Siemens Develops Green Composite Material as an Alternate to ABS Used for Consumer Products

In cooperation with various project partners, Siemens researchers have developed a new recipe for plastic made primarily of renewable resources and CO₂. The new material is an alternative to standard polystyrene-based acrylonitrite-butadiene-styrene (ABS) polymer. The new polymer is much "greener" than ABS even though the physical properties of the two materials are similar. In order to demonstrate how practical the new polymer is, scientists used it to create a vacuum cleaner cover. The new material is the result of a three-year project on research into CO₂ as an ingredient for polymers. The project, which was recently completed, was funded by the German Research Ministry.

Until now, plastic has mostly been made from fossil fuels such as natural gas or oil. However, according to experts, plastic will increasingly be made of renewable raw materials in order to improve its environmental performance and conserve resources. Many of these organic polymers are already available on the market, where they are used for food packaging, for example. Their properties do not fully match those of technical polymers, which is why they sometimes have to be optimized in line with the application in question.

In cooperation with project partners from BASF, Munich Technical University, and the University of Hamburg, scientists at Siemens' global research unit Corporate Technology developed an alternative for the standard polymer ABS, which is frequently used for consumer products. The new composite material is a competitive alternative to ABS. It is a mixture containing poly-hydroxybutyrate (PHB), which is made from renewable raw materials such as palm oil and starch. Since PHB is brittle, polypropylene carbonate (PPC) from BASF is added to make it softer. PPC consists of 43 percent carbon dioxide (by weight), which is obtained from power plant emissions using a separation process. In addition to being transparent, biodegradable, and resistant to light, PPC can be easily processed.

More than 70 percent of the new mixture is made of green polymers. The new material is a suitable alternative for ABS in practice, as demonstrated by Bosch-Siemens-Hausgeräte (BSH), which used it to make a vacuum cleaner cover under series-production conditions. In cooperation with BSH and BASF, the Siemens researchers now want to examine whether they can replace other types of plastic used by BSH with CO₂-based composite materials.

Bio-on & FLOS Present their First Product Composed of Water-biodegradable PHA

Bio-on and FLOS present the world's first product made with PHAs, the 100% naturally water-biodegradable bioplastic. The first design object to be made in this initial test of the revolutionary material is Miss Sissi, the FLOS lamp designed in 1991 by Philippe Starck and now an icon in lighting design. The creativity, experience and global presence of FLOS are thus teamed with the innovation of bio-on, the sole owner of the technology to produce PHAs bioplastic.

Made so far of polycarbonate, one of the most widely used plastics in industry, Miss Sissi passed the test with the new bioplastic developed over the last 5 years in Italy by bio-on (using Co.Pro.B by-products). The PHAs biopolymer is revolutionary because it is made from the waste materials of sugar beet and cane production (so it has zero impact on the food cycle), it requires no organic solvents, it is completely biodegradable in soil and water and it provides exceptional performance.

"We are proud to be presenting the world's very first design product made with our biopolymer PHAs together with such a prestigious and well-known brand as FLOS. Thanks to this collaboration," explains bio-on Managing Director Marco Astorri, "We can really launch a new era. The technology is available at a global level and, with the range of biopolymers developed by bio-on, it is now possible to create a vast range of objects in all of the sectors currently using plastic".

"We are pleased to be entering this new challenge for the future," says Piero Gandini, Chairman and Managing Director of FLOS S.p.A., "which represents the non-stop Italian innovative spirit, splendidly exemplified by bio-on. We cannot wait to continue the tests on other products and materials, so that there can soon be a turning point in environmentally-friendly production, already encapsulated by our 'Cradle to Cradle' Soft Architecture material. These bio-on polymers - although we cannot really call them polymers and a new name should be coined - are a total revolution in the relationship between mass production and environment. We are pleased and honoured to work with such a gifted and enthusiastic team as bio-on."

Zyvex & ENVE Team up to Produce First Nano-Enhanced Carbon Fiber Downhill Bike Rim

The world's first molecular nanotechnology company, Zyvex Technologies, and ENVE Composites announced an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of Nano-enhanced carbon fiber. This new bicycle rim gives a significant competitive advantage to the downhill cycling market as proven during the last year in development and testing. The ENVE DH rim provides performance benefits to all downhill cyclists including those that compete at the highest levels of World Cup racing.

