Global styrenics company INEOS Styrolution has announced the launch of a new Zylar grade of methyl methacrylate butadiene styrene materials. 

Named Zylar EX350, the new material is designed to provide a balance of stiffness and toughness, making it a suitable option for carrier tapes used in packaging electronic components. 

The extrusion-grade material offers greater design flexibility, an optimal protection level, and support for electronics components. 

It also allows the development of ‘deeper and more rigid pocket designs’, which are not possible with a general-purpose polystyrene/styrene-butadiene copolymer blend, thereby offering greater versatility to meet diverse market needs. 

The material is now available in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.  

INEOS Styrolution APAC technical manager Johnson Lin said: “Having the right carrier tapes for tape-and-reel packaging is important as this will minimise part migration, flipping and sticking during transportation, as well as mispicks during the pick-and-place process, preventing product and productivity losses during surface mount technology assembly.  

“Our new Zylar EX350’s well-balanced combination of stiffness and toughness is able to ensure component stability, a consistent and smooth peel-off strength performance, and good transparency for the camera inspection.” 

INEOS Styrolution has a portfolio of styrene monomer, polystyrene, and styrenic speciality products.  

In July last year, the company teamed up with Norwegian waste transformation business TOMRA and German recycling company Entsorgungsgesellschaft Niederrhein to recycle post-consumer polystyrene waste.