Smithers Rapra, a subsidiary of U.S.-based independent testing, research and consulting organization, The Smithers Group, is celebrating the success of its first conference held in Prague which had over 100 delegates from the TPE industry in attendance. Delegates were treated to high quality technical papers on TPE developments, TPOs, TPVs, TPUs and TPE additives from a variety of industry and academic experts. The speakers, which included representatives from Dow, Akzo-Nobel Polymer chemicals, PolyOne, CTS, Arkema, Lubrizol, Merquinsa, Teknor Apex, Ciba and University of the Basque Country, were all well received and delegates took the opportunity to talk to all the speakers at length during coffee breaks.
The global commercial scene for TPEs was set by Bob Eller. Improvements in TPEs to meet requirements for medical and food contact were examined, and TPU and copolyamide TPEs based on renewable resources and improved UV stabilised copolyester were included. Polyolefin elastomers for use in TPE compounds were reviewed, together with improved peroxides for crosslinking TPVs, systems for improving flame retardancy of TPEs and new stabilisers for TPU. TPEs for automotive wiring featured, as well as academic studies of the viscoelastic properties of SEBS, and a new block copolymer TPE
Smithers Rapra also presented its first 'Smithers Rapra Best Paper Award' and the accompanying EUR1000 cash prize to the author of the best written paper included in the TPE conference proceedings. This award went to Dr Waldo Beek and Gea Spijkerman from Akzo-Nobel Polymer Chemicals, for their paper entitled 'Application of peroxides for the production of thermoplastic vulcanisates (TPV)' which was presented on the first day of the conference.
The twelfth TPE Conference will be held on 11 & 12 November 2009 in Berlin. A call for papers for this event will be released shortly so for more information about this event, please go to www.polymerconferences.com.
13-Dec-08 
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