Metal Replacement - The Expert's View

May 13, 2008 - Automotive roof rails made using WIT process by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A collaborative partnership between the automotive systems supplier Magna Decoma, the moldmaker Hofmann Werkzeugbau, the water injection technology equipment manufacturer PMA Fluidtec and the German materials producer BASF has allowed to...
May 12, 2008 - Manufacture of transparent conducting film by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

The film is manufactured by coating a fluid containing transparent conducting fine particles (ITO) on a substrate, sintering the coat film and irradiating with electromagnetic wave under a pressure so that the density of the coat film...
May 01, 2008 - New Study Says Composites Make Sense for Hybrid Electric Vehicles by SpecialChem (Article)

A newly published study by the Automotive Composites Alliance (ACA), a division of the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), says that composites make better sense for hybrid-electric vehicles than steel or aluminum. This is...
Apr 29, 2008 - Process for plating plastic part after overmolding by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

A plastic part is provided with decorative metalized surfaces as well as overmolded thermoplastic elastomer grip portions. The plastic part is overmolded with the TPE prior to metalizing the remaining exposed surfaces of the part. A TPE...
Apr 28, 2008 - Airbag housing made from glass fiber reinforced polyamide by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A collaborative industrial project between the Belgian firm Quadrant Creative Moulding & Systems (Quadrant CMS) and the automotive parts manufacturer Autoliv has allowed to develop a new airbag housing for the new Fiat 500 vehicles. The...
Apr 18, 2008 - Innovative composite docking system by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The American firm Dynamic Fabricators LLC has designed an innovative composite docking system including three main composite components i.e. the flotation pontoons, the deck and the saddles linking the pontoons to the deck. The pontoons are...
Apr 13, 2008 - Numerical simulation of extrusion coating by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

In packaging industry, many structures are produced by extrusion coating. In this process, a polymer film is extruded through a slit die, then stretched in air, coated on a substrate (paper, aluminum or steel foil) between a chill roll and...
Apr 06, 2008 - Determination of different morphological structures in PC/ABS open spiral injection moldings by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

The internal structure of injection molded polymer blends are complex and greatly affect the mechanical properties. In this work, the microstructure development was observed for a PC/ABS blend (60/40 wt% blend ratio) that was injection...
Apr 06, 2008 - Influence of SEBS-g-MA on morphology, mechanical, and thermal properties of PA6/PP/organoclay nanocomposites by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Nylon 6/PP blends (70/30) blends (PA6/PP) containing 4 phr of organically modified clay toughened with maleated SEBS-g-MA were prepared by melt compounding using co-rotating twin-screw extruder followed by injection molding. XRD and TEM...
Apr 06, 2008 - Microcompounding of organoclay-ABS/PA6 blend-based nanocomposites by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

ABS and nylon 6 (PA6) were blended in the presence of an olefin-based compatibilizer and organoclays. The effects of ABS to PA6 ratio, clay content, and screw speed of the microcompounder were examd. by performing morphology (i.e., XRD,...
Apr 06, 2008 - Study on Fiber Weight Fraction Effect on Tensile Modulus of Polystyrene (PS) Composites Reinforced with Short Glass Fiber (SGF) Based on Their Fiber Orientation by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

The tensile modulus of injection molded SGF/PS composites is investigated. The experimental and simulation results show, increasing of tensile modulus of these composites, is inconsistent with increasing of fiber content in high fiber wt....
Apr 02, 2008 - An innovative front body structure that protects pedestrians by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The automotive plastic parts manufacturer Plastic Omnium and the French automaker Renault have joined forces in order to develop an innovative hybrid front body structure for the new Renault Laguna vehicles version. This new front body...
Mar 30, 2008 - Synthesis of composite polymer-metal nanoparticles by miniemulsion polymerization. by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Metallic structures with nanoscale dimensions exhibit interesting optical, electronic and catalytic properties, and their potential application in areas such as sensors and biomedicine has been widely recognized. Merging metal...
Mar 19, 2008 - New PEEK-based compound for electronic applications by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The materials producer Vitrex has developed a new blend based on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) polybenzimidazole (i.e. Celazole™) and carbon fiber reinforcement. This new material, available under the trade name Vitrex™ T-Series can be used...
Mar 16, 2008 - Conductive polymer coating with improved aging stability by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

