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Akzo Nobel opens new Chinese powder coatings site
F O C US businesses have already changed ownership. Cytec is acquiring UCB’s chemical business for €1.5 bn (the business manufactures radiation curable powder, and PU coatings). Cray Valley is to acquire Akzo Nobel’s UV/electron beam resins business, which has sales of €27 M/y. And smaller resin makers may look to shed their resins operations if these do not prove to be strategic fits with their other products. The resins market had a value of $6.9 bn in 2003, with acrylics accounting for 35%, vinyls 23%, alkyds 12%, epoxies 10%, polyester 5% and urethane 5%. A figure gives a breakdown of resins demand by resin type for 2003. Chemical Week, 9 Nov 2005, 167 (37), 3335 (Website: http://www.chemweek.com)
Accelerating innovations in automotive plastics DuPont’s Zytel HTN polyamide resins were used in making the first water jacket spacer worldwide, a component of the engine cylinder block of Toyota’s Zero Crown luxury car. The Zytel HTN resins provide excellent heat ageing and the power to retain material durability at high temperatures. Emerging uses for the resins are in the areas of automotive engine cooling, airintake, and fuel handling systems. The company collaborated with Toyota, moulder Uchiyama Manufacturing, and Tier One supplier Aisan Industry in making the plastic resistant to hot coolant on both sides. The innovation comes amid the increasing global integration of plastics into automotive manufacturing. Degussa’s new speciality compounds, Vestodur X9419 and Vestodur X9420 offer greater flexibility in the design of elaborate headlight geometries. Meanwhile, Chevron Philips Chemical is pushing its Ryton PPS resin as the preferred material for demanding plastic components in automotive. Sabic Europe is collaborating with DECEMBER 2005
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Magyar Suzuki to provide polypropylene grades for the newly introduced Suzuki Swift. Bayer MaterialScience has launched Makroblend DP 7645 to be used in radiator grilles for the Audi A6. Asian Plastics News, Sep 2005, 14,16-17
Innovative Powder Coatings expands to accommodate sales growth and forecasts Innovative Powder Coatings LLC has spread out into a 4000 sq ft warehouse next to the company’s existing manufacturing plant in a bid to address sales increase and predictions. The company is considering another production expansion and will develop standard stock colours and products at the end of 2005. Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Nov 2005, 21 (11), 4
Rohm and Haas increases prices of powder coatings products Rohm and Haas will impose a price hike on its powder coatings products due to rising prices of raw materials. The company, which predicts elevated and volatile pricing in the near term, says that its global cost reduction strategy failed to curb the sustained rise in prices of raw materials. Paint and Resin Times, Nov 2005, (5), 3
Cytec Surface Specialties raises prices of polyester powder coating resins Cytec Surface Specialties has imposed a price hike on its Additol, Crylcoat and Uvecoat polyester powder coating resins in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The price hikes, which range from 5-8%, depending on the grade, are necessary to enable the firm to cope with the sudden and high increases in raw material and energy costs. Paint and Resin Times, Nov 2005, (5), 3
C O AT I N G S Carbon Nanotubes of the Highest Purity High-quality carbon nanotubes (CNT) for a wide variety of applications can now be manufactured on an industrial scale at considerably lower cost than before. Bayer MaterialScience AG plans to market the nano-sized materials worldwide under the trade name Baytubes. Until now, the high price of up to €1000/kilogram and fluctuating production quality prevented more widespread use of nanotubes. “For the first time, we can achieve consistent material purity of over 99% and significantly reduce manufacturing costs,” says Martin Schmid, head of the Carbon Nanotubes project at Bayer MaterialScience. “Adding just small quantities of Baytubes can make a plastic car fender so electrically conductive that it can be painted without any further pretreatment, using environmentally friendly waterborne or powder coatings. In a similar manner, we can make films for antistatic packaging materials, such as those used for sophisticated electronic components.” Press release from: Bayer MaterialScience, Germany, Website: http://www.bayermaterialscience.com (14 Nov 2005)
Akzo Nobel opens new Chinese powder coatings site CEO Hans Wijers officially opened Akzo Nobel’s new powder coatings facility at Langfang in China. The new site not only consolidates the company’s position as the world’s largest manufacturer of powder coatings, but will also ensure that the business’ growth momentum is maintained in what is the fastestgrowing global market for the product. The new factory was constructed to replace a former plant in Beijing. The Langfang facility is being inaugurated just a few months after the company’s Powder Coatings business 5
