FUNCTIONAL FILLERS | TECHNOLOGY
Functional fillers offer the opportunity to enhance the mechanical performance of compounds while improving
economics.Peter Mapleston reports
Filler developments target affordable functionality
Functional fillers can be used to enhance the intrinsic properties of plastics and even to impart entirely new effects. Taking that definition, it could be argued that any filler is functional, whether the function is to modify physical properties, or to adjust conductivity, density, or cost. However, for most the goal is mechanical gains and that will be the focus of this article, which will look at some of the latest development directions and achievements. Independent plastic materials expert and Phantom Plastics founder and President Chris DeArmitt works with many world-leading materials companies on compound development. He highlights three main trends in the functional filler sector he has seen in recent months (some of them he says driven in part by his own work): advances in performance of established fillers; green and sustainable fillers; and new and niche fillers. One performance improvement comes from a new continuous process for applying silane coatings onto additives of all kinds at a significantly lower cost than before. Historically, silane treatments have been applied using inefficient batch processes that
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did not scale well, DeArmitt says. He worked with Arctic Minerals (an affiliate of the US-based Kish Company in the US) to develop an alternative, which is claimed to be both more effective and more affordable. It is currently being used at scale at the Arctic plant at Jeffersonville in Indiana. “A proprietary new QC method ensures that the silane is chemically bonded to the mineral, which was not previously possible. Commercial adoption has been extremely rapid – we’re doing truckloads per week using it. Even companies prepared to invest in their own equipment to do treatment can’t touch the price Arctic’s process offers,” DeArmitt says. Sustainability figures strongly in developments at many filler companies. Along with the rest of the plastics industry, suppliers of industrial minerals are having to adapt to new societal demands for sustainable solutions, says Leonardo Cunha, Marketing Manager for the EMEA region at talc supplier Imerys. “In light of growing environmental awareness, more sustainable solutions are required and different paths are possible,” he says. “We will continue to invest in technical solutions that provide
Main image: Fillers enhance the mechanical properties of polymer
compounds. New develop- ments aim to satisfy ever more demand- ing perfor-
mance and cost requirements
June 2020 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 31
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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