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The British Plastics Federation (BPF) has welcomed the European Food Standards Agency's (EFSA) confirmation of the safety of Bisphenol A. The EFSA research, spearheaded by the European Commission, based on 'a detailed and comprehensive review of recent scientific literature and studies on the toxicity of bisphenol A at low doses' concludes that 'they could not identify any new evidence which would lead them to revise the current Tolerable Daily Intake for BPA of 0.05 mg/kg body weight set by EFSA in its 2006 opinion and re-confirmed in its 2008 opinion.' The review also highlighted that 'data currently available does not provide convincing evidence of neurobehavioural toxicity of BPA.' Philip Law, Director of Public & Industrial Affairs at the BPF said, "The Bisphenol A issue has become highly politicised in recent years and in some countries has become divorced from the reality and nature of its use. The EFSA's ruling on t

The EC-funded BADANA project aims to develop procedures for the extraction of natural fibre from banana plant waste. The fibres will be used to develop thermoplastic composite products for the automotive industry. The Badana project, led by consultancy Smithers Rapra , is half way through its two-year funding period and the first prototype of the multi-phase decorticating machine (MPDM) which automates the process of extracting fibre from the leaves of the banana plant has been developed. Work has also been undertaken to analyse the fibres of a variety of banana species grown in the Canary Islands. This has helped in the development of formulations for modifying the fibre surface in order to ensure good adhesion between the fibres and the polymer with which they are compounded. Successful candidate formulations have been selected and lab scale trials, involving injection moulding and rotational moulding of the developed plastic composites, have been

For wind turbine blade applications, glass fiber yarns and reinforcements producer AGY has made available boron-free S-1 HM™ rovings suitable for both epoxy and polyester resin systems. According to ASTM calculations, in comparison to typical E-Glass products which offer tensile modulus of approx 70-75GPa, the S-1 HM™ rovings exhibit 90GPa tensile modulus of glass fibers, 20% more tensile modulus, 50 and 20% increase in compressive strength and compressive modulus, respectively, and consequently shows fatigue improvement by nearly 10-times. Added length of wind turbine blades allow the turbine to operate at full efficiency, thus reducing the cost of the electricity consumed, and also by and large make the complete wind turbine structure cost effective. The direct roving product form is tailored for standard conversion to unidirectional fabrics and prepregs, and multiaxial fabrics.

Evonik Industries have launched a new grade of PEEK, the VESTAKEEP® 5000 G that, according to the company, possesses 20 percent higher impact strength than any previously used PEEK grade. The new VESTAKEEP® is of particular interest for suppliers to the oil and gas industries, who work in the temperature range -40 to 150°C and sometimes significantly beyond these limits. The high elastic modulus of the new PEEK therefore meets increasing requirements with regard to long-term exposure to high temperatures. Evonik claims that its partners and customers, who have tried out the new PEEK have been able to achieve higher tear strengths with VESTAKEEP® 5000 G than with any other PEEK material on the market. A concrete example of an application is provided by very large gasket rings with diameters of up to 2000 mm. In the HCM process, the gasket rings formerly used to break during the attempt to press them into the cavity of the metallic base plate. A similar situation arose

One year after the market launch by Arkema of its Rilsan® 11 biosourced polyamide grade for the spinning of high performance synthetic textile fibers, the very first manufactured articles are entering the market: ski socks by Monnet, the French sports socks specialist, and a range of ultra durable luggage made from textiles by UNITIKA, a Japanese company specializing in technical fibers. Last year Arkema presented at the TECHTEXTIL tradeshow a specific grade in its Rilsan® PA11 range of technical polymers derived 100% from castor oil, for extrusion into textile fibers. Just over a year later, articles made of Rilsan® featuring outstanding durability are about to enter the market. Monnet, the famous sports and outdoor socks brand, have added to its "Green Vert" catalogue a range of new sports socks made of Rilsan® designed jointly with SOFILA, the French nylon yarn spinning specialist who recently developed Rilsan® PA11 fibers. These ski socks are typically

With an intention to eliminate hospital-acquired infections caused by harmful microorganisms such as viruses, pathogens, molds and fungi that come into contact with the curtains installed in the hospital premises, Nano Mask Inc has unwrapped antimicrobial curtains. The curtains are developed using the nano silver technology. As part of this technology, an antimicrobial colloid composed of silver nanoparticles is treated with polymers. Charged magnetic waves coming out of silver nano particles not only kill the viruses, they also stop them to reproduce further. Nano silver technology is tested to have the ability to eradicate Staphylococcus aureus and its sub-species ATCC 6538P, Klebsiella pneumonia and gram negative ATCC 4352. The curtains are also flame-, mildew- and dust proof; anti-static; disposable and recyclable. Presently available in the US and Europe, the curtains come in three different styles and 13 different colors.

Hexagon Composites ASA's wholly-owned subsidiary, Ragasco AS has signed a new major, multi-year contract with Daimler AG for the supply of high pressure containers. The contract covers the delivery of fuel tanks for natural gas to the next generation of today's Mercedes-Benz B-class. Ragasco AS is already supplying high-pressure containers in composite to today's Mercedes-Benz B-Class, an eco-friendly car that has been well received by the market. The new contract, which is signed with Daimler, ensures a base of production volume for Ragasco beginning in the second half of 2012 and will contribute to the future goal to provide high-pressure products produced in an automated production line. Ragasco expects this production to become an integral part of the company's fully-automated production line for propane containers. The new contract with Daimler supports the trust established through the development and delivery of high-pressure containers to o