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Special Feature
Jun 11, 2009 -
Solar Heat and IR Management Pigment Solutions
Pigments are powdered materials that provide color by absorbing or reflecting different parts of the sun's visible light spectrum. They also have independent, distinctive IR reflective characteristics. Pigments that exhibit high IR-reflectivity for a...
(3 Member Reactions)
Most Popular Articles
Jun 29, 2009 - Adding Aroma to Packaging - Enhancing Taste
Traditionally, formulators have worked hard to ensure that the polymers and additives used for packaging do not have any taste or odor that would interact with the package contents or negatively affect the consumer's perception. In some cases,...
(1 Member Reaction)
Jun 29, 2009 - Migration of Additives from Polymers into Packaged Commodities: Gas Barrier properties of Foodstuff Packaging Film
The introduction of polymer based structures as packaging materials for foodstuffs has been increasing over the last decades. The main commercial appeal of these materials lies in their ability to offer a broad variety of tailor-made properties and...
(1 Member Reaction)
May 29, 2009 - HFFR solutions: A Tricky Choice Between Inherently FR Polymers, Marketed FR Compounds and Specialty FR Additives
Worldwide, fires kill or injure several tens of thousands of people, and result in huge property losses. To fight against fire risks, there is no choice but to use fire resistant solutions. To avoid main traps linked to health and corrosion, the...
(10 Member Reactions)
May 18, 2009 - Using Biocides in Wood-Plastic Composites
Microbes grow if they have moisture, the right temperature, and a food source, such as exposed wood. Mold and mildew fungi can grow on WPC deck surfaces. In addition, decay fungi can consume wood that is not encapsulated by the plastic, causing wood...
 May 14, 2009 - Sustainability, a must: Natural Scraps as Feedstock
To avoid competition with food crops, raw materials for bioplastics are chosen among agricultural, urban or industrial wastes and carbon dioxide. Processing methods can follow microbial, chemical or mechanical ways producing monomers or polymers. End...
May 4, 2009 - ASTM/ISO Test for Scratch and Mar Resistance
Scratch and mar resistance of plastics is an important property in applications like appliances and automotive, where customers perceive long-term scratch and mar resistance as a sign of quality. The Scratch Consortium, based in the Polymer...
(3 Member Reactions)
May 4, 2009 - Journey through Rodent Resistant Options in Dielectric Cables
Utilization of optical fiber cables in metro as well as long-haul networks is increasing exponentially. Duct & Direct-Buried cables has always been the mainstay for all OSP applications. Rodent attacks have been a major cause for heavy...
Apr 24, 2009 - Polymer Recycling and Reuse Save Carbon dioxide and Other GHG
End-of-life wastes, several hundred of thousand tonnes a day, must be considered as a plastics mine needing new views on collection, recycling and reprocessing. A careful selection of sources, a suitable method of treatment save fossil fuels, raw...
(1 Member Reaction)
Apr 17, 2009 - Cyclics' CBT® 100 Engineering Plastics Processing Aid Solution
Cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) resins combine the advantages of thermosets and thermoplastics in a water-like viscosity material that after reacting becomes the engineering thermoplastic polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). CBT® 100 polymer has...
(5 Member Reactions)
Apr 6, 2009 - Defining Biodegradability and Compostability
The terms "biodegradable" and "compostable" are defined in official EN, ASTM, and ISO testing standards, but they are not necessarily well understood by the public or even by the plastics industry as a whole. They are often used interchangeably,...
(4 Member Reactions)
Mar 30, 2009 - Defining 'Bioplastics'
'Bioplastics' is an industry-accepted term, although its definition is not always clear. There is a Bioplastics Magazine, a "Green and Bio-Plastics" channel on Omnexus, and many bioplastics organizations, including the European Bioplastics...
(4 Member Reactions)
Mar 24, 2009 - Biopolymers: From a Timid 20% of Biocomponents up to a Brilliant 100%
Biopolymers derived from renewable biomass sources ensure the conservation of fossil resources, the utilisation of renewable vegetal resources with its geopolitics involvements, the consumption of CO2 instead of its emission....
