High-Performance Materials for an Evolving Society

Our Advanced Performance Materials business is meeting the needs of complex emerging technologies that move society forward.

Advanced Performance Materials

Possessing a unique combination of properties that makes them the only materials able to meet the needs of a world that demands more.

Chemours’ Advanced Performance Materials business features a broad portfolio of high-performance materials that are driving innovation for technologies across markets that people around the world interact with every day.

Our Advanced Performance Materials segment uses a market-back approach to drive technology development that meets unmet customer needs. Our innovations are underpinned by deep technical knowledge and experience that provides the market with solutions to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.

Today's innovations in clean energy transition, ubiquitous connectivity, and communications are creating demand for advanced materials, evolving entire industries, and fueling market growth. Through our Advanced Performance Material offering, we deliver an industry-leading portfolio of high-performance materials serving a broad range of markets and segments, including energy, semiconductors, smart devices, automotive, aerospace, medical devices and communications.

Product Guide:

1938

Roy Plunkett and the Teflon™ Brand

Fluoropolymers are discovered by Dr. Roy Plunkett. He finds that gas stored in a cylinder is found to have turned to a solid. Testing shows the new substance to be extremely slippery and chemically inert. Branded as Teflon™ in 1945, its uses today range from nonstick cookware to cell phone antennae.

1942

The Manhattan Project

Although it was discovered in 1938, one of the first significant uses of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), soon branded as Teflon™, was to contain highly reactive uranium as a part of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic weapons.

1945

Trademarking Teflon

The Teflon™ brand is trademarked for use in a new generation of consumer and industrial products. Applications multiply quickly eventually including everything from nonstick cookware to stain-resistant clothing to cell phone antennae.

1951

Industrial Uses for Teflon™ Coatings

Initially used in a range of consumer products, the most slippery material in existence slides into industrial applications including cable insulation, where chemical and heat resistance add both durability and function.

1957

Viton™: First Fluoroelastomer

Failure is not an option for seals and gaskets used to engineer a new generation of faster, higher-flying U.S. Air Force jets. Combining the flexibility of elastomers with the chemical and thermal resistance of fluorochemistry leads to Viton™, the first fluoroelastomer.

1958

Krytox™: Space-Age Lubricants

As space exploration begins, engines and instruments need lubricants capable of working in extremes of both heat and cold. A range of new fluoropolymers, Krytox™ lubricants, answers the challenge, with its first uses in rocket gearbox lubricants and gyroscope oil.

1960

Nafion™ Ionomer

Dr. Walther Grot discovers a material that is solid and chemically inert like Teflon™ fluoropolymer but that also conducts electricity. Branded as Nafion™ membrane, the new material is initially used for safer chlorine production.

1960

Nonstick Cooking

The first frying pan using Teflon™ nonstick coating for cooking without oil, butter, or fat arrives on the market. It’s a hit in kitchens across the U.S., and a new category of cookware is born.

1962

Early Fuel Cells

A promising new application for Nafion™ ionic exchange membranes is found in fuel cells. The NASA space program is an early adopter, using Nafion™ in fuel cells for the manned Gemini satellite program.

1965

Exploring Space

The challenge of space exploration creates a market for higher-performance products and leads to the first commercial sales of Krytox™ nonflammable lubricants for the Apollo space program.

1970

Fire-Resistant Insulation

Ongoing materials research leads to a new class of ECTFE (ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene) fluoropolymers. Branded as Tefzel™, they offer lower flammability for improved fire safety in wire and cable insulation.

1980

Fuel Cell Production

Nafion™, a conductive membrane originally used to control chemical exchange in chlorine production, finds new uses in the promising field of fuel cells for energy production. A dedicated manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, opens to help serve this growing field.

1985

Better Lubrication

Previously limited to specialized aerospace uses, Krytox™ lubricants—valued for their high-temperature tolerance, longer life, and temperature stability—become available for use in a broad range of industrial machinery.

1986

The Statue of Liberty

As part of a major renovation, Teflon™ coating is used for a new inner stainless steel framework to protect the statue’s outer copper skin from corrosion.

1988

Teflon™ Turns 50

The Plunkett awards begin, celebrating the world’s first fluoropolymer and Dr. Roy J. Plunkett, the man who discovered it. The awards honor the most innovative new fluoropolymer applications.

1992

Water-Repellent Clothing

The versatile properties of the Teflon™ brand find a new application, providing water repellency in windbreakers, rain pants, and other outdoor garments.

1998

Running Quieter

Patented soluble additives in Krytox™ lubricants allow bearings lubricated with oil to run more quietly and wear less, in uses ranging from generators to jet engines.

1999

Nonstick Cooking in China

Growing demand for cookware with Teflon™ nonstick coatings leads to the opening of a new facility in Shenzhen, China. The plant provides a regional nonstick coating supply for pots, pans, and woks made in Asia for both the domestic and export markets.

2001

Extending Equipment Life

Changing the formula for lubricants in bearings, seals, and other industrial components with Krytox™ XHT offers extended machine life, improved safety, and high-temperature stability up to 400 °C (752 °F).

2001

Chemistry for New Technologies

Meeting a rising need for piping and tubing to handle aggressive chemicals used in semiconductor production, higher-purity Teflon™ PFA HP grades resist corrosion and cracking.

2010

Technology Takes Off

As new technologies emerge, chemistry evolves. Teflon™ branded polymers find new and vital applications from semiconductor making to smartphone antennae. Other fluoropolymers support safer military communications and potential power transmission via Ethernet cables.

2012

Reducing Downtime

To reduce damage and downtime, a customer requested more heat-resistant cable insulation, inspiring Dr. Jacob Lahijani to develop ECCtreme™ ECA fluoropolymer, rated for heat tolerance for use up to 300 °C (572 °F), about 40 °C (104 °F) higher than previous options.

2013

Elimination of PFOA

Responding to studies showing low levels of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) in the blood of the general population, DuPont attains its goal of no longer making or using PFOA a year and a half ahead of its goal. Today, Chemours continues this legacy of stewardship and does not make PFOA or use PFOA for any of its products.

2013

Changing the Formula

The spin-off of the fluoroproducts business within DuPont Performance Chemicals is announced, launching the Chemours Fluoroproducts business.

2015

Chemistry for Rainy Days

Chemours develops Teflon EcoElite™, a 60% renewably sourced, non-fluorinated, water-resistant finish that’s up to three times more durable than competitors. Our customer will have launched the first renewably sourced outerwear line in fall 2016 by using this breakthrough technology.

2016

Our Home Is in Wilmington

The global headquarters of Chemours Fluoroproducts remains in Wilmington, Delaware. Staying in this fiscally responsible locale will help to stimulate future growth and attract great talent.

2017

We are now a Fortune 500 Company

In fewer than two years, Chemours has become an enterprise finding its footing and realizing its potential among the global commercial elite. The company’s success is built on strong values, which include an unwavering focus on customers. And the five-point transformation plan kept all 7,000+ employees applying the same formula for success throughout the journey.

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Gerardo Familiar: President, Advanced Performance Materials