Dow injecting big capital into giant plant for Infuse

The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI) is locating the first global-scale production facility for Infuse olefin block copolymers (OBCs) at a Dow manufacturing plant in Freeport, TX. Dow recently completed its first trial-manufacturing run at the facility and is planning full-scale manufacturing starting in the third quarter of 2007.

“Infuse OBCs were developed in response to customer interest in higher-performing olefin elastomers, and the reaction to these materials in the global marketplace has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Marco Levi, global business director at Dow for plastomers, elastomers, and EPDM.

Dow introduced the materials to the market during the NPE trade show in Chicago last June. The amorphous-semicrystalline block architecture of Infuse reportedly delivers enhanced performance and processing properties beyond current olefin elastomers, including a superior balance of flexibility and high-temperature performance (typically a 40°C higher melting point than random ethylene copolymers), faster setup in processing (equating to reduced cycle times), and improved abrasion resistance.

Other pluses are excellent elastic recovery (close to SEBS), and compression set properties at both room and elevated temperatures. Compression set is similar to mid-range TPUs and TPVs, while elasticity is competitive to styrene block copolymers. The family will compete with SBCs, EVA, flexible PVC, and TPVs. Potential applications include flexible molded goods, extruded profiles, hoses and tubes, elastic fibers and films, foams, coated fabrics, adhesives and tapes.—[email protected]