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The Society of Plastics Engineers is launching a new U.S. design conference next summer that aims to help bridge the gap between engineers and other key disciplines involved in the product development process. Called “Design in Plastics 2016,” the event will take place June 21-22 at the RISD Museum on the campus of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. 

This event will focus on the challenges and rewards of communication and collaboration between designers, engineers, and marketing. Participants will examine best practices as well as pitfalls, through the eyes of leading practitioners of all these disciplines. They’ll also look at emerging materials and process technologies (like 3-D printing, advanced composites, etc.) and assess how they might impact tomorrow’s products. 

“We are eager to engage more with the design community,” says SPE managing director Russell Broome, “and we felt that creating this type of interactive forum would be beneficial to all involved. We also are pleased to be able to host this initial conference on the campus of such a prestigious design school as RISD, and in such an accessible location as Providence.” 

The conference can accommodate about 200 participants, and the target audience is a cross-section of today’s product development supply chain, including industrial designers, various types of engineers (polymer and otherwise), brand owners, materials and tooling suppliers, and design and polymer engineering educators and students. 

The event will include an evening networking reception at the headquarters facility of medical technology development firm Ximedica. Various partners have already pledged their support, including the Industrial Designers Society of America and the Design Management Institute. 

Robert Grace, the former long-time editor, conference director, and associate publisher of Plastics News, is organizing the program and recruiting the speakers. Sponsorships are available. (For more details, contact Grace at bob@rcgrace.com or U.S. 330-289-9488.) www.4spe.org

How can a product provide needed strength yet be ultra-low in weight? Designers of a new inner tube for mountain bikes took on this challenge. Schwalbe, the market leader in Europe for bicycle tires and inner tubes, worked with BASF to develop a new thermoplastic material based on BASF’s thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), Elastollan®.

The strong mechanical properties of this material mean that the tube’s wall thickness can be considerably reduced. This gives the eye-catching blue “Evo Tube” an important advantage over butyl-based inner tubes: its weight has been reduced by as much as 65%, compared with the weight of a standard 29-inch (74-cm) tube. Depending on the size of the tire, the Evo Tube weighs between 68 and 76 grams. (According to Schwalbe, the tube will be in stores in December 2015.)

The TPU is said to be particularly resistant to abrasion and wear, and therefore really long-lasting. Furthermore, an inner tube made from this plastic can withstand a very high level of continuous load and—despite its greatly reduced wall thickness—maintain constant air pressure over long periods.

The tube, valve base, and valve stem are all made from materials based on Elastollan. This simplifies the production process and also allows the product to be easily recycled. “Thanks to our extensive portfolio of suitable types of Elastollan, we were able to find the perfect combination of materials to make the new Evo Tube,” explains Sascha
Mattfeld of BASF.

The company helped Schwalbe over a period of two years with selecting the material, carrying out production trials, and providing ready-made components from BASF’s own Application Engineering Center. During the work on the project, extensive mechanical stress tests were carried out, especially with regard to temperature and pressure resistance and gas permeability.

“Our close partnership with BASF was focused and constructive in every way: we received intensive support and advice and were flexibly supplied with sample components throughout the whole period of the project,” adds Marcus Lambertz, the Evo Tube product manager at Schwalbe. “We are already working on developing more versions based on the same material.”

The TPU also has a wide range of possible applications in other industries and sectors in, for example, the automotive industry or mechanical and medical engineering. The material can also be processed in various different ways, BASF adds—Elastollan can be injection molded, extruded, or blow molded. www.elastollan.de

A recently released study designed to determine the types of plastic material contained in “mixed rigid” bales of recyclable plastics will serve as the basis for the continued expansion of plastics recycling beyond traditional containers and packaging. Commissioned by The Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers (APR) and conducted by Moore Recycling, the study follows up on an initial survey conducted in 2011, which was the first such effort to determine the composition of various types of mixed rigid plastic bales in North America.

“As recycling rates continue to grow, understanding the type and tonnage available for recycling in North America will strengthen and advance investment in non-bottle rigid recycling,” says J. Scott Saunders, general manager of KW Plastics and chairman of APR.

The 2015 “National Mixed Rigid Bale Composition Study” focuses on material in nontraditional bales of plastic. It’s designed to demonstrate the types of plastic containers in the bales, demonstrate the value of separating the material, and encourage the continued expansion of plastics recycling to include non-bottle rigid material.

