Late last year Solvay completed the split into two independent publicly traded companies: SOLVAY and SYENSQO. All 3D printing-related activities including the company’s range of advanced 3D printing filament materials, under the Radel and Ketaspire brands, are now being integrated and will ultimately become businesses of Syensqo.
“Solvay has a 160-year legacy that will be passed on for generations to come and the names of our new companies reflect this perfectly,” said Dr. Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay “Solvay will create and deliver essential solutions in housing, health, nutrition and mobility, which fulfill the basic needs of humanity. It will enable vital solutions that are at the heart of people’s everyday lives. Syensqo will be a company of explorers who will usher in breakthroughs that will advance humanity. I am so proud of our teams who have made this possible and excited about the bright future of both Solvay and Syensqo.”
Targeting the future
Syensqo is thus the new name for SpecialtyCo. It will be a science company of explorers who seek unexpected perspectives, enable breakthrough innovations and explore the future of science. It has a strong connection to Solvay’s history of science at the service of mankind, like the Solvay Conferences for Physics and Chemistry.
The complex breakdown of the name is as follows:
- SY links back to the first and last letters in Solvay.
- EN is a nod to Ernest Solvay’s name.
- SYENS refers to Solvay’s scientific heritage, which goes back to 1911, when its founder Ernest Solvay brought 24 of the world’s most brilliant scientific minds together – including Albert Einstein and Marie Curie – for the first Solvay Conference. In fact, the impact was so profound that the Unesco World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe the archives of the Solvay Conferences for Physics and Chemistry in its Memory of the World Register.
- Q points to this same 1911 conference, which laid the foundations for Quantum Physics, and launched one of the greatest scientific journeys ever, still feeding cutting-edge innovation today.
- QO is for company.
Syensqo will play a key role in the future of clean mobility, by making the next generation of EV batteries possible and by advancing green hydrogen and thermoplastic composites. It will bring about breakthroughs in bio-based solutions, natural ingredients, circular solutions, and more. Overall Syensqo will include the highly innovative businesses Specialty Polymers, Composites, Novecare, Aroma, Technology Solutions, Oil & Gas, as well as the four growth platforms in batteries, green hydrogen, thermoplastic composites, and renewable materials and biotechnology. The businesses within Syensqo generated approximately €7.9 bn in net sales in 2022.
Syensqo’s 3D printing materials
Syensqo’s portfolio of specialty polymer filaments for 3D Printing offers advanced levels of strength and stiffness, flame resistance, chemical resistance, and reliable performance in high and low temperatures. These polymers are durable, lightweight and corrosion-free alternatives to metal.
Today most of Solvay’s 3D printing products are available through the Solvay AM Shop. At this time the shop has not yet been rebranded but it is accessible directly from the Syensqo AM materials page. Since it was launched in 2019 the Solvay AM Shop has not represented a key focus for the company and saw very little development. As it becomes integrated into Syensqo, the hope is that the company’s future-minded approach will make it into a higher strategic priority.
Syensqo is now also partnering with leading additive manufacturing hardware and software innovators to jointly optimize materials, processes, and design — and help to design, test, and print the best possible high-performance 3D parts. The company is leveraging its long-standing partnership with e-Xstream Engineering to offer customers predictive simulation solutions for additive manufacturing applications that demand a higher level of end-part performance. Syensqo’s high-performance KetaSpire PEEK, Ketaspire PEEK CF as well as Radel PPSU filaments are available in e-Xstream Engineering Digimat for Additive Manufacturing (Digimat-AM) simulation software.
Since 2018, Solvay/Syensqo has been developing its Syensqo Printer Evaluation Program (S-PEP) to benchmark the most promising high-temperature printers currently on the market. The company aims to facilitate the adoption of 3D printing with high-performance polymers by establishing a standard methodology to evaluate printer performance and optimizing processing conditions for each printing system to get the best part properties. The program builds on Syensqo’s recognized material expertise and technology leadership in high-performance polymers. It is also a unique learning opportunity for the participating printer manufacturers, with the ambition to bring AM together to the next level.
