DEGALAN® Low Profile Additives for unsaturated polyesters

The curing of unsaturated polyester resins (UPR) is accompanied by a high degree of shrinkage of about 7 to 10% due to polymerization and leads to poor dimensional stability, impaired surface quality and reduced mechanical properties. Low Profile Additives are thermoplastics that are highly effective in preventing shrinkage due to polymerization in forming processes at high temperatures, for example when compression molding sheet molding compounds (SMCs) and injection molding bulk molding compounds (BMCs).

Polymethyl methacrylate copolymers (PMMA) are among the most important Low Profile Additives. Apart from their excellent, low tendency to shrink, the use of PMMA copolymers leads to a high heat deflection temperature in the end product (≥ 200°C), combined with good mechanical properties. All of these characteristics make our DEGALAN^® LP 53/13C and DEGALAN^® 6639 products the materials of choice for applications in the automotive and electrical industry. They are sold as solids and are added as a styrene solution to SMC/BMC blends.