Latest - Plastics and Elastomers R&D Highlights

Top experts review the latest patents they read and the latest papers and lectures they attended at conferences; they then make a selection of the most promising technologies and summarize in a few lines what the substance you should take away with you.

Latest

Jul 30, 2010 - High Heat and Transparent Polyamide Films - Patent
Polyamide resins have excellent toughness, strength, and chemical resistance, which make them useful as engineering resins for a wide variety of...

Jul 29, 2010 - Floor Panels Containing Wood / Plastic Composite - Patent
This patent provide a new method of making wood fiber/plastic composite (WPC) floor panels. The invention also has as object to provide floor panels...

Jul 28, 2010 - Biorenewable PS - Patent
Common plastic material production draws on fossil (i.e. non-renewable) reserves thus contributing to the depletion of essential and increasingly...

Jul 27, 2010 - Transparent microwaveable expanding package - Patent
This invention is a transparent package assembly configured for expansion in a generally vertical direction between a collapsed state and an extended...

Jul 26, 2010 - Durable In-mold Decoration Laminates - Patent
This patent discloses durable In-Mold Decoration (IMD) laminates made by using semi-crystalline polymers as top films. The crystalline structure or...

Jul 23, 2010 - Biodegradable Food Containers - Patent
This invention provides biodegradable food containers having excellent water resistance and rigidity. The compositions contain 15% - 75% by wt. of... (1 Member Reaction)

Jul 22, 2010 - Biodegradable Polycarbonate - Patent
This patent application claims a polycarbonate resin composition made using at least one plant-derived component. The polycarbonate has improved...

Jul 21, 2010 - Migration of additives from polymer packaging to food simulants during microwave heating - Technical Paper
Three different polypropylene materials, PP homopolymer (PP), propylene-ethylene random copolymer (PP-R), and propylene-ethylene copolymer (PP-C) are...

Jul 20, 2010 - Natural Fiber Trim Panel for Automobiles - Patent
The use of multi-layer or laminate panels in automobile trim panels such as, for example, headliners, door panels, instrument panels, dashboards,... (1 Member Reaction)

Jul 19, 2010 - PP thermal degradation during processing - Technical Paper
The main drawback of rotational molding is a long stay (several dozens of minutes) of polymer in melt state at high temperature in atmospheric air. To...

Jul 16, 2010 - Hot-Fillable Plastic Container - Patent
Plastic containers often collapse during filling due to vacuum forces. This invention claims an improved package design that solves this problem. The...

Jul 15, 2010 - Delivery of Microparticles to Body Tissues - Patent
This invention provides improved polymeric compositions for tissue augmentation. The inventive compositions consists of a polymeric material having a...

Jul 14, 2010 - Biodegradable block copolymers and articles made using them - Patent
This invention claims novel block copolymers having one or more polyisobutylene segments and one or more biodegradable linkages that hold the...

Jul 13, 2010 - Optical information media containing encapsulated data - Patent
There is a need to preserve and protect data over very long periods of time. Unfortunately most plastic materials utilized for optical storage media...

Jul 12, 2010 - Plastic solid waste: Recycling, energy recovery, and chemical recovery - Technical Paper
The goal of this article is to provide the reader with an in depth analysis regarding the recovery, treatment and recycling routes of plastic solid...

Jul 09, 2010 - Composite muffler system with integrated crash management - Patent
This invention claims a composite muffler system formed of a long fiber thermoplastic. Long fiber thermoplastic technology allows the fibers, to...

Jul 08, 2010 - High strength composites containing volcanic ash - Patent
This invention claims compositions and methods for producing high strength composites by compounding thermoplastics with a naturally-occurring...

Jul 07, 2010 - PCL/phosphate glass composites for medical applications - Technical Paper
Phosphate-based glasses and their composites are of interest as bone repair and tissue engineering scaffolds due to the totally degradable nature of...

Jul 06, 2010 - Wood plastic composites based on blends of HDPE/PET - Technical Paper
PET was successfully introduced into wood plastic composites through a two-step reactive extrusion technology. Wood flour was added into pre-prepared...

