PU magazine international 02/2011

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POLY UR ETH AN ES MAGAZINE INTE RNATION A L

02/2011

www.pu-magazine.com

APRIL/MAY

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Incredible India!

That is the slogan the Indian government uses to attract tourists from all over the world to visit the colourful variety of the subcontinent.

“Incredible India” could also be the tagline for foreign investors to build up their business in that prospering emerging country. The subheading under the main should be: “Where the impossible can be possible but the easy achievable might be impossible.”

Before anyone decides to make an investment in India, I would strongly recommend them to stay a little bit longer in this country to understand how the Indian system works.

In this editorial I want to give you a few examples that might make some things clearer…

If you have a three lane road, why not use it across its whole width for five cars, three two-wheelers, four bicycles, two cows, and one elephant…

A red light is only an option that you might consider, and if it brings you closer to your destination, there is no reason not to drive on the wrong side of the motorway.

When being in India for the PU TECH this year (which by the way was a really impressive and well-organised event) the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Two days later I saw a cartoon in an Indian newspaper that brought it to the point.

An Indian beggar approached the Japanese ambassador in India saying: “Your country has been hit so hard. I feel very sorry and I want to help you.” The ambassador of course was amazed answering: “You have nothing. How can you help?” The beggar answered: “You are right. I can’t give you material goods or money, but I can show you how to survive without clean water, no food, no house, and no electricity.”

All these samples show, that if you want to do business in India, in a country where “JIT – Just In Time” translates to “SHIT – SomeHow In Time” you have to know when and which rules to break and to learn to be very creative to exploit limited resources. This and a special mixture of patience, enthusiasm, and lots of energy might lead to success.

If the saying is true, that “hope is the last to die” it will for sure take its last breath in India…

Best regards Frank A. Gupta

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

71 71

NO. 2 · APril/MAy 2011

News Page.74

Incredible.it's.India!.–..

State-of-the-art.. flexible.foaming...

Page.92

CONTENT Editorial.............................................................................................. 71 News.

Industry.news................................................................................... 74 Technology.and.product.news. .............................................................. 78 People........................................................................................... 80 Reviews. ........................................................................................ 80.

Events........................................................................................... 82

JEC.Composites.Show.2011................................................................ 86 PU.TECH.India.2011.Review................................................................. 87 Huntsman.increases.its.commitment.to.India........................................ 91 Low.temperature.stable.. isocyanate.prepolymers.–..

Pioneering.continuous.reaction Page.106

Incredible.it's.India!.–..

State-of-the-art.flexible.foaming.at.Prime.Comfort............................... 92 Bayer.opens.first.EcoCommercial.Building.in.Asia................................ 93 Mold’n.Seal.at.Arburg.Technology.Days................................................ 95 Merquinsa.Bio.TPU.meets.the.standards............................................... 96

A.study.on.non-shrink.multi.-. . urpose.foam.for.manufacturing. p automobile.seat.pads Page.106

IPL.launches.eco-friendly.range.of.hoses............................................. 97 B. Veenendaal

The.use.of.methyl.formate.as.. a.blowing.agent.in.PU.foams.–.an.assessment...................................... 98 China.as.market.for.plastics.and.rubber.machines............................. 104 Spray.Foam.Convention.&.Expo.2011................................................ 105 W. Stevens

Bayfomox.–.a.new.sprayable.. polyurethane.system.for.use.. as.fire.resistant.coating Page.112

Low.temperature.stable.isocyanate.prepolymers.–..

Pioneering.continuous.reaction.......................................................... 106 H. S. Kim, H. H. Park

A.study.on.non-shrink.multi.purpose.foam.. for.manufacturing.automobile.seat.pads............................................ 109 Bayfomox.–.a.new.sprayable.polyurethane.. system.for.use.as.fire.resistant.coating.............................................. 112 H. Ottensmann, M. Dimmers

New.concepts.for.aliphatic.PU.floor.coatings.. based.on.renewable.resources........................................................... 114

Top coat (opt.)

Self-levelling coating Levelling-coat (opt.)

New.concepts.for.aliphatic..

PU.floor.coatings.based.on.. renewable.resources Page.114

B. W. Naber, G. Behrendt

Recycling.flexible.foam.PUR.–.part.2.–.raw.material.method............... 119 Suppliers.list..................................................................................... 122 Publication.information.&.contacts..................................................... 126

Primer

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Concrete

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

SEEING POLYMERS WITH DIFFERENT EYES...

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We have extended our portfolio with two titles for the Chinese polyurethanes and rubber industries in Chinese language: PU Magazine International for China RFP Rubber Fibres Plastics for China

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NEW edition Chinese

Technical magazines and books for polymer professionals P. O. Box 104125 · 40852 Ratingen/Germany · www.gupta-verlag.de Tel. +49 2102 9345-0 · Fax +49 2102 9345-20

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Industry news Evonik invests in IPDI and IPDA capacity in China Evonik Industries continues to expand its position in the global market for isophorone chemicals with a new plant currently under construction in Shanghai, due for commissioning in 2013. No de­ tails of the plant’s capacity were provided, other than to say it would be a world scale plant, other plants have a capacity of 10 – 20 kt/y.

China and other Asian markets are demonstrating strong growth in demand for these types of ma­

terials as production of more sophisticated coatings, adhe­ sives and sealants develops.

Isophorone diamine (IPDA) and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) are important in the production of floor coatings, artificial leath­ er, and various UV stable paints and coatings. The facility in Asia will create a global manufacturing network, adding to capacities in Alabama, USA, and Marl and Herne in Germany.

Huntsman to expand polyetheramines capacity at Singapore plant Huntsman is going ahead with the engineering design for a 40,000 t capacity expansion programme at its polyether­ amines facility in Singapore.

The company plans to invest about USD 70 million at its Ju­ rong Island plant in a move that will more than double the site’s capacity. When the site first opened in 2007, it was de­ signed to produce 16,000 t/y of polyetheramines. According to Huntsman, in the last few

years demand has begun to sur­ pass production capabilities across its three main produc­ tion sites in Singapore; Conroe, Texas; and Llanelli in Wales. The company is forecasting signifi­ cant mid­term growth in the sec­ tor and expects demand for its Jeffamine amines range to in­ tensify across all regions over the next decade, particularly in Asia­Pacific – where volume is set to grow by at least 10 % per year.

New BMS facilities for coating materials in Asia Bayer MaterialScience has inaugurated a manufacturing facility for polyisocyanates at Ankleshwar in the state of Gu­ jarat, India. The new plant will produce Desmodur N grades for automotive, industrial, and plastics coatings. Furthermore,

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Desmodur L grades will be manufactured as raw materials for wood and furniture coatings as well as for the formulation of adhesives for flexible packag­ ing. The initial capacity amounts to 15,000 t/y and it will be in­ creased in stages in the coming

years, says BMS. The new plant employs 35 people.

Furthermore, BMS plans to con­ struct a new world­scale produc­ tion facility for IPDI at its integrat­ ed site in Shanghai. The planned investment volume is EUR 65 mil­ lion. Inauguration is scheduled for

2015. BMS said that the project is part of its investment pro­ gramme with a total volume of about EUR 1 billion for the expan­ sion of its production capacities in China. By that, BMS’ total in­ vestment in China is increased to more than EUR 3 billion.

Axson Technologies invests in China and India Axson Technologies, a global supplier of epoxy and polyurethane resins, is opening a new produc­ tion plant in China for the dielec­ trics and wind turbine market. With the new plant, the company’s pro­ duction capacity will be tripled or even quadrupled compared to its existing plant in Shanghai, says Axson. The company is also plan­

ning to open a new site in India by end 2011. In addition to develop­ ing resins in close cooperation with its customers, Axson offers technology transfer on a global scale. As an example, the com­ pany can develop products in Eu­ rope then transfer them to Asia for production using the country’s raw material resources.

Since Axson has separated from the Hexcel Group in 1994 to become an independent company, it has been expanding its range of services through the geographical presence on three continents (Europe, America and Asia) and by its four business sectors which are modelling, adhesives, composites, and dielectric resins. With around 310 employees, the company generated sales of EUR 55.3 million in 2010. Axson today has 12 subsidiaries, six production sites (France, Slovakia, Mexico, USA, Japan, China) as well as six R & D centres.

BASF Chongqing MDI project approved BASF has received approval by the Chinese authorities for its 400,000 t/y MDI project in Chongqing. The investment will total CNY 8 billion (~ EUR 860 mil­ lion). The facility will employ about 300 people and is expect­ ed to start up by 2014. It will consist of an MDI plant, a nitrobenzene plant and an aniline plant, and will cover 40 ha. In ad­ dition, BASF is also establishing a new PU system house in Chongqing, which will be fully in­ tegrated into the MDI plant. The new site will form the centre of

an integrated chemical produc­ tion complex operated by the Chongqing (Changshou) Chemical Industry Park. At start­up of the new BASF facility, a total of 17 plants and busi­ nesses in the chemical park will begin operation as key partners or suppliers.

In China, BASF has been produc­ ing MDI in Caojing, Shanghai since 2006. The company also has production of MDI in Antwerp, Belgium; Yeosu, Korea; and online Geismar, LA, USA.

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PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

BASF opens new PU system house in Dubai In April, BASF has officially opened a new PU system house in the chemical business zone of Dubai Industrial City (DIC) in the United Arab Emirates. About 150 guests from business, govern­ ment, customers, and neigh­ bours attended the celebration.

The PU system house will deve­ lop and manufacture poly­ urethane systems for a wide range of industries. The new facil­ ity, which occupies about 2.8 ha of land, will have local sales and production units and will also pro­ vide technical services.

