At the Fakuma-trade show, the additive manufacturer Quarzwerke is presenting fillers for plastics in electromobility, wind power and for films. They are intended to help processors manage the high requirements on the materials in these industries.

The fillers are based on different minerals

Batterien

Energiespeicherung

Elektromobilität

Mobilität

Füllstoffe, mineralisch

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Füllstoffe für Kunststoffe

Messe Fakuma

kunststoffe-international.com

Füllstoffe, allgemein

Windkraft

Energieerzeugung

Erneuerbare Energie

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Folien

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Additive

Fillers Improve Batteries and Wind Power Plants

Transparent polyethylene films can now be produced with antimicrobial and electrically conductive properties as well. This can be achieved by combining several films with the relevant property profiles. The surface conductivity of the films can also be increased by using a suitable new coating technique. The article describes the newly developed special compounds required for this and demonstrates their industrial feasibility. 

Compound

Special Compounds: Transparent, Conductive, and Antimicrobial 

The RadiciGroup High Performance Polymers Business Area is adding significantly to its global production capacity with new construction and installations in North America, Europe and China.

The new plant in Mexico with an area of 20,000 m<sup>2</sup> is part of the investment strategy in North America

16:9

Thermoplaste

Compoundeure

Dienstleistungen

Handel

Radici Increases Production Worldwide

With a newly developed process from Entex it was possible to compound an injection grade compound of PLA with a 50 % wood flour content.

The PLA compound with 50 % wood flour content was successfully produced on Entex’s planetary roller extruder

Compounding PLA Formulations with a 50 % Wood Flour Content, without Premixing

Extrusion

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Extruder

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Extrusionsanlagen

Biokunststoffe

Compoundieren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Direct to Highly Filled Bioplastics

There is still a need to catch up in terms of ion leaching and hydrolysis resistance of the materials used to date for fuel cells. Specially developed PPS represent one possibility for this.

Fuel cells are becoming increasingly important as a drive technology in the vehicle sector

Material Improvements Make Fuel Cells More Reliable

Automotive

Elektronik

Brennstoffzelle

Stromversorgung

Brennstoffzellen

Technische Kunststoffe

Fahrzeugbau

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Getting Fuel Cell Vehicles Fit for Use

Chinaplas 2022, to be held from April 25 to 28, will bring together more than 4000 exhibitors of the plastics and rubber industries from all over the world to launch innovative green solutions.

The 3rd Chinaplas x CPRJ Plastics Recycling and Circular Economy Conference and Showcase will be held one day prior to the show in Shanghai (photo from last year’s event).

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Kunststoff-Verpackungsmaschine

Sondermaschinen

Kunststoff-Recycling

The Theme Color of the Show Is Green

This year, for the first time, the SKZ is organizing the conference „Plastic Films in Mobility“. Kunststoffe international asked Dirk Pophusen, the conference director, about the new features and the highlights of the event.

The front module of the BMW iX is a highly integrated component. Among other things, foil technology is used for the manufacturing.

Folientechnik (IMD, IML, FIM, u.a.)

Spritzgießen

Streifinger, Florian

Films, BMW and China

Kraiburg TPE’s latest thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) has been specially developed for consumer and industry applications and contains up to 40 % post-consumer recyclate (PCR). In accordance with standard ISO 14021, the manufacturer recycles materials that end consumers from households and the industry can no longer use for their intended purpose.

The latest solution from Kraiburg TPE makes a post-consumer recycling proportion of 40 % possible. The TPE is partly made from household waste. 

Thermoplastische Elastomere

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

TPE with a Post-Consumer Recycling Proportion of 40 Percent

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.

Unternehmen

kunststoffe.de

Aimplas Supports ESA Project

A different take on successful recycling– it has won Sirmax the Racer Edge Award 2022. The compounder received the award for its reuse of a former General Motors’ site.

Lorenzo Ferro (third from left), Country Manager of Sirmax North America, accepted the award in Oklahoma City from the decision makers of Racer Trusts: Bob Hare, Bruce Rasher and Elliott P. Laws (from left to right).

Polypropylen-Compound

Unternehmen und Unternehmer

Wirtschaft

Sirmax Receives a US Award and Invests Heavily

At K, Radici will present the Renycle product family. These engineering compounds have a variable proportion of mechanically recycled PA obtained from PIR and PCR.

