Lilli Manolis Sherman

Lilli Manolis Sherman Contributing Editor

Biopolymers

Materials News at K 2013

There was no shortage of interesting materials developments at K 2013, in particular high-performance engineering thermoplastics and thermoplastic composites鈥攎uch of them geared to automotive/transportation.

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Packaging

Plastic Caps & Closures in Beverages Now in the Lead

How are plastics faring in caps and closures?

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Automotive

APPLICATIONS: Ultra-High-Flow TPV Enables Thinner Instrument Panels

TPV with an exceptional high melt flow rate simplified the deployment of soft, injection moldable instrument panel skins across global platforms for the 2014 Nissan Sentra.

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Plastics Color Expands

Plastics Color is expanding its headquarters plant by 40% which will boost capacity for color concentrates, compounds, and functional masterbatches before year's end.

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Automotive

Ultra-High-Flow TPV Enables Thinner Instrument Panels

Asahi Kasei's ultra-high-flow TPV simplified the deployment of soft, injection moldable instrument panel skins across global platforms for the 2014 Nissan Sentra.

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Testing

TESTING/MEASURING: Laser Design Distributes Tomelleri Portable CMMs

Laser Design is now the master North American distributor for the Space Arm coordinating measuring machines from Italy's Tomelleri Engineering.

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Construction

ADDITIVES: A.Schulman Acquires Prime Colorants

To grow its custom color capabilities, A.Schulman, Akron, Ohio, has made yet another acquisition, of color and additive concentrates maker Prime Colorants, Franklin, Tenn.

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Biopolymers

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING: Slew of New Developments in Materials, Equipment

Three companies unveiled new developments in additive manufacturing and prototyping as 2013 came to a close, a testament to this technology's vibrant growth.

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APPLICATIONS: High-Heat PLA in World's First Bioplastic Touchscreen Computer

The high-heat-resistant PLA compound used for the housing of the first bioplastic touchscreen computer is based on lactides from Corbion Purac.

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Nylon 12 Gains New Fully-Integrated Producer

Could the global shortage of nylon 12 that lasted through much of 2012, following the fire and explosion of the Marl, Germany cyclododecatriene (CDT) facility of Evonik Industries in March of that year, possibly be the world’s last of that scale?  Invista is aiming to become the first new fully-integrated producer of nylon 12--used primarily for fuel and brake-line connectors and other automotive components such as tubing and hoses--in over 30 years.   The company’s family of C12 high-performance intermediates played a critical part in assisting the market during the 2012 industry shortage.

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Commodity Resins

Commodity Resin Prices Up, Engineering Resins Steady

Strong year-end demand, somewhat tighter supplies of polyolefins, and a spike in feedstock prices with the possibility of more to come for PS, PVC and PP, have already brought higher prices to commodity resins, and continuing upward pressure will likely generate further hikes. Meanwhile, despite strong demand in the automotive market, prices of the four largest-volume engineering resins have been flat or slightly lower.

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Materials

Top 5 material technology developments of 2013

Throughout 2013, we saw myriad launches of a diverse range of new materials, with a cluster of introductions coming at K 2013. For this reason, selecting the 鈥渢op five materials鈥 was nearly an impossible task, so we decided to expand the list a bit by categorizing the new material developments by applications that are seeing increasing activity.

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PT Tech Days
Plastics Size Reduction