Jul 05, 2010 - A simple route towards PC–silica nanocomposite - Technical Paper
This article reports the preparation of PC–silica nanocomposites by simple one-step injection moulding process. Silica nanopowder was first...

Jun 25, 2010 - Additive for improving the separation of PET and PE - Patent
This invention provides an additive for helping the separation of PET and PE during recycling operations. The additive is added to the tanks where the... (1 Member Reaction)

Jun 24, 2010 - Fabrication of nanocomposites - Technical Paper
This article summarizes recent progress in the fabrication methodologies of nanocomposites. On the basis of the techniques of nanocomposites synthesis... (2 Member Reactions)

Jun 23, 2010 - Materials, design and manufacturing for lightweight vehicles - Technical Paper
This new book provides a comprehensive analysis of the materials being used for the manufacture of lightweight vehicles whilst comparing...

Jun 22, 2010 - Beverage container with enhanced gas barrier properties - Patent
Coca Cola researchers have discovered an additive for PET which improves the gas barrier resistance of PET. The additive is blended into PET during...

Jun 21, 2010 - Effect of processing on PLA crystallization - Technical Paper
PLA is an emerging material mainly because it can be synthesized from renewable resources and is thus environmentally and ecologically safe. The...

Jun 18, 2010 - Plastic foams having improved strength and rigidity - Patent
This invention consists of a procedure for manufacturing foams having improved mechanical strength and rigidity. PE foams often suffer from lack of...

Jun 17, 2010 - Mixing device for filled polyurethane resins - Patent
This invention is a device for high-pressure mixing of polyurethane components, in which one of the polyurethane components is pre-mixed with a filler...

Jun 16, 2010 - PMMA/nanoTiO2: An exciting nanocomposite - Technical Paper
This article describes the results of research conducted to investigate the matrix properties by introducing nanosize TiO₂ (5...

Jun 15, 2010 - Improved compositions for laser engraving - Patent
This invention provides a composition having excellent laser engraving properties. The composition contains a host material and a laser enhancing...

Jun 14, 2010 - Dramatic Improvements in Mechanical Properties of Poly(L-lactide)/Silica Nanocomposites - Technical Paper
Biodegradable PLA/silica nanocomposites have poor mechanical properties due to the lack of compatibility of PLA with silica nanoparticles. The authors... (1 Member Reaction)

Jun 11, 2010 - Improved mold release compounds and process - Patent
The quality of molded parts and the molding speed can be greatly improved by improving the releasability of plastic parts from stainless steel molds....

Jun 10, 2010 - Biomedical nanocomposites - Technical Paper
Biomedical polymer-silicate nanocomposites have potential to become critically important to the development of biomedical applications, ranging from...

Jun 09, 2010 - Transparent PC nanocomposites - Technical Paper
Transparent nanocomposite PC films were fabricated by blending a concentrated nanocomposite formed by preparation of PC in the presence of alumina... (1 Member Reaction)

Jun 08, 2010 - Remote controlled biomaterials - Technical Paper
In recent years, there has been much interest in the development and applications of nanocomposites as biomaterials. In some cases, the nanoparticles...

Jun 07, 2010 - PC nanocomposites with improved mechanical and thermal properties - Technical Paper
PC/nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending followed by injection molding. The effect of clay types on the mechanical, morphological, and thermal... (1 Member Reaction)

Jun 04, 2010 - Polypropylene/Polyolefin Elastomer Blends - Technical Paper
Many applications require improved impact strength over pure PP. This article explores the addition of polyolefin elastomer (POE) to improve the...

Jun 03, 2010 - Anticorrosive nanocomposite material - Patent
The invention relates to an anticorrosive nanocomposite material that comprises polyurea, organophilic clay and suitable additives, and is useful for...

Jun 02, 2010 - Biodegradable biomaterials - Technical Paper
In recent years, polymer science has made enormous advances leading to a new era of polymers especially biodegradable polymers. Today a number of...

Jun 01, 2010 - Starch based bio-nanocomposites - Technical Paper
Starch is a natural, renewable, and biodegradable polymer produced by many plants as a source of stored energy. It is the second most abundant biomass...

