Today's KNOWLEDGE Share :Syensqo’s polyphenylsulfone Duradex™ ECHO aligns with Pigeon’s green action plan

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Syensqo to supply circular Duradex™ polyphenylsulfone ECHO for Pigeon’s SofTouch™ baby bottles

Syensqo, a leading global provider of high-performance materials and chemical solutions, is pleased to announce that Pigeon Corporation has decided to use its circular Duradex™ #polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) ECHO for their premium SofTouch™ nursing bottles. This high-purity food-contact polymer is produced with 38% certified circular1 feedstock, attributed by mass balance and verified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS regime.

#Duradex™ PPSU ECHO is an amorphous, naturally amber-transparent polymer that lends Pigeon’s #nursingbottles an inherently non-stick, and highly stain- and scratch-resistant surface. It provides exceptional hydrolytic stability, shatter-proof toughness and heat resistance up to 180°C for more than 1,000 steam or hot water sterilization cycles, as well as dishwasher cycles, with no risk of any damage. Notably, the high-purity PPSU material does not absorb any odors and is free of artificial pigments as well as phthalates and bisphenols, ensuring a safe and healthy feeding experience.

The SofTouch™ premium nursing bottles from Pigeon, molded with our Duradex™ PPSU ECHO material, perfectly embody our commitment to supporting customers who prioritize future generations by creating highly sustainable products. Duradex™ PPSU ECHO effectively reduces reliance on fossil resources and offers a proven drop-in alternative without compromising the high performance characteristics of the sulfone polymer. Its lower carbon footprint also helps drive decarbonization throughout the value chain. said by Floryan De Campo,VP at SYENSQO.

Pigeon’s SofTouch™ premium nursing bottles made with Duradex™ PPSU ECHO will be launched on the market shortly. #Syensqo’s circular polymer is available worldwide. 

source: Syensqo

Avantium Signs Capacity Reservation Agreement with BIOVOX for PEF in Pharmaceutical Applications

Avantium N.V., a leading company in renewable and circular polymer materials, is pleased to announce the signing of a capacity reservation agreement with BIOVOX, a pioneer in sustainable healthcare plastics. Under this agreement, BIOVOX has committed to using Avantium's PEF (polyethylene furanoate) in various pharmaceutical applications. This PEF is expected to be produced in a future industrial-scale facility, based on a technology license from Avantium. The multi-year capacity reservation ensures BIOVOX preferred access to PEF volumes produced by Avantium's future licensee network.

Avantium has developed a proprietary process to produce FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), the key building block for PEF, branded as releaf®. Following the completion of the world’s first commercial FDCA plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, in October 2024, Avantium has commenced the start-up of the plant. This FDCA Flagship Plant is vital to Avantium's YXY® Technology licensing strategy, enabling the Company to offer technology licenses to industrial partners and develop projects to produce FDCA and PEF on an industrial scale across the globe. Commercial demand for PEF is a crucial factor in licensing discussions. Over the past year, Avantium has signed multi-year capacity reservation agreements. The agreement with BIOVOX further demonstrates Avantium's ability to meet the commercial demand for FDCA and PEF effectively.

BIOVOX - as a supplier of medical grade renewable polymers and compounds - has evaluated the use of PEF for a variety of pharmaceutical and medical applications. PEF-based pharmaceutical packaging offers significant environmental benefits compared to traditional petrochemical-based materials, aligning with the increasing demand for sustainable solutions in the pharmaceutical industry. PEF is a 100% plant-based, high-performance polymer that can be recycled in existing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling streams, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint than PET. PEF also offers excellent performance advantages over current monomaterial solutions made from PVC, PET or PP. PEF-based packaging has superior barrier properties, which are crucial for protecting pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, PEF provides strong mechanical properties, ensuring that the packaging maintains its integrity and effectiveness over time. Additionally, PEF-based packaging exhibits good chemical resistance, which is important for materials exposed to various environmental conditions.

Dr. Julian Lotz, CEO of BIOVOX, commented: “We are pleased to partner with Avantium and secure access to their innovative PEF material for our customers’ pharmaceutical, medical and laboratory applications. This agreement aligns perfectly with our commitment to remain the leading innovator of healthcare plastics with best-in-class sustainability and highest patient safety. We look forward to leveraging this cutting-edge material to address demanding critical applications, where renewable polymers have not been able to deliver yet. We can even deliver significant performance advantages over currently used materials which helps to reduce material use further.

