India is a booming economy with rising consumerism paving the way for a notable growth in organized retail industry. This retail success in India coupled with the rising demand for pre cooked or frozen foods will surely spell wonders for concept of barrier packaging which is already a norm in western countries. The article also explains the materials required and appropriate combinations for barrier sheet, the setup required for a barrier sheet line, the advantages of such barrier sheets in food product categories and finally their eco-compatibility issues. Read more in Barrier Packaging: Essential for Retail Success
Europe's plastics pipes manufacturing industry, dominated by a few heavyweights, may be nearing a slowdown amid limited growth in construction activity and limited penetration, as per a study by AMI. Some are even considering major restructuring. On the other hand, the Central and East Europe markets will show a rapid development for this for this sector, but Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America paint a different story. Read details in Challenging times for European Plastic Pipe System suppliers
While wood-plastic composites (WPCs) are chosen over wood due to low maintenance, aesthetics, moisture resistance, warp resistance and the like, the cost associated with WPCs can be highly optimized. The cost competitiveness can be efficiently increased by appropriate selection of extrusion equipment, measurement and analysis of the energy costs and consequent control of energy consumption. Read more in Extrusion equipment and energy control during processing helps make wood-plastic composites competitive
Automotive industry is rapidly taking strides in using bio-based plastics particularly in auto interiors to employ sustainability in business, reduce green house emissions and reduce ecological footprints delivered to end users. The article scans through the likes of auto majors including Ford, Honda, Mazda, and their efforts of employing bio-based plastics and recycled materials in automotive interiors. Read Bio fabric based on PLA is being used for automotive interiors
Regulations like Europe's REACH will bring with it additional obligations and implications for the industry, leading to a total or partial ban on certain chemicals and substances due to their carcinogenic, mutagenic, reproductively toxic, bio-accumulative and other adverse effects. Read Banning of harmful chemicals will play an important role in the plastic industry to know the implications of regulations including REACH, RoHS, WEEE, etc
IMC (Injection Moulding-Compounding) systems possess a combination of an injection molding press and a twin-screw compounding extruder, offering benefits of control of fiber length, significantly reduced fiber breakage, shorter cycles, lower weight, higher mechanical properties of the molded part, and several other. Read Twin Screw compounding is combined with injection molding to benefit molders. The article also explains in detail the various applications of the IMC process, their costs, benefits and suppliers of such presses.
TPEs are increasingly believed to be most active in material and application development having already replaced thermoset rubbers and thermoplastic urethanes (TPUs) in several applications. Read Healthy growth of TPEs with focus on performance improvements to know the advancements of TPEs with regards to higher performance, increased characteristics (transparency, abrasion resistance), bio-based sources and the like.