May 31, 2010 - PHAs - the future green materials of choice - Technical Paper
PHAs have recently been the focus of attention as a biodegradable and biocompatible substitute for conventional non-degradable plastics. The cost of...

May 28, 2010 - Nanocomposite material for optical data storage - Patent
This invention provides an improved material for construction of optical information media. The data storage disks made using this invention have a...

May 27, 2010 - Mar resistant articles - Patent
This invention talks about new additives that improve the specular gloss retention and mar resistance of articles made from amorphous and...

May 26, 2010 - Migration of additives from nanocomposite food packaging - Technical Paper
The development of improved food packaging films through the incorporation of nanoparticles, and the effect of the nanoparticles on the process of...

May 25, 2010 - Sterilizable PP resins for medical devices - Patent
This invention provides new polymer compositions that are resistant to heat and radiation. The compositions include a random propylene copolymer and a... (1 Member Reaction)

May 24, 2010 - Heat-stable Nano-composite molding materials - Patent
This invention talks of a nanocomposite composition having improved heat stability. It is well known that the polymer oxidation involves free radicals... (1 Member Reaction)

May 21, 2010 - Trends for fuel cell membrane development - Technical Paper
Fuel cells are considered to be a promising energy conversion technology of the future owing to the inherent advantages of electrochemical conversion...

May 20, 2010 - Starch Nanoparticles - Technical Paper
Starch is a natural, renewable, and biodegradable polymer produced by many plants as a source of stored energy. It is the second most abundant biomass... (1 Member Reaction)

May 19, 2010 - Polymers with low dielectric constant - Technical Paper
One of the exciting and promising developments in material science today is the design and synthesis of novel low-dielectric-constant polymer...

May 18, 2010 - Polyvinylamine, at last! - Technical Paper
A sustained effort to develop and commercialize a practical route to amine functional polymers (AFPs) resulted, after almost 20 years, in the... (1 Member Reaction)

May 17, 2010 - Plastics with improved surface characteristics - Patent
Many surface modifying additives end up distributed throughout molded and extruded parts rather than ending up entirely on the surface of the parts...

May 14, 2010 - Agrofillers in polypropylene composites - Technical Paper
One of the most interesting properties of agrofilled polymer composites is their light weight. PP composites containing six different agrofillers were... (1 Member Reaction)

May 13, 2010 - Biaxially-oriented shrinkable biodegradable film - Patent
A bidirection-shrinkable biodegradable film comprising PLA- based resin containing at least 80% by weight of the L-lactic acid repeating unit, wherein... (1 Member Reaction)

May 12, 2010 - Elimination of splay during injection molding - Patent
Non-halogen containing fire retardant Noryl (polyphenylene oxide (PPO)/HIPS blends) are difficult to injection mold without surface defects known as...

May 11, 2010 - Polypropylene / sawdust composites - Technical Paper
PP/sawdust composites were investigated to assess the effect of sawdust surface treatment and compatibilizer addition on polymer/fiber adhesion. Two... (1 Member Reaction)

May 10, 2010 - Environment-friendly composite material - Patent
This patent claims a processfor manufacture of an environment-friendly composite material, using polyolefin particles and powder rubber that are made...

May 07, 2010 - Rubber toughed nylon 6-clay nanocomposites - Patent
This article talks of nylon nanocomposite materials having greatly improved mechanical toughness utilizing very low loading of impact modifier. Less...

May 06, 2010 - Cellulose biocomposites - Technical Paper
Cellulose biocomposites are widely used in industry as a low-cost engineering material with plant fiber reinforcement. However, chemical and...

May 05, 2010 - Nanocomposites for optoelectronic devices - Patent
This invention provides novel nanocomposite compositions useful for optoelectronic devices. Nanoparticles (<100nm) and submicron particles (<400nm)...

May 04, 2010 - Thermosetting (bio)materials derived from renewable resources - Technical Paper
This article presents the recent advances in the synthesis, properties and applications of thermosetting materials derived from renewable resources.... (1 Member Reaction)

May 03, 2010 - Recent Advances in Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites - Technical Paper
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) demonstrate remarkable electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, which allow a number of exciting potential...

