COMPOUNDS | ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE
Premix on track with US expansion plans
Premix, a Finnish expert in polymer modification and electrically conduc- tive compounds, says it is proceeding as planned with a greenfield com- pounding plant in Apple Creek, North Carolina, which will double its production capacity. It expects to manufacture the first compounds at the plant in Q1 2025, with the first grades for the regulated diagnostics and heathcare sector available by Q3. The company says it already
exports to over 40 countries from its Finnish plant. These are specialist grades focused on electrically conductive and dissipative applica- tions such as ESD, including explosive
and hazardous environments (ATEX). From Q1 of 2025, Premix says the new US facility will also be used to provide local US storage for com- pounds produced in Finland. This will
allow it to offer faster technology roll-out to the North American market, and will offer a more resilient supply chains to local customers. �
www.premixgroup.com
Architectural image of the new Premix US compounding plant under construction at Apple Creek in North Carolina
IMAGE: PREMIX GROUP
Additive options Carbon black remains a main stay for electrically conductive compound formulators and is at the core of Cabot Corporation’s Cabelec conductive compounds and concentrates. “Our Cabelec conductive compounds for the automotive segment are used for fuel systems to reduce static discharge risks by offering conductivity, good mechanical properties and fuel resistance. [They] are also used for fuel tank and battery charging doors in EV vehicles – these parts are painted with an electrostatic painting process,” says Santiague Pierre, Lead Application Development Scientist, Specialty Compounds at Cabot. “Cabot offers a large product range of conduc- tive compounds for automotive applications [and] several are widely adopted including Cabelec CA6114, Cabelec CA6115, and Cabelec CA6739. The compounds enable protection against electro- static charges, are suitable for a wide range of plastic converting processes, and help customers comply with regulations, such as Verband der Auto- mobilindustrie (VDA) and International Electrotech- nical Commission (IEC). Cabot also offers a variety of conductive concentrates for electronic carrier trays, boxes, and rigid trays,” he says. “In addition to our existing portfolio, we launched two new grades in 2023: Cabelec XS6778A conductive concentrate and Cabelec XS6560C dissipative compound. Several customers have already tested and approved the former for industrial scale, in particular for packaging, where
42 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January/February 2024
customers want to mitigate the hazard of ESD,” Pierre says. Both new grades are made from carbon black dispersed in a PP matrix. “In this case, it is used to produce corrugated sheets for electronics. The amount of concentration depends on the requirements of the final applica- tion, but typical dilution rates vary from 40 to 70%. At those rates, customers can achieve a surface resistivity of 103
– 104 Ω.sq,” he says.
Pierre says the Cabelec XS6560C static dissipa- tive compound can be processed on conventional moulding equipment even for complex geometries or big parts. Due to its good balance between rigidity and impact resistance, he says it is suitable for applications such as crates, boxes, or pallets with electrically dissipative properties; typically between 106
and 1010 Ω.sq. Graphite is also playing an increasingly impor-
tant role in development of electrically conductive plastic compounds due to its ability to combine electrical — and thermal — conductivity with other properties such as flame retardancy and improved abrasion resistance. Examples include the Graph- Cond and GraphTherm products from Georg Luh, which have been specially developed to combine both high electrical and thermal conductivity and are said to be well suited to applications in the production of bipolar plates for fuel cells. Where electrical and/or thermal conductivity is to be combined with flame retardant properties, the company says its expandable graphite GHL PX 95 HT 270 may be considered. The intumescent
www.compoundingworld.com
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