ENVE used Zyvex Technologies' Nano-enhanced carbon fiber technology called Arovex, which is a carbon nanotube and graphene engineered composite material that uses the proprietary Kentera technology to create chemical bonds on the carbon nanotubes. It provides an advantage in toughness without compromising strength. It also protects from fracture damage. ENVE has an exclusive license for this advanced technology for cycling applications.ENVE developed the first Nano-enhanced carbon fiber downhill bike with the intention of its riders winning a World Cup. After being in development for over a year, the rim carried ENVE sponsored rider Greg Minnaar to victory at the 2012 World Cup opener in South Africa."The ENVE-Zyvex partnership introduces the first carbon fiber rim specifically designed for the downhill cyclist. During development and testing the wheels have won over 50 podiums in competitions around the world. These results validate ENVE's success using Zyvex's Arovex. Downhill racing is extreme in nature. The fact that these new rims have survived the most challenging tracks in the world makes them truly one-of-a-kind," noted Jason Schiers, founder of ENVE Composites.Most notable is an unprecedented increase in durability, strength, and stiffness over traditional alloy offerings on the market. Often, top level teams will need to change rims more than 180 times during a season. World Cup downhill racing champion Steve Peat raced on one pair of the ENVE DH wheels during the entire 2011 season. Traditional aluminum rims historically lasted him a mere one to three runs."Nano-enhanced carbon fiber wheels are changing what people expect from a bike's ride quality. Being the first Nano-enhanced carbon fiber downhill clincher to win a World Cup is difficult. We are changing the game. The new DH rims are the best riding and the most durable rims on the market today," concluded Schiers.The new rim design shows significant technical and competitive advantages in this demanding market. Some scientists believe the ability to move and combine individual atoms and molecules will revolutionize the production of every human-made object leading to a potential new technology revolution."The use of carbon atoms in the 21st century will be as significant as the use of silicon in the 20th century. Zyvex Technologies is the first company to globally commercialize Nano-enhanced products from carbon atoms," said Lance Criscuolo, president of Zyvex Technologies. "The value of building a $40-billion supply chain in less than four years means that partners like Composites One convey these advances to companies like ENVE that are constantly innovating products. Our advanced materials weigh less and have increased strength. We are changing the way products are manufactured and perform," said Criscuolo.

Carbon fiber used in china's famous bridge construction

After four years of construction, China famous Aizhai suspension bridge has been officially opened the 31th March 2012. Its large rock anchor sling and rock anchor base are made of carbon fiber material.


Aizhai Bridge is a super large bridge connecting Hunan Jishou to Cha Dong highway across the Aizhai Grand Canyon. It is constructed by Hunan Road Bridge Group. The bridge is a single crossing suspension bridge with steel truss plus stiffening girder. The main cross is 1176 meters. And the width of bridge deck is 24.5 meters. The deck height is 350 meters above the bottom of the canyon.

 In the process of construction, the bridge creates four world firsts:
    1) The building height of Canyon crossing is 335 meters, and the length of crossing is 1176 meters.
    2) A new structure of tower beam separation has been applied.
    3) The rail cable shifting beam technology has been applied in erecting the main truss beam.
    4) Large rock anchor sling and rock anchor base are made of carbon fiber material.

Main beam is consisted of steel truss and stiffening girder. And the main cable is prefabricated parallel wire strands by root erection construction method, Jishou Bank used gravity anchor, while Cha Dong Bank used tunnel anchor.

Cable tower used double column gantry frame structure, suspension bridge connected with tunnels at both ends.

Large amount of construction material has been used. The construction of gravity anchor alone needed more than 72000 cubic meters. Jishou bank tower foundation pit excavation volume reached more than 300000 cubic meters.

All steel parts such as main cable, cable saddle, cable clip, suspension cable, steel truss girder, steel beams and expansion joints require high processing precision.

The upper structure nearly 40000 tons component needed to be set up to more than 350meters high.

The design of the bridge span is 100 years. In December 26th, 2011, a total of 68 35 tons vehicles drove through the bridge at the same time. All the bridge force performance indicators have fully met the design requirements.

Roquette Company-Sorbito (Interview)

In fact Roquette started to work on sorbitol and to produce it in small quantities in the early fifties. Thanks to our application laboratories, we quickly discovered a huge number of possible applications for this product, some of them were really unexpected.