BASF says it is already a market­ leader in PU system solutions in the Gulf region. In the market segments construction and insu­ lation especially, the company sees strong potential for applica­ tions using its PU systems in the future. The system house itself is utilising a high share of BASF building materials and construc­ tion know­how. The building was constructed using PU sandwich elements in the facade, PU insu­

lation boards in the roof, and several products supplied from other BASF business units. It hosts besides latest technology production units, a high­rack stor­ age facility, and a technical devel­ opment and training centre.

BASF recently has opened a new PU system house in Srem, Po­ land, and announced to build another two in Chongqing and Tianjing, China. The company now operates a global network of 38 PU system houses.

BASF strengthened its busi­ ness with PU customers in the Gulf region in 2008 by setting up joint venture companies together with Kanoo in the UAE, which has acquired the local polyurethane business of Multi Chemical Est. in Abu Dhabi 2008. The Kanoo Group has been a joint venture part­ ner of BASF in the UAE since 1970.

The new BASF PU system house in Dubai Industrial City

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Recticel to restructure its Flexible Foams business in Spain According to the Spanish sub­ sidiary of PU foam manufacturer Recticel, over the last three years, the economic crisis has had a severe impact on the flex­ ible foams market in Spain. As a result of this, the company has lost 20 % of its volume for comfort applications between 2007 and 2010 in Spain – a market with about 40 % overca­ pacity.

In 2010, Recticel Spain incurred operating losses of EUR 1.6 mil­ lion. The company therefore de­ cided the following restructuring measures:

• The closure of the plant in Le­ gutiano/Alava; • The closure of the Comfort converting production activity in the plant of Santa Perpetua de Mogoda/Barcelona; • The closure of Transfoam/ Valencia, producing parts in polyurethane for comfort and furniture applications; • The reduction of a significant number of central positions.

In total, this will lead to the lay off of about 90 employees on a total of 242 people employed in the company's Flexible Foams’ ac­ tivities in Spain.

Repi expands its R&D capacity Responding to the increasing de­ mand for quality colour pastes for the polyurethane sector in Europe, the Italian producer of colour pastes Repi S.p.A. is in­ vesting more than EUR 1 million in the expansion of the lab capa­ city of its headquarters in Lonate Ceppino (near Milan). The con­ struction works already started at the end of 2010 and are ex­ pected to be finished by April 2011. “This investment had been

originally planned for 2012. The positive development of the busi­ ness during the last two years has made obvious the need for supplementary lab capacity, so we took the decision to antici­ pate this project”, says Michael Rath, Repi. Consequently, the company will have additional 500 m2 of lab space for the de­ velopment of new products for the colouring of polyurethane and other plastics.

ABC Group announces JV with Ningbo Inoac Huaxiang Automobile Products Co., Ltd. Automotive parts supplier ABC Group has announced a joint venture agreement with Ningbo Inoac Huaxiang Automobile Products Co., Ltd. (IHX) of China to form Ningbo ABC Inoac Huaxiang Co., Ltd. (AIH), based in Ningbo City, China.

ABC Group, founded in 1974 from a single manufacturing facil­ ity in Canada, has grown to be­

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come a global manufacturing enterprise, employing 4,000 staff at 24 facilities worldwide.

As the automotive industry in­ creasingly moves to global auto­ motive platforms for design, en­ gineering and production, auto­ motive parts suppliers are adapt­ ing to meet these requirements.

This joint venture will strengthen market share for both ABC Group

and IHX in the Chinese automo­ tive market.

“ABC Group’s expanded pres­ ence in China is an important part of our global growth plan,” said Helga Schmidt, Chairman of ABC Group. “Global platforms have become the standard for the automotive industry,” added Mark Poynton, Co­Managing Di­ rector “and ABC Group will con­ tinue to expand its capacity to ensure our customers global plat­ form requirements are met.”

“Since 2002, IHX has been com­ mitted to supporting the growing automobile industry in China. Our joint venture agreement with ABC

Group will help to broaden both our product offering and our cus­ tomer base,” said Ken Miwa, Chairman of IHX. The customer base at the AIH joint venture facility will include VW, Toyota, Nissan and Daimler, with short­term plans to intro­ duce North American OEMs. The joint venture facility will manufac­ ture: interior and exterior compo­ nents as well as engine support products. In addition, ABC Group will also introduce its latest blow and injection moulding and sys­ tem­based manufacturing exper­ tise into AIH.

OMS supplies continuous panel line to BMS Bayer MaterialScience has se­ lected the Italian OMS Group to supply a new “pilot plant” for instal­ lation in BMS’ research and devel­ opment facility in Leverkusen, Germany. The new plant will have a total length in excess of 70 m and will be capable of processing formulations for both profiled metal and flexible substrate pan­ els. The line will include flexible paper decoilers, a roll forming

machine for profiled metal prod­ uct, a multi­component metering group, double belt conveyor, cross cut saw, a panel cooling line, and an automatic stacking line. According to OMS Group, the new contract was awarded against stiff competition from the indus­ try’s major suppliers and reinforc­ es the company’s position as sup­ plier of plant and machinery for the continuous panel market.

Dorf Ketal purchases Vertec and Snapcure businesses from Johnson Matthey Dorf Ketal, a supplier of organic titanate and zirconate catalysts, has acquired patents and related intellectual property for Vertec polyester catalysts and Snapcure polyurethane catalysts and cure promoters from Johnson

Matthey. Dorf Ketal is starting up production in its new Mundra plant in India and expects produc­ tion to be fully underway by July.

The products supplement the company’s line of Tyzor organic titanates and zirconates.

BioBased Technologies expands Agrol distribution network BioBased Technologies has ex­ panded its Agrol distribution net­

work with the addition of Los An­ geles­based Dorsett and Jack-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

AWDgroup.it

son, Inc. to focus on sales in the western USA. Agrol polyols are 96 % bio­based and can be used

in PU systems e. g. for carpet backing and padding, spray foam insulation, and flexible seat foam.

KraussMaffei doubles production area for robots in Schwaig KraussMaffei is doubling the production area for robot­assisted manufacturing solutions at its sub­ sidiary KraussMaffei Automation AG in Schwaig Oberding in the Erding district, Germany. The new building is scheduled for completion in the fall of this year and will expand the production area from 670 to 1,570 m2. The

facility is earmarked for produc­ tion and assembly of robots for injection moulding machines. The Schwaig plant was expanded for the first time in 1999 and in 2001 a secondary plant was opened in Schwerin. Additional production space for robot assembly was made available at KraussMaffei’s Allach plant in 2004.

Rampf Giessharze set to double sales of products from natural polyols By the year 2013, the Grafenberg­ based German company Rampf Giessharze aims to manufacture the majority of its materials from renewable sources. The company has set itself the target of dou­ bling its sales of bio­polyol­based The cable grommet contains rapeseed oil, making it particularly hydrolysis-stable

products by 2012. The first prod­ ucts based on bio­polyols are al­ ready being marketed with the support of sister company Rampf Ecosystems, based in Pir­ masens. The company is dedi­ cated to the recycling of PU and research into renew­ able raw materials such as rapeseed oil, lactose, grease, and glycerine. An ad­ ditional plant, due to be commissioned in spring 2011, will double the compa­ ny’s annual capacity to 5,000 t. Working together, the compa­ nies have developed two special casting compounds made of rapeseed and soya oil, whose uses in­ clude the charging plugs of electric ve­ hicles and a protec­ tive sleeve in cable grommets for trucks.

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Industrie Plastiche Lombarde S.p.A. PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

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Phone.: +39 0332 770252 - International Fax: +39 0332 970792 mail: info@ipl.it - www.ipl.it

Technology and product news Commissioning support for contour-cut foams On occasion of Interzum 2011 Fecken-Kirfel announced that it will be presenting the new soft­ ware module Pick by View on their machine combination W 22 and F 62. This software is said to permit to easily take away the parts for different commissions from a fully automatically nested material stack cut into contour parts.

With this software Fecken­Kirfel has implemented a commission­ ing support as a further develop­ ment to the existing fully auto­ matic nesting systems. It is work­ ing in a similar way as other exist­ ing commissioning systems which are applied for cutting machines in the textile and leather industry.

The software simplifies the hand­ ling of cut contour parts both for smaller and larger quantities. The Pick-by-View for the easy commissioning of foamed parts

allocation of the foam parts or of their packaging is made much easier and therefore accelerated.

In order to be able to efficiently process the huge amounts of con­ tour parts which are generated at the high cutting speed of the ver­ tical contour cutting machine, it is necessary to support the opera­ tor concerning the commission­ ing. Pick by View is displaying the cut layer pattern on a huge screen in the way it is appearing in front of the operator. Within the dis­ played layer pattern those con­ tour parts, which have to be taken away next are highlighted in col­ our so that the operator can eas­ ily identify them and allocate them to the corresponding commission.

The parts which actually need to be taken away appear in green colour on the screen, parts which were already taken away are red­ coloured.

Parallel to this step it is also pos­ sible to print out self­adhesive labels for the displayed part with information such as the contour name, foam quality, graphical il­ lustration of the contour or other customer­specific information.

Albrecht Bäumer at Interzum Albrecht Bäumer GmbH & Co. KG, Freudenberg, Germany, will once again be exhibiting at Inter­ zum 2011 in Cologne. This year the company will present the re­ inforced EP profiling machine with sheet flip­over station and automatic destacking system which can cut mattresses and

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overlays with any profile and dif­ ferent zones.