“This project is part of APR’s continued efforts to improve bale quality,” says Liz Bedard, director of the APR Rigids Program. “In order to justify an investment to expand processing capacity, we must understand the different types of material available for reclamation.”

A total of 23 bales were sorted by resin and product type at four different North American facilities. A handheld resin-identification unit was used to spot-check for items that were not easily identified by sight, feel, or sound. Each resin and product category was weighed and recorded, and the baled material was divided into 90 “sorts.”

The full study contains a breakout of each type of bale, sorted by product and resin categories, and shows the average percentage of each category in the bale. In addition, the appendix includes detailed sort data broken down both by bale type/product category and by bale type/resin. www.PlasticsRecycling.org

Nova Chemicals Corp. has announced that its new Multilayer Property Predictor (MPP) tool is now live on the company’s website. This interactive web-based tool allows the company’s customers to predict the performance of films with up to nine layers, reducing the time and resources needed for them to develop new structures and applications.

Together with the company’s nine-layer blown film line and a comprehensive suite of in-house converting and testing capabilities, the tool helps it deliver robust applications-development support to its film customers. Developmental resins and structures can be designed, produced, and tested with Nova’s equipment and experts, bypassing the need to use converters’ commercial resources on R&D. In addition, the MPP allows customers to quickly determine the viability of a much wider range of potential structures than would be feasible through physical trials or manual predictive performance calculations. 

“We are always looking for ways to make our customers’ jobs easier,” said Nova Chemicals food packaging market manager Mike Cappelli. “We want to help them create the best structure, even when it includes materials that we don’t produce.”

Several key MPP tool features enhance the user experience. The intuitive user interface walks customers through the process of building a test structure and then calculates several key predictive performance properties. Calculations for any saved structures can be compared in chart and table formats, enabling users to evaluate the properties of different structures before moving forward with the application trial process. And a large database can be customized by each user to include the additional materials that make up their unique structures.

“Our customers are always seeking to be more efficient in developing new structures,” says technical service specialist Dan Ward. “Because the MPP allows them to study and compare predicted performance virtually, they may be able to reduce the number of application trials that are required.”

The MPP is the first in a series of planned calculators and models. Future versions of the MPP tool reportedly will incorporate additional predictive properties to further enhance customers’ film development processes. Films modelled using the tool will support applications-development work for customers in the food packaging and other flexible film markets. www.novachemicals.com/mpp

Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products announced the launch of its latest thermoplastic product, Nylatron® 66 SA FST. As part of Quadrant’s broad portfolio of products for the aerospace industry, the polyamide product is reportedly the first of its kind designed specifically for aircraft interior applications to withstand extreme temperatures.

The company says the material has passed tests to comply with Federal Aviation Regulations FAR 25.853—the first engineering plastic shape to achieve this standard. It enables engineers to manufacture various components where robust and reliable material qualities are essential for safety and integrity of the aircraft. 

Aircraft design and engineering has become increasingly complex, with a close focus on safety and reliability. Aerospace managers require light and flexible materials that withstand high temperatures and pressures, as well as maintain their robustness through long periods of use.

 Nylatron 66 SA FST reportedly addresses the needs for durable and fire-retardant plastic materials. It also offers wear resistance and low moisture absorption, which contributes to its long-lasting functionality. The material is available as semi-finished shapes (like rods and sheets).

Fire, smoke, and toxicity retardant capabilities enable it to resist extreme temperatures up to 175°C. The material is particularly suitable for any kind of application in aircraft interiors where metal parts (e.g., brackets, seal bushings, slide rails, and duct seals) or high-performance polymers have traditionally been specified, the company adds.

“Aerospace is a key strategic market for Quadrant,” comments Frank Johänning, Quadrant global market manager for aerospace. “We have carried out stringent testing, and [the Nylatron material] has proven a highly reliable and robust material, crucial for ensuring the components are safe to use in aircraft construction.” www.quadrantplastics.com

As China’s coal-burning power plants work to reduce emissions through improvements to the flue gas desulphurization (FGD) process, Ashland Inc. says a growing number are looking to its Derakane Momentum epoxy vinyl ester resin to combat the effects of corrosion. This next-generation resin was developed to meet the power plants’ need for an extremely corrosion-resistant FGD process.

