Innovation and technology for award winning Pro Active Chair

Durastar® copolyester from Eastman Chemical Company was selected for the production of the Pro Active Chair, a new office chair produced by ICF Company (Vignate – Milan – Italy) in conjunction with designer Christophe Marchand. This design was recently awarded as “Most Innovative Product” at the NeoCon Chicago 2003/USA, the major furniture exhibition in North America.

The Pro Active Chair (PAC) is the result of a selection process in which both processability and design factors were considered.

PAC is a technologically advanced office chair, with a design that combines transparency, lightness, dynamism and resistance. Combining technologically advanced materials into state-of-the-art design, the chair has the function of fully supporting its user by means of a new oscillating device, which follows the body’s movements and is perfectly and easily adjustable.

Aesthetics too played an important part. The Pro Active Chair design was completed after extensive research into plastics materials – especially those used in sports and leisure, typically those used in extreme and intensive conditions – to establish a total performance and reliability profile.

Durastar copolyester met all the required standards, in terms of aesthetics and for its mechanical and chemical performance and its ease of processing.

Massimo Cornegliani of the Technical Office and Development Team for PAC explains: “Durastar copolyester was selected for this injection moulded application, to produce both the external transparent frame of the seat and the transparent frame of the back.

Both required the material selected to have a high degree of mechanical resistance, strength and resistance to the most common detergents. The PAC development team evaluated a number of materials, including polycarbonate, which did not meet the requirements in terms of mechanical strength or chemical resistance. ABS, on the other hand, was not found to have the required aesthetics.”

He adds: “The selection process was fully supported by Eastman, who gave us useful technical data about the early ageing process and moldflow tests. Furthermore, the use of dehumidificator allowed for the quality enhancement of the product, and the designer was very satisfied with the transparency levels obtained.”

Durastar DS 2110 UVI copolyester contains an ultraviolet light stabilizer. It is recommended for indoor applications requiring enhanced colour stability during extended exposure to fluorescent light. It offers excellent appearance and transparency. Its most outstanding features are toughness, chemical resistance, and excellent processing characteristics. Durastar copolyester has a very good toughness in Izod impact tests. Easy to process, it flows readily and fills complex shape molds . The product is certified to ANSI/NSF Standard 51.

Reader enquiries

Eastman Chemical Company
Fascinatio Boulevard 602-614
2909 VA Capelle a/d IJssel

Netherlands

+31 10 240 23 17

odette@​eastman.com