Materials
‘Self-Reinforcing’ Thermoplastic Is Harder, Stronger, Stiffer Without Added Fibers
By the end of 2003, sample quantities will become available of a specialty high-performance thermoplastic whose inventors call it the first readily processable rigid-rod polymer.
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'Father of Long Glass' Delivers a New Baby
Ron Hawley's lawyer keeps a collection of napkins and other bits of paper on which, over the years, Hawley drew the first sketches of a remarkable series of inventions.
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Why Long-Glass Molders Are Compounding In-Line
Compounding raw fiberglass directly into thermoplastic molded parts is growing rapidly in Europe, and now it’s coming here. D-LFT, as it’s called, promises to make large parts cheaper and stronger—but with new technological risks and higher up-front investment costs.
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SBCs Are Back With More Capacity & New Grades
Two years ago, a supply crisis struck the SBC market. Some customers were forced to switch to other materials. Today, SBC producers hope to lure back processors with a surge of new resin capacity, new domestic suppliers, and new grades and applications.
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Metallocene VLDPE Is a Tough New Contender for Flexible Packaging
A new metallocene catalyzed, very-low-density polyethlyene (mVLDPE) from ExxonMobil Chemical Co., Houston, reportedly offers the excellent toughness associated with mLLDPE plus lower heat-seal temperatures and other advantages over conventional Ziegler-Natta VLDPEs or ULDPEs for flexible packaging.
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Blow Molding Gets Green Light in Detroit
Technical blow molding is changing the contours of automotive interior trim, load-bearing floors, seat-back systems, and under-hood ducting. Favorable economics, process refinements, and the emergence of tailored materials and equipment are taking the brakes off blow molding's earlier limits, and pointing a way to cost cutting.
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Nanocomposites Broaden Roles in Automotive, Barrier Packaging
Nanocomposites are gradually gaining acceptance in the mainstream of global plastics processing. These polymer compounds, containing relatively low loadings (under 6% by weight) of nanometer-sized mineral particles, are beginning to show up in polypropylene and TPO-based automotive exterior claddings, barrier beer bottles, nylon packaging films, polyethylene pipe and wire/cable coatings, and more.
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In-Line Compounding of Long-Glass/PP Gains Strength in Automotive Molding
Another approach to long-fiber thermoplastic (LFT) molding is gaining credibility for producing a range of structural and semi-structural automotive parts. It is called direct LFT processing, and is already widely practiced in Europe.
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Materials (K 2001 Preview)
New materials at K 2001 are weighted heavily toward the engineering variety, especially nylons, acetals, and TP polyesters. A large handful of polypropylenes round out the major news.
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See-Through Plastic Cans Enliven Paint Packaging
Improved technologies for molding see-through plastic paint cans—both clear stretch-blow molded PET and translucent injection molded PP—are adding dash to paint marketing in the U.K. These trends present a lively example to the U.S., where gray steel cans still dominate the shelves in retail paint packaging.
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