Evonik’s VESTAKEEP® PEEK Used to Manufacture One-inch Sized Screws for Various Industries

Nippon Chemical Screw & Co, headquartered in Japan, recently approved VESTAKEEP® for the manufacture of high precision one-inch sized screws. VESTAKEEP® is the trade name of Evonik Industries for high temperature polymer polyether ether ketone (PEEK). 

The one inch-sized screw design is manufactured for various industries, especially semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, in the North American market.

Depending on the application, the VESTAKEEP® PEEK must fulfill different requirements. For example, in semiconductor manufacturing, a high purity is required. On the other hand, in pharmaceutical and food equipment sectors, the material needs to comply with drug or food contact requirements. In other typical industrial production lines, VESTAKEEP® PEEK must also satisfy many other specifications such as chemical resistance, high mechanical strength, or fatigue resistance.

Other advantages associated with VESTAKEEP® PEEK include high dimensional stability and ease of processing during injection molding processes. This leads to a very efficient and cost effective manufacturing process. 

As a result, Evonik’s VESTAKEEP® PEEK is well suited for components that must withstand the toughest environmental conditions. VESTAKEEP® PEEK is now commonly found in oil exploration, automotive and aerospace industries, as well as in medical implants with VESTAKEEP® implant grades.

In North America, VESTAKEEP® PEEK screws are available through Solid Spot (Santa Clara, CA). 

Source: Evonik 

BASF Unveils Renewably-sourced PolyTHF for New Market Segments

BASF has made bio-based Polytetrahydrofuran 1000 (PolyTHF® 1000) available for the first time. The company is now providing this intermediate to selected partners for testing various applications in a large scale. “The bio-based PolyTHF 1000 is identical in quality to the petrochemical-based product,” said Andrej Brejc, Director Renewable Diols from BASF’s Intermediates division, adding, “The opportunity to expand the range of products and applications made from renewable raw materials allows us and our partners to further explore the long-term market acceptance of this innovative technology.” PolyTHF is derived from 1,4 butanediol (BDO), which BASF has produced under license from Genomatica.

BASF is one of the world’s leading providers of PolyTHF. It is primarily used to make elastic spandex fibers for a large variety of textiles, including underwear, outerwear, sportswear and swimsuits. PolyTHF 1000 is mainly applied as a chemical building block for thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which is used to make for example parts of ski boots and skates, shoe soles and instrument panel skin for automotive applications as well as hoses, films and cable sheathing. It is also used as a component of thermoplastic polyetheresters and polyetheramides. Other applications include cast elastomers, which are used, for example, for the production of wheels for skateboards and inline skates.

Source: BASF 

NetComposites Develops Flax-based Tape for Automotive and more

NetComposites, in collaboration with Tilsatec and FORMAX, has developed an innovative, highly aligned flax-based tape and non-crimp fabric.The new material is suitable for thermoset composite applications and will give improved properties over conventional woven natural fiber-based composite materials. It has a higher stiffness per unit weight than glass fiber.

The material is suitable for a range of applications including automotive, sporting and consumer goods. Variants with thermoplastics, such as PLA and polypropylene, and bio-based pre-pregs are also being developed.

The development of the highly aligned flax has been supported by the UK’s Composites Innovation Cluster.

Source: NetComposites
 

Owens Corning at JEC Europe 2015 Unveiled HydroStrand 258 Glass fiber Chopped Strands for PA

Owens Corning, one of the leading global producer of glass fiber reinforcements for composite systems, launched new HydroStrand® 258 glass-fiber chopped strands for polyamide (PA) resins. The product provides excellent dry-as-molded properties in a wide range of PA formulations, as well as outstanding performance in glycol resistant PA 6,6 formulations. It enables designers to reduce vehicle weight to improve fuel economy without sacrificing performance. Typical applications in automotive include oil and fluid pump housings, oil pans and powertrain parts.

HydroStrand® 258 product is designed to help grow businesses through enhanced performance and productivity benefits, like all Owens Corning’s innovations, 

Further to excellent dry-as-molded mechanical properties, the product delivers up to 22% increase in impact strength when used in impact modified grades. It increases the potential to integrate automotive functions and be flexible in designing efficient parts. 

With excellent hydrolysis resistance in PA applications, HydroStrand® 258 product improves critical impact properties in applications exposed to glycol and allows for up to 13% increase in impact after hydrolysis. This enables metal substitution in applications exposed to glycol and other liquids. 