FOCUS expanded its operations in South China with the opening of a second factory at Baoan in Guangdong Province. Press release from: Akzo Nobel NV, Velperweg 76, PO Box 9300, 6800 SB Arnhem, the Netherlands, Tel: +31 26 366 4343, Website: http://www.akzonobel.com (15 Nov 2005)
NEW PRODUCTS New extender for powder coatings Formulators of powder coatings are under pressure at the present time to reduce costs without detracting from the performance of the finished product. A new mineral resource extender could be the answer to their problems. Monto Minerals of Australia has introduced a unique material that offers extender qualities comparable to those of the synthetic filler, blanc fixe, with a highly competitive cost advantage. This new source of feldspar will also provide additional economy to the powder coating since the specific gravity is only 2.6 compared to the 4.3 specific gravity of the barium filler, enabling comparable weights of the powder coating to cover a larger surface area, at the same film thickness. It differs from other commercial grades of feldspar in the complete absence of free silica. Further benefits are found in both physical and chemical properties imparted to the cured powder film. Comparative tests in white pigmented powder coatings have shown this extender to give excellent direct and reverse impact performance, good flexibility, and enhanced scratch resistance due to its higher Moh hardness of 6.0, with good results in scribed panel salt spray tests showing less evidence of under film corrosion creep. Colour and appearance aspects are good and comparable to other commercial extenders included in 6
ON
POWDER
the tests – blanc fixe and calcium carbonate. A wide choice of particle size range is offered by the supplier, and its performance at both high and low particle size has also been assessed as the sole filler in black textured powder coatings with excellent results. Apart from its attractions as alternative filler in decorative powder coatings, it offers great potential in the field of fusion bonded pipeline coatings as a functional filler that is chemically inert. Samples are currently available and full production capability will be reached by midlate 2006. Press release from: Monto Minerals Ltd, PO Box 1791, Milton BC, Queensland, Australia. Tel: 07 3858 6100. Fax: 07 3858 6199. E-mail: [email protected]
Developments in organic pigments In recent years the organic pigments industry has had to contend with the emergence and growth of low cost manufacturers, mainly located in India or China. Initially, the supplies were limited to classical pigments, but recently the range has been increased to include such pigments as quinacridones and oxide coated micas. The major pigment manufacturers have responded to the challenge with recent advances using their better research and development facilities. An article by Peter Rulten of Sun Chemical SA describes a number of new products introduced by his company. PO36 benzimidazolone technology has been used as a lead free orange pigment. It has good light and weather fastness with good overcoating and rheology characteristics. It is often used in conjunction with quinacridones for lead free pigmentation though it does produce dull orange shades, which become duller if over dispersed. PY139 isoindoline technology also produces red shade yellows with both opaque and transparent grades. While
C O AT I N G S they are not entirely fast to acids and their poor resistance to alkalis prevents their use in amine cured systems, they have good light and weathering properties together with good overcoating and this has led to their wide use in powder coatings as an alternative to lead pigments. Sun Chemicals has developed the isoindoline technology and introduced a completely new clean yellow shade orange, Fanchon Fast Orange 279-8752 that retains the characteristics of the PY139 but is much yellower and cleaner than PO36 orange, particularly in white tints. They have also identified and resolved performance of the blue quinacridone violet PV19 and the carbazole violet PV23 by employing solid solution chemistry to produce a mixed crystal grade giving superior qualities than can be achieved by simple blending techniques. The new pigment modification to PR202 gives outstanding durability in a clean blue shade violet. In addition to improving the manufacturing process for transparent flocculation stable pigments used in automotive styling there have been major improvements in the medium cost range of flush colours. This is a traditional method involving the transfer of a pigment from a water phase to a pigment in an oil phase without drying, grinding or pulverising the pigment. The process involves loading the pigment presscake into a Z blade mixer then slowly adding resin or varnish until the high viscosity paste is dispersed. The hydrophobic pigment paste displaces the water, which is removed together with any undesirable salts present. This “break” or water separation occurs in stages and the final traces of water are removed by heat and vacuum. Wide ranges of resin types are suitable for producing flush pigments and Sun Chemical produces two ranges. The first is flushed into polyester DECEMBER 2005
