Toys & sporting goods

Forced to perform over a season that extends from sweltering August heat to frigid January cold, football coaches' headsets have plenty to endure before their users continually tear them off, spike them, or worse (think Gatorage shower). The abuse and environmental stress took a toll on the thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) that had been used in the headband, temple pad, and boom areas.

With the snow sports season in full swing, my attention was caught by a bit of news from the University of Sheffield's AMRC Composite Centre. A group of young researchers working at the Composite Centre have built two prototype snowboards from flax, cashew nut husks and recycled plastic. Naturally, they also had to personally test whether they really worked.

For the first time, a soft plastic has been introduced that is safe, biodegradable and sustainable. A small Kansas-based start-up company called Green Dot, which styles itself as a "biotechnology social enterprise that makes the world's only plant-based, compostable elastomer, verified to meet U.S. and E.U.

Long fiber thermoplastic (LFT) compound supplier PlastiComp (Winona, MN) has developed what it describes as a breakthrough product in the form of a long-fiber reinforced compound that is translucent.

The new compound is based on a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). "Molded structural parts with translucent qualities lead to unique applications that require strength and optical transparency," notes Raj Mathur, Vice President & Director, Technology & Business Development at PlastiComp.

For the Dutch life science company DSM, the London Olympics are more than a 16-day international sports event.

Styrolution (Frankfurt/Main, Germany) has inaugurated a plant located in Ulsan, South Korea for its Luran S acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) resins that have been impact-modified with acrylic ester rubber.

The new plant has a capacity of 43,000 tonnes per year, complementing current ASA capacity in Europe and North America, enabling Styrolution to offer customers in the Asia-Pacific region greater security of supply and shorter lead times.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been a major target of the environmental activist group Greenpeace for at least 20 years, dating to activism by chemist Michael Braungart. The focal point of Greenpeace was dioxins. The Vinyl Institute was formed in 1982 because of health-related attacks on PVC pipe by the steel industry.

Plastics have long played a role in fire arms, seeing use in everything from stocks to handgun frames but now they're looking to get inside the barrel with polymer-based cartridge casings.

Eastman Chemical Co. has acquired Brazilian plasticizer manufacturer Scandiflex do Brasil S.A. Indústrias Químicas in part of its ongoing bid to become a leader in non-phthalate plasticizer products. Located in the state of São Paulo at Mauá, Scandiflex's 2010 sales revenue was in excess of $54 million.

Chinese wages are rising at roughly 17% per year, the value of the yuan is continuing to increase, and the gap between U.S. and Chinese wages is narrowing rapidly. Add to that flexible work rules and a government incentives here in the states, and a new report predicts a "manufacturing renaissance" in the U.S. wherein America becomes a "low-cost country among developed nations."