The APS Elastomers’ polyether-based Zythane 7000 series of non-halogen flame retardant TPU just received the UL flame rating of V-0. The products are formulated for both injection moulding and extrusion applications with ease of processing. Typical applications include cable sheathing, spiral and pneumatic tubing, film, irrigation hoses, conveyor hoses, hydraulic hoses, flat flex cables, and automotive sensor cables.

The annual trade show JEC World is a must for the global composites industry but definitely not a platform where you would expect to see interesting and innovative applications involving thermoplastic elastomers. Although at this year’s JEC World held from 12-14 March in Paris, KraussMaffei showed a successful combination of its proprietary FiberForm process and swivel plate technology for multi-component injection moulding: a centre armrest for the automotive interior with a pleasant to touch TPE surface . The FiberForm process developed by KraussMaffei combines the thermoforming of organo sheets and injection moulding into one process. This process results in fibre-reinforced plastic components that are particularly lightweight yet feature a high level of strength.

The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA), the educational and technical voice of the spray polyurethane foam (SPF) industry, has announced a 2019 Road Show for the association’s Professional Certification Program (PCP). Designed to promote safety and the highest standards in the installation of spray polyurethane foam, the certification program will be brought to various locations across the country in partnership with industry-leading companies, to ensure its availability to participants in key regions nationally.

Demonstrating how it inspires ingenuity in plastics was the focus of Huntsman at Chinaplas this May. At the show, Huntsman highlighted its expertise in polyurethane-based elastomers. Huntsman also promoted its Elastamine polyetheramine products, which can boost the performance of engineering plastics and fibres.

BASF plans to build a TPU as well as an engineering plastics compounding plant at the company’s proposed integrated chemical production (“Verbund”) site in Zhanjiang, China. The company said that these will be the first production plants to come onstream at the site. The TPU plant will have a capacity of 32,000 t/y; the engineering plastics compounding plant will supply a capacity of 60,000 t/y of these products.

The company StyleSnout GmbH has developed The Island dog bed, which uses Covestro’s Insqin technology. The surface of the beds is coated with a water-based polyurethane system. This textile coating keeps the bed from slipping on the floor and at the same time improves the resistance to mechanical stresses, such as bites or paws.

Dow has opened a SleepStudio location in Lake Jackson, TX, USA. This marks the company’s second SleepStudio location worldwide after the first was established in Horgen, Switzerland, late last year. The facility is a collaborative meeting and demonstration space that is intended to foster dialogue and education and advances comfortable sleep. The studio brings together technical expertise and industry insight to drive bedding design, innovation and polyurethane material science forward.

Itasa, an expert in the production of release liners, has successfully initiated production at its new plant located in Querétaro, Mexico. The 7,000 m² building that hosts the plant was completed in less than eight months, and the site allows a possible future expansion with an option to double the building capacity.

Monitoring Recyclates for Europe (MORE) is a new unified digital platform to monitor the uptake of recycled polymers into products. The IT platform is available to be used by converters since 25 April 2019. It was developed by EuPC in cooperation with its members and in support to the European Commission’s EU Plastics Strategy. Its objective is to monitor and register the plastics converting industry’s efforts to reach the EU target of 10 million t of recycled polymers used annually between 2025 and 2030.

Nikolay Dishovsky, Mihail Mihaylov, 1st ed., Apple Academic Press, Oakville, ON, Canada, 2018, 486 p., hardcover, ISBN 978-1-77188620-8, GBP 104.80