- Email: [email protected]
Global study to identify future opportunities for additives
Additives,for
November 2001
30 years’ experience in the titanium dioxide industry. Replacing him as director is Peter J. Davies. Davies was previously the plant manager of the company’s pigment plant in Antwerp, Belgium. In the USA, Peter C. Ryan becomes plant manager of the company’s titanium dioxide pigment plant in Savannah, GA. Ryan previously served as Technical Engineering Services Manager of Kerr-McGee’s 50%-owned pigment operation in Kwinana, Western Australia. Contact: Kerr-McGee Pigments GmbH 8 Co. KG, Gebiiude R 54, Rheinuferstrasse 7-9, D47829 Krefeld, Germany; tel: +49-2151888269;,fax: +49-21.51-888280
PolymerAdditives.com first anniversary with enhanced website
marks
October 2000, PolymerLaunched in Additives.com is celebrating its first anniversary with a new website, featuring a fresh design and enhanced functionality. The new site aims to be an easier to use, more functional site that better serves buyers and researchers, according to Keith Rea, IT-Director of Polymer-Additivescorn. Web-based survey tools were used to obtain input from all customers to ensure the new design answered customer needs. The site has been hrther enhanced by adding functionality to the Additives Wizard, which helps users find the right additive based on their needs. The online eSeminar experience will also be improved. This offers technical and market training and education to registered users for no extra cost. PolymerAdditives.com is a joint venture between Albemarle Corp, Cytec Industries Inc and GE Specialty Chemicals, Inc, formed to provide a fast, efficient way to buy complementary brand-name additives from these suppliers from one source. Orders can be placed via EDI, XML, phone or fax. Customers can access inventory, order and shipping status, and obtain technical information, 24 hours a day. The company says that the site can help registered users lower their inventories and improve ‘just-intime’ manufacturing practices.
02001 Elsevier Science
Polymers
PolymerAdditives currently offers almost 200 additives, including antioxidants, antistatic agents, catalysts, curing agents, flame retardants, light (UV) stabilizers, lubricants, modifiers and process aids. The range of flame retardants on offer was recently extended through an agreement between Albemarle Corp and Laurel Industries, which allows Albemarle to distribute Laurel’s antimony-based flame retardants PolymerAdditives.com. Laurel’s through antimony Fireshield’%@ and Thermoguarda oxides are used as synergists with brominated or chlorinated flame retardants, and are available through PolymerAdditives.com as SAYTEX’ FS and TG flame retardants, respectively. Contact: Po[vmerAdditives.com; tel: + I - 704655-204; ,fax: +I-704-992-4931; e-mail. john.mcchesney@Pol>werAdditives.com: URL. M~~~~:p~~l~v~~eradditives. corn
Global study to identify future opportunities for additives According to BRG Townsend, Inc, a consultancy firm based in Mount Olive, NJ, USA, suppliers in the USSl6 billion plastic additives industry are shifting their focus away from structural change towards product innovation. With the slowing pace of major industry consolidations, manufacturers are concentrating on new products to exploit the dramatic shifts in the resin value chain and increased competition between polymers. BRG is embarking on its fifth multi-client study of the global plastic additives business, which aims to identify new opportunities for 2002-2006 and evaluate their effect on the additives marketplace. “Technology development and new growth markets are presenting opportunities that will impact the additives industry”, says Louis N. Materials. Kattas, Director - Performance “Significant new plastics technologies are resulting in new applications that will provide profitable growth opportunities for selected plastic additives.” Kattas says that the plastics additives industry is also facing a shift in the form of its competition. Plastics are competing less against conventional materials and more against each other. For example, PVC is facing competition from polyolefins in pipe and automotive skin applications; acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and low-end engineering thermoplastics are being
7
Additives,fbr
November 2001
Pol_vmers
replaced by polypropylene; and the interplay continues between metallocene and conventional polyolefins in film and packaging uses. In addition to analysis of regional and global consumption, market shares and forecasts for 15 additive families - from antiblocking agents to slip agents - Chemical Additives For Plastics ~ 2002 will include as a new feature a separate analysis of the present and future consumption of chemical additives in engineering thermoplastics. Materials to be included are nylon, polycarbonate, PBT polyesters and polyacetal. BRG will also evaluate the market position, strengths, weaknesses and strategies of 15 key additive suppliers worldwide. The report is scheduled for completion in April 2002 and will be available to subscribers for $16 500. Contact: BRG Townsend, Inc, 500 Internationul Drive North, Mount Olive, NJ 07828, USA; tel. iI-973-347-5300, ,f&: +I-973-347-6466, URL: MVW.hrgto~nsend.cor~l
