polymerguru

Nanoscience Instruments announces worldwide distribution of a new benchtop carbon nanotube synthesis device. The Nanotech Innovations SSP-354 is a low-cost system for producing high-quality, multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The device uses an injection CVD process developed at NASA and is integrated into an instrument small enough to fit in a fume hood. The system can produce research-quality, multi-wall carbon nanotubes within a few hours. The SSP-354 CNT system was designed with both affordability and ease of use in mind. The user injects Nanotech Innovations' organometallic precursor solution into a two-zone furnace where iron catalyst particles are formed. Once growth is catalyzed, the nanotubes form on the surface of a quartz process tube, which is later removed to collect the material. The nanotubes average 50 nm in diameter and can be anywhere from several micrometers to a few hundred micrometers in length, depending on operating parameters. Because the innovative design elimi...

Plastic is a great material for many purposes. Lite-On Mobile has a wealth of experience in the field, enabling it to offer products that can justifiably be called high-class. Surfaces can be made look and feel totally different to what we are used to when holding a plastic object - ceramic, velvet, shiny, color-changing and, even to the eye of an expert, totally seamless products. Those are the kind of qualities that give plastic products a high-class look - they are exclusive and expensive looking, but still at an affordable price. And that doesn't go for just mobile phone covers, but for almost anything you can think of. Kimmo Turunen, Senior Manager from LOM Plastics Innovations explains that Lite-On Mobile has developed a fast and cost-efficient way to remove tooling split lines from the visual surfaces of plastic parts. * Split line removal is a technique by which the seams in plastic parts are polished away before painting. Plastic parts may sometimes have features like ...

As a result of the trend towards thinner, trendier TVs, molders and OEMs are faced with an increased demand for thinner TV enclosures with better aesthetics at lower cost. Styron LLC announced the commercial availability of three innovative compounds in Europe that can help molders and OEMs meet these challenges. XZ 92696.00: high flow PC/ABS compound for applications with high heat requirements High heat resistant products for TV enclosures traditionally came with compromises in terms of flow, making them less suitable for molders wanting to produce the thin TV housings demanded by today's consumers. With XZ 92696.00, Styron has developed an innovative solution that overcomes the classic compromise between heat and flow. The innovative PC/ABS compound has a market-leading HDT (Heat Distortion Temperature) value of 94°C at 1.82 MPa, making it an ideal solution for thinner TVs with high heat requirements such as Matrix-lit LED TVs. In addition to this high HDT valu...

To provide effective sound insulation for optimal acoustics in the oval-shaped Genexis Theatre (Fusionopolis, an R&D complex in Singapore), BASF’s flame-retardant specialty foam Basotect® has been used by the engineers. The Basotect panels, surrounded by black fleece, are fitted behind numerous timber beads spread across the heavily lined and curved theater walls. Basotect, made from melamine resin, a thermoset polymer, is a good sound absorption material and minimize reverberations occurring inside the theatre. Its characteristic feature is its three-dimensional network structure consisting of slender and thus easily shaped webs. Basotect’s open-cell foam structure makes it lightweight (9g/l), thermally-insulating and sound-absorbing material. This unique structure also provides the much needed flexibility to the foam and can be used at up to 240°C without any deterioration in performance.

According to a top official from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Bangalore will have CNG fuelling stations by 2012. Meanwhile, in Chennai the gaseous fuel will be available in the next three years thanks to a city gas distribution project, said Gail India Limited’s general manager R. Tiwari. Chairman of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) L. Mansingh said that infrastructure to supply compressed natural gas in Bangalore would be in place in two years. Moreover, there is a Petronet LNG’s project, expected to be commissioned by March 2012, to establish a Bangalore-Mangalore-Kochi pipeline. Once built, consumers will have the benefit of piped natural gas delivered in town. On the other hand, Chennai would be on the CNG map after the City Gas Distribution (CDG) project is implemented in the next two to three...

JST Corp., a global manufacturer of interconnection products, has eliminated stress cracks in its injection molded Secure Digital (SD) connector thanks to the superior weld-line strength and higher heat deflection properties found in inherently flame resistant Vectra® liquid crystal polymer ( LCP ) from Ticona Engineering Polymers. "With technical assistance from Ticona, JST was able to switch to Vectra S135 and start molding thin-wall parts with excellent process consistency and good surface appearance," said Miguel Padilla, JST Molding Supervisor at JST in Waukegan, Ill. "Now we have the extended operating temperature and flowability that allows us to consistently fill these complex geometries while, at the same time, maintaining tight tolerances and avoiding assembly process issues." When molding with a 10 percent glass, 30 percent mineral reinforced LCP resin with a distortion temperature under load (DTUL) of 248 degrees Celsius (479 degrees Fahr...

Teijin Fibers Limited, the core company of the Teijin Group's polyester fibers business, announced that it will begin the full-fledged production and marketing of new plant-based polyethylene terephthalate ( PET ) fiber as the world's first commercially produced bio-derived PET fiber, in April 2012. Named ECO CIRCLE PlantFiber, the new product, also available as a textile, will become Teijin Fibers' core biomaterial for applications ranging from apparel, car seats and interiors to personal hygiene products. Teijin Fibers expects to sell 30,000 tons of ECO CIRCLE PlantFiber products in the initial fiscal year ending in March 2013, and 70,000 tons by the third year of business. ECO CIRCLE PlantFiber is made roughly 30% from biofuels derived from biomass such as sugarcane. Conventional PET typically is made by polymerizing ethylene glycol (EG) and dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) or telephthalic acid (PTA), with EG accounting for roughly 30%. The EG contained in...