Finally, the product shows strong thermal stability, thus less discoloration at higher temperatures. The product offers a low yellowness making the product easy to use in natural color applications, allowing for up to 26% improvement in color clarity. In terms of productivity, HydroStrand® 258 product can replace several specialty grade glass fibers, thereby lowering inventory carrying costs and reducing manufacturing change-overs. The product also enables strong processing with no hassle feeding. 

Hydrostrand® 258 chopped strands are made with the company’s patented boron-free Advantex® glass. It is manufactured and available globally. The products launch occurred at JEC Europe 2015 composites show and conferences in Paris.

Source: Owens Corning

Medical Device-PLASTICS; Developing & Protecting TECHNOLOGY, APRIL 21-23, Orlando

The theme for this year's 2-day conference on "Polymers & Plastics in Medical Devices" is to bring the participants up to speed on the newest trends and technical advances in the field of Medical Devices as it relates to Polymeric Materials.

The conference includes the following presentation:

Selection and Evaluation of Plastics for Cardiovascular Applications

Bioabsorbable, High-Modulus Polyester based Materials for Orthopedic Applications

Latest Update on UHMW Polyethylene for Implants

Flexible Tubing Development & Applications with Styrene-Butadiene Copolymer (SBC) Resins
Plastic Catheters Today: an Interventional Radiology Surgeon's Perspective

Trends in Plastic Processing & Materials for Medical Equipment Closures

High Performance Plastics for Hip-Retractor Application (vs Metals)

FiberLive: a High-Strength, Fully Absorbable Composite Material for Implants

Choices in Medical Device Coatings

Natural Fibers & Composites in Fabricating Body Parts

For more details,pls  click the link below http://www.MediplastConference.com

Toray Introduces FDA-compliant Renewably-sourced Bio-based Lidding Films for Packaging

Toray Plastics (America), Inc. announces the introduction of new bio-based lidding films. LumiLid® bio-based, dual-ovenable lidding films are manufactured with Toray's proprietary sustainable resin blends, which are made with more than 50 percent renewable feedstocks. Bio-based LumiLid films were created to lessen the impact on the environment, as they use fewer petroleum resources while they are being manufactured, and to meet the needs of environment-conscious end users and consumers. In addition, like all LumiLid films, these are solvent-free and may alleviate end-users' concerns about solvent retention, as well as enhance the films' sustainability profile.

The new LumiLid films are designed for frozen, wet and dry food, and dairy applications. They are FDA-compliant for use with oven temperatures of up to 400°F for 30 minutes. LumiLid films are also Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS)-certified, so they offer another level of assurance for dairy customers.

"The next generation of innovative, bio-based film technology has arrived," says Milan Moscaritolo, Senior Director of Sales and Marketing, Toray Plastics (America). "The option to choose a bio-based lidding film that has so many advanced features and such high-performance capability presents a unique opportunity to end users and converters."

LumiLid bio-based films have the same superior performance qualities that are characteristic of the LumiLid brand. They have a low seal initiation (SIT), broad seal range, outstanding seal integrity, and an easy peel. They are available in clear, white, and metallized formats.

Source:Toray

Arkema Launches Polystrand®, a Range of Glass-reinforced Thermoplastic Tapes

To expand its current offer to the composites industry, Arkema is launching the Polystrand® range of products in Europe, featuring a full range of glass-reinforced thermoplastic tapes and prepregs. These high performance materials are giving access to lightweight, recyclable and structural composites, for the automotive, transportation, energy, consumer and construction markets.

Arkema is willing to bring ready-to-use materials to Composites molders, such as reactive thermoplastic resin for RTM and Infusion (Elium®), structural adhesives for composite-composite and metal-composite assembly (AEC Polymers®) and now thermoplastic tapes and prepregs for thermo-compression, thermo-stamping and lamination (Polystrand®).

Polystrand® tapes are continuous glass fibers impregnated by various polymers, such as polypropylene, polyamides and fluoropolymers. These tapes have outstanding properties in terms of stiffness, strength and impact resistance, as compared to traditional compounds. They can be laminated or laid up ply per ply in the load direction, in order to bring glass fiber properties where they are needed. The X-ply® prepregs are similar to impregnated fabrics but present the advantage of higher mechanical performances due to the absence of weave formation. These materials are already used in many applications in North America, for example in the automotive industry to reinforce front ends. Over-molding with short-fiber compound is possible to integrate functions to the composite part or to locally reinforce short-fiber composites. These continuous fiber materials bring endless opportunities to manufacture structural thermoplastic composite parts.

All these technologies and other Arkema Composites solutions will be displayed at the JEC Europe show, from March 10th to 12th 2015, in the Arkema booth (n° D41) and Polystrand booth (n° K4).

Source: Arkema