polymerguru

Sharebot SnowWhite is a professional 3D printer with DLS (Direct Laser Sintering) technology: a fast, easy to use working tool dedicated to professionals who test and develop new materials or to people who need to create functioning mechanical prototypes. Sharebot SnowWhite has a laser of 2.200 mm/s which allows to print at a printing speed of 35 mm/h. The printer uses different thermoplastic powders like PA12 or PA11: all the printing setting can be set and modified through the touch screen display, where the printer also shows all the parameters during the printing process. The printer can be the perfect laboratory tool to test new powders because it can start working with just 300g of material; it’s also possibile to recover all the unused powders. The machine can start printing in just few minutes and it has a low energy consumption while the powder doesn’t suffer any thermic stress. Sharebot SnowWhite is the Sharebot DLS (Direct Laser Sintering) professional ...

Van Dam Custom Boats mixes classic wooden boat designs and highly evolved engineering. Van Dam Custom Boats: In 2017, Van Dam Custom Boats celebrated 40 years of craftsmanship. This family business was founded in Michigan by married couple Steve and Jean Van Dam. Trained as a wooden boat builder in the early 1970’s, Steve is one of those on board early in the use of epoxy as a part of wooden boatbuilding in North America. The company is still using the finest materials and the latest in technology when designing and manufacturing its hand-crafted boats. A vessel from Van Dam Custom Boats is always the only one of its kind. Classic design with superior engineering: When classic wooden boat designs are incorporated with highly evolved engineering, the finished product is strong and beautiful. A naval architect in his own right and son of founders Steve and Jean, Ben notes that the company has never intended to build a production model and looks past the fact tha...

Toho Tenax has announced that it has developed a new high-tensile, highly shock-resistant prepreg that incorporates carbon fiber developed by Toho Tenax for aerospace applications and specialized carbon nanotubes (CNT). Intermediate Material for Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics A prepreg is a carbon fiber sheet pre-impregnated with matrix resin and used as an intermediate material for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). Toho Tenax’s new hybrid prepreg has been adopted by Mizuno Corporation in a new golf club shaft that weighs nearly 30% less than conventional shafts of the same thickness. The high-tensile prepreg enables the shaft to bend suitably as the ball is impacted and then cuts the shock of impact by more than 10% to reduce club movement on the follow-through swing. The surface of the CNT is specially treated and its structural elements disperse equally when Toho Tenax’s carbon fiber is impregnated with matrix resin containing the CNT. T...

UW–Madison researchers have developed an economical way of producing a critical plastic precursor called FDCA which could improve the economics of making plastic from biomass. Creating Plastics from Biomass Using a plant-derived solvent called GVL (g-valerolactone) researchers have developed an economical and high-yielding way of producing furan dicarboxylic acid, or FDCA.  One of twelve chemicals that the U.S. Department of Energy calls critical to forging a “green” chemical industry, FDCA is a necessary precursor to a renewable plastic called PEF (polyethylene furanoate) as well as to a number of polyesters and polyurethanes. Process for FDCA Production Motagamwala and colleagues’ new process begins with fructose, which they convert in a two-step process to FDCA in a solvent system composed of one part GVL and one part water.  The end result is a high yield of FDCA that easily separates from the solvent as a white powder upon cooling. The system d...

 Aquafil and Genomatica have announced a multiyear agreement to create sustainable caprolactam, a key ingredient to producing 100 percent sustainable nylon. The collaboration aims to develop a commercially-advantageous bioprocess (Genomatica’s GENO CPL™ process) to make caprolactam using plant-based renewable ingredients, rather than the crude oil-derived materials traditionally used by the nylon industry.       Enabling More Sustainable Nylon Products Used in a variety of nylon-based products including carpets and apparel, caprolactam has a worldwide market of over five million tons per year.  Genomatica’s GENO CPL™ process aims to provide an environmentally-friendly way to make caprolactam with better economics, including for smaller-scale plants.  It will enable licensees and their customers to differentiate themselves by offering a more sustainable bio-based product whose performance will be fully comparable with nylon ma...

Versarien, the British advanced materials engineering group, has announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish a graphene manufacturing centre in China. The non-binding LOI has been entered into by Versarien together with the Shandong Institute of Industrial Technology Fund, Jinan Qing Na Material Technology Co Ltd and Jinan Innovation Zone Administrative Committee with the view to establishing the "China-UK Jinan Graphene Industrial Park" in the Jinan Innovation Zone, Shandong Province, China. The Jinan Innovation Zone, established as a national hi-tech zone in 1991, currently has ten industrial parks with businesses including software, intelligent manufacturing and life sciences. The LOI envisages as a first stage the establishment of a 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility to produce and sell Versarien's proprietary Nanene few layer graphene nano-platelets. Versarien will provide its intellectual property (IP) on a lice...

Scientists report that avocado seed husks yielded benzyl butyl phthalate, a plasticizer used to promote flexibility in numerous synthetic products. Trash-to-Treasure Transformation The least appreciated part of an avocado could soon undergo a trash-to-treasure transformation. In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists report that avocado seed husks, which are usually discarded along with the seed, are hidden gold mines packed with a previously unrecognized plethora of chemical compounds. They say these compounds could eventually be used to treat a host of debilitating diseases, as well as to enhance the allure of cosmetics, perfumes and other consumer goods. Seed Husks - Potential Source of Chemicals “ It could very well be that avocado seed husks, which most people consider as the waste of wastes, are actually the gem of gems because the medicinal compounds within them could eventually be used to treat cancer, heart disease and other conditions ,” says Debasis...