Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : The LEGO introduces tires made from recycled fishing nets and engine oil

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Lego Introduces Sustainable Tires Made From Recycled Ocean Materials:

The Lego Group has unveiled a new, eco-friendly initiative by incorporating a sustainable material for select Lego tires, sourced from recycled fishing nets, ropes, and engine oil. This move is part of the Lego’s ongoing commitment to reducing its environmental footprint and making its products more sustainable.

According to the company, the new material is crafted by repurposing discarded ropes and fishing nets from ocean vessels. These are combined with recycled engine oil, effectively reducing the need for virgin fossil fuel-based ingredients. Initially, this material will be used in seven Lego tire pieces, each containing at least 30% recycled content. 

The new tires already appear in Lego sets, and the company said they are indistinguishable from the ones fans are familiar with. Lego anticipates that by the end of 2025, these tires will be included in approximately 120 different sets, with plans to expand the use of recycled content across additional tire styles in the future.

Over the last five years, Lego has invested significant time in developing and testing this new recycled material to ensure it meets our high standards for quality, safety, and durability. The tires are just one of many options they’re working on to make our products more sustainable & it’s encouraging to see something this innovative making it into their sets.

The new tire material, known as rSEBS, is part of Lego’s comprehensive strategy to transition its products to more sustainable materials. Lego has emphasized that there is no single solution to sustainability, which is why the company is exploring a variety of approaches to reduce its environmental impact and incorporate more renewable and recycled materials. 

To date, Lego has tested over 600 different materials for its bricks and other elements. Other key sustainability initiatives include:

Bio-polyethylene (bio-PE): Since 2018, Lego has used bio-PE, a flexible and durable plastic made from Brazilian sugarcane, in certain elements like minifigure accessories and botanical pieces. Today over 200 elements are made from bio-PE, with more than half of Lego sets containing at least one of these sustainable components.

Recycled artificial marble (arMABS): Starting in 2024, transparent Lego pieces, such as lightsabers, windscreens, and windows, will include 20% recycled content derived from artificial marble commonly used in kitchen countertops. The company aims to have more than 900 different arMABS elements in production, with these elements appearing in more than 85% of Lego sets once fully transitioned.

eMethanol: Lego is collaborating with industry partners to acquire e-methanol, a material produced by blending renewable energy with CO2 from bio-waste. This innovative material will be used to create ePOM, which is expected to feature in Lego elements, such as wheel axles, in the near future.

source:LEGO/ Plastics Today

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : BASF Launches Biomass-balanced Polyethersulfone (PESU) Grade

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

World's first biomass-balanced polyethersulfone (PESU):

To all industries relying on high-performance thermoplastics, BASF is now offering the world’s first biomass-balanced polyethersulfone (PESU). Ultrason® E 2010 BMB contributes to substituting fossil resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing the use of renewable feedstock. This unique PESU enables customers in industries as diverse as household and catering, automotive, electrics and electronics (E&E), healthcare as well as water and sanitary to differentiate their products from the competition. It also helps them to achieve their sustainability goals - all without compromising on the material’s performance, quality or the need to invest extra money into new processing lines.

For biomass-balanced (BMB) Ultrason® E 2010, fossil raw materials are replaced by renewable feedstock at the beginning of production. The renewable feedstock comes from organic waste: the corresponding amount is attributed to the Ultrason® grade via a mass balance approach which is certified according to ISCC PLUS (1). The resulting BMB grade has a lower product carbon footprint (PCF) compared to the standard BASF material (2) by using renewable feedstock and 100% green electricity in a resource-efficient process in the production plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

BASF also offers its Ultrason® customers transparency by providing PCF data to support them in evaluating the PCF of their own products. This benefits many applications used in daily life like reusable bottles for adults and babies, microwave dishes and appliances, but also automotive fuel parts, medical devices, E&E connectors and consumer electronics.

In addition to these sustainability advantages, Ultrason® E 2010 BMB is a drop-in solution: The BASF PESU is identical to the standard grade in properties, quality, and certification for e.g., food and water contact. As a result, customers do not have to re-qualify their applications made of Ultrason® E 2010 BMB or adapt their existing manufacturing processes for injection molding or extrusion: They can rely on the same high performance to which they are accustomed to. “BASF is the first company to offer biomass-balanced polyethersulfone”, says Erik Gubbels from Global Business Development Ultrason® at BASF. “With this addition to our innovative Ultrason® portfolio we want to enable our customers’ green transformation towards more circular solutions – and this as early as possible on their journey to meet their sustainability targets.” 50% of the fossil raw materials required for the manufacturing of Ultrason® E 2010 are replaced by ISCC PLUS certified bio-circular feedstocks which results in an attributed amount of 39% to the final Ultrason® E 2010 BMB grade.

