Page 49 - Plastics News April 2023

stiffness that enables thin-wall mold-
ing to cut weight by up to 30 per-
cent vs. PA and provide more space
for embedded components. This
specialty resin also provides better
dimensional stability than PA for effi-
cient assembly, and delivers combined
stiffness and strength that allows the
legs to clamp securely to the wearer’s
head. ULTEM resin’s flame retard-
ance enhances the safety of devices
that incorporate electronic compo-
nents, and the non-halogenated for-
mulation avoids the use of chlorine
and bromine, which are associated
with adverse health and environmen-
tal effects.
ULTEM 1000 resin is an unreinforced,
general-purpose grade offering high
multi-language translations. SABIC’s population) live with hearing loss – a heat resistance, high strength and
innovative material helped LLVision number that could rise to 2.5 billion modulus, and broad chemical resist-
minimize the weight of the legs to give by 2050. Another trend is the grow- ance. It is rated for fire safety under
users all-day comfort, while providing ing need for international communi- the UL94 V0, V2 and 5VA standards.
high strength that enables key com- cations that has arisen with the loos- SABIC supplies the material to LLVi-
ponents to be integrated into the legs ening of COVID-19 restrictions. The sion in a custom gray color. In addi-
with maximum functionality. LEION Hey glasses can enable indi- tion, SABIC has a broad portfolio of
“At the beginning of the design phase, viduals to cope with both scenarios. other materials well suited for eye-
we set a goal to make the lightest AR They can help avoid the challenges glass frames and legs depending on
glasses on the market,” recalled Mr. of hearing in noisy environments or customers’ design needs.
Liang Xianglong, Co-Founder and lip-reading when people are wearing “LLVision’s AR smart glasses are a
Leader of Hardware Department masks. Also, they can facilitate com- novel and effective way to help peo-
of LLVision. “Every gram mattered munication in multilingual work en- ple communicate more easily and
to the comfort of our customers. vironments and enable more-active accurately,” said Scott Fisher, direc-
However, with all the components business and social interactions. tor, ULTEM Resins & Additives for
required for AR glasses, including the LLVision employs automatic speech SABIC’s Specialties business. “Our
optical module, microphone and com- recognition technology and artificial high-performance ULTEM resin,
puter chip, it was a difficult challenge. intelligence to create, stream and dis- which has been chosen for eyewear
After comparing and testing materials play voice translations in milliseconds. applications for more than a decade,
from more than 20 suppliers globally, The computer chip integrated in the helped the company address key
we found SABIC’s ULTEM resin to legs of the glasses translates voice product design and manufacturing
be the lightest, with additional advan- input into text data. The glasses con- challenges. Subject to user testing, any
tages of strength, resilience and inher- nect wirelessly to a smartphone app maker of AR or conventional eyewear
ent, non-halogenated flame retard- that handles user authentication. can benefit from the light weight and
ance. With the help of ULTEM resin, Lighter Legs high-strength properties of ULTEM
we lowered the overall weight of our During LLVision’s selection process, resin. We look forward to working
LEION Hey glasses to just 79 grams, ULTEM resin surpassed incumbent with LLVision on a next-generation
or 2.8 ounces.” materials used for eyeglass legs, such version of the LEION Hey glasses us-
According to the World Health Or- as amorphous polyamide (PA) resin. ing a certified renewable, bio-based
ganization, about 1.5 billion peo- SABIC’s polyetherimide (PEI) mate- grade of ULTEM resin.”
ple (nearly 20 percent of the global rial provides a balance of ductility and

PLASTICS NEWS 49
April 2023