There are two forms of detergents that dominate the global laundry market – liquid and powder detergents. Liquid detergents are more effective for lifting out everyday stains and ground-in dirt while powder detergents are better with food, greasy, or oily stains. While liquid detergents are mostly common in the U.S., powder detergents are popular elsewhere…
The automotive industry is the second largest consumer of polyolefins and their use in vehicles is estimated to grow annually at nearly 9% over the next five years. Polypropylene (PP), polyolefin elastomers (POE), and some mineral fillers such as talc, calcium carbonates, and silicates are the key components of several automotive parts. Polypropylene is the…
Silicone elastomers, sometimes incorrectly known as silicone rubbers, are silicon-based polymers that have been vulcanized. They offer unique performance characteristics such as serviceability over a wide temperature range of -150°F to above +500°F and are readily available in a variety of forms such as solids, open cell foams, closed cell sponges, and are thermally and…
As discussed last month, polymers are increasingly designed keeping very specific properties in mind. Thus, multi-layered polymers are often required when multiple properties are needed in a single structure. Depending on the type of polymer used for the targeted properties, tie layer resins are often required to produce these multi-layered structures. Exhibit 1 below shows…
Polymers are increasingly being designed keeping very specific properties in mind. This often requires multi-layered polymers when multiple properties are needed in a single structure. Depending on the characteristics desired, the final structure can include anywhere from three to 11 layers. Multi-layered structures using different resins are difficult to manufacture especially when two dissimilar layers,…