Materials
Now Molders Make Their Own GMT Sheet
The latest sign of an upsurge of interest in direct long-fiber compounding by molders of reinforced thermoplastics is a technology that allows molders to produce their own glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) composite sheet.
Read MoreNPE 2000 News Wrap-Up: Extrusion
At this year’s NPE, new processes to put wood flour into plastic were virtually everywhere—several even start with undried flour.
Read MoreNPE Newsfinder: Engineering Thermoplastics
Expect to see numerous entries in automotive engineering thermoplastics at NPE, including a totally new amorphous thermoplastic that is said to provide a breakthrough in color and gloss retention outdoors without painting. Besides exterior body panels, new automotive materials for under-hood, interior, structural, and mechanical parts like gears will also be plentiful.
Read MoreTP Composites: New Option in Lightweight PP/Glass Composites
From its Detroit-area offices, Swiss-based Quadrant Plastics Composites (QPC) has introduced a family of lightweight reinforced thermoplastic (LWRT) composites to North America.
Read MoreGarbage In, Good Plastics Out
Experts consider it the most high-tech recycling plant in the world: Schwarzataler Kunststoff in Germany takes dirty bottles and film from post-consumer recycling and turns them into automotive and other compounds in a fully automated process.
Read MoreNew Metallocene TP Elastomers Tackle Films, Fibers, TPOs
The Vistamaxx family of propylene-ethylene specialty elastomers recently unveiled by ExxonMobil Chemical (see Your Business In Brief, August 2003) holds promise in a broad range of applications from very soft fabrics and films to very hard TPOs.
Read MoreNPE News Wrap-Up: Materials
New materials at NPE 2003 target automotive, appliance, and packaging sectors. Engineering thermoplasticsdominate the news, but there were also severalnew TPEs and a few polypropylene introductions.
Read MoreNew-Generation SEBS Has Processing Advantages
Kraton Polymers has launched a new styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene (SEBS) elastomer family that delivers better flow, lower warpage, and greater adhesion to other thermoplastics.
Read More‘Self-Reinforcing’ Thermoplastic Is Harder, Stronger, Stiffer Without Added Fibers
By the end of 2003, sample quantities will become available of a specialty high-performance thermoplastic whose inventors call it the first readily processable rigid-rod polymer.
Read More'Father of Long Glass' Delivers a New Baby
Ron Hawley's lawyer keeps a collection of napkins and other bits of paper on which, over the years, Hawley drew the first sketches of a remarkable series of inventions.
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