Reliable calculation and third-party certification for proven lower PCF:

BASF has developed a digital application to calculate the cradle-to-gate PCFs for its sales products, including Ultrason®. The PCF comprises all product-related greenhouse gas emissions that occur until the BASF product leaves the factory gate: from the purchased raw material to emissions from operations and the use of energy in production processes. Options for reducing PCF include the usage of green electricity in the production or attributing renewable materials via a biomass balance approach. In this approach, the fossil feedstocks at the beginning of production are replaced by biomass-based resources. The renewable amount is then attributed to specific products at the end of the manufacturing process by means of a third-party certified method: This independent certification confirms that BASF has replaced the required quantities of fossil feedstock for the biomass-balanced product that customers buy with renewable feedstock according to e.g., ISCC PLUS requirements.

Ultrason® is the trade name for BASF’s product range of polyethersulfone (Ultrason® E), polysulfone (Ultrason® S) and polyphenylsulfone (Ultrason® P). The high-performance thermoplastic is used to manufacture water filtration membranes, stylish, durable and safe household and catering applications as well as lightweight components for the automotive and aerospace industries. Ultrason® brands can substitute thermosets, metals and ceramics in many applications because of their extraordinary property profile.

source: BASF

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :Teijin Carbon proudly announces the launch of Tenax™ IMS65 E23 36K 1630tex

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Teijin Carbon introduces High Performance 36K Intermediate Modulus Carbon Fiber for Affordable Light Weighting

Teijin Carbon proudly announces the launch of Tenax™ IMS65 E23 36K 1630tex, Teijin Carbon’s first 36K carbon fiber, marking a breakthrough in cost effective high tensile, intermediate modulus carbon fiber. This newly developed carbon fiber type delivers high mechanical performance at a competitive price, making it an ideal choice for demanding applications such as pressure vessels. Teijin Carbon has optimized the processability of the carbon fiber yarn to enable high speed filament winding and for excellent spreadability in prepreg production.

With a tensile strength of 5800 MPa and a tensile modulus of 280 GPa, Tenax™ IMS65 E23 36K matches the processing and material properties of existing higher cost intermediate modulus carbon fibers, positioning this product as the future first choice material for industrial applications. Additionally, an aerospace-grade variant is currently in development, further expanding its potential applications.

The introduction of Tenax™ IMS65 E23 36K reinforces our commitment to innovation and affordability, ensuring that high-performance carbon fiber solutions remain accessible to a broader market.

source:Teijin Group

Warwick Research Creates Groundbreaking Reversible Adhesive Technology to Revolutionise Fashion Sustainability

Researchers at The University of Warwick, in collaboration with apparel automation pioneer CreateMe Technologies, have developed a revolutionary thermoreversible adhesive technology poised to transform the fashion industry.

This breakthrough, the result of three years of intensive research and backed by 19 patents, promises to make textile recycling significantly more scalable, reducing waste and improving sustainability in apparel manufacturing.

The research, led by Professor Remzi Becer and Dan Mackinnon Ph.D. from Warwick’s Department of Chemistry, in conjunction with CreateMe’s research scientist Yixin Liu, Ph.D., MS, has created an adhesive that allows garments to be bonded at low temperatures and later disassembled at high temperatures (above dry-cleaning levels).

This innovation directly addresses the fashion industry’s long-standing challenge of textile waste, where 92 million tons of fabric are discarded annually due to inefficient recycling processes.

The fashion industry generates approximately 92 million tons of textile waste annually, with a significant portion ending up in landfills. Today, textile recycling is inherently non-scalable due to the high manual labour resources required to de-stitch and separate non like-for-like fabrics and hardware for in-take.

This reversible adhesive technology enables fully automated bonded assembly and disassembly of garments for recycling. This disassembly process occurs at higher temperatures than typical washing and care operations, reducing the risk of inadvertent failure before the garment reaches the end of its life.

CreateMe and Warwick are actively engaging with industry leaders to scale this groundbreaking adhesive technology, extending its applications beyond fashion through beta testing and licensing opportunities. This scalable approach highlights the adhesive’s potential to address sustainability challenges on a global scale, transforming not only apparel manufacturing but also other industries and recycling industry partners reliant on efficient, circular production models.

source:University of Warwick

Covestro Capacity for specialty films in Thailand expanded

With the mechanical completion of new production lines at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Park in Thailand, Covestro has further increased its global capacity for polycarbonate (PC) specialty films. The investment is in the higher double-digit million Euro range, the project has been completed on schedule. A total of around 40 new jobs will be created.

