NEWS
Imerys grows in China
Imerys has inaugurated its new talc processing plant at Wuhu in China. The €43m investment will allow it to produce high-value specialty talcs for the automotive polymers market. The company said that the facility will have an annual production capacity of 35,000 tonnes by 2025 and represents its most ambitious project in the region in recent years. It will be capable of produc- ing its range of engineered high aspect ratio, ultrafine, and micro lamellar talcs, including HAR, Jetfine, and Steamic brands, which are currently supplied to China from Europe. “With booming EV
production in China, Imerys’s capacity to provide a local source of critical minerals is crucial to local automotive part manufacturers,” said Guillaume Delacroix EMEA and APAC VP at Imerys Performance Minerals. �
www.imerys.com
Celanese LFT frunk wins SPE innovation award
The Engineered Materials team at Celanese — to- gether with Cascade Engineering and Commercial Tool Corp — won the Grand Award and Body Interior category at the 52nd Annual Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Innovation Awards in the US for the LFT PP ‘frunk’ used in the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning. The speciality materials
producer supplied a Celstran 40% long glass fibre reinforced polypropyl- ene (LFT-PP) injection moulding grade for the MegaBin frunk (pictured) project, replacing a com-
IMAGE: SOCIETY OF PLASTICS ENGINEERS
pression moulded and painted SMC design. The part, which incorpo-
rates an optimised rib structure to match the physical properties of the thicker SMC version, meets all durability and crash safety requirements and also eliminates the need for painting. It is produced on a
4,000ton (36,000KN) injection moulding machine using a 16-drop hot runner mould and provides a weight reduction of 16 pounds (7.3kg) per vehicle together with a 37% cycle time saving. The switch is expected to deliver annual savings of around $15m. “In the fast-paced realm of the automotive industry, our dedicated team is not merely keeping pace but setting the tempo,” said Carl Sullivan, Celanese automo- tive market development director. �
www.celanese.com
Toray ups strength of carbon fibre
Toray Industries claims that its newly introduced Torayca T1200 high performance carbon fibre sets a new global standard in terms of tensile strength. According to the com-
pany, it has developed a proprietary nanoscale
structural control technol- ogy that allows the creation of internal structure with enhanced toughness. The result is a tensile strength of 8.0 GPa, more than 10% higher than its previous high strength Torayca T1100 grade.
The company developed
the T1200 fibre at a new facility within its Ehime Plant in Japan. It expects it to find application in a diverse range of markets, including sports and leisure as well as aviation and space. �
www.toray.com
Orion Carbons opens second plant in China
Orion Engineered Carbons has opened a second carbon black production plant in China. The greenfield project at Hubei in eastern China has a capacity of 70,000 tonnes/yr and will produce carbon blacks for the coatings, plastics, rubber and fibre markets. “The Huaibei facility is a huge milestone for Orion. The state-of-the-
art plant enables us to better support our Chinese customers with products that are made in China,” said Orion CEO Corning Painter. “Now we can reallocate production lines in the US and Europe so that we can increase supply to customers in those markets.” The company already has a plant at Qingdao in Shandong province. �
https://orioncarbons.com/
6 COMPOUNDING WORLD | December 2023
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: ORION ENGINEEREED CARBONS
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