The new version of the profiling machine is now able to cut sheets up to a thickness of 300 mm in one operation. Due to a softer entering of the material, there are hardly any differences in the profile height anymore in

Bäumer said it will also show at the fair the OFS-H Twincut con­ tour cutting machine which can be operated with either a circulat­ ing or oscillating knife. Uphol­ stery and mattresses are cut precisely with a maximum of 60 m/min. The oscillating knife is used for technical articles where extreme accuracy in the contour is demanded. The changeover time to the circulating knife only takes a few minutes.

Furthermore Bäumer will inform about POS, the software which enables to link and control ma­ chines and Bäumer OFS-H Twincut contour cutting machine cutting sys­ tems in an optimum way in order to process the foam in auto­ mated pro­ duction lines after foam­ inyg up to the cut foam pro­ duct. the first cut and at the end of the material. The flip­over function serves for de­stacking the upper profiled sheet half also with the profile on top. The utilisation of the sheet flip­over station can be preselected so that the finished sheet stack can be transferred manually or automatically on a pallet to a glue or cover line where the sheets already flipped over are laid on directly by ma­ nipulators for example. The pro­ file rollers are manufactured ac­ cording to the customers’ re­ quirements.

Hennecke presents new process technology at JEC At JEC 2011 Hennecke show­ cased two innovations in process engineering. Besides the HP-RTM process Hennecke informed about the use of fillers in reactive PU mixtures. This technology was de­ veloped in cooperation with Bayer MaterialScience. Unlike the batch process where the filler is added to a medium component before the components are mixed, fillers can now be fed in an air stream and injected into the mix­ ing chamber during the mixing phase. The Solid Injection by Airstream (SIA) technology opens up new possibilities for the use of composite materials, re­ gardless of whether they are hard or soft, or if the PU is a solid or a

foam. One possible area of appli­ cation is adding flame retardants to polyurethane parts, which is required for a variety of applica­ tions. The method enables the use of very light or heavy fillers, or also the combination of different types. Even reactive substances or particles with porous surfaces can be used. This reduces the probability of changes to the fillers The new SIA technology enables the use of various fillers

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

and the wear of plant components due to abrasive or corrosive addi­ tives. The technology also makes it possible to vary the filler content within a layer or between different layers, such as in a sandwich com­ posite, for example. BMS oper­ ates a pilot plant employing the method in Leverkusen. Apart from the new technologies, Hennecke

exhibited sample parts from the automotive and sanitary sectors that are implemented with its PUR-CSM spray technology (Poly­ urethane Composite Spray Mould­ ing). For this purpose, light and yet very robust sandwich composite parts with honeycomb struc­ online tures were on display.

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New composite systems for lightweight automotive parts BASF informed at JEC about new Baxxodur and Elastolit solu­ tions based on epoxy and PU. Both systems are said to feature significantly reduced cycle times in RTM processes, with demould­ ing times of less than 5 min.

Their key features are their cur­ ing mechanisms. They can be processed much longer than con­ ventional products and still cure much faster if required. As a re­ sult, the fibres can be impreg­ nated perfectly with these low­ viscosity resins, which avoids the formation of “dry” areas that might negatively affect the me­

chanical properties of the fin­ ished part. On the other hand, the high speed of the complete reaction facilitates short cycle times.Both systems are self­re­ leasing and suitable for process­ ing on common high and low­ pressure equipment.

By combining fibre­reinforced structural components with light­ weight PU foam cores, high­qual­ ity low weight composite struc­ tures with very good specific component stiffness and good isolating properties can be online produced.

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New automation patent for easy stacking Traditionally, when it comes to stacking composite panels pro­ duced on continuous lines, the insertion of polystyrene or similar blocks underneath the stack has been an overly­complicated pro­ cess, usually involving the use of multiple feeding cassettes and hot melt adhesive guns. Aside from being expensive in terms of the equipment used, there is also a need for the operator to re­ charge the feeding cassettes by entering the protected parts of the machinery with consequenc­ es for cycle time and safety.

OMS Automation from Italy has now developed a solution to this

problem with the introduction of a block insertion unit which al­ lows the operator to fill a feeding cassette from outside the pro­ tected area and which requires only one hot melt adhesive ap­ plicator, irrespective of the number and spacing of the sup­ port blocks needed.

This intelligent patented system moves the panel stack under the block feed station accord­ ing to the length of the stack and the required support block spacing.

The use of a single hot melt gun keeps it in prime condition and much less likely to block and, by avoiding the New OMS automation patent makes stacking of panels need for the op­ easier. erator to enter the protected area of the ma­ chine, enables shor ter cycle times. This solu­ tion has recently been installed at Italian panel pro­ ducer Stiferite.

Cutting machines state-of-the-art Fecken-Kirfel is specialized in cutting machines for processing PU flexible foam, PE foam and rigid foam as well as rubber, expanded rubber, neoprene and cork.

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PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Tel.: +49 (0)241 18202-0 Fax: +49 (0)241 18202-13

Hall 9, Booth A28/ B29

www.fecken-kirfel.com info@fecken-kirfel.de

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New Head of R&D at Rampf Giessharze

People Huntsman appoints new CEO Asia Pacific Huntsman has named Anthony P. Hankins to the new role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Asia Pacific, based in new re­ gional headquarters in Hong Kong. He will additionally con­ tinue as President of the com­ pany’s Polyurethanes division, which will relocate its global headquarters from The Wood­ lands, TX, USA, to Hong Kong during the course of 2011.

Hankins will facilitate the corpo­

rate and cross­divisional activi­ ties required to deliver growth, including investments and part­ nerships, strengthening the company’s asset base, develop­ ing people capability, and build­ ing relationships with govern­ mental organisations and other key stakeholders. According to Huntsman, Asia Pacific already accounts for a quarter of its glo­ bal sales.

Effective 1 March 2011, Stefan Retig, 41, has taken over as new Head of Research and Devel­ opment at the German company Rampf Giessharze GmbH & Co. KG in Grafenberg. He suc­ ceeds Dr. Peter Gräter, who has left the company.

Retig has worked in the field of plastics for the past 15 years.

The chemical engineering gradu­ ate has gathered professional experience in a variety of compa­ nies in the chemical industry, in­ cluding Sika Deutschland GmbH. He has been with Rampf Giess­ harze since 2003 – most recent­ ly as Head of Laboratory for the

Foam Gaskets Division. In his new role, he will be working to­ wards expanding the company’s position in the fields of PU, sili­ online cone and epoxy.

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Stefan Retig

New Managing Director for BASF Malaysia Effective 1 April 2011, Daniel Loh has been appointed as new Managing Director for BASF (Ma­ laysia) Sdn Bhd. He succeeds Yee Boon Yeow (BY Yee), who retired at the end of February 2011, after 21 years of service with the company.

Loh started his career with BASF in 2004 and has held several key management positions in Singa­ pore and Thailand. His most re­ cent position was the Head of

BASF’s Specialty Plastics busi­ ness unit in Asia Pacific.

The Cockpits & Dashboards Report – 2011 Edition Auto Sector research – IHS Global Insight, Stamford, UK, 2011, PDF-file, EUr 1,310.00

Daniel Loh

Dana appoints new CEO and President Roger J. Wood, 48, was named as new Chief Executive Officer and President of Dana Holding Corporation, effective 18 April 2011. Wood is a long­ time employee of BorgWarn­ er Inc., where he has been an Executive Vice President, and Group President and General Manager of its Engine Group.

John Devine, Dana’s Executive

80

Reviews

Chairman, who also has been serving as interim CEO, has elected to retire on 30 June 2011. At that time, Keith Wandell, Lead Independent Director of Dana’s Board, will become Non­Executive Chairman of the Board. In addition, Wood will be a member of Dana’s Board of Directors.

The report looks at trends and innovations in the cockpit of to­ morrow. It looks at the influence of design and styling as seen in concept cars, innovations in HMI technology, the change in direc­ tion for Telematics services and the way in which they are deliv­ ered to the user. From the vehicle manufacturer’s perspective, it also reviews new manufacturing and material trends and from the

supply pattern side. In addition, the report features profiles of key suppliers: CalsonicKansei, CIE Automotive, Continental, Delphi Automotive, Denso, Dräxlmaier, Faurecia, Hyundai Mobis, IAC, Inteva, Johnson Controls, Magna, Magneti Marelli, Peguform, Röch­ ling Automotive, SAS Automotive Systems, Sumi Motherson, Toyo­ da Gosei, and Visteon.

iBIB2011 The international business direc­ tory for innovative bio­based plas­ tics and composites iBIB2011 comprises information on about

70 major companies, associa­ tions, agencies, and R&D organi­ sations from 16 countries on four continents. According to the pub­

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

lishers nova-Institute and bioplastics magazine, the iBIB2011 helps finding the best bio­based solutions available worldwide within the sectors of bio­based plastics, composites, and green

additives. The online database with detailed index (more than 100 specific criteria) as well as a full PDF version can be accessed directly and free­of­charge at www.bio-based.eu/iBIB.

Market Study: Paints and Varnishes Ceresana research, Konstanz, Germany, 2011, 575 p., two volumes, from EUr 1,895.00 According to the new market study by Ceresana Research, the European paints and varnishes market is forecast to generate revenue of EUR 27.7 billion by 2018. Germany is the largest sales market in Europe with a roughly 15 % share, followed by Italy and Russia. Demand for in­

185x130_E_PU_MON:Layout 1

dustrial varnishes, the second­ largest field of application behind the construction industry, is es­ pecially increasing in Russia, Po­ land, and Turkey. But also some West European countries, like the Netherlands, record above Euro­ pean average growth, which amounts to 1.6 % per year.

