{"id":23002,"date":"2026-10-20T08:18:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/?p=23002"},"modified":"2026-10-20T13:09:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T19:09:44","slug":"pe-sabic-article-accelerating-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/23002\/pe-sabic-article-accelerating-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Accelerating E&E Infrastructure Expansion with Extruded Specialty Resins"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Specialty Thermoplastics Can Enable New Designs, Deliver Enhanced Performance and Processability, and Address Regulatory Changes<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

Authors:<\/strong> Jim Creeley, Yohana P\u00e9rez, Kristopher Rexius, SABIC’s Specialties Business<\/p>\r\n

\"Overhead<\/p>\r\n

Manufacturers of rigid, extruded profiles for electrical and electronics (E&E) applications face a dual challenge. These products need to facilitate rapid, extensive infrastructure buildouts across the telecommunications, information technology, and energy generation and storage industries. At the same time, they must meet escalating requirements for performance, safety and regulatory compliance.<\/p>\r\n

Profiles including overhead busway insulation, conduit, cable trays, fiber optic raceways and heating\/ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) ducts are essential for construction and expansion of critical infrastructure. For example, they play an important role in power distribution and cooling of AI data centers, a global market expected to expand at a 23.4 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2033.\u00b9<\/p>\r\n

\"Diagram\"<\/p>\r\n

To keep pace with intensive infrastructure growth and evolving requirements such as regulatory restrictions on halogens and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), profile manufacturers are considering replacing metal and traditional resins with polyphenylene ether (PPE)-based materials. As alternatives to polyamide (PA66), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polycarbonate \/ acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PC\/ABS) materials, these specialty dielectric resins can offer solutions to the twin demands for fast infrastructure build-out and enhanced properties.<\/p>\r\n

Easy Processing of PPE Resins in Extruded E&E Profiles<\/h2>\r\n

In the face of escalating demand for extruded E&E profiles, amorphous, unreinforced PPE materials, such as SABIC’s NORYL\u2122 resins, can offer wider processing windows and cooling ranges compared to semi-crystalline resins. The higher melt strength of NORYL resins may lead to increased throughput vs. semi-crystalline resins that require more-controlled cooling periods. Also, unreinforced PPE resin offers lower abrasion compared to glass fiber-reinforced resin systems, helping to extend the life of dies and downstream equipment. Compared to metal, PPE resins help avoid time-consuming secondary operations such as polishing. These attributes contribute to higher productivity and faster order fulfillment.<\/p>\r\n

Innovative Thermoplastic Profile Designs May Accelerate Installation<\/h2>\r\n

NORYL PPE resins help enable new, lightweight profile designs that may accelerate installation in data centers and other facilities, compared to heavier metal profiles. They can also simplify scale-up or reconfiguration of existing infrastructure. For instance, their ability to be extruded in very long lengths with high dimensional stability can give designers greater freedom to create uninterrupted spans of busway insulation. These insulation profiles facilitate attachment or relocation of tap-off units for data center server racks without the need for special tools or downtime.<\/p>\r\n

\"03<\/p>\r\n

SABIC helps manufacturers develop new extruded profile designs using NORYL resins by providing comprehensive application development support. At its Global Application Technology (GApT) centers of excellence SABIC offers assistance with material analysis and selection, process optimization and equipment reviews, and provides expertise and resources specific to the E&E industry. These services may help manufacturers accelerate their validation process.<\/p>\r\n

Enhanced Performance and Compliance of PPE Resin<\/h2>\r\n

During operation, SABIC’s PPE materials maintain their properties during exposure to elevated temperatures and amperages up to 1,000A, such as those in AI data centers, and deliver other key properties:<\/p>\r\n