Accelerating innovations in automotive plastics DuPont’s Zytel HTN polyamide resins were used in making the first water jacket spacer worldwide, a component of the engine cylinder block of Toyota’s Zero Crown luxury car. The Zytel HTN resins provide excellent heat ageing and the power to retain material durability at high temperatures. Emerging uses for the resins are in the areas of automotive engine cooling, airintake, and fuel handling systems. The company collaborated with Toyota, moulder Uchiyama Manufacturing, and Tier One supplier Aisan Industry in making the plastic resistant to hot coolant on both sides. The innovation comes amid the increasing global integration of plastics into automotive manufacturing. Degussa’s new speciality compounds, Vestodur X9419 and Vestodur X9420 offer greater flexibility in the design of elaborate headlight geometries. Meanwhile, Chevron Philips Chemical is pushing its Ryton PPS resin as the preferred material for demanding plastic components in automotive. Sabic Europe is collaborating with DECEMBER 2005
O N
POWDER
Magyar Suzuki to provide polypropylene grades for the newly introduced Suzuki Swift. Bayer MaterialScience has launched Makroblend DP 7645 to be used in radiator grilles for the Audi A6. Asian Plastics News, Sep 2005, 14,16-17
Innovative Powder Coatings expands to accommodate sales growth and forecasts Innovative Powder Coatings LLC has spread out into a 4000 sq ft warehouse next to the company’s existing manufacturing plant in a bid to address sales increase and predictions. The company is considering another production expansion and will develop standard stock colours and products at the end of 2005. Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Nov 2005, 21 (11), 4
Rohm and Haas increases prices of powder coatings products Rohm and Haas will impose a price hike on its powder coatings products due to rising prices of raw materials. The company, which predicts elevated and volatile pricing in the near term, says that its global cost reduction strategy failed to curb the sustained rise in prices of raw materials. Paint and Resin Times, Nov 2005, (5), 3
Cytec Surface Specialties raises prices of polyester powder coating resins Cytec Surface Specialties has imposed a price hike on its Additol, Crylcoat and Uvecoat polyester powder coating resins in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The price hikes, which range from 5-8%, depending on the grade, are necessary to enable the firm to cope with the sudden and high increases in raw material and energy costs. Paint and Resin Times, Nov 2005, (5), 3
C O AT I N G S Carbon Nanotubes of the Highest Purity High-quality carbon nanotubes (CNT) for a wide variety of applications can now be manufactured on an industrial scale at considerably lower cost than before. Bayer MaterialScience AG plans to market the nano-sized materials worldwide under the trade name Baytubes. Until now, the high price of up to €1000/kilogram and fluctuating production quality prevented more widespread use of nanotubes. “For the first time, we can achieve consistent material purity of over 99% and significantly reduce manufacturing costs,” says Martin Schmid, head of the Carbon Nanotubes project at Bayer MaterialScience. “Adding just small quantities of Baytubes can make a plastic car fender so electrically conductive that it can be painted without any further pretreatment, using environmentally friendly waterborne or powder coatings. In a similar manner, we can make films for antistatic packaging materials, such as those used for sophisticated electronic components.” Press release from: Bayer MaterialScience, Germany, Website: http://www.bayermaterialscience.com (14 Nov 2005)
Akzo Nobel opens new Chinese powder coatings site CEO Hans Wijers officially opened Akzo Nobel’s new powder coatings facility at Langfang in China. The new site not only consolidates the company’s position as the world’s largest manufacturer of powder coatings, but will also ensure that the business’ growth momentum is maintained in what is the fastestgrowing global market for the product. The new factory was constructed to replace a former plant in Beijing. The Langfang facility is being inaugurated just a few months after the company’s Powder Coatings business 5
FOCUS expanded its operations in South China with the opening of a second factory at Baoan in Guangdong Province. Press release from: Akzo Nobel NV, Velperweg 76, PO Box 9300, 6800 SB Arnhem, the Netherlands, Tel: +31 26 366 4343, Website: http://www.akzonobel.com (15 Nov 2005)