04.04.2011

12:46 Uhr

Market Study: Adhesives Ceresana research, Konstanz, Germany, 2011, 870 p., two volumes, from EUr 1,895.00 The new study gives an overview of the different types of adhe­ sives and offers an analysis of the adhesive market in 31 Euro­ pean countries. According to the study, Germany accounts for about 18.5 % of all demand, fol­ lowed by France, Italy and the UK. Ceresana expects that the adhesives revenue in Europe will reach EUR 8.25 billion by 2017.

Above average increases of 2.7 – 4.8 % were achieved on the sales markets in Russia, Poland, and Turkey. In Western Europe, the demand for adhesives is es­ pecially growing in Germany, Fin­

Seite 1

land, and Sweden. Paper, pack­ aging, and the construction indus­ try are the most important fields of application. The demand of these three areas makes up more than 58 % of the adhesives manu­ facturing. Ceresana anticipates that the demand for adhesives in medical engineering and the au­ tomobile, electrical and electron­ ics industry will see growth rates of 2.7 – 3.8 %. Especially manu­ facturers of acrylate adhesives, which are needed for cars and rail vehicles, are expected to profit from the industry’s good economic development.

Pur(e) Fascination...

Whichever way you look at it, by choosing Hennecke's plant and machinery technology you are laying the foundation for superior product quality and efficient raw material utilisation. You won't regret your decision to opt for innovative technology that has great economic and ecological benefits and can be used for countless applications and fascinating PU-based products.

>> Metering machines

>> Sandwich panel lines

>> Moulded foam lines

>> Refrigeration equipment lines

>> PUR-CSM spray technology

>> 360˚ Service

>> Slabstock lines

>> 100% know-how for all your ideas!

Interzum / Cologne 25.05. - 28.05.2011, Hall 9.1 · B037

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

www.hennecke.com

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Events

13

Flame Retardants The second international conference on Flame Retardants: Chinese and International Markets – Requirements, Challenges and Innovations will be hosted by the SKZ on 15 – 16 May 2011 in Guangzhou, China, right before Chinaplas. The programme compris­ es 15 papers, given in English or Chinese with simultaneous translation.

Eurocoat 2011 Eurocoat will open its doors from 27 – 29 September 2011 for its first show ever in Paris. The trade show groups an exhibition together with a scientific and technical congress, dedicated to the industries producing paints, varnishes, printing inks, glues, and adhesives. The organiser, Infopro Communications – Groupe ETAI, expects to welcome more than 300 exhibitors and 6,500 visitors. The 2011 in­ ternational Eurocoat Congress organised jointly with the AFTPVA will focus on new plant­based formulations for sustainable products.

Contact: Groupe ETAI – Infopro Communications · Laurence Berthier Tel. +33 1 77929668 · Fax +33 1 77929833

Contact:

E­mail lberthier@etai.fr · Internet www.eurocoat­expo.com

SINO ­ German Plastic Technology Service (Cheng De) Co., Ltd. · Haiyun Yang Tel. +86 314 206 6062 · Fax +86 314 206 6062 E­mail skz@chinaskz.cn · Internet www.skz.de/conferences

Interplas 2011

Techtextil, the trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens, will be organised by Messe Frankfurt from 24 – 26 May 2011 in Frankfurt, Germany. The coming event includes a programme of technical lectures at the Techtextil and Avantex Symposiums. In addition, Techtextil will be held concurrently with the new trade fair for processing textiles and flexible materials Texprocess from 24 – 27 May 2011 as well as Material Vision, the trade fair for materials for product development, design and architecture.

Interplas, the international forum for the British plastics industry, will open from 27 – 29 September 2011 in Birmingham, UK. According to the organiser Plastics Multimedia Communications Ltd., Interplas is the UK’s leading triennial plastics exhibition.

The show will incorporate the full spectrum of plastics manufactur­ ing equipment and services from design through manufacture to post­processing, parts handling and packaging. At the heart of the show is the ‘British Centre of Excellence’ pavilion that is said to showcase some of the best products moulded or extruded in the UK. Interplas 2011 will also have a key focus on education with multiple free of charge seminars.

Contact:

Contact:

Techtextil 2011

Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH · Kerstin Riemann

Plastics Multimedia Communications Ltd. · Jenna Reid

Tel. +49 69 7575­6738 · Fax +49 69 7575­6099

Tel. +44 1829 770037 · Fax +44 1829 770047

E­mail kerstin.riemann@messefrankfurt.com · Internet www.techtextil.com

E­mail jenna@rapidnews.com · Internet www.britishplasticsshow.com

SPE Foams 2011 Conference

IPF Japan 2011

The ninth international conference on foam materials and technology, Foams 2011 will be held on 14 – 15 September 2011 in Iselin, NJ, USA. The event is co­sponsored by the Palisades-NJ Section and the TPM&F Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). It will feature technical papers on innovations in foam process­ ing, novel blowing agents, micro­ and nanocellular foams, sustainabil­ ity in foams, biodegradable foams, foamed nanocomposites, etc., with special emphasis on industrial applications. Deadline for the submission of papers is 15 May 2011.

The seventh triennial International Plastic Fair (IPF) Japan will take place from 25 – 29 October 2011. The five­day event is organ­ ised by International Plastic Fair Association at Makuhari Messe in Chiba-city (near Tokyo), Japan. The show comprises the full spec­ trum of raw materials, machines, moulds, and services for the plastics and rubber industry and also features a seminar programme. 993 exhibitors and about 66,600 visitors attended the 2008 event.

The organisers explained in view of the current situation in Tokyo after the earthquake, that IPF Japan 2011 will be held as planned.

Contact:

Contact:

Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) · Lesley Kyle

International Plastic Fair Association

Tel. +1 203 740 5452 · Fax +1 203 775 8490

Tel. +81 3 3542 1487 · Fax +81 3 3543 0619

E­mail lskyle@4spe.org · Internet www.4spe.org

E­mail info@ipfjapan.jp · Internet www.ipfjapan.jp/english

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PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Turkcoat Eurasia 2011

PDA Europe Annual Conference 2011

The fourth edition of the international coatings, inks, adhesives, seal­ ants, construction chemicals, raw materials, and production tech­ nologies exhibition Turkcoat Eurasia will be organised by Artkim Fuarcılık Tic. Ltd. Sti. between 6 – 8 October 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The fifth edition of the Polyurea Development Association (PDA) Europe annual conference will take place from 14 – 17 November 2011 at hotel Pullman in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The con­ ference will bring together all stages of the polyurea industry to dis­ cuss the current technical issues and market trends.

The programme is currently under revision and will be published online at www.pu­magazine.com as soon as it will be available.

PUTech Eurasia 2011 Artkim Fuarcılık will host its second polyurethane industry exhibition PUTech Eurasia 2011 under the theme “Polyurethane and the Fu­ ture” from 17 – 20 November 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. The organ­ iser aims to attract over 150 local and foreign exhibitors.

Contact: Artkim Fuarcılık Tic. Ltd. Sti. · Haluk Yavuz Tel. +90 212 3240000 · Fax +90 212 3243757 E­mail haluk@artkim.com.tr · Internet www.turkcoat.com

Contact: Polyurea Development Association Europe · Françoise Maon Tel. +32 2 7611611 · Fax +32 2 7611699 E­mail info@pda­europe.org · Internet www.pda­europe.org

Most recent PU news are now also available as RSS-feed on www.pu-magazine.com/feeds. Subscribe anonymously and free of charge.

Gain access to latest news and business information on polyurethane.

www.putecheurasia.com

Don’t miss out on important information any longer!

Take a look on the light side

KraussMaffei is your system partner for fiber-composite processing. We have what it takes for successful solutions:

› INJECTION TECHNOLOGY

– High-performance machines and systems

› EX TRUSION TECHNOLOGY

› REACTION PROCESS MACHINERY

– Application-specific processes to suit your product specs and batch size – Our expert input to support your product development and manufacturing There’s not much we don’t know about making lightweight components for automotive interiors, structural parts, bodywork and glazing – why not put our know-how to work for your business?

Visit our CompetenceForum: www.kraussmaffei.com/CompetenceForum KraussMaffei ··· Phone +49 89 8899-0 PU MAGAZINE –Technologies VOL. 8, NO. 2GmbH – APrIL/MAy 2011 info@kraussmaffei.com ··· www.kraussmaffei.com

83

Equiplast & Eurotec 2011 The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) has reached an agree­ ment with trade show organiser Fira Internacional de Barcelona to co­locate the first SPE Eurotec plastics technical conference with the 16th triennial Equiplast international plastics and rubber exhibition in Barcelona, Spain. Originally scheduled for October 2011, Eurotec will now take place from 14 – 15 November 2011, the first two days of the five­day Equiplast show from 14 – 18 November 2011.

Eurotec will be a broad­based technical conference like SPE’s re­ nowned Antec annual conference held in North America. According to SPE, there will be several hundred peer­reviewed presentations on new developments in various fields of plastics technology. The dead­ line for submitting technical presentations for Eurotec is 1 June 2011.

2nd International

conference

15 - 16 May 2011 Guangzhou, China

Contact: Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) · Lesley Kyle Tel. +1 203 740 5452 · Fax +1 203 775 8490

Chairman: Dr. Jürgen Troitzsch Fire and Environment Protection Service FEPS, Wiesbaden, Germany

E­mail lskyle@4spe.org · Internet www.4spe.org/spe­eurotec­conference Fira Internacional de Barcelona Tel. +34 902 233 200 · Fax +34 93 233 2198 E­mail info@firabcn.es · Internet www.equiplast.com

Polyurethane Coatings

Flame Retardants

Chinese and International Markets Requirements, Challenges and Innovations will give a comprehensive overview of the drivers regarding new developments in fire safety, flame retardants, and advanced applications in the key technologies of building industry, transportation, electrical engineering and electronics (E&E) sectors. The main drivers are the growing international demand for flame retarded products as a consequence of more stringent fire safety and environmental requirements, and new approaches to sustainability (electro mobility and photovoltaics, green electronics, adapted flame retardants).

