Aimplas closed 2021 with revenue of EUR 17.6 million, 20% more than in the previous year.

Aimplas reported nearly EUR 18 million in revenue in 2021.

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kreislaufwirtschaft

20 Percent Increase at Aimplas

Kraiburg TPE is expanding its portfolio of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) for automotive interiors with grades with a recycling content of up to 38 %.

The post-industrial recycled raw material used is waste material derived from the manufacturing process for plastic products. © Kraiburg TPE

Thermoplastische Elastomere

Thermoplaste

Recycling Content for Automotive Interiors

Additive manufacturer Grafe has developed a new update for its matting agent in 3D printing.

Compared to its predecessor, the matting agent halves the gloss level once again. 

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Additive

Filamente für additive Verfahren

Andere Werkstoffe

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Additive Fertigung

3D Printing with Less Gloss

Colors can turn plastics products into real eye-catchers. Kunststoffe asked colorant manufacturers to predict which colors will be trending in the coming year.

16:9

Trend Report on the Coloring of Plastics

Pigmente

Masterbatches

Farbstoffe

Farben, flüssig

Garish or Necessarily Plain?

Effect pigments can be used to injection mold thermoplastic parts with a shiny metallic surface. However, non-uniform pigment orientation can lead to optical defects. Suitable simulation methodology enables defects to be predicted and prevented.

There is huge demand for automobiles that have metallic finishes. Plastic parts are often painted or electroplated for this purpose. Metallic effect pigments constitute an alternative. Audi and PEG are working on a simulation process for these pigments with a view to ruling out surface defects. 

Simulating Surface Defects in Parts Using Effect Pigments

Simulation

Software

Effektpigmente

Effective Prediction

High-performance plastics such as polyetheretherketone (PEEK) offer many interesting opportunities for improving gears. However, precise statements about the relevant characteristic values are crucial for their effective use.

The mass balancer gear made of Vestakeep 5000 G is the first plastic gear used  in Mercedes-Benz transmissions. It replaces the metal gears previously used there. 

Designing Quieter, More Energy-Efficient Gears with PEEK

Polyetherketon

Zahnräder

Maschinenelemente

Lager

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Getting to the Heart of Wheels

The combination of injection compression molding, direct coating and partial film insert molding enables a novel design for the front module of the BMW iX electric vehicle. Important in the development were extensive trials carried out by plastics manufacturer Covestro in its technical lab.

Various production processes are combined to manufacture the front module of the BMW iX, known as the kidney.

Producing Large Exterior Parts with Integrated Functions and High-Quality Finishes

Technische Kunststoffe

Polyurethan

Polycarbonat

Facelift for Electric Vehicles

Aimplas participates in European Space Agency project to develop new materials under microgravity conditions in the Earth’s orbit.

View of the northern region of the Earth.

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Unternehmen

kunststoffe.de

Aimplas Supports ESA Project

Due to the aspect of sustainability, natural fibers are interesting as reinforcements for plastics. To keep their ecological footprint as low as possible, it is advisable to use fibers from regionally grown plants.

The “perennial cup plant” is cultivated in Germany for biogas production. The fibers of the plant can be extracted from the resulting fermentation residues and subsequently used for composites.

Fermentation Residues from Biogas Production Are Turned into Fibers for Composites

Fasern

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Biokunststoffe

Faserverbundwerkstoffe

Lightweight Construction with  Regional Plant Fiber

The HolyGrail 2.0 Initiative aims to improve the sorting of plastic waste. But the method also has certain drawbacks. Here, luminescent pigments provide an alternative.

Marker masterbatches enable different information to be embedded in plastics. This can be used to improve the recycling circle.

Improved Sorting of Plastic Waste with Luminescent Pigments

Messtechnik

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Additiv-Batches

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Luminous Markers instead of Holy Grail

With the change from internal combustion engines to hybrid and electric vehicles, peak operating temperatures have dropped from 135 °C to 110 °C. At the same time, the number of operating hours compared to combustion engines has increased nine-fold. This has an influence on material selection.

A Comparison of PA66 and PPA for Electric Vehicles

Elektromotoren

Antriebe

Elektromobilität

Mobilität

Polyamide

Higher Performance in Water

Plastic recyclates and plastics containing natural materials often have an unpleasant odor. That severely limits the application range of the plastics concerned. However, an odor barrier layer can help.

A skin layer containing additives prevents the emission of unpleasant odors that adhere to the recyclates.

