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New ‘Green’ Flame Retardant Coming in 2010

Additives supplier Albemarle Corp. in Baton Rouge plans to launch a polymeric flame retardant later this year as the first product in a new Earthwise family of “sustainable, eco-friendly products.” All Earthwise products will have been screened for toxicity, bioaccumulation potential, and recyclability. Polyurethane curatives are expected to be the second type of additives to join this family.

The first EarthWise product, to be launched in the second half, will be called GreenArmor. Described as a unique brominated polymeric compound, it is distinguished from other polymeric FR agents in its high performance and broad range of applicability, says Albemarle. GreenArmor has been tested successfully in styrenics, polyolefins, nylons, and TP polyesters. It boasts high FR efficiency, comparable to DBDPO or Albemarle’s Saytex 8010. It reportedly also has good thermal stability and is melt blendable, providing good flow and surface quality, as well as good mechanical and thermal properties, to finished compounds.
(800) 535-3030 • earthwiseinside.com

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For more information visit Albemarle Corp's PT Online Showroom.

NPE 2012 Moving to Orlando, Fla.

The next NPE international plastics exposition will take place April 1-5, 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. NPE 2015 will also be in Orlando, but in late March. NPE has been presented by the Society of the Plastics Industry in Chicago’s McCormick Place since 1971, and the event has occurred in June since 1979. SPI said the move will offer big reductions in expenses for exhibitors and attendees—including an average of 48% savings in utilities for booths, 19% in on-site hauling (“drayage”) and rigging services, 23% on lodging, and 11% on travel.

Program changes will include a Sunday opening with educational programs and other special events, as well as just four days—Monday through Thursday—for the show itself. In addition, exhibits will be grouped for the first time by product category.
(202) 974-520 • plasticsindustry.org/goto/NPE2012Venue

Buy Auxiliaries Online

Conair Group Inc., Cranberry Township, Pa., is now offering online purchases of loaders, dryers, chillers, feeders, blenders, mold-temperature control units (TCUs), and Gaylord tilters, as well as used equipment and spare parts. The Conair BuyNow program will include QuickShip items—popular standard equipment stocked for immediate shipment.
For more information visit Conair Group Inc's PT Online Showroom.

Make Polyolefins RF Weldable Without Additives

Up to now, radio-frequency (RF) welding or sealing of films, foams, and fabrics has been limited mainly to polar resins with high dielectric loss factors—particularly flexible PVC and TPU. Nonpolar PE and PP are “invisible” to RF energy unless modified with large amounts of polar additives like EVA, which add cost and negatively affect product properties and processability.

Now there’s a new solution for manufacturers who want to get away from PVC for environmental reasons and don’t want the expense of using TPU. Called ecoGenesis, it’s a proprietary development from Genesis Plastics Welding, Indianapolis, an RF welding/sealing specialist and contract manufacturer. Genesis is offering what it says is an inexpensive modification to standard RF welding hardware along with a know-how license. This “drop-in” solution reportedly is quick and easy for customers to install themselves and it makes unmodified PE and PP “see” RF energy without any glue, coating, or expendable buffer or adhesive layers of another material. It involves no change in RF tooling and no change in RF power or frequency generation.

What’s more, the equipment modification is said to make the RF welding process more stable than usual and to allow welding much thinner materials—down to 0.001 in.—without arc hazard. Genesis will demonstrate ecoGenesis at the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West show in Anaheim, Calif., Feb. 9-11 and at MD&M East in N.Y.C. June 8-10.
(317) 485-7887 • genesisplasticswelding.com

For more information visit Genesis Plastics Welding's PT Online Showroom.