polymerguru

DSM Composite Resins has announced Atlac® 5200 FC, its new vinyl ester resin, fully compliant with European regulations and manufactured using Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for food and drinking water applications. Now, the GMP predicate is deployed for 9 different types of resins throughout 3 European locations. The high standard set, beginning in Xinghou plant, China, is now also available on various products in Europe. Atlac® 5200 FC was launched in April 2011 especially for application in the manufacture of composite components such as storage tanks, vessels, pipes and auxiliary equipment that comes into direct contact with European regulations on food and drinking water. Commenting on the deployments to date, Wilfrid Gambade, Director, DSM Composite Resins, said: "The strong interest generated by Atlac® 5200 FC since its launch is wholly consistent with our strategy to invest in new technologies that deliver value for our clients in terms of superior perfo

SANITIZED AG has made available its performance apparel technology to the Levi’s® brand “Commuter” series, keeping in mind the specific needs of the urban commuter cyclist. Sanitized™ hygiene function is a textile finish in fabrics that protects from odors and bring long-lasting comfort to the wearer. Built around the 511™ Skinny Jean and the Levi’s® Trucker Jacket, the collection features fabric that provides increase mobility and durability while commuting. The denim fabrics benefit from the Sanitized™ T20-19 hygienic finish for textiles; non-denim fabrics contain the Sanitized® Silver hygienic protection for textiles which is based on silver salt (scientifically recognized as having natural antimicrobial properties). Sanitized™ products prevents growth of bacteria and hinders unpleasant odors. Additionally, the Sanitized™ products carry bluesign® approval and the Oeko-Tex 100 registration (class I-IV).

The use of composite materials for military helmets and other armouring solutions differs in many respects from traditional structural composite applications. For optimum ballistic protection, the laminate has to be “suitably weak” in structural terms. This is achieved by optimizing materials and lay-up to allow absorbing the energy introduced by the projectile through delamination, failure of the fibre-matrix bond, and fibre breakage. Due to the three-dimensional shape of helmets, it is an extremely challenging task to optimise the laminate lay-up in a way that the ballistic performance is achieved all over the helmet area, whilst keeping the helmet weight at a minimum. In helmet production, numerically-controlled automatic cutting of each reinforcement ply is used to achieve high precision and quality. After pressing and water-jet cutting to the right shape, the helmets are sealed with an integrally manufactured edge in order to minimise moisture pick-up of the laminate.  

PepsiCo Beverages Canada has announced the introduction of the 7UP EcoGreen™ bottle, Canada's and North America's first soft drink bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET plastic. The development of the 7UP EcoGreen bottle is a significant achievement for PepsiCo and a breakthrough for the Canadian beverage sector because the company has identified a way to couple existing technology with the best sources of recycled PET plastic and best-in-class processing techniques to produce a 100 percent recycled PET, food-grade bottle that meets all regulatory requirements and is of the highest quality. Creating a bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic for soft drinks is more challenging than creating a bottle for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure. By introducing the 7UP EcoGreen bottle in Canada, PepsiCo Beverages Canada will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used by approximately six million pounds ove

A UCL scientist and his team designed and built the synthetic windpipe 'scaffold' used in an operation in Sweden announced by the Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet. The windpipe (trachea) implanted in this patient was developed using nanocomposite materials which were developed and patented by Professor Alexander Seifalian (UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science), whose labs are based at the Royal Free Hospital. Together with Professor Paolo Macchiarini at Karolinska, who also holds an Honorary appointment at UCL, Professor Seifalian designed and developed the trachea scaffold using a material known as a novel nanocomposite polymer. Professor Seifalian has worked closely with UCL Business (UCLB), responsible for technology development and commercial transactions at UCL, to patent these materials and develop their use in medical devices. As well as being used for tissue scaffolds, the materials have other potential uses such as

In response to growing market demand for superior performing pipes in harsh and demanding environments, Victrex Polymer Solutions, one of the leaders in high performance polyaryletherketones, has launched its VICTREX Pipes™ product family. Developed to replace the corrosion resistant alloys (CRAs) used to make pipes and piping systems for extraction and transportation in the oil and gas industries, VICTREX Pipes offer an opportunity to replace CRAs in pipes and piping systems by lining pipes manufactured in other metals. VICTREX Pipes represent the latest in a long line of material and technical innovation from Victrex. "The launch of VICTREX Pipes is the culmination of six years of intensive research, development, market assessment and customer liaison. VICTREX Pipes can also deliver performance solutions in a broad range of applications beyond the original lined pipes for oil and gas, from industrial to aerospace to electrical sheathing and conduit," said

NatureWorks LLC has announced that as part of a major capital investment at its Blair, Nebraska, Ingeo™ lactide and biopolymer manufacturing facility, the company will be the world's first to offer in commercial quantities a high-purity, polymer-grade lactide rich in the stereoisomer meso-lactide. Identified as Ingeo M700 lactide, the new material can be used as an intermediate for copolymers, amorphous oligomers and polymers, grafted substrates, resin additives/modifiers, adhesives, coatings, elastomers, surfactants, thermosets, and solvents. Until now, several niche-focused producers have attempted to address the functionality requested by the market with what are described chemically as racemic lactides. "Compared to these, the high-purity Ingeo M700 will be lower in cost, easier to process, and an overall better alternative to high-priced racemic lactide, as well as L and D-lactides, in a host of industrial applications," said Dr. Manuel Natal, Global S