BOSTON -- Cabot Corp., one of the largest specialty black masterbatch and compound producers in the world, has completed investment in a plastics application development laboratory in Shanghai.

The lab will help Cabot collaborate with clients and partners in the Asia Pacific region. The Boston-based company already has labs in Europe and North America.

"With the expanded laboratory, we will be able to respond more quickly to our Asia Pacific and global customers, expediting product support and facilitating new product development," said Fei Deng, vice president of performance materials, Asia Pacific, in a news release.

Polymer demand in Asia is expected to rise dramatically from 98 million metric tons in 2011 to 126 million metric tons in 2016, Applied Marketing Information Ltd reports. With the Asia growth projected to grow more at more than double the rate for Europe and North America, Cabot expects its Shanghai application lab to help provide differentiated products and services for the region.

Cabot's compounds are performance materials comprised of a mixture of polymer, additives and carbon black used in a wide range of thermoplastic applications such as infrastructure and automotive, with typical end-use products including plastic moldings, pipes, cable jacketing and film.

The Shanghai lab will provide application testing and development.

The company says the lab will help it serve customers in applications including agricultural film, irrigation pipe, gas and water pressure pipe, wire and cable jacketing, extrusion, molding and compounding along with electrostatic discharge protection conductive products.