Apr 29, 2010 - Present and future development in plastics sourced from biomass - Technical Paper
Biobased plastics have experienced fast growth in the past decade thanks to the public concerns over the environment, climate change and the depletion...

Apr 28, 2010 - Environmental impacts of conventional vs bio-based plastic bags - Technical Paper
The production of biodegradable and compostable plastics has steadily grown worldwide. Disposal options include: land filling, incineration, and the...

Apr 27, 2010 - Fabricating submicron fibers from thermoplastic melt - Patent
Submicron fibers are difficult and costly to manufacture. Dow researchers have developed a low cost process to manufacture submicron fibers from...

Apr 26, 2010 - Improved plastic pipe - Patent
Plastic pipe has many advantages over metal pipe including ease of installation and resistance to corrosion. However, plastic pipe suffers from lack...

Apr 23, 2010 - Light weight tough panel materials for vehicles and enclosures - Patent
A fiber-reinforced polymer material having an improved combination of characteristics comprises a fiber reinforced polymer resin containing...

Apr 22, 2010 - Tamper indicating devices - Patent
A variety of indicators, e.g., time, temperature, time-temperature, freeze, thaw and sterilization are reported and used for monitoring quality of...

Apr 21, 2010 - Biodegradable Blends of PS and Starch - Technical Paper
PS/cornstarch blends were prepared by melt-processing in the presence of maleic anhydride (MA), using an internal mixer as reactor. SEM was used to... (1 Member Reaction)

Apr 20, 2010 - Impact of CFC emission rate from PS insulation on the atmosphere - Technical Paper
The debate continues on the use of CFC as a blowing agent for extruded PS foam board. This report presents new information on the subject. Earlier...

Apr 19, 2010 - HIPS nanocomposites show superior chemical resistance - Conference
A series of polymer—organoclay nanocomposite materials consisting of GPPS and HIPS, layered montmorillonite organo clay (MMT) were prepared by... (1 Member Reaction)

Apr 16, 2010 - The effect of clay and compatibilizer loadings on stiffness and toughness of polyamide nanocomposites - Technical Paper
Although the properties of nylon nanocomposite have been widely studied, the balance between stiffness and toughness has not yet been investigated in... (1 Member Reaction)

Apr 15, 2010 - Development of natural fiber based materials for noise control in car interiors - Technical Paper
As natural fibers are noise-absorbing materials, renewable and biodegradable nonwovens have been developed using natural fibers such as banana,...

Apr 14, 2010 - Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Polymers - Technical Paper
The ability to control the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in polymers is key to most applications of nanotube-polymer composites. This article...

Apr 13, 2010 - Functionalized biodegradable nano-spheres for medical applications - Technical Paper
This minireview describes strategies for preparation of biodegradable (from polylactides, and poly(-caprolactone) and from their derivatives) nano-...

Apr 12, 2010 - PLA modifications - Patent
PLA is the most extensively researched and utilized biodegradable and renewable thermoplastic polyester, with potential to replace conventional...

Apr 09, 2010 - Improving the Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes in Polymers - Technical Paper
The ability to control the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in polymers is key to most applications of nanotube-polymer composites. This feature article...

Apr 08, 2010 - Electrospinning: A fascinating fiber fabrication technique - Technical Paper
With the emergence of nanotechnology, researchers have become more interested in studying the unique properties of nanoscale materials....

Apr 07, 2010 - Processing of Protein-Based Thermoplastics and Their Properties - Technical Paper
Increasing interest in competitive, sustainable, and biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics has encouraged the development of...

Apr 06, 2010 - New PC nanocomposites with 50% higher modulus and high elongation - Technical Paper
Novel PC nanocomposites were produced in the melt state by the addition of an amorphous polyamide reinforced with organically modified nanoclay... (1 Member Reaction)

Apr 05, 2010 - Measuring the color of injection molded parts - Technical Paper
A multi-angle spectrophotometer was used to measure the CIELab coordinates L*, a* and b* in different angles relative to the incident light. The...

Apr 02, 2010 - Practical fundamentals of glass, rubber, and plastic sterile packaging systems - Technical Paper
Sterile product packaging systems consist of glass, rubber, and plastic materials that are in intimate contact with the formulation. These materials...