Perfecting polyolefin products

In the global competitive plastics marketplace with re-shoring of manufacturing increasing, what can give products the edge that closes the deal? Three factors are key: customer appeal, quality and economics. In the world of polyolefin materials, intelligent compounding can aid all three of these criteria and put factories on the fast track to success. Noru Tsalic of AMI Consulting is addressing the Polyolefin Additives 2014 conference on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the industry in October. Cristina de Santos, Market Analyst at AMI, will follow this with an outline from a 2014 study on the opportunities for polyolefins in Africa. From the technical viewpoint, there are current advances in polyolefin materials and applications and Borealis is looking at whether the additive industry can keep up with the new demands. Clariant International has a fresh approach of differentiating additives for each application sector. Songwon of Korea has studied the conservation of polyolefin properties during melt conversion. Everspring Middle East has new developments in stabilisation and Adeka in Japan has studied selecting the right hindered amine based light stabiliser package for each application. In addition Addivant is pushing additive blends for product differentiation and value creation. Some of the latest technical research will be presented at Polyolefin Additives 2014, for example Norner has produced PP with an extended service life in contact with extractive media and the Indian Oil Corporation has analysed the interaction of acid scavengers with primary antioxidants. Tosaf Compounds has looked at quality control in masterbatch related to migrating additives and Wells Plastics is involved with oxo-biodegradable technology. In Spain, the University of Alicante continues to work with natural plant extracts including sage as an antibacterial and antioxidant in bio-based polyethylene composites. There are product innovations in polyolefins in construction applications such as the work of BASF in improving anti-UV functionality in roofing membranes. The cables company Kabelwerk Eupen is focusing on research into flame retardants, with similar work on nano-materials in progress in Iran at Parsa Polymer Sharif. Fillers can be functional and add properties to a compound such as flame retardancy and can also be used to reduce material costs. Alpha Calcit has reviewed the use of minerals as fillers and Exxonmobil Chemical has processing aids that permit high filler loading with better dispersion. UHMW silicones from Dow Corning Polska are also used as processing aids in polyolefins and can add flame retardant and surface property benefits too, while 3M has focused on processing aids for widening the processing window for multilayer blown film extrusion. The influence of additives on the compounding process is the subject of a review by Coperion.