NEW PRODUCTS New extender for powder coatings Formulators of powder coatings are under pressure at the present time to reduce costs without detracting from the performance of the finished product. A new mineral resource extender could be the answer to their problems. Monto Minerals of Australia has introduced a unique material that offers extender qualities comparable to those of the synthetic filler, blanc fixe, with a highly competitive cost advantage. This new source of feldspar will also provide additional economy to the powder coating since the specific gravity is only 2.6 compared to the 4.3 specific gravity of the barium filler, enabling comparable weights of the powder coating to cover a larger surface area, at the same film thickness. It differs from other commercial grades of feldspar in the complete absence of free silica. Further benefits are found in both physical and chemical properties imparted to the cured powder film. Comparative tests in white pigmented powder coatings have shown this extender to give excellent direct and reverse impact performance, good flexibility, and enhanced scratch resistance due to its higher Moh hardness of 6.0, with good results in scribed panel salt spray tests showing less evidence of under film corrosion creep. Colour and appearance aspects are good and comparable to other commercial extenders included in 6
ON
POWDER
the tests – blanc fixe and calcium carbonate. A wide choice of particle size range is offered by the supplier, and its performance at both high and low particle size has also been assessed as the sole filler in black textured powder coatings with excellent results. Apart from its attractions as alternative filler in decorative powder coatings, it offers great potential in the field of fusion bonded pipeline coatings as a functional filler that is chemically inert. Samples are currently available and full production capability will be reached by midlate 2006. Press release from: Monto Minerals Ltd, PO Box 1791, Milton BC, Queensland, Australia. Tel: 07 3858 6100. Fax: 07 3858 6199. E-mail: [email protected]
Developments in organic pigments In recent years the organic pigments industry has had to contend with the emergence and growth of low cost manufacturers, mainly located in India or China. Initially, the supplies were limited to classical pigments, but recently the range has been increased to include such pigments as quinacridones and oxide coated micas. The major pigment manufacturers have responded to the challenge with recent advances using their better research and development facilities. An article by Peter Rulten of Sun Chemical SA describes a number of new products introduced by his company. PO36 benzimidazolone technology has been used as a lead free orange pigment. It has good light and weather fastness with good overcoating and rheology characteristics. It is often used in conjunction with quinacridones for lead free pigmentation though it does produce dull orange shades, which become duller if over dispersed. PY139 isoindoline technology also produces red shade yellows with both opaque and transparent grades. While
C O AT I N G S they are not entirely fast to acids and their poor resistance to alkalis prevents their use in amine cured systems, they have good light and weathering properties together with good overcoating and this has led to their wide use in powder coatings as an alternative to lead pigments. Sun Chemicals has developed the isoindoline technology and introduced a completely new clean yellow shade orange, Fanchon Fast Orange 279-8752 that retains the characteristics of the PY139 but is much yellower and cleaner than PO36 orange, particularly in white tints. They have also identified and resolved performance of the blue quinacridone violet PV19 and the carbazole violet PV23 by employing solid solution chemistry to produce a mixed crystal grade giving superior qualities than can be achieved by simple blending techniques. The new pigment modification to PR202 gives outstanding durability in a clean blue shade violet. In addition to improving the manufacturing process for transparent flocculation stable pigments used in automotive styling there have been major improvements in the medium cost range of flush colours. This is a traditional method involving the transfer of a pigment from a water phase to a pigment in an oil phase without drying, grinding or pulverising the pigment. The process involves loading the pigment presscake into a Z blade mixer then slowly adding resin or varnish until the high viscosity paste is dispersed. The hydrophobic pigment paste displaces the water, which is removed together with any undesirable salts present. This “break” or water separation occurs in stages and the final traces of water are removed by heat and vacuum. Wide ranges of resin types are suitable for producing flush pigments and Sun Chemical produces two ranges. The first is flushed into polyester DECEMBER 2005