The company says Derakane Momentum boasts outstanding performance in corrosion resistance, toughness, and fire retardance. In addition, it enables higher productivity, better workability, and longer shelf life. And the product recently received the 2015 Ringier Technology Innovation Award for composites. (The Ringier awards recognize companies that have introduced new ideas and technologies that lead to improved energy efficiency and more responsible clean manufacturing.)

“Derakane resin has been widely used in many industries, and we are beginning to see its great value in helping power plants control air emissions,” says Y.K. Zhang, Asia Pacific product manager for vinyl ester resins at Ashland Performance Materials, a commercial unit of Ashland Inc.

Mike Chen, the unit’s general manager, adds: “In the past 50 years, the Derakane resin team has enjoyed great success in helping customers around the world fight the damaging effects of corrosion. We look forward to building on that tremendous legacy of customer service and innovation in the years ahead.” www.ashland.com

Struktol Company of America, a leading global supplier of polymer additives, presented an expanded product line for engineered plastics earlier this year at NPE2015. These new additives were designed to provide greater processing and performance capabilities for compounders, processors, and end users, the company reports.

Struktol® TR 063A is a highly-efficient lubricant and viscosity reducer for nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 compounds. The product boasts a novel chemistry which makes it highly compatible with polyamides, the company says, and it’s superior in performance to alternative lubricants such as montan ester waxes. TR 063A provides compounders and processors with a cost-effective, versatile process additive that can significantly improve throughput and efficiency. It can be added directly at the compounding stage or by the processor in extrusion or injection molding machines.

Struktol TR 044W provides a combination of viscosity reduction and mold-release characteristics for polycarbonate resins and compounds. Loading levels as low as 0.2% reportedly result in increased melt flow and allow for significant improvements in mold filling and release. Processors using TR 044W in clear applications will see minimal haze development, even at higher loading levels. The improved processability can result in lower molded-in stress in injection molding applications that often will mean better part performance. The product is also effective in highly filled polycarbonate compounds, providing improved dispersion and lower viscosities, the company adds.

For added metal release, processors of nylon 6 and 6,6 will find that Struktol TR 077 provides additional benefits. It adds external lubricity in both extrusion and molding applications. And it’s an excellent replacement product for applications where traditional powder zinc stearate is currently being used, offering superior processing, as well as better handling due to its pastille product form, Struktol adds. It also works well in many other polymer systems including polystyrene, concentrates, thermosets, and many olefins, and meets the requirements of many FDA applications. www.4struktol.com

Kuraray Co., Ltd. has announced that Genestar, a highly-functional polyamide resin, was chosen as a component material for the Mirai, a fuel-cell vehicle produced by Toyota Motor Corp. Taking advantage of the boost in popularity that Toyota’s adoption is sure to give Genestar, Kuraray says it’s working to promote the material for use in automotive parts.

Fuel-cell vehicles are equipped with a fuel-cell stack, an essential component of the power generation system, which harnesses the energy released by the reaction of hydrogen fuel and atmospheric oxygen. The Mirai has a “stack manifold”—a piping component for fuel-cell stacks that supplies coolant water as well as hydrogen and oxygen. Genestar was chosen for this piping component.

Kuraray’s development of this proprietary heat-resistant polyamide began with the creation of its raw material monomer. In 1999, Kuraray says it became the first in the world to successfully commercialize such a material, PA9T, which it launched under the name Genestar. The material is highly resistant to heat, chemicals, and friction, while boasting low water absorption and superior electrical insulation.

Thanks to these features, Genestar is used for connectors in smartphones, personal computers, and other electric and electronic appliances. Moreover, the company says it’s gaining popularity in the automotive industry from the growing demand for lightweight vehicles. Specifically, the material is used for cooling system components, fuel tubes, and other auto parts, providing a lightweight alternative to metal. www.kuraray.us.com

Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (JSW) reports that the integrated energy and chemical company Sasol has awarded JSW the extruder business for Sasol’s low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant under construction in Louisiana, USA.

The JSW extruder will be used in the production of LDPE in one of the downstream derivative plants in Sasol’s new petrochemical complex, which utilizes ethane gas. The plant’s capacity is 420 KTA (kilotons per annum), using ExxonMobil’s tubular process technology. (Operations at the complex are expected to begin in 2018.)

JSW will deliver a single-screw extruder with a 700-mm diameter screw—the largest single-screw extruder the company says it has ever manufactured. This is the first JSW extruder supplied for projects indirectly sourcing shale gas, and the company adds that it’s looking for further such opportunities mainly in North America. www.jswcompounding-usa.com