According to Covestro, exterior cladding contributes significantly to the appearance of buildings, but it can also perform other important functions, such as shielding interiors from sound or the sun’s UV rays. Rear-ventilated facades, whose elements are typically made of aluminium, play a special role here. However, they have one major disadvantage: the metal acts as a thermal bridge, as it has a higher thermal conductivity than the surrounding materials. This can cause condensation, which negatively affects the thermal insulation.

According to the German company Rado Gummi GmbH, a specialist in the manufacturing of silicone compounds, discussions on PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) emissions resulting from the extrusion of peroxide cured crosslinked silicone products have become a topical issue, with both authorities and the public showing greater levels of awareness and alarm. Ultimately, this will lead to manufacturers of such products having to switch over to PCB emission-free crosslinking systems for their products or operators will face having their installations become subject to licensing in accordance with Article 4 of the German Federal Immission Control Act.

The Pioneers!Talks by KraussMaffei have made a successful start. More than 400 participants registered for the digital customer event in the middle of February. Experts from KraussMaffei and partners presented current trends and solutions for LSR processing and medical technology. Live chats and surveys followed by Q+As gave the participants the opportunity to actively engage in the event.

Cannon is inviting to the Insulation Technology Open Days – Meetings, B2B, Conference and Factory Visits, the company’s first two-days event entirely dedicated to insulation technology.

Since 2016, Covestro has been working with research and development partners as part of the "DreamResource" joint project (FKZ 033RC002) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to research new, more environmentally friendly polyols with the potential to be used, for example, in the form of rigid polyurethane foam in insulation for the construction sector. An initial prototype of an insulation board has now been developed together with the project partner puren gmbh, which contains the novel polyols based on conventional ethylene oxides and CO₂. According to Covestro, this marks a decisive further development of its CO₂ technology for a particularly important part of the climate-relevant construction industry.

Diab Group, a specialist in sandwich composite solutions, chose Sabic’s new LNP Colorcomp compound using nano technology to reduce weight and improve mechanical properties of sandwich structures with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foams, which are used as the core material of wind turbine blades.

Evonik has converted its entire silicone surfactants portfolio available in Europe, to only include low cyclics or low VOC-based (volatile organic compounds) products. After first optimizing its Tegostab silicone surfactants to minimize cyclic siloxane content in 2003, Evonik has continuously enhanced its portfolio to meet the highest global regulatory and sustainability demands.

DIK (Deutsches Institut für Kautschuktechnologie e. V.) and DKG (Deutsche Kautschuk-Gesellschaft e. V.) are planning a research project regarding the efficiency of antiozonants in rubber matrices. The project has arisen from the need to find suitable alternatives to 6PPD, which is expected to be regulated by REACH in the future. From this situation the aim results to investigate possibilities in ozone protection for polydienes, which are already available and known from literature concerning their efficiency.

Getzner Werkstoffe launched two new designs of its impact noise insulation, the Acoustic Floor Mat (AFM), at the start of 2021. According to the manufacturer, the vibration isolating solution now has improved product characteristics, with enhanced dynamic efficacy and a further reduction in the height of the highly resilient impact noise protection mat.

DSM Engineering Materials business announced that it will launch mass-balanced bio-based Arnitel together with Sympatex Technologies. In this way, DSM Engineering Materials is taking the next step on its sustainability journey and enabling its customers to transition to a more circular and bio-based economy, the company said.