"The new production facilities are equipped with state-of-the technology to enable an efficient production and thereby reduce our CO2 emissions," says Thorsten Dreier, Chief Technology Officer of Covestro. “With the expanded capacity, we can meet our customers' growing demand for innovative specialty films, especially in medical technology, in the region Asia-Pacific and strengthen our Solutions & Specialties segment."

Covestro has been operating a production facility for Specialty Films in Thailand since 2007. The range comprises polycarbonate films from the Makrofol® range and Bayfol® products made from polycarbonate blends. These high-performance specialty films are used in many applications across multiple industries, such as healthcare, mobility and Identification Documents.

“The new production facilities are important to us because it enables faster time to market and at the same time expands our market access in Asia-Pacific.” says Aukje Doornbos, Global Head of the Specialty Films business entity. “With market-focused innovations and a stronger customer orientation we want to drive growth for Covestro.”

Since 2022, the Map Ta Phut site is ISCC PLUS certified, enabling it to manufacture and supply mass-balanced products. With the mass balance approach, bio-based or recycled raw materials are fed in at an early stage of raw material extraction and mathematically allocated to the finished products. This saves fossil raw materials and reduces CO2 emissions, while the quality of the mass-balanced products remains identical to that of purely fossil-based products. With this drop-in solution, manufacturers can continue to use their proven formulations, equipment, and processes.

ISCC is an internationally recognized sustainability certification for biomass and bioenergy. The standard covers all stages of the value chain and is used worldwide. Customers can use these products in their established processes and apply them to meet their sustainability goals. In addition, Covestro already offers a range of films made partly with plant-based raw materials or partly from recycled plastics.

source:Covestro

#polymers #polycarbonate #specialtyfilms

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : To understand brittle failure

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Time for some really basic "LEFM" (linear elastic fracture mechanics).

Fracture Mechanics essentially assumes all materials or parts do contain "defects".

It is a reasonable assumption if you think about dust and all sorts of contaminants (including fillers with poor surface treatments) present in our polymer plants, compounding facilities and molding shops.

If a defect is small enough, a tensile stress (steady or dynamic) will trigger a relatively stable and slow crack growth rate.

This is captured by the exponent "m", i.e. the slope of the linear region II of the graph shown above.

When the crack "a" reaches some critical length, the stress intensity factor K reaches the value K1c where the crack enters the unstable crack growth region, quickly leading to part failure.

Some polymers are good because the stable crack growth is really slow (low value of "m"), some polymers are good because they survive despite the presence of a large crack (high K1c value).

The overall performance of a polymer, for instance under a fatigue test, is a combination of these two fundamental characteristics.

It is time to brush-up your knowledge about polymer mechanical performance and failure mechanisms.

source:Vito leo

DeRucci unveils first AI mattress series with Sanitized® technology in China

Sanitized AG and DeRucci, China’s leading luxury sleep solutions brand, are proud to announce an exciting milestone in their exclusive partnership. Since 2018, SANITIZED has been the trusted provider of foam mattress treatments for DeRucci in the Chinese market. Now, DeRucci is set to revolutionize the sleep industry with the launch of its first AI mattress series, treated with Sanitized® technology, in December 2024.

The new AI mattress series incorporates Sanitized®’s innovative technology, offering enhanced hygiene management features. With antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-dust mite protection, this advanced treatment supports long-lasting cleanliness and a more comfortable sleep environment. This focus on hygiene reflects DeRucci’s commitment to providing advanced and health-conscious sleep solutions to its customers.

A partnership built on innovation and excellence:

Since the partnership began in 2018, Sanitized AG and DeRucci have worked closely to integrate Sanitized®’s antimicrobial expertise into DeRucci’s premium mattress products. This latest AI mattress series represents the pinnacle of this collaboration, blending state-of-the-art artificial intelligence with unparalleled hygienic technology to create a sleep experience that prioritizes both comfort and well-being.

Setting a new standard for sleep:

With the launch of the AI mattress series, DeRucci reinforces its position as a pioneer in the sleep industry. The incorporation of Sanitized® technology not only supports a cleaner sleeping environment but also aligns with the growing demand for solutions that prioritize health and safety in everyday products.

source:polymerupdate.com