Bineke Posthumus, Commercial Director of Avantium Renewable Polymers added: “This collaboration with BIOVOX marks a significant milestone for Avantium, showcasing the versatility of FDCA and PEF in the pharmaceutical sector. With PEF from future licensed plants, we are able to offer BIOVOX a high-performance, environmentally friendly solution that meets the stringent demands of pharmaceutical packaging. We look forward to seeing the positive impact of PEF in BIOVOX's applications.

source : Avantium

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : Teijin Frontier develops high-performance fabric with 100% recycled polyester

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Teijin Frontier Develops A New High-Performance Polyester Fabric With A Natural Fiber-Like Texture And Appearance

Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., announced today that it has developed a new high-performance polyester fabric, which combines the elegant appearance and texture of natural fibers made of yarns of random thickness with advanced functionalities such as cool touch, anti-stickiness, quick dry, opacity and ultraviolet (UV) protection.

The newly developed fabric is produced from a unique, four-lobed, flat cross-section yarn with random thicknesses, achieved through Teijin Frontier’s proprietary spinning technology. These thickness variations create pleasing irregularities in appearance and a dense texture similar to those of natural fibers. To support circularity, The newly developed fabric is made with 100 percent recycled polyester.

Teijin Frontier plans to make this fabric available to customers for use in casual and fashion apparel for the spring/summer 2026 season.

There is strong demand for textiles that offer a natural and elegant appearance for casual and fashion apparel. At the same time, consumers are looking for value-added comfort features like those found in high-performance sportswear. Until now, it has been difficult to combine these high-performance features with a natural fiber-like appearance and texture.

To solve this issue, Teijin Frontier has created a fabric that offers both the appearance and texture of natural fibers and the comfort of high-performance materials. Using proprietary technology, this fabric is woven or knitted from a four-lobed, flat cross-section full dull yarn with random thicknesses in both the longitudinal and cross-sectional directions. Moreover, to achieve the combination of natural fiber like texture and advanced functionalities, Teijin Frontier also adopts special dyeing and finishing technology and post-processing techniques.

Delivering High Performance:

The newly developed fabric delivers the following performance properties to enhance comfort and wearability:

Quick dry: Capillary action wicks away perspiration via grooves on the fiber surface.

Cool touch: Full dull yarn contains titanium oxide promotes a cooling sensation as heat is transferred from the skin to the fiber, flat cross-sectional shape increases the skin contact area.

Anti-stickiness: Random thicknesses of the yarn forms irregularities on the surface of the fabric and prevents its adherence to the skin.

Anti-transparency and UV protection: Full dull yarn and the four-lobed flat cross-sectional structure produce a light-scattering effect that creates opacity and helps to block UV radiation.

Teijin Frontier plans to begin sales of this fabric from fiscal year 2025 and aims to sell 250,000 meters by fiscal year 2027.

source:Teijin Frontier/textileworld.com

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : CERN Scientists turn lead into gold

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

CERN Physicists Observe Conversion of Lead into Gold

Near-miss collisions between high-energy lead nuclei at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider generate intense electromagnetic fields that can knock out protons and transform lead into fleeting quantities of gold nuclei.

Transforming the base metal lead into the precious metal gold was a dream of medieval alchemists.

This long-standing quest, known as chrysopoeia, may have been motivated by the observation that dull gray, relatively abundant lead is of a similar density to gold, which has long been coveted for its beautiful color and rarity.

It was only much later that it became clear that lead and gold are distinct chemical elements and that chemical methods are powerless to transmute one into the other.

With the dawn of nuclear physics in the 20th century, it was discovered that heavy elements could transform into others, either naturally, by radioactive decay, or in the laboratory, under a bombardment of neutrons or protons.

Though gold has been artificially produced in this way before, physicists with the ALICE Collaboration at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have now measured the transmutation of lead into gold by a new mechanism involving near-miss collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC.

Extremely high-energy collisions between lead nuclei at the LHC can create quark-gluon plasma, a hot and dense state of matter that is thought to have filled the Universe around a millionth of a second after the Big Bang, giving rise to the matter we now know.

However, in the far more frequent interactions where the nuclei just miss each other without ‘touching,’ the intense electromagnetic fields surrounding them can induce photon-photon and photon-nucleus interactions that open further avenues of exploration.

The electromagnetic field emanating from a lead nucleus is particularly strong because the nucleus contains 82 protons, each carrying one elementary charge.

Moreover, the very high speed at which lead nuclei travel in the LHC causes the electromagnetic field lines to be squashed into a thin pancake, transverse to the direction of motion, producing a short-lived pulse of photons.

