Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction in which polymers break down due to the action of water. This reaction causes a breakage of molecular chains, loss of molecular weight and therefore, loss of polymer properties, especially toughness.

Hydrolysis is a slow process at room temperature, but can be fast at high temperature environments. It is an irreversible process, even drying the material will not restore its initial properties.

Certain applications require materials with special properties to resist hydrolysis, such as tanks, tubes, and conduits in which the polymeric material is in contact with hot water, steam, or water-glycol mixtures.

NUREL has recently developed Promyde® HSA HR, a range of special glass fiber reinforced PA6 grades specially designed for parts requiring extreme resistance to hydrolysis.

After comparative testing, our PA6 HSA HR grades have been shown to outperform even PA66 grades for special hydrolysis resistance.

Test conditions:

1000h at 120ºC in ethylene glycol (50%)