Reducing weight and ensuring safety are the aims of compounds developed by Radici specifically for electromobility.

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

Polyamide

More Comprehensive  Life Cycle Analysis

Compounder Mocom will focus chiefly on technical compounds for WiFi and radar applications as well as on fuel cell and battery technology.

Applications for the light-transmitting PC compounds with metallic effect include illuminated trim.

Compound Innovations for Trade Show Debut

Bio-Fed’s booth will be dedicated to the topic of bioplastics in all their facets, and will be run jointly with Akro-Plastic, AF-Color and parent company K. D. Feddersen.

Bio-Fed‘s K trade fair presentation is dedicated to the topic of bioplastics in all its facets.

Kunststoffe, biobasiert

Polyethylen

Polypropylen

Kunststoffe, bioabbaubar

Organic – both Inside and Outside

Use of renewable resources is currently being actively researched. Before they can be used, the environmental compatibility, economic aspects and social impact over the entire life cycle, including production and disposal, must be investigated. If the results are not positive, there are alternatives that do not rely on biomass, since innovative petrochemical plastic products are saving enormous amounts of energy and thus lowering CO2 emissions already today – and the potential is not yet exhausted. 

Simulation Verpackung

An Eco-Efficiency Evaluation: Bio – Sense or Nonsense 

Extruders from Leistritz Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany, are used in the production of BOPP (bi-oriented polypropylene) films. Now, a ZSE 135 Maxx extruder has been delivered to the Austrian-French company DMT. DMT is a supplier of machines and equipment for producing biaxially stretched plastic films, which, among other applications, are used as packaging materials in the food industry. The ZSE 135 Maxx has a screw diameter of 140 mm and enables extremely high torques together with a large free screw volume. DMT employs the extruder as part of a direct extrusion line. A total of 16 machines from Leistritz, with screw diameters of 75 to 140 mm, are now in operation at DMT. 

Large Format 

Extruder ZSE Maxx Series 

Modified Conductive Compounds Make It Possible to Manufacture Bipolar Plates from a Bipolar Film Coil

Bipolar plates are one of the key components of fuel cells and redox flow batteries. They consist of plastics compounds highly filled with electrically conductive materials. To save space, cut costs, and reduce weight, there is increasing demand for the production of thinner plates without compromising robustness and service life. This can be achieved using modified polymers. With a new technology, bipolar plate films based on these modified polymers can be processed as coils.

Sustainable energy sources are of vital importance for society’s future power supply. Since wind and solar power are subject to fluctuation due to changing weather conditions, the generated energy must be held in medium or long-term buffer storage. The ideal solution for this task is provided by so-called redox flow batteries. These generally take the form of 40-ft containers which, as electrochemical converters, can store and deliver large amounts of energy. Another possibility is fuel cells that convert fuels such as hydrogen into electrical energy. This technology is becoming increasingly popular for mobile and portable applications and is already being used for trucks, cars, trains, boats, domestic energy supply (cogeneration), and independent power supply units, e. g. for data centers.

For these technologies to become established in the market, further development of bipolar plates, as the central functional elements of fuel cells and redox flow batteries is necessary. Bipolar plates are a key component of fuel cells and redox flow batteries. Conventional carbon-containing bipolar plates usually consist of thermoplastic or thermoset matrix materials with a high content of conductive fillers such as graphite, carbon black or carbon nanotubes. Although made from plastics, bipolar plates must have very good electrical and thermal conductivity. To achieve suitably high conductivity, the plastic must be filled with up to 80 or 90 wt. % conductive material. Here, the binding polymer plays a crucial role in preventing the compound from becoming brittle and ensuring optimum processability, although it only makes up 10 to 20 wt. % of the compound. For long and economical use of bipolar plates, high electrical conductivity, resistance to degradation, and mechanical stability under load are required.

Polypropylene (PP) and polyolefins in general are frequently used as the polymers for bipolar plates. But for special requirements, other materials such as polyphenylene sulphide (PPS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and phenolic resins are also used. Although highly filled graphite bipolar plates based on PP, polyethylene (PE), PVDF, and PPS offer high durability and can be manufactured economically, users are also increasingly demanding thinner, weight-optimized components to save space, reduce weight, and cut material costs. Low thickness and high durability are very conflicting requirements for such high conductive-filler loadings and make the achievement of this goal even more challenging.

