Besides compounds modified for special applications and lightweight components, sustainable materials are also becoming an increasingly important focus. In the additives sector, too, recyclates, the circular economy, and reprocessing are now playing a key role.

Not only Polymers but also Additives and Masterbatches Must Be Sustainable

Zubehör / Hilfsmittel Wärmebehandlung

Wärmebehandlung

Compound

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Thermoplaste

PVC-Additive

Andere Werkstoffe

Werkstoffe für additive Verfahren

Masterbatches

Additive

Vernetzungsmittel

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Compoundeure

Dienstleistungen

Handel

PVC-weich (Compounds)

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farbstoffe

Verarbeitungshilfsmittel, allgemein

Flammhemmende Mittel, allgemein

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Verarbeitungshilfmittel

Filamente für additive Verfahren

Flammschutzmittel

Gleitmittel für Kunststoff

Attention to Detail

Thanks to the composition of new formulations the company has been able to create color-intensive and heat-stable masterbatches.

Masterbatches for High Temperature Polymers

Stabilisatoren

Brilliant Color Results

Like lightweight design, customized products continue to remain on trend. These require materials which must fulfill a growing number of functions simultaneously and which in turn can usually only be implemented with additives and compounds. Sustainability is increasingly coming into the spotlight. 

Additives and Compounds Are Combining More and More Properties Songwon 

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Treibmittel

Pigmente

Fasern

Oberflächentechnik

Versatility Wanted Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polypropylene with  Long-Term Thermal Stability  

After the explosion of developments in polymer formulations over the last year, it is worth taking a closer look during Fakuma at details such as functional additives or application-specific modifications. Overall, lightweight design continues to spur development but defined surface characteristics are also in demand. The reported innovations do not just follow current consumer trends but also provide ideas for advanced product and process developments. 

Functional Modifications Characterize Developments in Additives and Compounds 

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Polyamide

Polypropylen

Füllstoffe für Kunststoffe

Additive Fertigung

Medizintechnik

Distribuenten

Polymers Can Be Expected Everywhere 

Plastics processors have a wide range of colors at their disposal to color their products. Choosing the right color can ultimately be the key to success. But colors are just as subject to trends as materials and designs. Kunststoffe asked manufacturers of pigments, masterbatches, and colorants which colors would be particularly popular in the coming year.

Trend Report on the Coloration of Plastics

Pigmente, bunt

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Streifinger, Florian

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Effektpigmente

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Farben, flüssig

What Will Be the Color of 2021?

geba Kunststoffcompounds GmbH  

https://www.geba.eu

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Polyacetale

Polyacrylate

Polycarbonat

Polyester

Styrol-Copolymerisate

Every year, several million tons of titanium dioxide are added to, among other things, plastics products. The EU Commission is currently considering the classification of titanium oxide as a suspicious substance which may potentionally cause cancer. A current study provides well-founded data on the use and recovery of titanium dioxide in plastics processing and recycling.

Use and Recovery of TiO2 in Plastics Products

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Umweltschutz

Kreislaufwirtschaft

An Irreplaceable Additive

An innovative process allows to fabricate thin, white polymer surfaces without white pigments. For that, the polymer is foamed with supercritical CO2 resulting in a fine structure of nanobubbles. Film thicknesses of a few 10 µm are sufficient to obtain a perfect white surface.

Porous Nanostructures as Replacement for White Pigments

Schäumen / Reaktive Verarbeitung

White without Titanium-Dioxide

Enhancing mixed bottle flakes by turning them into extrudable recycled crystalline polyethylene terephthalate (rCPET) was the goal of a joint development project looking to close the gap in the PET recycling system. By successfully producing a sheet made from recycled material suitable for high-quality applications such as thermoformed food trays, Gneuss, Sukano and Illig have demonstrated that this approach is indeed possible.

Upcycling of Mixed APET Bottle Flakes into Thermally Stable rCPET Food Trays

Extrusion

Polybutylenterephthalat

Schmelzefilter

Anlagen Lebensmittel

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, andere

Filteranlagen

Flakes

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Extrusionsanlagen

PET: From A to C

Laser marking systems continue to be on the advance. However, using them for inscriptions is not always simple for all applications. In particular, colored or translucent components frequently present problems. These difficulties can be overcome by means of masterbatches specially developed for laser marking.

