12 in the pipeline optical
a future in sight
Further developments in the production of optical materials
for a variety of applications will help to maintain MGC s
prime position as one of the leading players in this eld
MGC s Specialty Chemicals
Company is one of the leading
producers of plastic lens
monomers for spectacles
and plans to further develop
these optical materials to make plastic
lenses with optical properties equivalent
to those of glass lenses.
MGC s IU Series of lens monomers was
launched in 1998 with IU-10, the rst
plastic lens with a refractive index of 1.71
(Abbe number 36) comparable with
inorganic glass in terms of optical
properties. In 2002 the product won the
Technical Development Award of the
Chemical Society of Japan.
Currently IU-50 is on the market with a
refractive index of 1.76 (Abbe number 30),
one of the highest in the industry. MGC is
further improving its quality.
Transparency, high refractive index and
higher Abbe number are indispensable for
spectacle lenses. If refractive indices are
high, it is possible to make thinner lenses,
and if the Abbe number is high, colour
bleed is small. However, these two requirements
are incompatible in practice. Nor-
The Chemical Daily March 2008
mally, the higher the refractive index, the
lower the Abbe number.
MGC overcame this dilemma using its
proprietary molecular design. It adopted
episulphide-based materials instead of the
conventional thiourethane materials, and
in 1998 manufactured the IU-10 plastic
lens with one of the industry s top
refractive indices and highest Abbe
numbers. Since then, MGC has maintained
its leading position in the market for
plastic lenses with high refractive indices
and high Abbe numbers. It now has its
sights set on the development of a product
with a refractive index of 1.8 or more.
e plastic lens market is growing at an
annual rate of 4%. MGC will focus on marketing
its existing products and developing
monomers with higher refractive indices.
Another optical product looking promising
as a replacement for glass substrates
in the electronics industry is MGC s Aromatic
Chemicals Company s Neopulim, a
transparent polyimide (PI) lm with high
Altester will be promoted for use in food
containers, sealant lm and optical lm.
heat resistance. Neopulim was developed
using MGC s knowledge accumulated in
the production of PI raw materials. It can
withstand temperatures up to 280 C and
has a total light transmittance of 90%,
making it a prospective, long-awaited
alternative new material to glass substrates
in the optical device eld.
MGC completed construction of a
5000m /month semi-commercial Neopulim
production plant at its Hiratsuka
Research Laboratory in Q3 2007. As
mass-production has started, the product
is increasingly being applied as a replacement
for glass substrates in light sensors
and other small-sized electronics components,
achieving thinner, lighter weight
designs, and reducing costs. Previously,
limited supply of the product constrained
its use to basic trials.
More fully- edged evaluations are
expected for large-sized products including
exible displays, electronic paper and
photovoltaic cells where an important selling
point is Neopulim s exibility. e
mass-produced product takes the form of
a roll of continuous lm with a thickness
of up to 0.25mm. is enables users to
adopt not only e cient roll-to-roll technology
in the device manufacturing process
but also to use the same sheet process
as for glass substrates. Neopulim s highheat
resistance also enables use of the
lead-free soldering process.
MGC aims to accelerate market development
particularly for large-scale devices
and expects to expand Neopulim production
to 100 000m /month by scal 2011.
MGC s Natural Gas Chemicals Company,
which manufactures polyester raw
material polyols, has developed a heatresistant
amorphous polyester resin using
in-house materials. MGC developed
Altester by co-polymerising spiroglycol to
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