Often, this triggers a process called electromagnetic dissociation, whereby a photon interacting with a nucleus can excite oscillations of its internal structure, resulting in the ejection of small numbers of neutrons and protons.

To create gold (a nucleus containing 79 protons), three protons must be removed from a lead nucleus in the LHC beams.

“It is impressive to see that our detectors can handle head-on collisions producing thousands of particles, while also being sensitive to collisions where only a few particles are produced at a time, enabling the study of electromagnetic ‘nuclear transmutation’ processes,” said ALICE spokesperson Dr. Marco Van Leeuwen, a physicist at NIKHEF.

The new results appear in the journal Physical Review C

source: SCI NEWS

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share : ECHA launches updated Classification & Labelling Inventory

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

ECHA launches revamped Classification and Labelling Inventory

The C&L Inventory includes information on more than 4 400 EU-level harmonised classifications and seven million classifications notified or included in REACH registrations. Altogether, the inventory includes data on around 350 000 substances.

The integration of classification and labelling information into ECHA CHEM follows the initial launch of the database in January 2024, which featured information on over 100 000 REACH registrations submitted by companies. The new inventory is designed to help users easily locate the classification with the highest agreement and to bring clarity on the source behind the classification information. It incorporates recent regulatory developments, such as the new CLP hazard classes and is built with stability and growth in mind. 

In this first version, the classification information is accessible in a visual format per substance with complementary approaches, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), being explored in future releases. 

Mercedes Viñas, Director of Submissions and Interaction, said: 

“This is an important milestone in further developing a comprehensive database for all chemical data gathered by ECHA. The redesigned C&L Inventory comes with an enhanced user interface and simplifies access to classification information for users.

Mike Rasenberg, Director of Hazard Assessment, added:

“Hazard classifications are the cornerstone of regulatory risk management of chemicals. The redesigned C&L inventory improves the clarity on the current and upcoming mandatory classifications harmonised at the EU level, helping companies to prepare and implement the required safety measures.

source: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:High packing pressure reduce warpage

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

How could that be, since the packing pressure is not going to really change fiber orientation ?

The mechanism is a bit more subtle.

GF induced warpage is linked to the mismatch of "shrinkage" of the glass fiber vs. the shrinkage of the matrix. Such mismatch creates a much bigger shrinkage perpendicular to the fibers because in the parallel direction, the fibers can better "resist" the pull from the matrix.

So why would a higher packing pressure reduce warpage ?

Think about it. If you could increase the packing to the point where the matrix would hit nearly zero volumetric shrinkage (check the PvT curves, it is possible although usually unreasonable) then the matrix would not want to shrink anymore, and the conflict with the glass fibers (which also don't want to shrink much) is gone !

So...no warpage !

So, remember, the more you pack a GF filled part, the less it will warp (at least from the anisotropy effect, differential shrinkage is another story).

Of course there are limits to how much you can increase the packing without running into other issues...

Source:Vito leo

Syensqo signs contracts with automotive OEMs to supply battery-grade PVDF

Syensqo announces the signing of new multi-year contracts for the supply of its battery-grade Solef® Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) with automotive original equipment manufacturers and battery makers.

Signed in the first quarter of 2025 and totaling more than €150 million in cumulative net sales, the long-term contracts highlight Syensqo's commitment to innovation, customer collaboration and profitable growth in the fast evolving battery market.

Durable and safe batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles:

Solef® PVDF, a thermoplastic fluoropolymer, plays a crucial role in lithium-ion batteries by providing superior separator-electrode adhesion and binder performance. It delivers durable, high performance, and safe batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. 

In addition to Solef® PVDF, Syensqo’s value proposition in the automotive industry extends to its portfolio of material solutions which address customers’ needs for lightweighting, higher performance and more energy efficient EVs, hybrids and internal combustion engine vehicles.  

“We are passionate about innovating with our advanced materials bringing higher performance to batteries, longer driving range to electrical vehicles, enabling a sustainable future for transportation. Our commercial teams have demonstrated exceptional dedication to achieve these significant milestones and support profitable growth,” Peter Browning, president of the Specialty Polymers Business Unit at Syensqo.

The volumes will be delivered from Syensqo’s flagship plant in Tavaux, France, using its state-of-the-art suspension PVDF technology. The site’s PVDF capacity expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, with operations commencing in 2026, serving customers across multiple end markets, including the healthcare, electronics, energy, and construction sectors.

Source: Syensqo/omnexus.specialchem.com