Materials

Worried that that land use for bioplastics feedstocks competes directly with feed and food crops? No need, says European Bioplastics in its recently published booklet “Bioplastics: facts and figures”. Out of a total global agricultural area of 5 billion hectares, around 300,000 hectares are used to grow feedstocks for bioplastics: in other words, 0.006%. Metaphorically speaking, this ratio correlates to the size of an average cherry tomato placed next to the Eiffel Tower.

Liquid metal injection molding is a potentially disruptive technology for the production of precise, small parts for medical devices. Series production costs are much lower than machining, an advantage that grows as volumes rise. Considerable strength derives from the material's amorphous atomic structure.

Several researchers are exploring the potential use of composites made of degradable bioplastic and ceramics to replace metals as fastener implants that attach tissue to bones.

One of the more advanced projects in the new medical technology is at Purac, which last year acquired the FiberLive technology from Vivoxid Ltd., Finland.

An increased industry emphasis on fuel efficiency, safety and operator comfort are accelerating the drive for heavy truck OEMs and their tier suppliers to discover new solutions for lightweighting, better ergonomics, styling, and sustainability.

Some times the journey from world's first to industry standard is a short one. It appears that could be the case for the replacement of aluminum in engine mounts and supports.

A high-tech investment analyst in the San Francisco Bay area is giving a big thumb's up to Jabil Circuit's acquisition of Nypro, adding that Nypro has the potential for significant growth in its core plastics molding operations.

The annual technical conference of the Society of Plastics Engineers (Antec) has always been a great investment of two or three days of time, but thanks to the hard work of a few volunteers, it has become a particularly great place to meet real movers and shakers in medical plastics.

Automakers are targeting all areas of the car in their quest for lightweighting and in future, they may even consider switching from heavy steel leaf springs employed in suspension systems due to a joint development of polyurethane supplier Henkel (Dūsseldorf, Germany) and composite component manufacturer Benteler-SGL (Ried im Innkreis, Austria).

Decreasing catheter size, bioresorbables and the increasing specialization of medical care are triggering changes in the plastics compounding business.

Foster Corp. CEO Larry Foster discusses these and other trends in the conclusion of an interview with Plastics Today that began yesterday.

Q. Larry, what do you see as the biggest trends in medical compounding?

In what could be an emerging trend, plastics are making increasing inroads into an auto application previously the domain of aluminum: engine mounts and supports.