Functional fi llers | additives
Fillers get functional
For producers of polymer compounds, the most basic purpose of a fi ller is to increase bulk at low cost. However, this is no longer suffi cient in the modern plas- tics industry. Fillers are increasingly required to fulfi l other added-value functions, such as enhancing mechanical properties, UV or heat stability, thermal or electrical conductivity, dimensional stability, and fl ame retardancy. In doing so, they must not hinder or complicate the compounding process. This can mean the development and use of special treatment process- es – not all fi llers display intrinsic properties that can benefi t plastic compounds. Many of the newest developments in fi ller technology
for plastics compounds are being driven by the need for lightweighting, particularly in automotive plastics, and for reducing carbon footprint, according to Patrick Wernett, Director – Performance Minerals R&D and Quality Assurance at Minerals Technologies Inc. “Technical trends include the replacement of metals with fi lled plastics materials and replacement of high density engineering resins with lower density resins like polypropylene and TPOs,” he says. “This necessitates performance enhancement of the polypropylene resin with high effi ciency reinforcing minerals. Selecting the appropriate fi llers can improve impact resistance, fl exural modulus (stiffness) and maintain ductility at low
www.compoundingworld.com
Fillers for plastics are now providing added-value functions in compounds that are leading to some innovative
new materials and applications. Mark Holmes looks at recent developments
temperatures. Particle size, shape, aspect ratio and surface treatment are all critical to the performance of functional fi ller modifi ed compounds.” Wernett explains that Specialty Minerals - a division
of Minerals Technologies - works with compounders to optimise product selection and fi nal part performance. “Our range of functional fi ller products includes talc, precipitated calcium carbonate, and ground calcium carbonate with a variety of particle sizes, distributions, and coating options. A number of new fi ller technolo- gies have been introduced in recent years, but none have proven suffi cient at providing performance benefi ts in plastics to offset the signifi cantly higher cost compared to current state-of-the-art talc and calcium carbonate materials. Our new product development
Main image:
Particle size, shape, aspect ratio and surface
treatment are critical in
development of functional calcium
carbonate fi llers
August 2016 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 15
PHOTO: MINERAL TECHNOLOGIES
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