VESTAMID®—the cornerstone of Evonik’s high performance polymers

In 1963, at the K´63 plastics trade show, the former Chemische Werke Hüls AG unveils VESTAMID^®, a polyamide 12 produced on the pilot-plant scale by a process developed in-house. Nobody could have imagined that the polymer specialty, regarded internally with some skepticism, would lay the foundation for high performance polymers from Evonik

The steps involved in the process are:

• trimerization of butadiene
• hydrogenation of cyclodecatriene to cyclododecane
• oxidation of cyclododecane to cyclododecanone
• reaction of cyclododecanone with hydroxylamine, to yield cyclododecanone oxime
• production of laurolactam by Beckmann rearrangement, using Ziegler catalysts

1966: The first reactor, with an output of 1,200 metric tons of polyamide 12 per year, goes into operation. Under the brand name VESTAMID^®, the product is processed into compounds, coating powders, and copolyamide hot-melt adhesives. The names VESTOSINT^® for the polyamide 12 powders and VESTAMELT^® for the copolyamide hot-melt adhesives are used for the first time at the K´86 plastics trade show. The development of polyamide 612 also starts in the mid-1960s.

1970: Chemische Werke Hüls AG and Daicel Ltd., Tokyo, establish a 50:50 joint venture, Daicel-Hüls Ltd.—now Daicel-Evonik—in Osaka, Japan, for the manufacture of polyamide 12 and its sale under the name DAIAMID in East Asia.

1977: Start of plant-scale trials for production of polyamide 12 elastomers. These will be marketed in the following years under the name VESTAMID^® E.

2000: Following construction of a pilot plant, a commercial plant is commissioned for continuous production of polyamide 12. The process was developed by Evonik (former Hüls) in 1993.

2008: At the FAKUMA trade show in Friedrichshafen, Evonik unveils VESTAMID^® HTplus, a high-temperature-stable semicrystalline material based on polyphthalamide, to the general public
2009: With VESTAMID^® Terra, Evonik launches polyamides of biogenic origin for the first time on the market.