Xenia Materials, a manufacturer of engineering thermoplastic composites, announces the introduction of the new Xelamid family of materials, comprising impact-modified polyamides based on PA11 and PA12. The portfolio will be officially presented at JEC World 2026 in Paris, marking an extension of the company’s offer beyond its existing fibre-reinforced compounds. The new plastics have been designed for applications requiring a combination of favourable mechanical properties, low density and increased impact resistance. The Xelamid family includes unfilled, impact-modified grades in which the balance between stiffness, impact strength and energy absorption has been optimised, which is particularly important in applications exposed to dynamic mechanical loads.
Characteristics and performance range of the new polyamides
Xelamid covers a range of materials differing in the level of key performance parameters. Depending on the grade, these compounds can achieve up to 30% higher elongation at break compared to standard polyamides or up to ten times higher impact resistance. Selected formulations also reach a flexural modulus of up to 600 MPa and a tensile modulus of up to 700 MPa, which translates into a combination of the required stiffness and adequate dimensional and structural stability of plastic parts.
This configuration of properties is intended to enable the design of parts where high impact resistance, controlled deformability and predictable behaviour under load must be achieved simultaneously. Due to the unfilled nature of Xelamid materials, their potential ease of processing compared with conventional fibre-reinforced composites is also relevant, which may be important in the production of parts with complex geometry or under more demanding injection moulding conditions.
Long-chain PA11 and PA12 instead of short-chain polyamides
Unlike typical impact-modified materials based on short-chain polyamides such as PA6, the XELAMID family has been developed using long-chain PA11 and PA12 polyamides. This has a direct effect on the set of performance characteristics related to moisture uptake, density and impact resistance, especially under varying operating conditions.
As underlined by Alfio Agostini, Key Account Manager at Xenia Materials: "Compared to elastomer-modified materials based on short-chain polyamides such as PA6, Xelamid is developed on PA11 and PA12, long-chain polyamides that ensure extremely low moisture absorption, reduced density and high impact resistance, delivering stable and reliable performance even at low temperatures." According to the manufacturer, this combination of features is intended to facilitate the use of the new materials in applications where long-term stability of mechanical parameters is required under diverse environmental conditions.
Applications in sports, consumer goods and industry
The combination of high mechanical properties, low weight and flexibility in part design makes XELAMID suitable for use in sports equipment, consumer goods and various industrial applications. Designers and manufacturers can select specific grades from the portfolio depending on functional and processing requirements, such as target impact resistance, stiffness level, operating temperature range or dimensional stability requirements.
The modular structure of the Xelamid offer means that individual grades have been designed to cover a wide spectrum of application needs, from parts requiring primarily high impact resistance to components where stiffness is critical while maintaining adequate energy absorption. This enables optimisation of part design in relation to specific service loads and safety requirements.
Xelamid premiere at JEC World 2026
The Xelamid material family will be officially presented at JEC World 2026, to be held from 10 to 12 March in Paris, France. The Xenia Materials booth will be located in Hall 5, at D79.1. Visitors will be able to learn more about the new impact-modified polyamides, obtain information on specific grades and discuss potential areas of application in the plastics processing industry.
The manufacturer has also made information about the Xelamid family available online at: https://www.xeniamaterials.com/en/xelamid/. These data can complement the knowledge of designers, process engineers and product development departments looking for alternative material solutions for applications requiring increased impact resistance and stable properties under varying humidity conditions and low temperatures.
