Plastics & Additives

Mexico's Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. has bid to acquire Netherlands based Wavin for just over a half a billion euro's, paying euro 531 million, or euro 10.50 for each Wavin ordinary share, to create a euro 4 billion plastic pipe firm that hopes to leverage the combined companies' design, engineering, and R&D capabilities with Mexichem's low-cost manufacturing. Wavin will retain a separate operating and legal structure with headquarters in Zwolle.

It seems as though not a week goes by without some plastic raw materials manufacturer announcing a collaboration with a producer of biobased materials. It's an interesting trend, and one that serves to underline the increasingly important role of bioplastics in the marketplace today as a sector that everyone wants to be part of.

The initial application for the industry's first cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) elastomer is expected to debut soon in an extruded medical application.

The newly developed material targets plastics such as nylon and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in medical applications including tubing and bags. The benefits of the COC elastomer for film are toughness, purity and moisture barrier.

Gas barrier properties are the Achilles heel when it comes to using biopolymers in (fresh) food packaging. Around the world, scientists and industry are working - often together - to develop feasible alternatives based on renewable resources to replace the use of conventional petroleum-based plastics.

Phillips Plastics Corp. announced that it has started the process of changing its name to Phillips-Medisize Corp., reflecting the acquisition of Medisize, Inc. last August.

A fascinating, rapidly emerging concept in the medical field is use of a capsule that is swallowed and captures images that are remotely reviewed. In current versions, the pill-sized plastic capsules take photos at random intervals, a technique that isn't considered adequate for cancer screening.

Newer systems are elaborate and much higher-tech. Two recently caught my attention.

The Center for Automotive Research (Ann Arbor, MI) has launched the Coalition of Automotive Lightweighting Materials (CALM) to support efforts by auto manufacturers to aggressively down-weight vehicles to improve performance, fuel economy and safety. Founding members include including Trexel, 3M, BASF, Plastic Omnium, Altair, EWI, Material Sciences Corp., Michelin, PPG Industries, and Shiloh Industries.

Microbes are highly creative, hardy little adapters when it comes to survival. Mutation, natural selection and genetic variation are all means which they cleverly employ to evolve and adapt to changing environmental conditions.

Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo) concluded a technical partnership agreement with Gordon Murray Design Limited (GMD; Shalford, U.K.) on the side-lines of the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011 aimed at promoting GMD's iStream hybrid production process in vehicle manufacture and other industrial sectors.

A new thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) boasts up to three times the coefficient of friction (COF) of conventional TPE's for both dry and wet applications with reportedly no negative impact on physical and rheological performance. Kraiburg TPE says its so-called Wet Grip technology, offered under the Thermolast W trade name, could boost performance for current elastomer grip applications and potentially open up new markets.