By modifying the plastics used in bipolar plates such as PP, PE, PVDF, and PPS, their mechanical properties can, at least within certain limits, be adapted to the required specification and, through impact strength improvement, for example, be made more flexible or ductile. This is essential for the manufacture of thin plates. By using special impact modifiers, Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG has been able to produce thin, highly filled, very conductive bipolar plate films as coils in a continuous process (Fig. 1). In this process, polyolefin block copolymers additionally containing ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer rubber (EPDM) were produced with varying graphite content.

The starting point was the production of highly filled compounds. Compounding was carried out on twin screw extruders from Collin, Leistritz, and Battenfeld. On these machines, various modified PP, PE, PVDF, and PPS compounds with a carbon content of about 80 wt. % were produced and pre-conditioned for the shaping process. The next important step comprised processing them into thin films on a suitable continuous production unit.

Modified Films Achieve the  Required Values

The average thickness of the films was well below 1mm and for the most part between 0.5 and 0.8 mm (Fig. 2).

During production, however, the film can be precisely adjusted to the specification so that the required thickness can be ensured to a tenth of a millimeter in serial production. The tensile strength of the plates produced was between 4 and 11 N/mm² (Fig. 3), which is lower than that of the reference material.

It should be remembered, however, that the measurements were not carried out on a standard test bar but on the film itself, which is only about 0.6 mm thick. Further trials to improve tensile strength are currently in progress. The electrical resistivity values of the different material types are higher than those of the reference material (Fig. 4). However, it should be borne in mind that thinner plates compensate for the somewhat poorer electrical conductivity.

The films also open up new processing options. Until now, suitable shaping methods for producing bipolar plates have been hot pressing and injection molding. In these processes, the preconditioned material is generally fed into a heated compression or injection mold. In the case of compounds with a thermoset matrix, a chemical curing reaction under heat must take place before the plate can be removed from the cavity.

With thermoplastic matrices, on the other hand, the compound must first be melted and then brought below the melting or glass transition temperature of the particular plastic before demolding. In hot pressing or injection molding, the technically challenging options consist in directly shaping the required structures or producing unstructured sheet blanks instead.

With the latest technology, graphite compound films can now be processed as coils (Title figure). In a similar way to stamping, the films are drawn down from a coil and processed by stamping/bending to produce the final structured plate (Fig. 5).

The new technology represents a further important step in automated manufacture of conductive compound films to achieve the economy of scale effect.

In this way, the overall costs of fuel cell or battery systems can be significantly reduced. The mechanical properties obtained are comparable with those of graphite-filled, pressed or injection molded bipolar plates. Electrical conductivity, too, lies within a range that is suitable for the application. In view of the current legal framework conditions specified in particular by the EU Commission, there is an ever more pressing need for action to make mobility emission-free. The films described can make an important contribution towards greater acceptance of fuel cell technology.

Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG  

https://www.eisenhuth.de

Ausgabenartikel

The modified polymers enable films to be processed  as coils

Fig. 1. By modifying the highly filled plastics, considerably thinner bipolar plate films can be produced than was previously the case 

Fig. 2. Film thickness of the processed compounds and comparison with reference materials (filling degrees in brackets): the thickness of the plates ranges between about 0.5 and 1 mm

Fig. 3. The tensile strength of the different films is lower than that of the reference materials. However, the reference materials are also considerably thicker (3 mm) 

Fig. 4. The electrical resistance of the compounds (filling degrees in brackets) is higher than that of the reference materials. However, this is compensated for by the lower thickness of the films

Fig. 5. Stamped graphite compound film: the bipolar plate is produced by the stamping/ bending process 

KU 6-21_Eisenhuth - Hauptartikel

 Dr. Thorsten Hickmann is CEO of Eisenhuth GmbH & Co. KG, Osterrode, Germany; <a href="mailto:t.hickmann@eisenhuth.de">t.hickmann@eisenhuth.de</a>

Dr. Thorsten Derieth works in marketing and application technology in the Fuel Cells and Batteries Department of Eisenhuth; <a href="mailto:t.derieth@eisenhuth.de">t.derieth@eisenhuth.de</a>

Read the German version of the  article in our magazine Kunststoffe or at  <a href="https://www.kunststoffe.de/a/fachartikel/duennere-bipolarplatten-fuer-brennstoffz-326015" target="_blank">www.kunststoffe.de</a>