COVER STORY
Plastic Additives Sector Continues to Grow & Evolve
By Geoff Giordan
The market for plastic additives is projected to grow at a rate of 5% per year globally. Meanwhile, various performance needs — from fire safety to sustainability — are driving change in that sector.
Colorants & Pigments Get More Versatile
By Pat Toensmeier
Colorants and pigments continue to expand the role they play in plastics, well beyond color. Such additives now can help to address process efficiency, sustainability and regulatory compliance.
DESIGN NOTES
Obi Feeds More Than the Imagination
By Robert Grace
As a college student, Jon Dekar began developing a robotic appliance that could help to feed those who couldn’t feed themselves. Now, a decade later, that device — called Obi — has hit the market, potentially offering a new-found sense of independence to many.
ACCE 2016
Report from SPE’s Automotive Composites Conference & Expo
By Peggy Malnati
This year’s Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition was big, and full of innovation. Learn what you missed — from thermoplastic cores, and technology for pultruding curved profiles, to a breakthrough that allows polyurethane resins to be used in SMC.
MARKET FOCUS
ASEAN Region Offers Thin-Wall Packaging Opportunities
By Conor Carlin
Cultural differences, legislation and mega-trends are all impacting the perception and use of thin-wall thermoformed packaging in the fast-growing markets of Southeast Asia. This report from Singapore will help get you up to speed.
25TH THERMOFORMING DIVISION CONFERENCE
Forming the Future of Thermoforming
By Nancy D. Lamontagne
This fall’s 25th anniversary conference of SPE’s Thermoforming Division offered hard-won advice from industry veterans about how to push forward in a competitive market.
Thermoforming Division Awards
The conference also dispensed awards — to parts competition winners as well as for Thermoformer of the Year, and for Lifetime Achievement.
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Making It Stick: Tips for Coating Hard-to-Coat Plastics
By Michael Couchie
Tap into the expertise of APV Engineering Coatings, and read up on the different types of coating chemistries for various plastic materials — and how to choose the one best suited for your application.
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
PE Pipe Performance: Key Insights into Rapid Crack Propagation
By Ashish M. Sukhadia, Mark J. Lamborn & Pamela L. Maeger
Go down in the trenches and learn what researchers at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. have discovered about factors impacting rapid crack propagation failures in different types of polyethylene pipe.
PLASTICS MAKE IT POSSIBLE
New Research Shows Flexible Package Recycling Potential
By The American Chemistry Council
The ACC this month reveals what a fledgling coalition is learning about how to recycle flexible plastic packaging efficiently and cost effectively, using existing technology.
INSIDE SPI
Operation Clean Sweep Marks 25 Years, plus the Latest Installment of The FLiP Files: Jennifer Cioffi
By SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association
SPI looks back on the key milestones of Operation Clean Sweep, which launched in 1991. And it profiles its latest up-and-coming young professional — Jennifer Cioffi of Jarden Home Brands.
DEPARTMENTS
Industry News
Coverage includes reports from the recent K show in Düsseldorf, and looks at developments by Solvay, DSM Dyneema, DuPont, Arburg, Struktol, Ascend, Conair, Songwon, R3 Composites, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Energy-Saving Tip
By Dr. Robin Kent
Industry Patents
By Dr. Roger Corneliussen
Industry Events
Market Place
Advertisers Index
About the cover:
This dramatic, abstract image of plastic colorants is courtesy of Shepherd Color Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio.
