GREAT LAKES PICKS GE’S GELOY RESIN FOR ENHANCED COLOUR, AESTHETICS & LONG-TERM WEATHERABILITY ON NEW LINE OF HOT TUBS

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GREAT LAKES PICKS GE’S GELOY RESIN FOR ENHANCED COLOUR, AESTHETICS & LONG-TERM WEATHERABILITY ON NEW LINE OF HOT TUBS
11 April 2005 - GE Advanced Materials

Great Lakes Home & Resort, manufacturer of Great Lakes Hot Tubs, today announced a new line of hot tub shells in vibrant, highly weatherable colours for which it has selected GE Advanced Materials’ GELOY XTW E290 resin, a new extrusion grade of acrylic-styrene-acrylonitrile (ASA) resin for large-part thermoforming. GE developed the material for Great Lakes to help enable the hot tubs to withstand the rigors of prolonged outdoor abuse while retaining their outstanding aesthetic appeal and functionality.

GELOY XTW E290 resin provides exceptional beauty and strength, helping Great Lakes’ new hot tub shells retain their high-gloss finish with excellent depth of image for the stylish “wet look” the pool and spa industry currently demands. By combining a base of tough engineering thermoplastic with a core of advanced GELOY XTW resin and a clear top layer, the new material system – called WeatherPro G and developed jointly by GE and Spartech Plastics Custom Sheet and Roll Stock Group – provides exceptional high performance where the GELOY resin can maintains its superior appearance for three- to five-times longer than conventional ASA resins.

GELOY XTW E290 resin virtually eliminates clouding, fading, or cracking under tough outdoor conditions and offers excellent chemical and UV resistance. And, unlike cast acrylic shells, the GELOY resin system allows homeowners and resorts to more easily repair the hot tub shells if they are damaged.

Great Lakes Home & Resort selected GE’s GELOY ASA resin based on this outstanding balance of high-performance properties, as well as for the wide range of unique and dramatic colour options the material provides. Great Lakes’ customers can now pick from six new shell colours, including Sunset Sienna, Espresso, Amethyst, and Mediterranean Blue. An additional six colours are planned for commercial release in 2005. GE also offers its own expanded selection of hot tub colours for GELOY XTW E290 resin, including Champagne, Pearlescent, and Silver Star.

“Our design engineers worked closely with GE to develop this exceptional portfolio of colours,” said Rick Mouw, president of Great Lakes Home & Resort. “GELOY resin helps our hot tubs perform with superior weatherability and shell strength, helping to keep Great Lakes at the forefront of the pool and spa industry. It not only helps improve hot tub performance for our customers, but also helped boost our dealers' sales performance. The enhanced colour and high-gloss finish of the GELOY resin is dramatic – so much so that it stands out from across a showroom floor.”

“The long-lasting beauty that GELOY resin delivers represents more than mere surface enhancement,” said Craig Williams, industry manager for Transportation & Outdoor Materials at GE Advanced Materials. “It demonstrates a step-change in how materials technology can improve the look of the home or resort. Great Lakes’ new hot tub line is an excellent example of this breakthrough weatherable technology at its best.”

GELOY XTW E290 resin offers brighter whites, deeper blacks, an extended colour palette, and a range of gloss levels from 20 to 90 percent. The material performs exceptionally well in accelerated G26, SAE J1960, and QUV weathering tests, as well as in two-year outdoor exposure studies in Florida and Arizona. All tests indicate that the material will likely exhibit a prolonged delay in aesthetic shift after seven to ten years.

GELOY XTW E290 resin is also compatible with ABS and PVC as a capping stock. Injection moulding grades of this ASA resin perform equally well, offering a superior balance of impact resistance, flow, and aesthetics vs. traditional materials.

GE’s offering of high-performance materials for the pool and spa industry also include XYLEX resin, typically used in pool and spa pump housings, pool cleaners, and other pool and spa accessories. XYLEX resin is a transparent product that offers high UV and chemical resistance, good colour retention under wide temperature extremes, and excellent overall weatherability.

http://www.ge.com

About: GE Advanced Materials
GE Advanced Materials is a world leader in providing materials solutions through engineering thermoplastics, silicone-based products and technology platforms, and fused quartz and ceramics. Among its businesses are:

• Silicones, which includes GE Toshiba Silicones in the Pacific region and GE Bayer Silicones in Europe, offers silanes, specialty silicones, urethane additives, adhesives, sealants, resins, and elastomers for a variety of industries such as personal care, automotive, tire and rubber, construction, healthcare, electronics, household and institutional, agriculture, textiles, appliances, bedding and furnishings, foam control, and consumer (http://www.gesilicones.com/gesilicones/am1/en/home.jsp);

• Plastics is a global plastics materials supplier and distributor, which serves customers in a variety of industries including aerospace, appliances, automotive, building and construction, data storage and optical media, medical, electrical and electronics devices, telecommunications, computers and peripheral devices, outdoor vehicles and devices, and packaging (http://www.geplastics.com/);

• Quartz produces high purity materials for the semiconductor, fiber optic, lamp making and water purification industries. GE Quartz is a leading supplier of quartz materials to the semiconductor industry (http://www.gequartz.com/en/index.htm);

Established in 1968, GE Advanced Materials’ Specialty Film & Sheet business is a leading supplier of high-performance engineering film and sheet products to the United States, Europe, Africa, India, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and operates a worldwide network of sales, research, manufacturing and technical services facilities.

Today, GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet employs about 600 people, and manufactures engineering sheet and film products at 12 facilities in 9 countries worldwide.

Recent investments:
• 2003 New Roofing Structures Line in Italy, Europe
• 2003 New Coating Lines in China & Malaysia, Pacific
• 2002 Acquisition of Plastech, China
• 2001 New Film Lines in USA and Europe
• 2001 Acquisition of Carboron, Malaysia
• 2000 Acquisition of Matraplast, Canada
• 2000 Acquisition of Nim Plastics, USA

Products:
GE Advanced Materials offers a variety of film materials are to meet different type of applications such as graphic film, coated products, electrical & electronic products, and specialties. The key film materials available today include:
• Lexan* Polycarbonate film
• Ultem* film
• Lexan* SLX film
• Valox* film
• Lexan* Illuminex* film

GE Advanced Materials’ sheet product line includes a wide range of structures from solid sheet, multi-wall sheet and corrugated sheet through to coated sheet and laminates and combinations of each of these.

The key sheet materials available today include:
• Lexan* Polycarbonate sheet
• Lexan* Solar Control IR sheet
• Margard* coated sheet
• Lexgard* laminated sheet
• Ultem* sheet
• Lexan EXL* sheet

GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet, serves customers in a variety of industries including aircraft, appliances, automotive, building and construction, business machines, electrical & lighting, furnishing, greenhouse, industrial roofing, medical, electrical and electronics devices, telecommunications and packaging.

In January 2004, in line with GE Corporate’ new brand architecture, GE Advanced Materials has announced the change of GE Structured Products business naming to GE Advanced Materials, Specialty Film & Sheet.

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