Compounding
Automotive Innovation Trend-Setting Technologies Garner SPE Awards
Paintless in-mold film decorating and carbon-fiber composites are making inroads in appearance and structural parts. Blow molding is finding new interior applications. And long-fiber thermoplastics are cutting weight and cost on the inside and outside of new passenger vehicles.
Read More
New Clarifiers & Nucleators: They Make Polypropylene Run Clearer and Faster
New packaging opportunities are opening up for PP, thanks to a new crop of additives that boost clarity, stiffness, HDT, and processing rates.
Read More
Long-Glass PP Makes InroadsIn Automotive Front Ends
Injection molded, long-glass-reinforced polypropylene appears to be the staple of new automotive front-end systems (FES) designed with a high degree of parts integration.
Read More
Cut the 'Chatter' in Window Profile Extrusion
A new class of heat stabilizer and an unusual lubricant are said to allow high-speed extrusion of rigid PVC window profiles without such common problems as "chatter" lines, die plateout, and frictional heat build-up in the calibrator.
Read More
Long-Glass Leader-How Faurecia Helped Put TP Composites In the Driver's Seat
Europe's third largest automotive molder, Faurecia, uses five different long-glass thermoplastic molding processes, more than any other molder in the world. It invented half of them, including the world's first in-line compounding- and-injection process.
Read More
The New Polypropylenes - They've Got More of Everything
Whether it鈥檚 toughness, stiffness, heat resistance, clarity, barrier properties, high flow, or high melt strength鈥攜ou鈥檒l find more of what you鈥檙e looking for in new breeds of PP resins from all suppliers.
Read More
Low-Cost Process Makes Crosslinked PE Foam
A new way to make closed-cell, crosslinked polyolefin foam buns uses far less expensive equipment and less energy than conventional processes.
Read More
"Electrically Active" Compounds Surge In Performance
Designing a thermoplastic compound to conduct an electrical charge is difficult and costly, since most polymers are naturally ill suited to the task.
Read More
New Machinery &Materials Help Rotomolders Add Value to Parts
Producing solid features in an otherwise hollow rotomolded part and coloring parts in easier and more flexible ways are two new developments highlighted at the January meeting of the Association of Rotational Molders (ARM) in Minneapolis.
Read More
Big German Plant May Relieve U.S. Bottleneck in Recycling Carpet Nylon
An unexpected bottleneck in U.S. nylon recycling could be alleviated by a giant new carpet recycling plant in Germany.
Read More