Extrusion-Film & Sheet

A nucleating agent has helped push homopolymer polypropylene (PP) into thermoformed packaging applications with the promise of better haze and less yellowing compared to conventional nucleated PP homopolymers.

Next Generation Films (Lexington, OH) has ordered another 3-layer blown-film line from Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. with an addition system being specified out. The latest system will be a three-layer Varex with a 134-inch working width, grooved feed extruders (105.30/135.30/105.30D), Optifil P3 gauge-control system, Opticool high-output air ring and a 35.43-inch Maxicone C die.

Two new members of BASF's biodegradable plastics family have been introduced: a thermoformable version for food trays and the first injection-molding grade for complex and high quality packaging, including thin-wall applications.

It has been said that conventional electric vehicles need to break out of their current design shell of essentially being based on conventional gasoline-powered chassis and body design, with a battery tossed in below the floorboards in  place of an engine. Failing which, they won't enjoy significant market penetration. Renault's latest electric concept car may hint at what's in store.

When Adam Reiser and a partner founded a magazine nine years ago titled “Made In USA,” they wrote articles about companies making products in the USA. However, Reiser, who today is CEO and co-founder of Made In USA Certified (www.usa-c.com), found out that “people speak with forked tongue.” While they were telling Reiser that their products were being made in this country, in actuality they were shipping products in from China and relabeling them “Made in USA.”

In 2012, Ulrich Reifenhäuser said his company's strategy could be summed up in one word—China—and in 2013, three words suffice: the United States.

Sporting a new name but offering an old pedigree, Addivant (Middlebury, CT), the former antioxidant and UV stabilizer business of Chemtura, is looking to shake up the polymer additives sector.

Eastman Chemical is introducing a sensitive-grade nonphthalate plasticizer for medical and other PVC applications to meet growing demands for materials that are extremely pure.

A joint venture of Arabian Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Co. and The Saudi Industrial Investment Group is on track to start up the Middle East's first nylon 66 plant in late 2013. Petrochemical Conversion Company Ltd. (PCC) recently announced the successful transport of four process modules to the Port of Jubail in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the company's new 50,000-tonnes/year plant under construction in Jubail II Industrial City.

Sabic Innovative Plastics has unveiled two new grades of Lexan CFR polycarbonate (PC) copolymers that will help aircraft OEMs, designers, and manufacturers realize new weight-out strategies while meeting the industry's strict regulatory demands at the Aircraft Interiors Expo running April 9-11 in Hamburg, Germany. These compliant materials reportedly enable processors to produce parts with thinner walls, which help reduce interior weight of an aircraft.