(6 Member Reactions)
Mar 10, 2009 - Top-of-the-range Reinforcements: Nanoclays, Carbon Nanotubes, Nanofibres I - Overview
Most common fillers and reinforcements have a micrometric size and must be used at levels in the order of 10% and more.From a strictly geometrical point of view, the size reduction of a particle, sphere or platelet with a constant shape factor, leads...
(2 Member Reactions)
Feb 24, 2009 - Modification of Polymer Surfaces: What's New?
Polymers have often an hydrophobic and soft surface with a somewhat unappealing look and a low surface tension, which is harmful for adhesion of inks, paints and other coating, adhesive joining, decoration, scratch resistance.
For many plastic parts...
(1 Member Reaction)
Jan 7, 2009 - Plastics Recycling Out of the Beaten Tracks
Recycling means the reuse of the waste materials in a production process for the original purpose or for other purposes excluding energy recovery. Reprocessing can be done using mechanical or chemical methods to reuse the wasted material. Mechanical...
(1 Member Reaction)
Jan 7, 2009 - Weight Saving saves Raw Materials, Energy, Fuels, Pollution, Recycling...
The manufacture of parts and goods needs polymers, additives, reinforcements consuming raw materials and energy, and producing pollution, carbon dioxide and other gases favouring the global warming and pollutants harmful for human, animal and vegetal...
Jan 5, 2009 - Innovations in Antistatic Additives
Static charge generated on the non-conductive surfaces of polymers is a long identified issue. Plastic materials typically have a combination of high surface resistivity (1014 to 1016 Ohms at 20°C and 50% relative humidity) and low dielectric...
Dec 24, 2008 - Enhancing Polymer Adhesion thanks to Functionalized Materials and Surface Treatments
Adhesive bonding is one of the main methods used to join
1. a material and a coating such as inks and paints for the most common
2. parts processed in two steps, for example injected tail lights in two or three colours
3. several parts to produce...
Dec 16, 2008 - Latest Advances in Plastics Colorants/Aesthetics
Colorants and special effects are the largest group of a broad range of additives and masterbatches available to alter or tailor the appearance, functionality, performance, safety, cost effectiveness, and processing efficiency of resins that assist...
Nov 24, 2008 - Halogen Free Fire Retardant Polypropylene -HFFR PP Synergistic Effects between Mineral Additives and Metal Hydroxides
REACH, RoHS, WEEE, regulations concerning specific applications such as food contact, and voluntary bans decided by trade associations or by companies reduce the suitable fire retardancy formulations leading to HFFR solutions based on metal...
Nov 18, 2008 - Additive and Colorant Factors in Food and Beverage Packaging
Rich Novomesky, Strategic Business Manager at Ampacet Corporation has broad commercial, technical and manufacturing experience in packaging and food processing.
His perspective encompasses packaging functionality and aesthetics, as well as how to...
Nov 6, 2008 - Flame Retardant Additives for Electrical and Electronic Applications EU Trends and Regulations
Electrical and electronic (EE) applications - including housings, wire and cable, and internals such as connectors – are the largest market for flame retardants in plastics globally. Flame retardant use in EE is growing strongly. The need for flame...
Oct 17, 2008 - Medical PVC DEHP Plasticizer Debate Update
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based materials are widely used in medical device applications chiefly because of their physical properties, ease of fabrication, and compatibility with intravenous (IV) solutions and blood. PVC products commonly used in...
Oct 17, 2008 - Natural Fibres New Trends and Strategies
Natural fibres were the first fibres used for thermosetting resin reinforcement but slowly they fell into disuse for performance and environmental problems principally due to low mechanical properties, high moisture absorption, ageing sensitivity...
Oct 16, 2008 - Thermo-Oxidative Stability of Polymers
Chien and Kiang [1, 2] oxidized polypropylene (PP) at temperatures between 240 and 289° C. The products were separated by gas chromatography (GC) and online identification was by an interfaced GC peak identification system. The major products are...
Sep 16, 2008 - Market Driven Plastics Functional Fillers and Specialty Additives
Fillers for plastics are basically divided into inactive (or extender) fillers and active (or functional) fillers. Fillers are very widely used in the plastics industry, and their growth rates currently exceed those of the resins themselves. They are...
Aug 7, 2008 - Early Detection of Degradation: New Methods Detect the First Steps of Degradation
Don't forget that polymers are always tackled by their chemical or physical weak points. Consequently, the study of degradation depends on our capability to see and quantify:
1. the degradation that is an evolution of aspect, colour, mechanical or...