One of the big outcomes of sorbitol is its use as humectants in toothpastes and chewing gums. It is also an efficient alternative to sugar, which makes it popular in sugar-free pharmaceutical syrups. It is also widely used in sugar-free candies. We therefore developed numerous grades of sorbitols and derived polyols, with a wide range of purity and final properties. Sorbitol is also a raw material for the vitamin C, which production volumes have been significantly moved to China these past years. Because Roquette started very early to work on sorbitol and its derived products it is now a leading producer of other polyols (maltitol, xylitol, and so on).

But sorbitol is also well known in the chemical industry: it is used as an initiator to make polyether polyols, which make rigid polyurethane foams when reacted with isocyanates. This is a rather big market with strong growth perspectives as rigid PU foams are used in insulation systems. The insulation performances allow for reduced energy consumption and at the end reduced carbon dioxide emissions. In Asia rigid PU foams growth rate is between 15% and 20% nowadays. This made the Roquette portfolio very rich. Now Roquette has a very strong market share of sorbitol in the world. Roquette has sorbitol manufacturing plants in the three main regions of the world: Europe, Americas and more recently in China, in Lianyungang, where it built in 2004 a new factory to include the production of polyols.

We started to work on isosorbide very early. But at that time we did not find relevant applications, except its use as a raw material of an active ingredient of a heart medicine, which is still produced today but in very small quantities.

3M Unveils Weight Reducing 3M™ Glass Bubbles iM16K Grades Applicable for PP & PA Systems

3M is introducing the newest member of its high-strength hollow glass bubbles product line that will change the way the industry uses lightweight fillers. This new product will enable customers to do more with their resin systems. 3M™ Glass Bubbles iM16K are a high-strength injection molding grade for polypropylene and polyamide systems. They enable manufacturers to produce optimized resin formulations for lower-density filled plastics - without compromising strength or other physical properties.

Now, manufacturers can do more beyond reducing weight. With a density of just 0.46 g/cc, resin systems optimized with iM16K can reduce weight by 15 percent or more in polypropylene-filled systems, and 18 percent or more in nylon glass fiber systems, while maintaining optimized physical properties. Manufacturers can see productivity gains when using resin systems filled with high strength glass bubbles, such as iM16K. Because iM16K is hollow, like all 3M glass bubbles, there is less finished part mass to cool, which may reduce cycle times by 15 to 25 percent, depending on the resin system. iM16K is specially engineered to survive injection molding and compounding processes and features crush strength of >16,000 psi. Incorporating glass bubbles into processes improves dimensional stability, which translates to less shrinkage and warpage - thereby reducing reject parts and reprocessing.

Today, businesses in every industrial sector understand the need to "do more" to reduce their carbon footprint and improve the sustainability of their products throughout their life cycles. For industrial consumers of plastic parts - particularly those in the transportation market - the benefits of lightweighting have an obvious impact.

Case in point: REHAU, a global polymer processing firm, has been developing a low density PPSU material called "RAU-Flight," made with 3M glass bubbles for use in a variety of interior aircraft cabin components. According to Bernd Kupferer, business unit manager, Industrial Solutions at REHAU, this new material could contribute to significant fuel savings for aircraft operators.

"We have determined that a single handrail system for an Airbus A320, made with these new RAU-Flight materials, would reduce weight by more than 5kg per aircraft, resulting in a savings of about 1000 liters of fuel per year," states Kupferer. "If you extend this to a fleet of 150 aircraft, over a 15-year operating life, the total fuel savings would be about 2.25 million liters of jet fuel. That not only saves money for the airline, but is also a significant reduction in carbon emissions."

3M glass bubbles build on 3M's legacy of innovation and are based on 3M's Ceramics, Coatings and Advanced Materials Technology Platforms.

SABIC Premiers State of the Art Higher Performance & Lighter Weight Materials at JEC 2012

At JEC Europe, Booth #U17, SABIC's Innovative Plastics business is spotlighting a variety of lightweight, high-performance composites and other advanced materials that are making important contributions to its customers' sustainability initiatives across major global industries. In particular, the outstanding weight-out and non-halogenated flame retardance provided by SABIC's high-performance Ultem™ polyetherimide (PEI) materials are increasing their appeal as environmentally responsible solutions. Customers are choosing Ultem materials for a broad range of applications - not just in aerospace, where they have achieved notable successes, but also in automotive, rail, oil & gas and building & construction.

