polymerguru

Coinciding with the K 2010, bioplastics manufacturer FKuR Kunststoff GmbH has extended its product range to include more innovative products. The company is presenting them at the show in hall 6, booth B66. Shrink film applications: Predominantly based on renewable resources, Bio-Flex® F 4110 can be processed into film on conventional LDPE extruders. The properties required for shrink films can be adjusted by using this grade in combination with other Bio-Flex® F types in a multilayer structure. "Due to the innovative combination of raw materials and multilayer structures, films made from this material show excellent shrink qualities and tightening strength," says Patrick Zimmermann, Director - Sales and Marketing, KKuR. Bio-Flex® F 4110 is a compostable raw material corresponding to EN 13432 with a renewable resource content greater than 60%. Thermoforming and injection molding needs: Based on PLA and PBS, Bio-Flex® S 5630 is a compound with a high re...

Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., the core company of the Teijin Group’s carbon fibers business, announced that its German subsidiary, Toho Tenax Europe GmbH (TTE), began full-fledged operation of its fourth carbon fiber production line (Line 4) at the Oberbruch plant this month, after first starting up the line in September. The 1,700-ton-capacity Line 4 was completed in August 2009, but as a result of declining demand for carbon fiber due to the economic downturn since the fall of 2008, the line’s originally scheduled startup was postponed as part of adjustments to the Toho Tenax group’s global production in Japan, Germany and the United States. With demand increasing this year, particularly for aircraft, sports, leisure and industrial applications such as wind power generation, Toho Tenax decided to begin operating the new line to optimize global production. Toho Tenax expects the carbon fiber sales, which had decreased to about 23,000 tons in 2009, to increase about 15% annually from this ...

The world’s first full scale production facility making breakthrough composite power distribution poles has opened by Dulhunty Power Ltd., in Australia. The composite poles are the first to provide strength, durability and fire resistance by combining the three technologies of filament-winding, high-performance concrete and alkali-resistant (AR) glass reinforcements. Developed by CMT Worldwide and Langdale Industries, the Eco-Titan™ composite pole is made with lightweight concrete, Owens Corning Cem FIL® AR glass fibers and a vertical winding process that maximizes the performance of the raw materials and includes no metal. The result is: • Glass fiber reinforcement percentage by weight of 15 percent, which is three times the 5 percent typically achieved in a glass reinforced concrete application • Total weight that is less than half the weight of a comparable wooden pole while achieving break and deflection test results that are well within current standards • Non-flamma...

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) has announced it plans to make vehicle liner material and other interior surfaces from a new "Ecological Plastic" 1 that features the world's first use of bio- PET 2 . Starting with the luggage-compartment liner in the Lexus "CT200h" due at the beginning of 2011, TMC plans to increase both the number of vehicle series featuring the new material, as well as the amount of vehicle-interior area covered by it, and intends to introduce a vehicle model in 2011 in which Ecological Plastic will cover 80 percent of the vehicle interior. The epoch-making bio- PET -based Ecological Plastic -- developed with Toyota Tsusho Corporation -- is characterized by: Enhanced performance (heat-resistance, durability performance, shrink resistance) compared to conventional bio-plastics and performance parity with petroleum-based PET, The potential to approach the cost-per-part performance of petroleum-based plastics through volume prod...

Advanced Vertebral Solutions (AVS), a supplier of minimally invasive spinal implants and delivery systems, has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its new Steerable TLIF spinal fusion implant made of Zeniva® polyetheretherketone ( PEEK ) resin from Solvay Advanced Polymers, LLC. Zeniva® PEEK - part of Solvay's Solviva® line of biomaterials - has a modulus very close to that of bone plus excellent toughness and fatigue resistance. The EXPRESS IBFD™ TLIF implant, made from 30- and 40-mm-diameter Zeniva® PEEK rod stock, is an implant for interbody fusion of the anterior column of the spine. These implants are hollow so that bone can grow through the device, fusing the adjacent bony surfaces of the vertebrae. AVS has developed a unique "active steering" technology that minimizes instrument exchanges and simplifies the minimally invasive surgical technique, thereby enabling its rapid adoption among spine surgeons. "...

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 ...