polymerguru

RED Motorsport's Lotus Exige completed the third race of the new season on June 14th and 15th, took place in the Touring Car Championships (TCC) of the Deutscher Motorsport Verband (DMV) at the Hockenheimring. The racing car, which Evonik uses to test new applications, boasts a number of novel features this year including a multi-layer line for charge-air cooling. The green section of the line has an outer layer of a biobased polyamide, VESTAMID® Terra. This is the first time Evonik Industries is testing the multi-layer tube system with the biobased plastic on the race track.  Since 2007, Evonik has been testing coolant line systems consisting of multi-layer tubes of petroleum-based VESTAMID® under tough racing conditions. These multi-layer tubes serve as lightweight replacements for rubber hoses and reinforced lines. The MLT 8000 multi-layer tubing system has since proven its performance in vehicles worldwide. The racing car of the current season uses MLT 8000.3 with an orange ...

New materials have long been sought that help to tackle increasing concerns about the future sustainability of petroleum feedstocks and the increasing generation of waste (and litter) driven by our growing population. Reducing generation by using less, for example in packaging, and recycling and reusing materials that often end up as waste, are both great places to look to creatively apply these new materials. PVC  ( polyvinyl chloride ) is one of the best known, versatile plastics in the world and one of the least recycled.  PVC  has qualities that make it usable in everything from piping and construction to signs and packaging. However, PVC always requires additives before it can be made into a finished product and most of these additives, along with the PVC itself, are not made with renewable resources. Furthermore, while these additives provide important enhancements to the basic PVC polymer — from making the PVC more flexible to increasing its UV stabil...

Purac, a subsidiary of CSM, has signed a long term supply contract for the delivery of up to 10,000 tons annually of PURALACT® lactides to a customer in Asia. PURALACT® lactides will be polymerized into high heat polylactic acid (PLA), a bioplastic made from annually renewable resources. Commercial production of the partner's production facility is expected to start in the second half of 2014, but material for sampling and testing will be available shortly. The supply agreement for high optical purity lactides will enable Purac's partner to produce a range of high performance PLA homopolymers. The target market for the partner's PLA is Asia, with a focus on high heat PLA for durable and demanding applications, such as automotive and electronics parts. Further to the supply agreement, Purac and its partner have signed a joint development agreement where Purac's know-how in the area of high performance PLA will be combined with the partner's market access and appl...

Roquette has a wide experience in producing sorbitol-based clarifiers using an efficient and environmentally sustainable production process. By offering DISORBENE® 3, Roquette opens a new reputable source for bis-DMBS, a state-of-the-art clarifier developed and sold by  Milliken under the registered trade name  Millad ® 3988, and provides additional capacity for this widely used clarifier to meet the growing needs of the polymer industry. "Roquette has proven to be a very good partner to the polymer industry for the first and second generation sorbitol-based clarifiers in the past" points out Industry expert Dr. Felix Meyer, "and DISORBENE® 3 has the same quality standards and the advantageous granulometry of the Industry reference". " Polypropylene  producers in Europe are welcoming Roquette decision to re-enter the clarifier business as they were depending on one non-European supplier in the past" commented Mr. Thierry Laurent, head of Roquette Pla...

Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation, showcased its thermoplastics for composites at SAMPE 2013 [May 7 to 9], at the Long Beach Convention Center in California. The Ticona exhibit highlighted thermoplastic solutions for continuous-fiber composites used in light and tough components that can reduce weight, drive down costs and perform in extreme environments. The Ticona team also discussed the advantages of its thermoplastics and composites product line that includes: – Fortron®  polyphenylene sulfide  ( PPS ) delivers proven production performance in critical aerospace structures, including the JEC 2013 Innovation Award-winning lightweight horizontal tailplane on the AgustaWestland AW169 helicopter. Superior FST (flame, smoke, toxicity) performance — exceeds aircraft interior requirements High-temperature performance to 240 degrees Celsius (as demonstrated under-the-hood) Superior dimensional stability (low shrink, CTE and creep) Broad c...

Rilsan T represents an alternative to other long chain polyamides. Arkema offers expertise spanning over 60 years in the chemistry of castor oil, the raw material for its Rilsan polyamide 11. This position was bolstered in 2012 by the acquisition of Chinese companies Casda, the world leader in sebacic acid derived from castor oil, and Hipro Polymers, which produces polyamides also from castor oil (Hiprolon PA6.10, PA6.12, PA10.10, PA10.12), as well as the recent purchase of a stake in Ihsedu Agrochem, a subsidiary of Jayant Agro in India which specializes in the production of castor oil. Building on its unique integration and an already unsurpassed offering in high performance polyamides, Arkema has now enhanced its product range with Rilsan PA.10.10 T processed from castor oil. Arkema’s PA10.10 is ranked between PA6.10, PA6.12 on the one hand, and PA10.12, PA12, PA11 on the other, all of which are already part of Arkema’s product range. Over and above the well-known properties of l...

A new chemical process can transform waste sulfur into a lightweight plastic that may improve batteries for electric cars, reports a University of Arizona-led team. The new plastic has other potential uses, including optical uses. The team has successfully used the new plastic to make lithium-sulfur batteries. "We've developed a new, simple and useful chemical process to convert sulfur into a useful plastic," lead researcher Jeffrey Pyun said. Next-generation lithium-sulfur, or Li-S, batteries will be better for electric and hybrid cars and for military uses because they are more efficient, lighter and cheaper than those currently used, said Pyun, a UA associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The new plastic has great promise as something that can be produced easily and inexpensively on an industrial scale, he said. The team's discovery could provide a new use for the sulfur left over when oil and natural gas are refined into cleaner-burning f...