVENTA-FISCHER 47

      4.3.1 Background 47

      4.3.2 Technology Features 47

      4.3.3 Process Description for Nylon 6 49

      4.3.4 Process Description for Nylon 6,6 55

      4.3.5 Licensees 55

5 Technology Developments 57

5.1 INTRODUCTION 57

5.2 SELECTED RECENT PATENTS 57

      5.2.1 New Recycling Technologies 57

      5.2.2 Improvements in Process Design 58

      5.2.3 Improvements in Quality 60

6 Product and End-Use 62

6.1 RESINS AND COMPOUNDS 62

      6.1.1 Resins Properties 62

      6.1.2 Recycling 71

      6.1.3 Storage 71

      6.1.4 Additives and Fillers 72

      6.1.5 Compounding 79

6.2 FABRICATION METHODS 80

      6.2.1 Injection Molding 81

      6.2.2 Extrusion 82

      6.2.3 Blow Molding 83

      6.2.4 Rotomolding 84

      6.2.5 Reaction Injection Molding (RIM) 84

      6.2.6 Assembly Techniques 84

6.3 NYLON MAJOR MARKETS 85

      6.3.1 Automotive 87

      6.3.2 Electronics and Electrical 88

      6.3.3 Consumer 89

      6.3.4 Industrial 89

      6.3.5 Other Applications 90

      6.3.6 Alloys 90

      6.3.7 New Developments in Nylon 6 and 6,6 Products 91

7 Economic Analysis 92

7.1 BASIS 92

      7.1.1 Pricing Basis 92

      7.1.2 Investment Basis 92

      7.1.3 Cost of Production Basis 93

7.2 COMPARATIVE ECONOMICS 94

      7.2.1 Investment 94

      7.2.2 Production Costs 95

      7.2.3 Raw Material Sensitivity 102

      7.2.4 Sensitivity to Scale 103

8 Market Analysis 110

8.1 NORTH AMERICA 110

      8.1.1 Overview 110

      8.1.2 Demand 110

      8.1.3 Supply 112

8.2 EUROPE 115

      8.2.1 Overview 115

      8.2.2 Demand 115

      8.2.3 Supply 117

8.3 JAPAN 119

      8.3.1 Overview 119

      8.3.2 Demand 119

      8.3.3 Supply 121

8.4 CHINA 123

      8.4.1 Overview 123

      8.4.2 Demand 123

      8.4.3 Supply 126

8.5 GLOBAL 127

      8.5.1 Global Summary 127

9 Reference 129

10 Glossary 132

Appendix Page

A Elements of Nexant's ChemSystems Capital Cost Estimates A-1

B Supporting Cost of Production Estimates B-1

C PERP Title Index C-1

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