The invention relates to a member comprising a substrate and a transparent conductive layer comprising an electronically conductive polythiophene polymer present in a cationic form with a polyanion. Thus, Baytron PHCV2 was coated on PET...
Mar 09, 2008 - Electrically-conductive composite carbon foams by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Disclosed is a composite foam including a carbon foam material comprising a network of pores and a plurality of discontinuities and a secondary material deposited on at least some of the plurality of discontinuities of the carbon foam...
Mar 09, 2008 - Microwave applicator equipment for rapid uniform heating of receptive polymer systems by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

An appliance for heating a thermoplastic material, wherein the thermoplastic material includes a microwave-sensitive polymeric region, the array comprising: two or more microwave heating apparatuses; wherein each microwave heating apparatus...
Mar 05, 2008 - Fully integrated fender module by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

A collaborative project between the automotive parts manufacturer Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior and the Austrian material producer Borealis has allowed to develop an innovative fully integrated fender module for the new BMW X5 vehicles. This...
Mar 03, 2008 - Cellular structures of carbon nanotubes in a polymer matrix improve properties relative to composites with dispersed nanotubes by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

A new processing method has been developed to combine a polymer and single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) to form electro-conductive composites with good rheological and mechanical properties. The process involves coating PS pellets with...
Mar 03, 2008 - Hoses with improved automotive refrigerant permeation resistance, comprising a permeation-resistant thermoplastic layer, an elastomeric layer, a reinforcement layer and a cover layer by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

The hoses (A1) comprise a permeation-resistant layer, an elastomeric layer overlaying each permeation-resistant layer, a reinforcement layer overlaying an elastomeric layer, and a cover layer overlaying a reinforcement layer, wherein a...
Feb 25, 2008 - New tough compound for semiconductor industry by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

The materials producer Vitrex has introduced a new compound under the trade name Vitrex TF-60C. This new material is a proprietary blend of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) i.e. Vitrex®, polybenzimidazole (PBI) i.e. Celazole® and also...
Feb 24, 2008 - In-line monitoring of ultra-thin metallic films on PET substrates with sub-nm resolution by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

In-line characterization of industrial web coating processes is crucial for achieving high-quality metallic layers with high thickness uniformity over reel lengths of several tens of thousands of linear meters on polymer substrates. While...
Feb 24, 2008 - Study of utilizing thin polymer surface coating on the nanoparticles for melt compounding of polycarbonate/alumina nanocomposites and their optical properties by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This paper desribes a thin polymer surface coating approach to facilitate dispersion of poly(styrene-maleic anhydride) (SMA) copolymer-coated alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles in polycarbonate (PC) using a high intensity thermokinetic mixer...
Feb 18, 2008 - Innovative lightweight all-composite High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

An industrial partnership between the American composite structures manufacturer TPI Composites Inc. and the American military vehicles producer Armor Holdings Inc. has allowed to develop an innovative lightweight, all-composite High...
Feb 17, 2008 - Automotive window panel having polyurethane primer by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

An automotive window panel/glazing comprising a transparent PC base layer, an aqueous PU primer coated on the PC base layer, and a weatherable coating applied on the aqueous PU primer. The aqueous PU primer is comprised of less than about...
Feb 17, 2008 - Fabrication of carbon nanotube based transparent conductive thin films using layer-by-layer technology by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

This paper presents a simple and convenient process for the fabrication of carbon nanotube based optically transparent and electro-conductive thin films. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are chemically treated to introduce negative...
Feb 17, 2008 - Transparent, abrasion resistant coatings on plastic and metal substrates by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

Plastic and metal materials have different but excellent and valuable properties. For spreading to more applications harder surface resulting in improved abrasion resistance without essential changing of optical properties is requested. ...
Feb 01, 2008 - New Materials for Aircraft Innovations by SpecialChem (Article)

If you put down a list of material properties for a plane, you would of course have lightness as the main criterion - it stands to reason that if you have to spend money on fuel to propel an aircraft into the sky, you need the aircraft to...
Jan 31, 2008 - Innovative composite two-seat sport aircraft by ISPA (Innovation Brief)

An innovative two-seat sport aircraft has been built by the French firm LH Aviation in collaboration with European partners. This new tandem plane, namely LH-10 Ellipse aircraft, has an all-composite structure made from carbon fiber and...
Jan 27, 2008 - Metallized multilayered composite by Duane B. Priddy (R&D Highlight)

A formable multi-layered composite comprising in sequence a clear polymeric layer, a metal layer, and a protective layer is disclosed. The polymeric layer including at least one member selected from the first group consisting of PC, PETG,...