The conference aims at helping all those involved in the fire safety of polymers to identify the main changes and trends on the flame retardants markets and to develop adequate strategies for today and tomorrow.

Complete program: www.skz.de/1499 Interested in participating?

Registration and further information: Mrs. Haiyun Yang | skz@chinaskz.cn | Tel.: +86 158 3141 8298 Mrs. Irina Bender | i.bender@skz.de | Tel.: +49 931 4104-436 Organizer SINO - German Plastic Technology Service (Cheng De) Co., Ltd., China

conference • seminar • training course

84

www.skz.de

Vincentz Network is inviting to its European Coatings Seminar Polyurethane Coatings on 16 November 2011 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The seminar will discuss the underlying chemistry and properties of the various binder components and their application in formulations. Lectures will be given by Simon Waddington of Dow Europe GmbH and Ian Rimmer of Huntsman Polyurethanes Ltd. Contact: Vincentz Network · Kristin­Ann Heuer Tel. +49 511 9910­272 · Fax +49 511 9910­279 E­mail info@european­coatings.com Internet www.european­coatings.com/events

Ceplast 2011 The first Central European plastics and rubber exhibition Ceplast will be held from 22 – 24 November 2011 in Budapest, Hungary. The exhibition is jointly organised by Targi Kielce S. A. and ECEBD and will bring together companies from the Central and Eastern European

A comprehensive overview on these and other upcoming events can be found on the internet at www.pu-magazine.com under the heading of events. The listing provides links to the event websites for detailed information and online registration for your convenience.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

countries including Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Aus­ tria, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Croatia. Its major focus will be the industry segments which characterise the region: automotive and E+E industries, food and pharmaceutical packaging, as well as build­ ing and construction.

total occupied space at the last NPE in 2009. Thus far 862 exhibiting companies have purchased 70,720 m2 of space.

Contact: Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) · Lesley Kyle Tel. +1 203 740 5452 · Fax +1 203 775 8490

Contact:

E­mail lskyle@4spe.org · Internet www.4spe.org

Targi Kielce S. A. · Kamil Perz Tel. +48 41 365 1230 · Fax +48 41 345 6261

SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association

E­mail perz.k@targikielce.pl · Internet www.ceplast.eu

Tel. +1 202 974 5200 · Fax +1 202 296 7005 E­Mail exhibit@npe.org · Internet www.npe.org

NPE & Antec 2012 The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) will co­locate the 2012 edition of its annual technical conference Antec with the international plastics showcase NPE2012. Produced by SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, NPE2012 will take place 1 – 5 April 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, FL, USA. Both Antec 2012 and the NPE trade show will begin on 2 April 2012.

In addition to the traditional conference sessions, SPE will organise poster sessions on the NPE show floor. Antec is the world’s largest plastics technical conference. The 2010 edition featured 630 peer­ reviewed technical presentations. According to SPI, one year before the start of NPE2012, exhibit sales were already equivalent to 98 % of the

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

JEC Composites Show Americas 2012 The first JEC Composites Show Americas will take place concur­ rently with IFAI Expo Americas from 7 – 9 November 2012 in Boston, MA, USA. JEC Group has partnered with the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) to create the new platform combining composites and industrial textiles in the Americas.

Contact: JEC Group · Michel Germain Tel. +33 1 583615­18 · Fax +33 1 583615­19 E­mail germain@jeccomposites.com · Internet www.jeccomposites.com

85

JEC Composites Show 2011 Global growth driven further by demands for power, transport, and material saving From 29 – 31 March 2011, the JEC Composites Show was held in Paris, France. Founded in 1956, the organiser JEC Group is celebrating 55 years of promoting composites. In 55 years, the pioneers who made the first open-moulded composite pieces have been overtaken by a global industry posting 6 % total annual growth. This trade fair has not stopped developing and showcased 1,122 exhibitors over an area of 48,500 m2. More than 29,800 visitors attended the exhibition and conference sessions.

For the first time the event included strategy conferences concerning the global carbon fibre market and a presentation on the global composite industry. Sessions on nanomaterials and non-destuctive testing were also added to the technical conference. In addition, visitors were able to visit the newly created job centre.

The event offers a unique opportunity to discover the entire sector’s progress and developments on the international stage. After the JEC Show Asia, created in 2008, the JEC Group is launching JEC Show Americas with the first edition taking place in Boston, MA, USA, from 7 – 9 November 2012.

“Human population has increased threefold over the past 50 years”, says Frédérique Mutel, President and CEO, JEC Group.

“Manufacturers are to meet more and more production demands. The composites industry is changing from low volume to high volume mass production. Composites design and process simulation are an essential part.

Gamesa and M. Torres were honoured with the JEC Innovation Award, Wind Energy, for a new blade technology with a 100 % automated manufacturing process.

And also, at the manufacturing stage, automating and accelerating production times with lower and faster temperatures and pressures processes”.

Demand for more composite applications continues to increase with composite materials fast becoming a mainstream technology as energy costs drive the demand for lighter, cheaper, and more environmentally acceptable materials. On a global basis, Asia has emerged as the largest regional market in terms of composites shipments and is expected to maintain its leadership helped by the growing economies of China and India where demand grew at 7 – 8 % last year.

The Brazilian Composite Materials Asso­ ciation (ABMACO) predicts only a modest 3 % growth for the composites industry during 2010. After the recent recession, Russia has once again become a key player in the international arena buying European and US goods and expertise for all applications. The Middle East still harbours ambitions to join the global aerospace industry with at least two countries aiming to build their own aircraft within the next seven years.

Wind power has experienced exponential growth during the past decade, as developments continue, the challenge now is to build rotor blades which are highly efficient and durable. In parallel, the industry is also moving from low volume manufacturing methods to high volume mass production. A key element in the composites industry is carbon fibre. This sector has shown recent growth of

86

25 % of CAGR and the world will have consumed an estimated 43,000 t during 2010.

By 2020 the world composite market is estimated to need 340,000 t of carbon fibre.

Most carbon fibre is manufactured from PAN – a wasteful process, and changes to the manufacturing process were discussed.

Almost 26,000 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at USD 3.2 trillion will be needed between 2010 and 2029 to satisfy demand according to Airbus’ Global Market Forecast (GMF). This demand will be primarily driven by the replacement of aircraft by newer more eco-efficient models in mature markets, dynamic growth in new emerging markets, low-cost carriers particularly in Asia, further market liberalisation and capacity growth on existing routes. In order to meet this need, the two aerospace giants Airbus and Boeing have already announced increased production rates in the near future.

Despite the tremendous increase in composites used in aerostructures, the industry still faces many issues in order to prove its benefits compared to metallic structures.

The annual innovation awards recognised new products and processes including intumescent gel coats, thermoplastics seat backs for airline seating, new composite wheels, rotor blades, and civil engineering projects in Spain and Italy.

The use of PU materials remains much smaller than epoxies and polyesters but still occupies a niche in lightweight manufacturing especially for automotive components. Hen­ necke was actively promoting is equipment for the manufacture of fibre-reinforced structural components in a high-pressure RTM process (HP-RTM). BASF Polyurethanes was promoting lightweight solutions for the automotive industry with urethane systems, Bayer MaterialScience presented its polyurethane systems and technologies for manufacturing composite materials, and Cimtec­ lab continued to promote its natural oil polyols. Cannon, Frimo, Graco, KraussMaffei, and OMS Group were present from the equipment industry. Also exhibiting with own stands were Acmos, Chemtura, and Solvay. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

PU TECH India 2011 Review During the third conference and exhibition for the Indian PU industry, PU TECH India from 9 – 11 March 2011 at the India Expo Center in Greater Noida, 130 exhibitors filled 3,500 m2 of space, including raw materials manufacturers, equipment suppliers, system houses and processors from across the world. A unique feature of this exhibition were exhibits from Indian PU processors of elastomers, rigid and flexible foams and adhesives, allowing raw material suppliers easy access to potential customers.

innovation in CASE applications, K. C. Jain of Bharat Foam Udyog, Deepak Doshi of Dura Puf, Ramesh Shah of Fancy Foam, as well as K. “Ram” Ramamurthy, Secretary General of the Indian Polyurethane Association (IPUA) and Mehta Mukesh Buhta for her unstinting service as Hon. Editor of Polyurethane Today magazine. Industry awards were presented to Pinnacle Industries for innovation in microcellular elastomers, and to Harita Fehrer for innovation in polyurethane composites. Further special services awards were also presented to V. K. Patwa, Nitin Adeshra and M. R. Jayanth.

PU market overview

2,700 visitors registered during the three days, excluding several hundred exhibitors.

On the last day of the event, the organisers were inspired to invite students from local universities to attend free of charge. “These students represent our future”, stated Rohit Relan of Relan Industries, “We want to encourage new blood into our industry”. A two hour forum with a Q&A session was arranged to provide university students an interface with industry experts.

Steven English also presented a new communications campaign to help promote understanding of polyurethane materials.

Safety not an option

Industry awards

More than 100 visitors attended the two and a half hour “Walk the Talk” programme presented by Ronald van den Bosch of Isopa, the European Diisocyanate and Polyol Producers Association, concerning the safe handling of TDI and MDI. Material handling and fire safety are major issues that need addressing in the industry according to the industry association. The Isopa Chairman,

During the gala evening, several awards were presented in recognition work done for the promotion, development and meritorious services to the Indian PU industry. Recipients included Rahul Gautam, Managing Director of Sheela Foam for a lifetime achievement, Ashok Puri of A. S. Enterprises for growing the flexible slabstock industry, Jayant Khadilkar of Jay Elastomers for product

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

During the second day, 24 technical papers were presented covering issues such as the use of polyurethane rigid foam in the production of pre-fabricated buildings, the Indian cold chain, blowing agents for developing markets, and the use of natural oil polyols in foams and elastomers.

