polymerguru

SABIC's Innovative Plastics business' world-class expertise and technology were further evidenced with the company's announcement that Intermestic Inc., a specialty retailer of eyewear and accessories, has chosen tough, lightweight Ultem™ polyetherimide  ( PEI ) resin for the frames of its new line of Zoff SMART eyeglasses. The tailored, aerospace-grade Ultem resin material solution helps meet Japanese consumer demands for fresh, new eyewear styles with exceptional long-term performance and feather-light comfort; by allowing Intermestic to eliminate titanium and aluminum from the material selection process. The Ultem resin also provides exceptional flexibility, flame retardance, and resistance to chemicals, heat and ultraviolet (UV) light, as well as greatly expanded design freedom, which enabled Intermestic to create stylish, eye-catching frames for sophisticated consumer appeal. The success of the new Zoff SMART eyeglass line showcases how SABIC is continuously improv

Building and evaluating a section of new monorail test track in Kingston is providing a unique learning opportunity for Queen's civil engineering students through collaborative research with Bombardier Transportation's System Division in Kingston. "This project represents a significant step forward," says structural engineering professor and Canada Research Chair Amir Fam. "It provides a unique opportunity for testing Queen's technologies and designs in collaboration with a major industry leader." Dr. Fam, Mark Green and graduate student Nik Wootton are part of a team using cutting edge structural engineering technologies on two of the support beams for the 1.5 kilometre long test track. They are using  glass-fiber- reinforced polymer bars to reinforce one concrete beam. The beam is 11 meters long and weighs 30 tons. "This initiative is symbolic of the opportunities for Queen's and Bombardier to work together toward building a long term relatio

Solvay Specialty Polymers announced recently that a second generation of Solef® PVDF Foam is now available for the Aircraft market. New Solef® 82050 is the only fully moldable PVDF foam able to pass the key Aircraft Fire, Smoke and Toxicity Tests (FAR and AITM), which certify complete resistance to flame, total heat release, low toxicity on combustion products and reduced optical smoke density. Thanks to the development of the base polymer matrix, new Solef® PVDF Bead Foam displays increased mechanical properties and higher temperature rating compared to the first generation of Solef® 80 000 Series e-PVDF. In addition to this, the innovative material allows a significant weight reduction, up to a 50% density decrease over the existing product, which is already sixteen times lighter than Solef® PVDF resin. The new product is offered as foamed molded items, which will be simultaneously introduced at the upcoming Aircraft Interiors Show in Hamburg, Germany and the JEC in Paris, France th

The new Opel Astra OPC, a sport coupe, which was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show at the beginning of March 2012, has a seat  pan made from a thermoplastic laminate with continuous fiber reinforcement (organo sheet). This is the world's first auto seat  pan  based on this technology manufactured for a production vehicle. The plastics used are  polyamide  specialties from BASF's Ultramid® product range. The seat  pan  is 45% lighter than its predecessor. Thermoplastic laminates with continuous fiber reinforcement, also called composites, are plastic-impregnated fabrics that are processed into laminates. They serve as the reinforcement in plastic parts that must be especially lightweight yet still exhibit exceptional performance. BASF developed two special Ultramid grades for the Opel Astra OPC seat  pan : an unreinforced grade acts as the material in which the  glass fiber fabric is embedded, an impact-modified, short  glass fiber- reinforced Ultramid is used as over molding m

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed that companies be required to report to EPA all new uses, including in domestic or imported products, of five groups of potentially harmful chemicals. Over the years, these chemicals have been used in a range of consumer products and industrial applications, including paints, printing inks, pigments and dyes in textiles, flame retardants in flexible foams, and plasticizers. This action is part of EPA's work to ensure chemical safety in order to protect Americans' health and the environment. The five chemicals EPA is targeting are polybrominated diphenylethers  (PBDEs) ,  benzidine dyes , a short chain  chlorinated paraffin , hexabromocyclododecane  (HBCD ), and phthalate di-n-pentyl phthalate  (DnPP) . The agency is also proposing additional testing on the health and environmental effects of PBDEs. "Although a number of these chemicals are no longer manufactured or used in the U.S. they can still be imported in consum

The discovery of massive shale gas resources has brought about a major increase in U.S. natural gas reserves. This development has particular significance for the chemical and plastics industries. When natural gas is passed through crackers, abundant, low cost supplies of some chemical feedstocks result. The emergence of shale gas brings into question the economic viability of renewable chemicals and drop-in biobased plastics, especially high volume  PE ,  PP  and  PET . At the BioPlastek 2012 Forum, on March 28-30 in Arlington, Virginia, USA, this will be one of the key issues to be discussed during several of the sessions. This much we do know: U.S. polyethylene producers are already big beneficiaries of the shale gas boom. This is because ethane is primarily produced when passing natural gas through crackers. On converting the low cost ethane into ethylene, U.S.  PE  producers now a major feedstock advantage. Still to be clarified is whether the shale gas sourced PE has a cost adva

 Gevo, Inc., an innovative renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) granted U.S. Patent No. 8,133,715, entitled "Reduced By-Product Accumulation for Improved Production of Isobutanol." "Yeast naturally produces isobutanol at low yields," said Brett Lund, EVP & General Counsel of Gevo. "In order to produce isobutanol at commercially relevant yields suitable for commercial implementation several improvements to the pathway need to be made, including elimination of pathways that "hijack" carbohydrates. Pathway hijacking lowers yield and creates unwanted by-products. The patent issued today covers the technology to eliminate one of the hijacking pathways, and improves yield of isobutanol by 20 percent. Without this technology, it is doubtful that an isobutanol producing yeast would be commercially viable." "When you design a biocatalyst it needs to be ef