engineering plastics | Innovation
tion of polycarbonate from carbon dioxide or possibly methane (the company is already making polyether polycarbonate polyols for polyurethanes from CO2
pilot plant, obtaining its feedstock from a fossil-fuel power station). Rainer Rettig, Covestro’s Head of Commercial
Part of Covestro’s “SurfaceTechnologies” project, this glove box is produced in a Bayblend PC/ABS blend with high-gloss and structured surfaces. It is produced using dynamic temperature control and MuCell foaming in conjunction with GWK, Krallmann and J. & F. Krüth
generation, which is important for reducing pressure loss in the charged air system and making post-treat- ment on sealing sections unnecessary. Also new from EMS-Grivory are high-stiffness,
low-density Grivory XL products based on a PA66/ PA6l/6X blend. They can achieve values significantly higher than 35,000MPa, thanks partly to a special hybrid reinforcement of carbon and glass fibres. Some grades that are modified for high flow are said to allow efficient production of even very complex components having very little warpage. Long fibre reinforced versions are also available. Depending on grade, densities range from 1.40 to 1.73.
Polycarbonate opportunities Eleven years ago, Bayer spun off its speciality chemi- cals, elastomers and some thermoplastics activities into Lanxess. Now it has dropped the other polymer foot, with Covestro now established as the vehicle for polycarbonates and polyurethanes. CEO Patrick Thomas was at Fakuma talking up the businesses, which he believes have very good prospects, and arguing against the view of many observers that polycarbonate is now a near commodity business . He said the optical disc market was effectively a blip and that the underlying growth curve for polycarbonate has hardly shifted at all. “Over the next decade, the market for our materials
is likely to double,” says Thomas. He adds that the decisions by other players to stop investments – and in the case of rival Teijin to its Singapore plant by the end of this year – has eased over-capacity issues in the sector. “We are entering an interesting phase in supply and demand,” he says. Thomas also pointed to Covestro’s environmental ini-
tiatives, saying that R&D continues on so-called C1 chemistry, which he believes could lead to the produc-
78 COMPOUNDING WORLD | March 2016
Operations for Polycarbonates in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, said the market for polycar- bonate is now coming out of a trough and that the future looks bright. Composites for exterior automotive parts are one area where the company sees potential. Bayer MaterialScience (as it was) bought Thermoplastic Composite in March, a producer of composite sheet material that can be thermoformed into panels in a process said to be more suitable for high-series production than the RTM processes currently used by BMW for its i3 and i7 models. Aware of the slow pace of development in automotive, Covestro is currently pitching these materials at producers of portable computers, where time to market is much shorter. The company says it makes more sense, economically and environmentally, to produce laptop cases in the composite (which can be over-moulded) than by machining from aluminium. SABIC’s recent decision to dissolve its Innovative
Plastics business unit (and also Performance Chemi- cals) and transfer activities to other units - depending on whether they are considered commodities or specialities - prompted some speculation that the company is losing interest in mainstream ETPs. Further fuel was added by the company’s decision to close the Pittsfield Innovative Plastics location – originally set up when SABIC IP was GE Plastics and considered a symbol of its strength in applications development for ETPs—together with the initial lack of information about which materials in its portfolio SABIC actually considers to be commodities. However, the speculation is ill-founded, according to
Konrad Hellmann, SABIC Commercial Director for Automotive in Europe. He said at Fakuma that the new organisation will help the company to improve its focus on ETPs, pointing out that the Innovative Plastics operation was too broad in its scope. He said that a previously re-organised cluster devoted solely to automotive has already proven to be very successful.
Bumper weight savings At Fakuma, SABIC showed some striking furniture injection moulded in polycarbonate and a new front bumper for the Skoda Fabia, which Hellmann says has the thinnest walls of any bumper made in Europe at just 2.5 mm. Produced by Magna, the part weighs 12% less than a 3mm thick version, bringing part weight down to
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