Since the last PU TECH India in 2008, there was a notable change in the exhibits. Several flexible foamers were more focused on specialities such as anti-static foams, industrial foams, foams for the footwear and lingerie industries and even viscoelastic foam.

Products containing natural oil polyols were also being promoted, however, the ubiquitous use of castor oil in flexible foam formulations has declined during the past two years mainly due to price increases and the relatively low prices of TDI. High performance products such as TPUs, water-based PUDs, bio-content cast elastomers, waterborne PU adhesives coatings as well as the expansion of domestic raw materials supply was all highly visible. ronald van den Bosch of Isopa presented the “Walk the Talk” programme

87

Data provided by the IPUA during the inaugural ceremony clearly illustrated the structural changes that have taken place during the past 30 years. There are now more than 500 companies directly involved in manufacturing PU products and chemicals across India, providing direct employment for more than 10,000 people and indirectly responsible for more than 200,000 jobs.

Production increases for home and export use During the past five years the industry has registered double digit growth and is expected to continue doubling every four years. The IPUA suggested that the production of polyurethane was growing at more than 20 % per year. This could create a total production of 500 kt of material.

Although GDP is expected to grow at around 12 – 15 % per year, this is from a relatively low base and the industry will face the challenges of rising inflation and labour rates as well as raw material price rises.

Inflation is currently 11 % per year. The production of PU is estimated to have reached 295 kt (tab. 1).

Flexible slabstock continues to represent the major share of production. An estimated 90,000 t of flexible slabstock foam was produced during 2010 and the figure looks set to increase further as new production lines are commissioned and an increasing volume of foam is exported as well as consumed domestically.

Growth from the bedding sector is strongest in Northern India, where foam mattresses are popular. In the South of the country rubberised coir with a PU foam topper are popular. Orthopaedic mattresses also use rubberised coir bats around rebond foam.

The higher density of the rebond foam, typically 80 – 100 kg/m3 provides the required level of back support. Manufacturers Kuralon and Springfeel are the leading suppliers to these markets. Springfeel, based in Tamilnadu, also supplies foam to Ikea.

88

The leading flexible foam producer, Sheela Foam is now focusing upon the production of technical foams for use in acoustic insulation, sportswear, print rollers, packaging, medical mattresses and even in dental chairs. The use of flexible foams cut in an “egg box” style is very popular for acoustic insulation, especially in cinemas, but also in hotels and conference rooms. Flexible foam is considered to be more adaptable to changes in space than rigid foam acoustic insulation in these situations. Export markets are also proving to be attractive to Indian manufacturers. Competitive freight rates between India and Dubai have opened up the Middle Eastern markets to several Indian manufacturers supplying rolled goods and higher value foams. Sheela Foam currently exports to 21 countries worldwide.

Other PU products being exported include cast elastomers components to German machinery manufacturers, TPU shoe soles to Germany, Spain, and the USA, and flexible foams for textiles and footwear to the Middle East and Asia.

10 millionth Maruti Suzuki Shortly after the PU TECH India event, the leading automotive OEM, Maruti Suzuki produced its 10 millionth vehicle, since starting production in 1983. The company produces 16 models at its plants in Gurgaon and Manesar, including the world’s best selling compact car the Alto. The company produced 1.2 million passenger cars during the past 12 months, accounting for 45 % of the market. Further expansion plans will see capacity increase to 1.7 million vehicles by 2013. This will be good news for seat manufacturers Krishna Maruti and Bharat Seats – the main Tier 1 suppliers.

The much heralded Tata Nano continues to be absent from the traffic jams around Delhi, sales are struggling and production is averaging 8,000 – 9,000 units per month, considerably less than the forecast 20,000 – 25,000.

Also announced during the show was Hero Group‘s buy-out of Honda’s remaining share of their Hero Honda joint venture. As illustrated in table 2, demand for two- and threewheeled vehicles continues to dominate the Indian automotive industry. The deal will allow Hero Group to explore new products and export opportunities in markets where Honda has a presence, a move it was barred from while in the joint venture with the Japanese automaker. Hero Honda, which makes the CD range of bikes, Splendour, Glamour and Pleasure scooters, pays Honda Motor a royalty in exchange for technology, but details of royalty payments have not been disclosed. Honda Motor has a wholly owned subsidiary in India, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, and analysts have said the company would look to aggressively expand its operations and market share in India after ending the joint venture.

Demand for all forms of transport is driving demand for PU raw materials ranging from 

Tab. 1: Estimated production of PU in India 2010

Product type

Volume (t)

Flexible slabstock

90,000

Flexible moulded foam

40,000

Rigid foam

80,000

refrigeration (commercial and domestic)

45,000

Insulation panels, block, spray, pipe

33,000

Thermoware, decorative

2,000

Elastomers

45,000 TPU

4,000

Shoe sole resins

40,000

Cast elastomers

1,000

Adhesives and sealants

15,000

Coatings

20,000

Binders (for rebond foam)

5,000

Total

295,000

Source: IPUA & PU Magazine International



Tab. 2: Vehicle production in India 2009 – 2010

Type

Number of vehicles

Passenger vehicles

2,351,240

Commercial vehicles

566,608 (incl. tractors)

Three wheelers Two wheelers

619,093 10,512,889

Source: SIAM

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

passenger vehicles to two wheeler seats, tractor seats, bus and train seats as well as steering wheels, headliners and the usual components. The total volume of moulded foam produced in 2010 is estimated to be 40 kt.

Appliances lead rigid foam demand The main use for rigid foam remains the production of domestic appliances – fridges and freezers. Production capacity is now estimated to be 7 million units, with LG the leading manufacturer operating two lines in Pune. While LG is the leader in terms of volume, Siemens is considered to be the leader in terms of quality. The German manufacturer is expected to invest in a new line in India within the next 12 months, but is likely to focus on larger models for the niche market.

Whirlpool also manufactures in Pune, with the 210 l model the most popular, but also making the top of the range models of >450 l for the top of the market and export.

Haier are also present in Pune with a plant of capacity of 500,000 – 1 million units.

Other domestic manufacturers include Videcon who has acquired the Electrolux and Maharaja brands and Godrej who operates two plants. The commercial refrigeration market is growing fast due to demand from the rapidly increasing number of supermarkets and fast food chains typically found in the newly built shopping malls.

Even the smallest roadside cafés and kiosks have chillers for soft drinks. This sector is the second largest user for rigid foam in India. 

Insulated panels continue to find demand from the telecoms industry, for pre-fabricated buildings and cold storage facilities, but the use of rigid foams as insulation has yet to develop. The completion of the first phase of the 590 km insulated pipeline for Cairn Oil used 7,000 – 8,000 t of rigid foam and opened in May last year. The second phase of a further 200 km between Salaya and Bhogat is due for completion later this year and should use a further 2,000 t of rigid foam. Transporting the oil through a heated pipeline has reduced transportation costs from USD 8 – 10 per barrel to USD 1.5 per barrel.

Footwear dominates elastomers The largest use of PU elastomers is the footwear industry. As far as footwear is concerned, India has a growing domestic market as well as producing for export. The industry is using a small but increasing volume of TPU for shoe soles that are mainly exported to Europe and the USA for use by companies including ToeTector, Adidas and Rockport. An estimated 4 kt of TPUs are used for this application.

Visitors to PU TECH from Nike India, also reported a potential opportunity for PU materials resulting from the global shortage of EVA. According to Nike staff, EVA prices are rising due to a shortage of material following the closure of a DuPont plant combined with demand from the solar panels industry. With no new capacity due on stream for another 3 – 4 years, alternative materials, including microcellular polyurethane (MCU), are being considered. Demand for MCU for footwear is estimated to be 40 kt.

Tab. 3: Estimated PU raw material supply and demand in India 2010 & 2013

Raw material

Capacity 2010 (t) Demand 2010 (t) Capacity 2013 (t)

Demand 2013 (t) (forecast)

MDI

-

85,000

-

100,000

TDI

17,000

36,000

67,000

55,000

Aliphatic isocyanates

15,000

3,000

20,000

5,000

PO

36,000

36,000

>100,000

80,000

Polyether polyols

40,000

98,000

80,000

200,000

Polyester polyols

15,000

25,000

20,000

40,000

Source: PU Magazine International

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Maitreya Polymers reported a 15 – 25 % increase in demand for cast elastomers during the past three years, creating a domestic demand of 800 – 1,000 t in 2010. This company formulates and processes cast elastomers for machinery manufacturers in Europe and the USA, and is now actively involved in the use of natural polyols in some of their products.

Raw material supplies increase The domestic production of raw materials to the Indian market is gradually improving. Production of isocyanate remains limited with Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers (GNFC) reporting production of 16.5 kt of TDI in 2010 and slow but steady progress on their new 50 kt/y plant, due for commissioning mid-2012. Huntsman’s new systems house should increase availability of a various MDI products and systems, the new facility will have an annual blending capacity of 36 kt. Manali Petrochemicals has two small units plants each with the capability to produce 18 kt PO, 11 kt glycols, and 25 kt of polyether polyol annually.

