ADDITIVES | MINERAL FILLERS
Above: Hoffmann Mineral says its Neuburg Siliceous Earth silica fillers offers a low carbon-foot- print option for compounders
density is a key property for mineral fillers, espe- cially for automotive applications. The company’s latest product family of “tailored filler solutions” was launched in September 2021 and some of them bring the potential for weight reduction, volume cost reduction and lower density in thermoplastics. Gloxil iM16k A and the newest Gloxil iM16k MAM grade, which was introduced in June last year, are based on hollow glass micro- spheres from 3M. The recent US-government initiative to increase the use of bio-based materials may give a boost to bio-based polymer producess, including traditional polymers made with bio-based feedstock as well as bio-based and biodegradable polymers such as polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), and bio-polybutylene succinate (PBS). Melt processing of these bio-based polymers can be limited by their low melt strength and
thermal degradation during processing, which can also affect rheological and mechanical properties. However, the addition of minerals can help overcome these processing challenges and can enable viable commercial production, says Bidur Rijal, Materials Scientist-Plastics and Rubber at Imerys Performance Minerals in the US. Mineral fillers can also help balance the typically higher cost of bio-based plastics compared to conventional plastics. In addition, Rijal says minerals can boost the mechanical and thermal properties of the finished part, depending on the formulation. For example, Imerys’s high-aspect ratio (HAR) wollastonite minerals can be used to maximise stiffness/impact balance and dimensional stability; HAR mica can be used to maximise stiffness and isotropic performance; and HAR kaolin may be used to improve barrier and me- chanical properties and promote the biodegrada- bility of composite films.
Property retention Imerys’s ultrafine ground calcium carbonate (GCC), including its treated Supercoat and FilmLink families, are designed for property retention and improved processability and cost. The company’s ultrafine and HAR talcs, available in Europe and Asia-Pacific regions only, are used for nucleation and stiffness/impact balance.
Experiments carried out by Imerys comparing
two grades of GCC in Ingeo 2003D PLA from Natureworks found that adding GCC to a cast film formulation improved impact strength and main- tained tensile properties (Figure 1). Adding GCC increased the melt flow ratio (MFR) by lowering
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IMAGE: HOFFMANN MINERAL
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