Electrical & Electronics - The Expert's View

Feb 15, 2010 - Plastics Advance Fuel Cell Technology Solutions by SpecialChem (Article)

Fuel cells, despite being in the nascent stage of development, are viewed as a potentially vast market for plastics with reinforced thermosets and thermoplastics the most likely materials of choice for the manufacture of bi-polar plates,...
Mar 11, 2010 - Properties of carbon nanotube composites by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This article reviews the current state of research in polymer/carbon nanotubes (single wall and multiwall) composites in context to various types of pre-treatments presently employed. The fundamental aspects of carbon nanotubes are briefly...
Mar 09, 2010 - New technology for polyurethane housings for electronic products by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The Swiss company Isotherm AG and a Danish subsidiary of the German material producer Bayer MaterialScience have joined forces to develop a cost-effective process for the production of protective housing for sensitive electronic products....
Mar 09, 2010 - Recent advances and challenges in designing stimuli-responsive polymers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Synthetic materials capable of responses to external or internal stimuli represent one of the most exciting and emerging areas of scientific interest and unexplored commercial applications. While there are many exciting challenges facing...
Mar 04, 2010 - Light emitting display by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This invention provides a method for the manufacture of a light-emissive display by providing a substrate consisting of an electrode layer and a bank structure containing a plurality of wells. Next, a conductive organic polymer film is... (1 Member Reaction)
Feb 24, 2010 - Composite laptop cover by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The French company RocTool and the material supplier Performance Materials Corporation (PMC) have joined forces to develop a composite innovation for the laptop computer market. For the first time a complete laptop cover has been made from...
Feb 22, 2010 - Specialty Additives and Compounds Advancing Engineering Plastics for Electronics Solutions by SpecialChem (Article)

The Electrical/Electronics (E/E) end-use market is the world's 3rd largest plastics sector behind packaging and building/construction. Apart from mechanical properties, the electrical behavior of plastics is a vital factor when using these...
Feb 17, 2010 - A cordless phone with low carbon footprint by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A bio-based thermoplastic i.e. a poly(lactic acid) (PLA) material has been chosen by Telecom Italia to produce its latest innovative products: the Eco Cordless phones. The new phones designed by MID Product Design Studio combine an...
Feb 17, 2010 - Carbon nanotube-polymer composites: Chemistry, processing, mechanical and electrical properties by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Carbon nanotubes have long been recognized as the stiffest and strongest man-made material known to date. In addition, their high electrical conductivity has roused interest in the area of electrical appliances and communication related...
Feb 11, 2010 - Emerging applications of stimuli-responsive polymer materials by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Responsive polymer materials can adapt to surrounding environments, regulate transport of ions and molecules, change wettability and adhesion of different species on external stimuli, or convert chemical and biochemical signals into... (1 Member Reaction)
Feb 10, 2010 - High-performance digital single lens reflex camera by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The Japanese optics and electronics specialist Olympus has announced the introduction of an innovative digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera that is available under the trade name Olympus E-620. This new high-performance camera has a...
Feb 05, 2010 - Antistatic housing for microscopes by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The German company Leica Microsystems GmbH, a leading global manufacturer of microscopic imaging systems, and the American compounder RTP Company have joined forces in order to develop the housing of the Leica microscopes. Leica engineers...
Feb 03, 2010 - Environmentally friendly, high-tech mobile phone by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The C901 Greenheart™ mobile phone designed by the electronics specialist Sony Ericsson is a high-tech product whose CO₂ footprint is reduced by 15% compared with conventional mobile phones without compromising on...
Jan 28, 2010 - New process for metallic effects by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

Researchers from the German Institute for Plastics Processing i.e. the IKV institute have announced that they have simplified the process allowing to decorate plastic parts with real metal. Until now injected molded parts could be decorated...
Jan 27, 2010 - Bioplastic based Contactless IC card by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

