Engineering Resins
Resin Prices Are on the Way Up
Higher prices are projected for PE, PP, PS, and PVC in this first quarter, driven by tighter availability and/or higher costs of feedstocks.
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Copolyester Used in Pneumatic Tube Carrier
WEB EXCLUSIVE: A new application of proprietary Tritan copolyester from Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., has been developed by Baltimore-based Pevco, a manufacturer of hospital pneumatic-tube delivery systems used to transport patient-critical materials between labs, pharmacies, blood banks, operating rooms, and emergency rooms. The new Pevco TEC-6 pneumatic tube carrier was designed specifically to be made with Tritan, according to Pevco’s director of product development and marketing Steve Dahl.
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Nylon Replaces Metal in Auto Transmission Oil Pan
WEB EXCLUSIVE: A 60% glass-reinforced nylon 6 from Lanxess LLC, Pittsburgh, has replaced steel sheet in the extremely flat, yet very stiff S tronic transmission oil pan on the new Audi R8.
Read MoreNew Plants for Engineering Resins
Two suppliers recently announced plans to increase capacity.
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PP, PS, PVC Prices Up, But Not for Long
A soft landing is expected for the four commodity thermoplastics as the year comes to an end.
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The New Lightweights: Injection Molded 'Hybrid' Composites Spur Auto Innovation
A thermoplastic composite technology that emerged just a couple of years ago promises to make dramatic strides within the next two years in automotive mass production of structural components.
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Nylon Replaces Stainless Steel in Surgical Devices
WEB EXCLUSIVE: A 50% glass-filled Ixef polyarylamide (PARA, also known as MXD6 nylon) from Solvay Specialty Polymers USA, LLC, Alpharetta, Ga., delivers the high strength, rigidity, moldability, and ultra-smooth finish needed to replace stainless steel in new, single-use surgical devices.
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Ultra-Stiff Glass-Filled Nylon 66 in Photovoltaic Mounting System
WEB EXCLUSIVE: The new Aixtralight Clip rooftop solar-panel mounting system from Germany’s Aixtra Solar AG is made of ultra-stiff, 35% glass-reinforced, flame-retardant Ultramid A3WG10 nylon 66 from BASF (U.S. office in Wyandotte, Mich.). The plastic bracket is mounted on a roof, and the rails attached to the photovoltaic modules can be quickly and easily inserted into the bracket.Installing an Aixtralight Clip is said to avoid stresses caused by differences in the expansion coefficients of the trapezoidal sheet metal and the mounting rails.
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‘Breakthrough’ in Nylon Characterization
WEB EXCLUSIVE: Malvern Instruments, Westborough, Mass., has a novel gel permeation chromatography (GPC) method for characterizing nylon that is said to significantly reduce the cost of analysis while simultaneously improving safety, compared with existing methods.
Read MoreNew U.S. Production of Engineering-Resin Stock Shapes
ZL Engineering Plastics Inc., Lenexa, Kan., a supplier of stock shapes, has started up its first U.S. extrusion operation in response to growing demand.
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