SIPOL SPA IS A PRIVATELY OWNED ITALIAN COMPANY WHOSE CORE BUSINESS IS THE POLYMERISATION OF SPECIALITY COPOLYESTERS AND COPOLYAMIDES
TPE MAGAZINE n 04/2013
SIPOL® SpA is a privately owned Italian company whose core business is the polymerisation of speciality copolyesters and copolyamides. This portfolio allows SIPOL® to serve material needs of main industry fields and also to supply specific products into a wide range of niche sectors. Sipol’s main activities are the development and manufacturing of copolyester TPEs (TPC-ET), speciality polyesters, hot-melt adhesives based on copolyesters and copolyamides, as well as copolyester-based biodegradable polymers.
SIPOL® (Società Italiana Polimeri) was founded in 1998. Today the company has around 35 employees, headquarters are located in the city of Mortara near Milan in the North of Italy. This specific location exploits the logistical advantage of being positioned in one of the most important highway networks in Southern Europe and it comes with the company’s history as Sipol first activity consisted in manufacturing hot-melt adhesives for the shoe industry of the Vigevano area, which is only 10 km away. SIPOL® has implemented and maintains a strong quality management system which fulfils the requirements of both ISO 9001- 2008 and ISO 14001-2004. The company has the capacities to manufacture a large range of tailor-made products.
For the production of the hot-melt adhesives, SIPOL® operates with copolymers specifically designed for industrial sectors like footwear or automotive filter producers. In both fields the company is an established supplier. SIPOL® materials are also used in the furniture, electronic, medical and textile sectors. Hot-melt adhesives specifi cally designed for textile lamination are marketed under the trade name SIPOLTEX®, all other grades are grouped within the TECHNIPOL® family.
In the area of engineering polymers SIPOL® introduced the SIPOLPRENE® brand for its range of copolyester TPEs (TPC-ET) in 2002.
These materials are made through the combination of rigid polyester blocks (crystalline segments) and flexible long-chain polyether blocks (amorphous segment). This combination grants the polymer a unique behaviour: while the rigid part of the molecule develops intermolecular associations with the other rigid segments providing the dimensional stability and the mechanical properties of a semi-crystalline polymer, the flexible part with its relatively low glass transition temperature imparts elastomeric properties to the material.
The company’s polymerisation know-how achieved through the hot melt adhesives business and its competence in building polymer chains using different comonomers were the basis to develop several grades with varying macromolecular compositions.