The recent National Plastics Exposition (NPE) recently took place in Orlando, Florida (USA) April 1-5, 2012. Let's go behind the scenes and take a look from a plastics engineering standpoint at some of the emerging technologies. MetaFuse technology allows the manufacture of light-weight industrial components with metal's strength/stiffness and engineering plastics' design flexibility. Erema's TVEplus series is targeted at recycling multilayer film, highly printed film, wet materials, and heavily contaminated plastics into pellets suitable for reuse in high quality films. Leistritz's high speed energy input (HSEI) twin screw extruders are primarily used for compounding, reactive processing, or devolatilization. NatureWorks' PLA bio-resin compound trade named Ingeo 3801X is targeted at injection molding of durable consumer products. Cereplast Algae Plastic, a hybrid in which up to 50% of petroleum content used in traditional plastic resin is substituted with algae biomass, is in development.
OnColor BIO Colorants from PolyOne are a range of color concentrate products offering a 'full' pallet of color choices. BASF's new polyamide specialty grade Ultramid Endure is a glass-fiber reinforced PA 66 (nylon) that combines outstanding resistance to heat aging with the good processability of PA 66. Newly launched Zytel Plus nylon 66 from DuPont Engineering Plastics significantly extends the performance life of under-the-hood components. A car windshield of Evonik PMMA is being trialed in the Lotus Exige race car. Dow Chemical's specialized acrylic based TPO elastomeric white coating on flat or low-slope roof tops cools the roof with energy savings. High-tech Sabic Innovative Plastics' Lexan FXD PC resin was chosen to mold a new CFL bulb.