IC cards are widespread as e-money or security card. They include a printed circuit board with IC chip, antenna inside and plastic lamination sheets on both sides. The Japanese group Sony Corporation has developed a new contactless IC card...
Jan 26, 2010 - The future of electronic products: conductive 3D printing? by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This paper describes a curved-layer additive manufacturing technology that has the potential to print plastic components with integral conductive polymer electronic circuits. Researchers at AUT University in New Zealand and the National... (1 Member Reaction)
Jan 25, 2010 - Biobased polyamide for ultra-slim TV by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The Japanese group Sony Corporation is a pioneer for the use of bio-based plastics in electronics products. The company has been continuously increasing these materials since 2000. Recently it has introduced bio-based polyamide components...
Jan 22, 2010 - Polymer Solar Cells: Recent Approaches and Achievements by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Polymer solar cells have gained wide interest in the past few years for their potential in the field of large-area and low-cost photovoltaic devices. Due to rather simple treatments developed in the new millennium, the morphology of...
Jan 20, 2010 - Robot speed reducers made from PEEK by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

While conventional robot speed reducers are made from stainless steel, the Korean-based ball bearing manufacturer SBB Co. has selected a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) material supplied by Victrex in order to reduce both weight and production...
Jan 13, 2010 - A color laser printer made from wear resistant compounds by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The South Korean company Samsung Electronics, which is a world leader in designing and manufacturing laser printer engines for OEM-branded printers has selected wear resistant structural compounds incorporating advanced lubricants for...
Jan 05, 2010 - Materials design and engineering for high performance polymer solar cells by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This paper explores the challenging issues encountered in the technology development for organic photovoltaics. The key achievements in this field of interest are presented. These include development of an effective method to tune the...
Dec 18, 2009 - Polymer nanocomposites: from carbon nanotubes to clay nanoplatelets by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Highly ordered polymer nanocomposites are complex materials that display a rich morphological behavior owing to variations in composition, structure, and properties on a nano-scale. Metal-polymer nanocomposite materials are becoming more... (2 Member Reactions)
Dec 15, 2009 - A three-phase AC plug made from PBT and TPE by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The German industrial plug manufacturer Mennekes has collaborated with the German thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) specialist Kraiburg in order to develop a new three-phase AC plug for industrial application. This industrial plug connector,...
Dec 14, 2009 - New thermoformed polyolefin-based packaging for electronics by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A new type of packaging specially designed for electronics has been developed by the American group 3M. This new packaging system, namely Protective Packaging, is said to be able to reduce the G-force (shock) loadings affecting the product...
Dec 10, 2009 - Sonochemical preparation of polymer nanocomposites by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This article reviews sonochemical fabrication of polymer nanocomposites. In addition to its application to the synthesis of various polymeric systems, due to its powerful efficiency, sonochemistry has been widely used not only as the...
Dec 09, 2009 - New structures and materials by combining nanoparticles with polymers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

From size considerations alone, polymers and nanoparticles should be natural partners for the preparation of composite materials. However, this prospect is more difficult than first glance would suggest, and clever synthetic, physical, and...
Dec 09, 2009 - Photovoltaics Market: A Global Outlook by SpecialChem (Article)

The solar power market has been growing rapidly in the past decade as a result of widespread awareness about the limited nature of petroleum-based resources, their negative impact on the environment and high volatility of oil prices.... (4 Member Reactions)
Dec 08, 2009 - Trends for fuel cell membrane development by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Fuel cells are considered a promising energy conversion technology of the future owing to inherent advantages of electrochemical conversion over thermal combustion processes. In the polymer electrolyte fuel cell, a proton-conducting...
Dec 02, 2009 - TPU with improved abrasion resistance and decreased coefficient of friction by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

TPUs can be used in a variety of products and are known in the art for toughness, low temperature flexibility, strength, abrasion resistance, transparency and chemical resistance. However TPUs also show tacky surface textures (due to high...
Nov 26, 2009 - Conducting polymers by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This article reviews the recent advances in the development of polymers that possesses electrical, magnetic, and optical properties achieved by doping/de-doping processes more commonly known as synthetic metal. These materials are useful... (2 Member Reactions)