Evonik Industries and the Indian chemical company Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) are planning a new multimillion project. Core elements are the construction of a new hydrogen peroxide production plant by Evonik and a propylene oxide facility by GACL. The aim is to produce propylene oxide using the HPPO (hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide) process, developed jointly by Evonik and Uhde. So far, Evonik and GACL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the proposed project in Dahej, Gujarat. GACL intends to acquire a license for the HPPO process to produce propylene oxide. Evonik will produce and supply the hydrogen peroxide required for the planned new propylene plant at an adjacent facility.

Meanwhile, Expanded Polymer Systems has already sold out its new flexible polyol line at Dahej, Gujarat, and will commission a second line in May this year. Production here is of 3,000 – 3,500 MWt (molecular

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weight) polyols but will eventually include 5,000 – 6,000 MWt polyols for the HR foam producers. The new plant has the capacity for eight polyol production lines, phase 1 includes three lines that will give the company a total capacity of 45 kt/y by the end of 2013. In order to supply the production lines, Expanded has bulk PO storage and took delivery of its first bulk shipment at the end of March. The company already operates a plant in Navi Mumbai producing 400 – 500 t per month of rigid polyether polyols for use in its systems business and 200 t per month of aromatic and aliphatic polyester polyols for supply to the refrigeration and footwear industries. This site also has systems capacity. Expanded is

also licencee of Ecomate, the methyl formate blowing agent, and has recently formulated its first system using this material for an application in commercial refrigeration.

In February, Bayer MaterialScience inaugurated a new facility for polyisocyanates at Ankleshwar, Gujarat. The demand for these materials from the coatings and adhesives industries is growing fast. These raw materials are used for automotive, industrial and plastics coatings. Initially, the plant will produce hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) grades. Later, grades based on TDI will be produced to meet demands from wood and furniture coatings producers as well as for

use in adhesives for flexible packaging. The initial capacity amounts to 15 kt/y.

The changes in raw material supply are illustrated in table 3, with forecasts taking into account announced capacity increases.

Market development in India remains a challenge, due to overcrowded or poor infrastructure, bureaucracy and corruption, but several exhibitors felt that the industry was exhibiting “grounded optimism” for growth, as these obstacles are being steadily overcome. 

CPS2011-DrGuptaVerlag.pdf 3/31/11 3:14:38 PM

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Huntsman increases its commitment to India During the recent PU TECH India, Nick Webster, Vice President Europe of Huntsman’s Polyurethanes division, took the opportunity to announce plans to expand polyurethane production capabilities in India. During the next 12 months, the company will invest USD 10 million in the construction of a world-class systems house in Pune, India, – a city near Mumbai favoured by major Indian and multi-national companies due to its central location and connectivity to the vast country.

The new eight acre site will include a development machine hall and large scale blending facilities allowing customers to be supplied in both bulk and intermediate bulk containers. The facility, scheduled to be operational by the end of Q1 2012 will have an annual blending capacity of 36,000 t, and will replace the existing system house in Thane. The new systems house will eventually employ 50 staff.

rapid social and economic development, established and emerging markets for MDI include innovative footwear technologies, tailor-made solutions for automotive and construction, retail and cold supply chain applications for the country’s thriving logistics sector, and infrastructure build projects.

However, Huntsman still has to demonstrate that PU is a viable option to reducing energy consumption here”, stated Webster.

“In 1994, Huntsman was the first raw material supplier to put up facilities in India, with a technical centre. The new systems house shows that Huntsman is still committed to India, it will reinvigorate our commitment and offer new support to our customers”, explained Webster. “Our technical centre is also active in promoting HSE issues, these are not optional for India, but customers and end-users need education and support from suppliers in this matter”.

Statistics on foreign investment suggest that the country attracted USD 13 million last year and that spending on infrastructure is growing at 7 – 8 % per year. The government needs to continue its commitment to infrastructure development as an essential element for future growth but private investors are increasingly active in funding infrastructure – private entrepreneurship is very strong in India.

“India also requires considerable supply chain support from suppliers. Distribution networks need to be developed and improved. Huntsman currently has eight “godowns” (warehouses) across India, although location depends partly upon the tax structure in each state. A national tax structure would encourage further investment and development”, suggested Anand G – Country General Manager for Huntsman in India.

On a more general note, Webster explained that MDI demand in Europe, Middle East, and

African markets had recovered from the global recession, faster than anticipated, with demand growing by double-digit rates during 2010. The impact of EU legislation regarding insulation norms is one of the many drivers affecting demand but he added that economic and social reform is also playing a part in driving the demand for MDI-based products across the region.

“MDI still offers scope for product renewal and invention – not many materials have that property”, explained Webster. This versatility is partly responsible for the tightening supply situation currently developing in the market.

Urethane products continue to substitute other materials, in the case of India, this includes coir and rubber.

“India was virtually untouched by the global recession and as the country continues to change very fast, there is a mood of “grounded confidence” amongst the PU industry. With an expanding middle class, increased urbanisation and significant infrastructure development projects underway, we are predicting a large spike in demand for MDI across the region. The new systems house will be optimised to meet our specific production and blending requirements.

It will give us room for future growth, reflecting our long-term commitment to the provision of high-quality polyurethane products and first-class customer service across the entire Indian sub-continent”, Webster concluded. 

New Huntsman manufacturing facility at Chakan Pune

“Demand for Huntsman’s MDI is rising across India’s manufacturing sector. Fuelled by

www.pu-magazine.com PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

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Incredible it's India!

State-of-the-art flexible foaming at Prime Comfort In less than 12 months a brand new, state-of-the-art, flexible slabstock production line has been built, installed, commissioned and is producing foam at a rate 225 t per month… in Greater Noida, India! The 17th October 2010 was not only Vijayadashami, the Hindu celebration of good over evil but also the date on which Prime Comfort made its first sale of foam, a truly auspicious day for the company.

PrimeComfort is a brand new company supplying flexible slabstock foams to the rapidly growing Indian market. Employing 90 staff and occupying a 30,000 m2 site strategically located near the main Noida – Greater Noida Expressway. The company is the creation of Praduman Patel, former joint Managing Director and Partner of M/s Sheela Foam. With more than 30 years of knowledge and experience in the PU foam industry, Patel knew exactly which equipment he wanted, but took the opportunity to educate his sons by taking them on a worldwide hightech shopping spree. Both sons are now fully involved in the business.

The plant is already ISO 9001 certified and is equipped with a brand new Hennecke Multiflex line, using Unicell technology it is capable of producing all grades of polyurethane foam. The machine has 23 lines and single mixing head suitable for both polyester and polyether foams. The unit has a new patented ester distribution unit which helps to increase the foam width and even distribution. During operation the mixing head can be changed from polyether to

polyester in 30 min. The line can also change foam density, colour and width during a single run.

The plant is equipped with a pin stirrer and the new patented Hennecke screw stirrer.

Because of its geometry, this new screw type stirrer has a conveying effect upon the mixture. Thus the speed is decoupled from the mixing chamber pressure and can help reduce the pressure in difficult conditions.

This stirrer helps to provide Prime Comfort with the ability to influence the cell size, offering greater flexibility in cell control. The line also has a height adjustable pouring plate with adjustable mixer to optimise the density and hardness distribution in the block.

In addition, pneumatically controlled injectors for the isocyanate offer the possibility for the foamer to select the injection pressure which has a significant impact on the cell size of the foam. The resulting foam has excellent cell structure due not only to the skill of the foamer and his formulation, but also the correct conditioning of the chemicals prior to mixing.

New screw type stirrer from Hennecke

Hennecke introduced the high pressure slabstock technology in 2007 to the Indian market. Today, six Hennecke plants using this technology are in operation in India, with more on order.

Despite it being early days the manufacturer is already manufacturing conventional premium and filled polyether foams (18 – 60 kg/

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m3), HR, CMHR and polyester foams. The company is already supplying foam to various bedding manufacturers in the North and West of the country, as well as exporting foams to the UK, Middle East, and has plans to expand the range to include specialities such as foams for the lingerie industry, viscoelastic foams, rebond and antistatic foams.

The raw material storage facility is unlike any other in the world, with its unique colour coding for all the products, making material handling virtually foolproof for the staff. Storage includes a number of polyol, TDI, colour, and special chemical tanks.

Like the raw material storage room, the warehouse is a riot of colour. All flexible slabstock foam produced in India is coloured according to density. This system enables the end user to quickly determine the quality of the foam they were buying.

“In India the foam industry is highly fragmented, foam products are supplied to the end user via wholesalers and distributors, who sell them directly to the customer and the craftsmen who will make or repair their furniture”, explained Mr Patel. Premium, unfilled foams are typically coded as blue (50 kg/ m3), pink (40 kg/m3), yellow (32 kg/m3), green (28 kg/m3), purple (23 kg/m3), and white (18 kg/m3), however, foamers are now using colours to communicate other messages as company identity so this coding is not totally reliable.

“At PrimeComfort all foam products are embossed with its density and date of production, this enables the company to track foam quality and offer customers 5 – 10 year guarantees, depending upon the product”, Patel further explained.

Fire and safety are key issues for Patel, he has designed the warehouse with double fire walls to separate fresh and cured foams.

There are four sections each capable of storing up to 1.5 kt of foam. The warehousing is currently built to handle 6 kt of foam per year, but can easily be expanded to 10 kt per year, as required. A fully trained fire of-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

ficer is employed who has access to 150,000 l of water in underground storage tanks connected to a vast network of pipes at all time. “We are also looking at the installation of IR cameras to reveal any hot spots that may develop in the warehouse”, Patel added.

“Value for money is still the key market driver in India as far as foam is concerned.

Prime Comfort is offering high quality foams to the furniture, bedding, textile, and footwear industries and aims to maintain this standard, while providing value for money to its customers”, explained Patel.

