ANTIOXIDANTS/STABILISERS | ADDITIVES


New demands call for advanced stabilisers


IMAGE: BASF


Whether to lift virgin resin performance or to enhance functionality in recycled resin streams, stabiliser manufacturers are working hard to meet new user demands, writes Mark Holmes


Antioxidants and UV stabilisers for plastic com- pounds have a simple role —to provide protection during processing and long-term stability in de- manding end-use applications. However, demands and expectations of end users change continually so antioxidant and additive manufacturers are required to satisfy ever higher performance criteria, meet tightening regulatory limits, and to develop solutions that will function with new bio-based resins and, increasingly, with recycled plastics. Antioxidant manufacturer Dover Chemical


Corporation sees the market evolving and chang- ing in two specific areas, in particular. “Firstly, I think a significant portion of polymer producers will switch from standard, commodity antioxidants to newer ones, largely due to regulatory concerns,” says Shawn Cook, Technical Manager – Plastic


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Additives. “Of course, this does not mean all polymers — there will be holdouts — but I think most of the big polymer manufacturers will eventually change over. Secondly, I think that with the devel- opment of new polymers and their architectures, antioxidants will have to perform better, which also signifies the evolution. After all, I could not imagine the development of a new, premium polymer without the need to address an additive package designed to meet future demands.” Cook adds that regulatory pressure, fueled at


least in part by societal pressure, is causing many companies to re-think how they approach addi- tives. Companies know that they need them and that they need good ones, he says. However, additives will often only be heard of when some- thing goes wrong. Increasingly, companies are now


September 2023 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 53


Main image: New end user demands and tighter regulation call for more


advanced and higher


performing polymer stabilisers


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