Engineering Resins
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.
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Disposable Packaging Goes 'Natural'
A compostable "natural" composite developed by EarthShell Corp. is likely to have a broad impact on disposable packaging markets, company sources say.
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Additive Masterbatches Make Polyolefins Degrade
Two masterbatch suppliers claim to have found effective ways to make polyethylene and polypropylene products degrade like paper or wood while remaining cost-competitive with conventional LDPE or PP.
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PVDF Latex Foam CompositesProvide High Flame Resistance
A new patent-pending technology developed by AtoFina Chemicals in Philadelphia creates highly flame-resistant foams of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fluoropolymer without the use of blowing agents or melt processing.
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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.
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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 MoreLow-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 MoreBig 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 MoreBoron Nitride Processing Aid Boosts Quality of mLLDPE Film
Compounders and processors of mLLDPE blown film who are looking for improved processability and film quality at comparable or even lower total cost may want to take a look at a new family of boron nitride (BN) processing aids.
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