Ultem carbon-fiber-filled resin, structural foam, and textile fiber can slash part weight by up to 50 percent to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. These innovative materials also provide exceptional, inherent flame-smoke-toxicity (FST) performance for which Ultem PEI technology is famous. The company is also displaying Ultem powders that enhance FST performance of thermoset composite systems and polyphenylene ether(PPO™) resin additives that increase heat and toughness of epoxy systems. SABIC's global technology resources and deep industry expertise enable the company to deliver sustainable solutions for the evolving needs of their customers in a variety of market segments worldwide.

"SABIC's advanced materials and additives can resolve a dilemma facing a number of industries - how to achieve greater sustainability without sacrificing performance," said Ilknur Gur, general manager Europe, engineering resins, Innovative Plastics. "Our Ultem technologies - already widely used for demanding interior aircraft components - also provide an outstanding combination of light weight and high performance properties for many other critical applications as a replacement for metals and thermosets. The success of Ultem resin is just one example of how SABIC's engineering thermoplastics and composites are helping customers pursue successful environmental strategies and competitive differentiation."

Carbon-fiber-filled Ultem Resin

Offering high modulus and mechanical strength, this unique compound is based on Ultem resin and aerospace carbon fiber technology. When used to replace heavier airline-grade aluminum in interior components, carbon-fiber-filled Ultem resin can cut weight by up to 50 percent while improving strength by 40 percent vs. die-cast aluminum. The compound complies with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 25.853 requirements for flammability, Ohio State University (OSU) 55/55 heat release standard and smoke density and key OEM specifications for FST. Potential injection molding applications include tray table arms, armrests, footrests and galley items. Components can be powder coated, painted or plated.

In rail applications, carbon-fiber-filled Ultem resin is an excellent choice for replacing aluminum in seating and other semi-structural components. Further, its high heat performance makes it a great alternative for under-hood automotive parts. Finally, it can be used for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications that demand high-temperature resistance and flame retardance.

Ultem Structural Foam

Ultem foam enables aircraft designers to leverage the best-in-class FST performance of PEI resin in a form that is 10 to 20 times lighter than traditional plastic components. It is an outstanding thermoformable core material choice for aircraft interior composite structures such as luggage bins, galleys and lower wall panels (dado panels). Ultem foam meets OSU heat release levels below 50/50, and offers low moisture absorption, excellent energy absorption and low dielectric loss. It is also transparent to radar making it a prime material for insulation of radomes. The Ultem foam product family comprises grades with three different densities.

Similarly, Ultem foam is an excellent candidate material for railcar side walls, ceiling panels and partitions. Its insulating properties make it a good choice for insulation of HVAC systems in high-end structures such as hospitals.

Ultem Fiber

Featuring the signature FST performance of Ultem resin, Ultem fiber provides light weight and excellent aesthetics for many applications in aerospace and rail - including carpets, kick panels, seating and wall coverings and safety and protective apparel. Woven fabrics incorporating Ultem fiber can be colored using conventional exhaust dyeing techniques, resulting in exceptional colorfastness and resistance to ultraviolet (UV) light.

Ultem Powders for Thermoset Composites

To extend the benefits of Ultem resin's exceptional FST performance, good metal adhesion and high heat resistance into thermoset composite systems, SABIC developed two powder technologies that efficiently disperse into thermosets and dissolve into solutions faster than coarse powders or pellets.

• Type I PEI powders, which are produced via processing chemistry, achieve particle sizes less than 45 microns. The powder is uniformly spherical to enable more-efficient dispersion and dissolution compared to mechanically ground powders. Applications include tougheners for epoxy resins and direct impregnation of fabrics or unidirectional tapes to create thermoplastic shape-able composites for use in industries like aerospace, automotive and oil & gas.
• Type II PEI powders, created by using patented process technology, have a particle structure that is fluffy and porous with a high surface area. Although particle size is greater than 100 microns, this structure enables the powder to disperse and dissolve very quickly into organic solutions and epoxies. Applications include solvent-based industrial coatings and adhesives, and thermoset resins for composites which can be used in aerospace, automotive, chemical process and oil & gas industries.

PPO Oligomer Resin Additives

PPO resin has a low dielectric constant and loss factor (Dk/Df) that enables better signal integrity at high frequencies when used in printed circuit board (PCB) laminates. SABIC has developed two oligomer additives that easily fit with common PCB fabrication methods. Noryl™ SA90 resin provides enhanced electrical properties, increased glass transition temperature (Tg) and toughness, and improvements in non-halogenated flame retardance for epoxy-based PCB applications. Noryl SA9000 resin provides many of these benefits for non-epoxy PCB applications. Applications include industrial and aerospace composites, adhesives and elastomers.