Polyketone, the world's first new material developed by Hyosung Chemical, will be applied to water gauges. Polyketone has about one- two hundredth of thermal conductivity than conventional brass material, making it stronger against cold spell than water gauges made from brass.
In September, the city's water supply business headquarters also introduced 23,000 polyketone water gauges from Samsung Measuring Co., a manufacturer of water gauges.
In fact, a comparison of the brass and polyketone water gauges with the same conditions of minus 20 degrees Celsius showed that the brass product was frozen 53 minutes later, while the polyketone product lasted 130 minutes.
Although the issue of risk due to lead content is constantly being raised, the polyketone product is gaining attention as an alternative to the existing brass water gauges because it does not cause heavy metal elution and does not rust.
In addition, polyketone is an eco-friendly and carbon-reducing material whose source is carbon monoxide. Every time a ton of polyketone is produced, carbon monoxide, which is the main culprit of air pollution, is reduced by about 0.5 ton.
Hyosung Chemical and Samsung Measuring are pushing for additional deliveries to Seolul City during the first half of next year and have set a goal of replacing 30 percent of their annual demand (about 2.5 million) with polyketone water gauges by 2022.
Hyosung Chemical is also seeking to explore the global market by participating in overseas exhibitions. Hyosung Chemical participated in “IFAT INDIA 2019” that was held in Mumbai, India from Oct. 15 to 18 and “VIEET WATER 2019” that was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from Oct. 23 to 25.
Hyosung Chairman Cho Hyun-joon said, "We will take the lead in making Korea a material powerhouse by focusing on developing new materials such as polyketone, as well as domestically producing carbon fibers with our own technologies."
