NEWS: 07.27.2005

KYDEX® SHEET TURNS 40

BLOOMSBURG, PA— Kleerdex Company LLC is celebrating the fortieth anniversary of Kydex® thermoplastic sheet, announced Richard Cort, vice president sales and marketing.

"Kydex 100" thermoplastic was introduced by Rohm and Haas Company in 1965 and originally purchased by United, American, Delta and other airlines for thermoforming of aircraft interior components. Additional Kydex grades were subsequently developed to meet specific needs of original equipment manufacturers across numerous industries.

In 1987 Kleerdex Company purchased the Kydex product line from Rohm and Haas, and in 1990 began manufacturing Kydex sheet at its Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania location. Kleerdex developed numerous additional grades to provide the physical, electrical and chemical properties, and fire ratings, required for mass transit vehicles, electrical enclosures, medical products and other demanding applications, as well as general-purpose grades that compete with fire retardant ABS and polycarbonate.

In addition to thermoforming of OEM components, users began to employ Kydex sheet as a protective wallcovering for commercial, institutional and industrial buildings—a major market for Kydex sheet today.

Similarly, wood product manufacturers, in an effort to eliminate the cracking and chipping problems of high-pressure laminates, began to laminate and post form Kydex sheet onto wood components of commercial furniture, store fixtures, kiosks and displays, applications that now comprise a large and expanding market for the product.

The demand for Kydex sheet as a damage-resistant building product was further fueled by its suitability for membrane pressing of wood-core components, a major application today.

Kydex sheet was available exclusively in solid colors in a variety of surfaces textures and thicknesses until 1995 when Kleerdex introduced integral granite patterns, after which decorative capped sheets were introduced in granite patterns, woven carbon fiber, metallics, camouflage and highly realistic wood grains.

Today, Kydex sheet is produced in over 40 grades utilized for aircraft interiors, mass transit vehicle interiors, building products and a variety of original equipment products.

The company's Bloomsburg, PA facility is certified to the ISO 9001:2000 quality management system and ISO 14001 environmental management system.