Method to Prevent Odor Emission from Plastic Recyclates

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Keeping the Smell in

Plastic manufacturer Dow has announced the launch of more sustainable polyolefin elastomers. The new brand will help the footwear industry to unlock a lower carbon footprint and develop more sustainable products.

Crocs is the first footwear brand to go-to-market with this new material technology.

Kautschuk / Elastomere

Walking on Bioplastics

Innovative particle foams, bio-based filler materials and sustainable engineering plastics.

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

Asahi Kasei Introduces New Materials

Für das neue Konzeptfahrzeug AKXY2 verarbeitet das japanische Technologieunternehmen Werkstoffe für eine nachhaltige und komfortable Mobilität.

Asahi Kasei will present its newest concept car AKXY2 for the first time in Europe at the K 2022.

Asahi Kasei to Present New Concept Car at K 2022

As of April 2022, Koshiro Kudo will assume the role of President & Representative Director. The current President Hideki Kobori will be-come Chairman of Asahi Kasei.

Koshiro Kudo takes over the position in a robust business setting as the recently presented quarterly results show. Asahi Kasei disclosed its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, on February 9, 2022. In terms of EPS, 35.59 JPY (0.27 EUR) per share was reported. Last year, Asahi Kasei had earned JPY 23.93 (0.18 EUR) per share. Compared to the same period of the previous year, Asahi Kasei achieved an increase in sales of 17.6 percent in the past quarter. Sales amounted to JPY 643.70 billion (4.86 billion EUR). In the same quarter of the previous year, JPY 547.30 billion (4.17 billion EUR) were on the accounts. The full-year forecast announced in November 2021 remains unchanged with expected 2,453.0 billion JPY (18.72 billion EUR).

Koshiro Kudo (born in 1959) graduated from the renowned Keio University in Tokyo in 1982 and then started working for Asahi Kasei. After holding various positions, Kudo be-came head of the Roica business unit, producing premium stretch fibers from elastic polyurethane filament, in May 2008. He pursued his career in the field of technical textiles and filaments in the following years, becoming President of the Fibers & Textiles Strategic Business Unit (SBU) based in Osaka in 2017.

Two years later, new responsibilities were added as President of the Performance Products SBU, in addition to fibers and textiles, he was in charge of the business with engineering plastics, synthetic rubber, elastomers as well as household and packaging materials. Kudo was also involved in the establishment of a new department for mobility materials, launched in April 2020 to focus on products for the automotive sector.

The new President of Asahi Kasei will continue the successful strategic work of his predecessor Hideki Kobori, who has significantly shaped the Group since 2016. The steady management in the Corona pandemic as well as the focus on sustainability, carbon neutrality and bio-based productions processes are milestones of his work as President. Similarly, back in 2016, the Asahi Kasei Group moved to an operational holding structure and divided its business areas into Material, Homes and Health Care, resulting in efficient collaboration within the company. During his presidency, Kobori further expanded Asahi Kasei’s global presence. One key achievement was the successful establishment and development of Asahi Kasei Europe’s business activities since April 2016. Furthermore, he was responsible for focused business development activities including capacity expansions for battery separators, filaments for airbags, synthetic rubber and virus filters. This also included the strategic positioning focused on the automotive and medical sectors with the important acquisitions such as Sage Automotive Interiors in the USA, the Swedish sensor company Senseair as well as Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focused on the commercialization of immunosup-pression medications in the United States.

Focus on Automotive, Healthcare and Sustainability

With 40 years of corporate experience as a solid foundation, the new President will lead the company into a new century of its history, as Asahi Kasei celebrates its 100th anniversary in May 2022. The coronavirus showed how important people’s lives and health are. Asahi Kasei will deepen its operations in the medical business with solutions that can tie together offerings in the chain of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare making its Health Care operations into a third pillar of business alongside Material and Homes.

Furthermore, Asahi Kasei is aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, looking to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30 % until 2030. Therefore, Koshiro Kudo will also be continuing the operations of the Sustainability Strategy Planning Department, with efforts now being made around activities that contribute to creating a sustainable society under a unified company-wide policy. The Green Solution Project, a new organizational unit directly reporting to the company President will also be one of his main responsibilities.

Asahi Kasei Europe GmbH  

https://www.asahi-kasei.eu

Management change: Hideki Kobori (left) and Koshiro Kudo

2022-03-03 AsahiKasei Personalie

Personen

issue 04/2023

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