Masterbatches for Laser Marking

Laserbeschriftung

Laserbearbeitungen

Lasermarkieren

Easily Legible and Durable Inscriptions

In conventional SMC (Sheet Molding Compound) processing, making the semi-finished product, and processing it, is divided into two separate steps in terms of space and time. Providing for homogeneous qualities of the semi-finished product, to eventually safeguard constant quality of the final product, means a high effort in logistics. The patented method of direct SMC processing (D-SMC) avoids the costly stages of maturing, storing and logistics, which are required for the SMC semi-finished product hitherto used. The direct compounding technique developed by Dieffenbacher enables the continuous production of SMC compounds, with subsequent generation of the component, by flow molding. One of the benefits involved in this single-stage process is the fact that it is now unnecessary to adhere to the several days of maturing. This reduces the time required from processing the raw materials to obtaining the final component to just a few minutes. Omitting the intermediate step of semi-finished product allows the producer to vary each single component of the formulation during the ongoing process. The first pilot plant of the world has started operation. 

Pilot Plant for SMC Direct Processing 

Direct compounding technique 

Ensinger Compounds, a division of HP Polymer GmbH, Lenzing, Austria, develops and produces tailormade compounds based on engineering and high-performance plastics. Among the main products supplied by the company in the challenging medical sector are radiopaque plastics, antimicrobial pellets and custom-colored high-performance plastics. 

Sophisticated and Highly Pure 

Tailormade compounds 

For high-frequency applications, it has been customary until now to combine costly PTFE substrates with inexpensive glass woven fabric-reinforced epoxy resin substrates to produce multilayer printed circuit boards (hybrid multilayers). As an economic alternative to conventional PTFE substrates, newly developed hybrid multilayers with substrates produced from filler-reinforced high-temperature thermoplastics are now available. 

Hybrid Multilayers: Economic Multilayers 

Low-density injection moldable thermoplastics can save resources and costs in lightweight construction applications. By incorporating hollow glass beads in matrix polymers such as PEEK and polyamide 6, it has been possible to produce technically sophisticated compounds. These can be used, for example, in aviation, automotive engineering, and medical technology. 

High-performance Compounds: Light in Weight, High in Performance 

Synergetic Filler Systems are improving the electrical conductivity in plastics compounds. Processing electrically conductive plastics by injection molding will open up new opportunities for producing electric and electronic parts in a single integrated processing step cheaply and automatically. 

Elektronik

HV-Anwendungen / Hybridisierung / Elektrifizierung

Kohlenstofffasern / -matten

Spritzgießen

Synergetic Filler Systems: Improved Conductivity in Plastics 

Clariant Expands Pigments Laboratory for the African Market

Clariant Pigments has welcomed the new year with the expansion of its new state-of-the-art pigments’ laboratory in Krugersdorp near Johannesburg, an African showcase for sustainable color technology.

To be officially opened and inaugurated in early 2021, the new facility will service the emerging Middle East and Africa paints and coatings market, forecasted a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 3% (2020–2025) [1].

In a significant commitment to its business in South Africa, Clariant’s investment in the laboratory, which has taken more than 12-months to complete, will increase local value-added color support services to the coatings industry across Africa, Turkey and the Middle East. The new facility also offers increased local employment opportunities and in-house skills development training in color technologies.

“Previously, we were only able to supply pigments as raw materials, but we are proud to now be offering a full spectrum of value-added services including customized color solutions, color matching services or the development of own color recipes to create an unlimited number of shades, for example tinting systems. To complete our services we also offer technical marketing and after sales support,” said Rossitza Dimitrova, Clariant Business Unit Pigments Head of Technical Marketing, Middle East and Africa.

Well known for being one of the market leaders in sustainability, all product offerings, for both decorative and industrial markets, as well as innovative solutions for wood coatings, will include pigments and pigment preparations that are lead free, contain low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are free of APEO (Alkylphenol ethoxylates).These include the following ranges:

<ul><li>Hostatint 500 and Colanyl 500, binder-free pigment preparations for decorative coatings</li><li>Hostatint A 100, a range of solvent based pigment preparations with high pigment loading and good rheological properties for industrial coatings</li><li>Hostafine, aqueous binder-free pigment preparation range for water based wood coatings for wood stains and glazes, e.g. for furniture or flooring</li><li>Hostatint A 100-ST, highly-transparent pigment preparations for solvent based paint systems for industrial coatings to add a quality appeal to wood, glass, coil and metallic effect coatings, e.g. computers, consumer goods, motorbikes</li></ul>

“In South Africa there is a growing demand for both locally produced and sustainable colorants and at Clariant Pigments we can now better serve the local and regional coatings industry with innovative and sustainable ranges of colorant solutions,” said Piers Kure, Clariant Business Unit Pigments Head of Sales, Sub Sahara, Africa.

[1] https://www.european-coatings.com/Markets-companies/Five-Facts-on-the-South-African-coatings-market and https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/middle-east-africa-paints-coatings-market