TECHNICAL
BRIEFS
Optimizing plastics for EMI shielding applications The insulating nature of plastics renders them transparent to the electromagnetic interference (EMI) emitted into the environment by all electrical and electronic appliances. Housings and enclosures for electronic devices and equipment must provide shielding from this background EMI to prevent equipment malfunction or loss of information stored on magnetic media. Thermoplastics are widely used today to produce such housings but in order to provide the necessary shielding they must be rendered conductive through coating or compounding with conductive fillers. The use of fillers is the preferred option where complex geometries and long service life are required. Stainless steel fibre (SSF) is a commonly used filler, as it provides adequate electrical conductivity at low fibre concentrations, but its incorporation generally reduces the mechanical performance of the polymers because of weak interfacial bonding. Surface treatment of the
8
tibres could improve fibreimatrix interaction but at the expense of conductivity. Optimizing the properties of polypropylene (PP) based systems filled with SSF - to give acceptable conductivity and mechanical properties ~ is the aim of investigations by Prof Ming Qiu Zhang and co-workers at Zhongshan University (China) and the University of Tokyo. The team first compared the properties of unfilled PP with a range of SSF/PP composites. The composites were prepared by melt-mixing 5 mm fibres with the polymer at 190&200°C and then compression moulding into sheets at 200°C. Flexural strength and modulus, Charpy unnotched impact strength, volume resistivity and EMI shielding effectiveness from 0.3 to 1500 MHz were determined. The addition of tibres increases the load-bearing capacity of the composites but their presence and the poor fibre-matrix adhesion provides sites for microcracks. As a result of the opposing effects, the flexural strength goes through a maximum at about 1 ~01% SSF but above about 2.5 ~01% tibres the strength falls below that of the unfilled matrix. Both brittleness and impact strength are adversely affected even at low fibre contents, such that the team concluded that the mechanical properties of the composites were not suitable for structural applications. However, the team had earlier shown that PP grafted maleic anhydride copolymer (PP-gMAH), widely used as an interfacial compatibilizer in glass fibre reinforced PP, can form a bond with SSF. The study therefore turned to an examination of the properties of SSF/PP-gMAH composites. The interfacial shear strength of SSFIPP-g-MAH was found to be more than six times higher than for the SSF/PP composites, and both flexural properties and impact strength were found to be significantly improved when PP was replaced by PP-gMAH. At 2 ~01% SSF these properties were also higher than for unfilled PP. But, as anticipated, the improved interfacial interaction greatly reduced the electrical conductivity of the composites. Volume resistivity measurements showed that it would be necessary to incorporate at least four times as much fibre into PP-gMAH to achieve the same conductivity as for 2 ~01% SSF/PP composites.
0200 1 Elsevier Science
November 2001
30 years’ experience in the titanium dioxide industry. Replacing him as director is Peter J. Davies. Davies was previously the plant manager of the company’s pigment plant in Antwerp, Belgium. In the USA, Peter C. Ryan becomes plant manager of the company’s titanium dioxide pigment plant in Savannah, GA. Ryan previously served as Technical Engineering Services Manager of Kerr-McGee’s 50%-owned pigment operation in Kwinana, Western Australia. Contact: Kerr-McGee Pigments GmbH 8 Co. KG, Gebiiude R 54, Rheinuferstrasse 7-9, D47829 Krefeld, Germany; tel: +49-2151888269;,fax: +49-21.51-888280
PolymerAdditives.com first anniversary with enhanced website
marks
October 2000, PolymerLaunched in Additives.com is celebrating its first anniversary with a new website, featuring a fresh design and enhanced functionality. The new site aims to be an easier to use, more functional site that better serves buyers and researchers, according to Keith Rea, IT-Director of Polymer-Additivescorn. Web-based survey tools were used to obtain input from all customers to ensure the new design answered customer needs. The site has been hrther enhanced by adding functionality to the Additives Wizard, which helps users find the right additive based on their needs. The online eSeminar experience will also be improved. This offers technical and market training and education to registered users for no extra cost. PolymerAdditives.com is a joint venture between Albemarle Corp, Cytec Industries Inc and GE Specialty Chemicals, Inc, formed to provide a fast, efficient way to buy complementary brand-name additives from these suppliers from one source. Orders can be placed via EDI, XML, phone or fax. Customers can access inventory, order and shipping status, and obtain technical information, 24 hours a day. The company says that the site can help registered users lower their inventories and improve ‘just-intime’ manufacturing practices.
