MATERIALS | BIO-BASED PLASTICS
IMAGE: ANDREU WORLD/MAIP
renewable raw materials during polymerisation. The resulting Magnum Bio ABS resins contain up to 80% bio-attributed content. Second-generation waste products such as used kitchen oil and residue from the pulp industry constitute the bio-content. Trinseo earlier launched sustainable equivalents
of Magnum for non-automotive applications, as well as Styron polystyrene and Tyril SAN, with bio-content ranging from 80 to 95%. All of the materials are equivalent replacements to their virgin, fossil-based counterparts and offer both identical performance properties and processability. To illustrate the impact of replacing fossil with
Above: Andreu World’s Nuez Lounge Bio armchair
The first armchair in the world made of natural biopolymer
This lounge chair from Spanish furniture company Andreu World is made with IamNature biopolymer, developed by Maip Com- pounding. Andreu World, founded in 1955, has a long history in production of high quality wooden furniture. Maip has in recent years mainly dedicated itself to the study of compounds based on PHA, which it describes as “the sleeping giant, the only biopolymer in the world absolutely of natural origin capable of degrading in any environment, controlled and uncontrolled.” Products in the IamNature line are based on one or more different types of PHA. IamNature was recognised as the best material for a new line of
products by Andreu World capable of overcoming the intrinsic design limits of wood, while maintaining its sustainability charac- teristics. The two companies, as well as the mould maker, collabo- rated over two years in the development of the new lounge chair, called Nuez Lounge Bio, designed by Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola. The sculptured shell of the chair is made completely in IamNature. The compound used is based on a special PHA and contains natural fillers as well as additives of vegetable and/or organic nature. In this case, the PHA is obtained from the bacterial fermentation of sugar processing scrap. The compound meets the needs of Andreu World for a material with very high dimensional stability, as well as mechanical strength, thermal resistance, colour stability, and hardness, while also offering the possibility of highly precise surface texture reproduc- tion, so as to make it possible to avoid painting. The moulded component has a weight of 12.5 kg and is moulded on a 25,000 kN machine. Cycle time is just over a minute, despite the thickness of the component in some places being more than 10 mm. Fabrics coverings, developed specifically for the chair, are made with textile waste and PET recovered from bottles.
44 INJECTION WORLD | June 2022
renewable content, Trinseo compared the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) of bio-attributed materials with their fossil-based counterparts. Among its findings: for Styron CO2
RE Bio GPPS, replacing
fossil- with bio-attributed styrene results in an 84% reduction in the PCF; for Magnum Bio ABS, replacing fossil- with bio-attributed styrene results in a 57% reduction, and replacing fossil- with bio-attributed ACN results in a 14% reduction.
Compounders go bio Among leading compounders active in the bio-based materials field, Avient has launched Nymax Bio Formulations, a line of bio-based PA materials that the company says not only help customers reach their sustainability goals but also do not suffer from undesirable water absorption, unlike other bio-derived (and fossil-based) PA materials available today. This means dimensional stability in finished parts should be superior. Formulated in glass fibre-filled and unfilled
options, Nymax Bio materials include between 16 and 47% natural filler from renewable plant sources, including corn, straw, and wheat. Avient claims that compared with traditional PA 66 glass fibre-filled materials, the new compounds offer lower warpage plus excellent surface appearance and colourability. Nymax Bio materials are applicable for automo-
tive, consumer, industrial, and building and construction applications and for both injection moulding and extrusion processes. They can also be customised for specific performance needs, such as laser welding and flame retardant proper- ties. Compounds are currently manufactured in Asia and are available globally. At the end of May, Avient announced nine new
reSound Bio thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) formulated with bio-renewable content from plants. These new grades contain 35 to 75% bio content. The new reSound Bio 2800 and 7900 series
www.injectionworld.com
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