Jul 11, 2008 - EcoDesign Combine the 3 E Ecology, Economy, Environment
Up-to-date trends in polymer industry include the respect of environment, ecology requirements and economy of resources and energy. The manufacture, use and disposal of polymers build a complex context whose optimization needs much thought to develop...
Jun 25, 2008 - Fashionable and Inevitable: Free in Every Way Halogen free, Lead and other Heavy Metal free, VOC free...
The actual context is favourable to high purity banning recognized harmful elements and molecules, or simply suspected materials or impurities according to the ‘precautionary principle'. Polymers, additives and reinforcement materials cannot escape...
Jun 18, 2008 - Latest innovation in Antistatic and Dissipative Plastics
Most polymers are generally insulating. Electrostatic build-up and discharges are widespread, leading to numerous issues of very various seriousness, from minor to very serious and even dreadful ones:
1. Dust and other pollutant attraction with...
Jun 2, 2008 - Advanced Slip & Antiblock Friction Control in Packaging Film
Slip additives reduce friction between films, and between film and equipment, thereby facilitating movement through converting and downstream packaging operations. Slip additive effectiveness is measured in terms of the static or kinetic Coefficient...
May 26, 2008 - Weather Testing For the Real World
Broader use of plastics in building products and a growing desire to minimize painting of automotive parts is increasing the need for reliable predictions of light stability and weathering performance. Accelerated weathering lab instruments and...
May 14, 2008 - Latest Evolutions and Innovations in Stabilizers
Poly(vinylchloride) (PVC) is one of the lowest cost, highest volume commodity plastics used today due to its versatility, chemical and mechanical properties, ability to accept a wide variety of additives.
Rigid PVC is appreciated for its stiffness...
May 2, 2008 - Latest Innovation in Nucleating and Clarifying Agents
Crystallinity of semi-crystalline polymers is responsible for many of the characteristics such as dimensional stability, clarity, toughness...
For a defined part and process, the crystallinity is controlled by the polymer structure, the formulation,...
Apr 8, 2008 - Emerging Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Additives in Packaging
Additives, oxo-biodegradable, polyolefin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, compostable, biodegradable, antioxidant, biodegradation study, packaging, shopping bags, refuse sacks, film, liners, shrink wrap, micro-organisms, bacteria, aerobic,...
Mar 26, 2008 - What about Banned Molecules?
Molecules can be banned for various reasons (See Figure 'Ban-Origins'): human risks, carcinogenic, mutagenic, reproductively-toxic effects; pollution of air, water, land; persistent, bio-accumulative substances; greenhouse effect. Ban can be total or...
Mar 12, 2008 - What’s New in Biocides?
Bacteria, fungi and algae can affect the aesthetic and physical properties of a plastic or a rubber by causing black spotting or discoloration, pink staining, odour and polymer degradation, fouling etc. Biocides used to fight these microorganisms...
Feb 25, 2008 - Be Green: Work on VOC Reduction
VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds form a broad heterogeneous category of chemical compounds, some of which pose a health hazard and can also lead to greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion and acidification of the globe atmosphere. Others pose...
Jan 30, 2008 - Compatibilization Thanks to Functionalized Polymer and Melt Reactive Compounding
Plastics, rubbers, TPE, composites are not monolithic materials but are made from the association of several entities, one or several polymers, fillers and chemicals. When the polymers are immiscible, one of them forms a continuous phase and the...
Jan 28, 2008 - Evolutions of Processing Methods Cheaper, Faster, Easier, More Environmental-Friendly...
The economic requirements, the environmental regulations, the low processing costs of emergent nations, the more and more reduced design times worsen the competition and push converters to manufacture cheaper and faster. Multiple ways are...
Jan 18, 2008 - Easier Processing Thanks to Processing Aids
Processing of a polymer is inherently more or less easy according to its nature, microstructure, morphology, molecular weight, ramifications etc. Moreover, for a given polymer, the processing is more difficult when the level of filler increases....
Dec 19, 2007 - Conductive Polymers: Plastics Final Frontier
One of the most important technological advances in the field of plastics over the last half of the twentieth century has been the extensive replacement of metals with plastics. While plastics have been engineered to outperform steel and other...
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