02001 Elsevier Science
Polymers
PolymerAdditives currently offers almost 200 additives, including antioxidants, antistatic agents, catalysts, curing agents, flame retardants, light (UV) stabilizers, lubricants, modifiers and process aids. The range of flame retardants on offer was recently extended through an agreement between Albemarle Corp and Laurel Industries, which allows Albemarle to distribute Laurel’s antimony-based flame retardants PolymerAdditives.com. Laurel’s through antimony Fireshield’%@ and Thermoguarda oxides are used as synergists with brominated or chlorinated flame retardants, and are available through PolymerAdditives.com as SAYTEX’ FS and TG flame retardants, respectively. Contact: Po[vmerAdditives.com; tel: + I - 704655-204; ,fax: +I-704-992-4931; e-mail. john.mcchesney@Pol>werAdditives.com: URL. M~~~~:p~~l~v~~eradditives. corn
Global study to identify future opportunities for additives According to BRG Townsend, Inc, a consultancy firm based in Mount Olive, NJ, USA, suppliers in the USSl6 billion plastic additives industry are shifting their focus away from structural change towards product innovation. With the slowing pace of major industry consolidations, manufacturers are concentrating on new products to exploit the dramatic shifts in the resin value chain and increased competition between polymers. BRG is embarking on its fifth multi-client study of the global plastic additives business, which aims to identify new opportunities for 2002-2006 and evaluate their effect on the additives marketplace. “Technology development and new growth markets are presenting opportunities that will impact the additives industry”, says Louis N. Materials. Kattas, Director - Performance “Significant new plastics technologies are resulting in new applications that will provide profitable growth opportunities for selected plastic additives.” Kattas says that the plastics additives industry is also facing a shift in the form of its competition. Plastics are competing less against conventional materials and more against each other. For example, PVC is facing competition from polyolefins in pipe and automotive skin applications; acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and low-end engineering thermoplastics are being
7
Additives,fbr
November 2001
Pol_vmers
replaced by polypropylene; and the interplay continues between metallocene and conventional polyolefins in film and packaging uses. In addition to analysis of regional and global consumption, market shares and forecasts for 15 additive families - from antiblocking agents to slip agents - Chemical Additives For Plastics ~ 2002 will include as a new feature a separate analysis of the present and future consumption of chemical additives in engineering thermoplastics. Materials to be included are nylon, polycarbonate, PBT polyesters and polyacetal. BRG will also evaluate the market position, strengths, weaknesses and strategies of 15 key additive suppliers worldwide. The report is scheduled for completion in April 2002 and will be available to subscribers for $16 500. Contact: BRG Townsend, Inc, 500 Internationul Drive North, Mount Olive, NJ 07828, USA; tel. iI-973-347-5300, ,f&: +I-973-347-6466, URL: MVW.hrgto~nsend.cor~l
TECHNICAL
BRIEFS
Optimizing plastics for EMI shielding applications The insulating nature of plastics renders them transparent to the electromagnetic interference (EMI) emitted into the environment by all electrical and electronic appliances. Housings and enclosures for electronic devices and equipment must provide shielding from this background EMI to prevent equipment malfunction or loss of information stored on magnetic media. Thermoplastics are widely used today to produce such housings but in order to provide the necessary shielding they must be rendered conductive through coating or compounding with conductive fillers. The use of fillers is the preferred option where complex geometries and long service life are required. Stainless steel fibre (SSF) is a commonly used filler, as it provides adequate electrical conductivity at low fibre concentrations, but its incorporation generally reduces the mechanical performance of the polymers because of weak interfacial bonding. Surface treatment of the
8
tibres could improve fibreimatrix interaction but at the expense of conductivity. Optimizing the properties of polypropylene (PP) based systems filled with SSF - to give acceptable conductivity and mechanical properties ~ is the aim of investigations by Prof Ming Qiu Zhang and co-workers at Zhongshan University (China) and the University of Tokyo. The team first compared the properties of unfilled PP with a range of SSF/PP composites. The composites were prepared by melt-mixing 5 mm fibres with the polymer at 190&200°C and then compression moulding into sheets at 200°C. Flexural strength and modulus, Charpy unnotched impact strength, volume resistivity and EMI shielding effectiveness from 0.3 to 1500 MHz were determined. The addition of tibres increases the load-bearing capacity of the composites but their presence and the poor fibre-matrix adhesion provides sites for microcracks. As a result of the opposing effects, the flexural strength goes through a maximum at about 1 ~01% SSF but above about 2.5 ~01% tibres the strength falls below that of the unfilled matrix. Both brittleness and impact strength are adversely affected even at low fibre contents, such that the team concluded that the mechanical properties of the composites were not suitable for structural applications. However, the team had earlier shown that PP grafted maleic anhydride copolymer (PP-gMAH), widely used as an interfacial compatibilizer in glass fibre reinforced PP, can form a bond with SSF. The study therefore turned to an examination of the properties of SSF/PP-gMAH composites. The interfacial shear strength of SSFIPP-g-MAH was found to be more than six times higher than for the SSF/PP composites, and both flexural properties and impact strength were found to be significantly improved when PP was replaced by PP-gMAH. At 2 ~01% SSF these properties were also higher than for unfilled PP. But, as anticipated, the improved interfacial interaction greatly reduced the electrical conductivity of the composites. Volume resistivity measurements showed that it would be necessary to incorporate at least four times as much fibre into PP-gMAH to achieve the same conductivity as for 2 ~01% SSF/PP composites.
0200 1 Elsevier Science