SABIC Gets 2015 Crystal Cabin Award For Clear Lexan Sheet

Last month in Hamburg, SABIC was honored in the category of Materials & Components with the Crystal Cabin Award, held in conjunction with the Aircraft Interiors Expo. This was the company’s inaugural entry into the only international competition for excellence in aircraft interior innovation, now in its ninth year.

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The Crystal Cabin Award seeks to spur the development of new products and innovative designs for aircraft cabin interior, with the ultimate aim to create a significant improvement in passenger comfort. This year’s competition drew a record number of participants, with 68 submissions. A total of 21 semifinalists were shortlisted, three each in seven categories. Judging criteria included unique features of the entry; compatibility with general market demand; aesthetic and engineering qualities; usability and cost-effectiveness.

SABIC was honored with the award for its Clear Lexan XHR sheet series, a lightweight engineered PC-based material, which was specially developed in response to the airline industry’s ongoing desire for a transparent material that would help to differentiate cabin interior designs.

This sheet series boasts the highest level of light transmission (80%) available in an OSU-compliant sheet material, meeting OSU 65/65 heat release and typical industry flame, smoke, toxicity (FST) requirements. As such, the durable and thermoformable sheet expands design options for window reveals, partitions, refrigeration equipment, luxury interiors, walls, security partitions, oversized windows, self-service refreshment stations, instrument displays, divider panels and mirrors.

With the introduction of coated Clear Lexan XHR2HC1 and XHR2HC2, SABIC now offers grades that provide even more robust vertical burn performance, reaching the industry’s highest standards without the need for secondary processing to apply a coating, laminate or film. These coated sheets meet the industry’s robust 60-second vertical burn performance and the same smoke density OSU 65/65 heat release standards and OEM toxicity requirements as the uncoated sheet. Lexan XRH2HC1 sheet, coated on one side, is seen as a candidate for components that need to be laminated or printed. XRH2HC2 sheet, coated on two sides, is a candidate for many of the same applications, offering scratch, chemical and graffiti resistance on both sides.

Want to find or compare materials data for different resins, grades, or suppliers? Check out Plastic Technology’s Plaspec Global materials database.