Flexible foam produced at Prime Comfort is coloured according to density, explained Praduman Patel

The construction industry in India faces the challenges of climate change, energy shortage, urbanisation and poor infrastructure. In response to these challenges, in January this year, Bayer MaterialScience opened its first emissions-neutral office in Asia. The building is the latest is a series to demonstrate the company’s commitment to sustainability.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011



Prime Comfort’s plant is equipped with a Multiflex flexible slabstock production line from Hennecke.

Bayer opens first EcoCommercial Building in Asia

Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) has already built low energy buildings in temperate climate zones of Europe and North America.

The EcoCommercial Building (ECB) in Greater Noida, built in conjunction with local companies, demonstrates that the concept can be used in sub-tropical climates. In each climate the buildings demonstrate a dramatic reduction in energy demand, from the conventional power supply grid, through the

Not content with relaxing after a hectic 12 months planning and constructing his first foam plant, Patel is already planning a second plant to be operational by 2012.

effective use of insulation and renewable energy. There are currently two more ECBs in the planning stage.

Sustainability is not a new concept at Bayer, having published its first report on environment and society in 1976 and launched a responsible care programme in 2001. The company is now an important participant in UN programmes, a member of the World

Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Ecosense.

The company also reduced its direct and indirect carbon dioxide emissions by 7.1 % between 2007 – 2008. BMS understands that meeting global challenges of climate change, growing power and clean water demands not only creates business opportunities but also helps to prepare the business for the impact of these challenges.

The ECB has been designed to suit the local climate and has been aligned with the sun’s path to maximise power generation from the solar panels. The walls, roofs and floors are insulated with PIR foam panels.

Highly efficient air conditioning and lighting systems also help to keep energy consumption to a minimum. The new office oc-

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cupies 980 m2 and can accommodate 42 staff.

“The design philosophy has been to adapt the building to the climate rather than the climate to the building”, said Dr. Ram Sai Yelamanchili, Head of the ECB Center of Excellence India at BMS. “Passive architecture can reduce the need for cooling. The concept is proving popular in India because of the challenges we face in terms of power”.

of 15 – 20 years, however, the efficiency of these panels typically starts to reduce after 4 – 5 years. The main challenge facing the use of PSV in this environment is the high level of atmospheric dust. The panels have to be washed 3 – 5 times per week in order to maximise the efficient collection of UV. The water is supplied via the water harvesting system, it is collected from the roof, purified and re-used. The building can cope with limited power outages and is designed

Bayer’s first emissions-neutral office building in Asia

zero in terms of energy use. It will be an interesting year, monitoring all our data.” Yelamanchili also explained that it is planned to install a live display of energy generation and demand at reception, the first for such a building.

Polyurethane protective coatings have been used for pathways, wood and wall coatings.

Wooden flooring is made from recycled and rebonded bamboo particles. Another important product from Bayer is the use of its anti termite coating Premise which has been used to protect the foundations for ten years.

Water harvesting collects rainwater from the roof in eight pits around the building, it is purified and used as brown water for flushing toilets, watering the gardens, and cleaning the solar panels. The building is set in landscaped gardens and car parking using grass grown through a concrete grid helping to reduce the “heat island” effect of the development. In addition to all the hightech products and systems, simply switching off external lights, when they are not needed saves 40 % of the energy needed for lighting.

The building now serves as a reference project for many of BMS’ customers and a growing network of building specifiers. The ECB aims to promote:

Started in October 2009, the building focused on using local solutions and expertise as well as various polyurethane solutions from BMS including insulation, water proofing and coatings with material supplied by Lloyds and Kingspan.

to continue operating for up to four consecutive sun-free days. It has been designed to have only limited dependency on the local grid. The building has no battery banks to store energy. However, it is also able to draw on power from the grid in the adjoining building just as it also supplies surplus power via the internal power grid to the polycarbonate technical centre.

Local manufacturer MoserBaer supplied the PSV system. The building generates its total energy needs from a vast bank of solar panels. The 400 m2 of 270 solar panels are expected to generate 120,000 kWh in a 12 month period – equivalent to saving 108 t of carbon dioxide emissions. The photovoltaic system accounted for 15 – 20 % of the total cost. These panels, have a life expectancy

Since its inauguration and first week of March, the building generated 8,956 kWh of power, on average 249 kWh per day of which it consumed 132 kWh per day, and effectively reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 1,200 kg so far. “The challenge will come during our summer months”, added Yelamanchili, “but over the course of one year we expect the building to be net

There are reported to be 150 “green“ buildings already in existence in India.

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• • • • • • •

Climate friendly building The use of integral planning Energy efficiency Low operating cost Fast amortisation Zero emissions Global approval

In terms of global approval, the building is expected to achieve LEED Platinum status.

In total the building cost EUR 5 million to build, approximately 20 % of the total investment made by BMS at the Greater Noida site, which includes a PU systems house and a colour competence and design centre for polycarbonates. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Mold’n Seal at Arburg Technology Days Injection moulding and sealing of parts in a single process saves time and money

foam to cure significantly faster so that the six-axis robot can transfer the finished parts for further processing directly after the gasket is applied. At the Arburg Technology Days, the seals inside the freshly injection-moulded parts cured completely within 3 min. This will make long balance belts unnecessary.

From 23 – 26 March 2011, the traditional Arburg Technology Days took place at the Arburg headquarters in Loßburg. More than 5,200 trade visitors from 54 countries attended the event in order to take a close look at the machine manufacturer’s current range of products and services. This year the Sonderhoff group of companies also took part and presented the newly developed Mold’n Seal technology.

The complete process cycle can be significantly reduced with the new procedure. In Loßburg four plastic components were injection-moulded, taken out of the mould, foamed and placed on a line balancing belt for curing and further processing within 35 s.

Mold’n Seal combines the production and the sealing of an injected-moulded part in an inline process. Firstly, the part is produced on an Arburg injection moulding machine.

This step is followed directly by the application of a polyurethane gasket executed with a dosing and mixing system in combination with a six-axis robot.

Whereas in the past the injection moulding process and the application of the foam gasket were two temporarily and locally separated procedures, it is now possible to combine both actions inline in one single process. This saves time, money and also space in the production. The required space for the injection moulding and the dispensing machines can be significantly reduced.

In Loßburg at the Arburg Technology Days only 50 m2 were needed to position the injection moulding machine, the dosing and mixing system, the six-axis handling robot and the line balancing belt.

Contrary to former production concepts, finished injection mouldings no longer need to be prefabricated and stored temporarily before they are placed on a dispensing machine for foam gasketing by a conveyor belt later on.

In addition, there is only one single six-axis robot necessary for both processes which has a positive effect on the associated costs as well.

In the first step of the new process the six-axis robot takes the still warm injection moulded parts out of the mould, moves them under the mixing head of the Sonderhoff dispensing machine DM 402/403 and exactly applies the sealing according to the given contour.

In order to meet the specific material needs of this kind of process, Sonderhoff has enlarged its Fermapor K31 foam gasket product range by newly developed polyurethane formulations which enable the direct sealing of injection moulded parts according to the cycle time of the moulding process. Breaks for cleaning the mixing head provided with reactive material are no longer required.

The intentional use of the residual warmth of the moulded parts leads the polyurethane

Even with a complete 8 h shift the parts can be foamed in consistently high quality without cleaning the mixing head in between.

During 8 h more than 3,200 parts could be injection moulded, foamed and transferred for further processing within 35 s per process cycle.

The advantages of the new Mold’n Seal process convinced visitors at the Arburg Technology Days.

The new Mold’n Seal procedure which interlinks moulding and formed-in-place foam gasketing processes handled by one single six-axis robot offers a cost and time saving alternative by intelligent process technology.  Peter Fischer p.fischer@sonderhoff.com Marketing Director Sonderhoff Holding GmbH, Cologne, Germany

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Merquinsa Bio TPU meets the standards Back at K 2007, Merquinsa announced the world’s first TPU based on renewable sources.

Naturally there was a lot of scepticism and doubt as to whether it was needed in the market. Three years later, the ”green” trend was very much in evidence at K 2010. During this event, Merquinsa exhibited and presented several commercial Bio TPU applications from large global brands including sports equipment, footwear, automotive, and industrial products from companies, who have successfully adopted Bio TPU, thus making the product a commercial reality.

It’s about performance Merquinsa Bio TPU offers overall the same performance as standard, petroleumbased TPU. Offering the usual set of properties: abrasion and scratch resistance, transparency, and good mechanical properties whilst meeting the tight quality specification of the automotive, footwear, and sports industries – here performance is a must. According to the company, the material passes the most stringent automotive fogging and scratch resistance specifications.

Applications continue to increase As part of its programme to make the automotive industry greener, Ford will now use Bio TPU from Merquinsa. Ford continues to work toward the ambitious goal of substituting petroleum-based plastic materials with renewable ones.

The group’s efforts have focused on soybased polyurethane foams, natural fibrereinforced composites, and polymer resins made from plant sources. In 2007, the Ford Mustang was the first vehicle to implement soy-based foam on seat cushions and backs. Today, soy foam is used on nearly every Ford vehicle built in North America The sports shoe industry has very tough UV and hydrolysis resistance specifications.

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Brooks, a major player in the running shoe market, now uses Bio TPU. Smiths Optics also uses Bio TPU in its latest range of snow goggles.

Several industrial manufacturers have also decided to go “green”. One example is Industrie Plastiche Lombarde S.p.a. (IPL), from Italy, a leader in industrial hoses, which values the transparency, chemical and abrasion resistance of Bio TPU. Plastics represent a small fraction of global CO 2 emissions. About 6 % of worldwide oil consumption is used for the production of plastics (with increasing tendency). Still, moving to Bio TPU or to other renewably-sourced materials is a small but important contribution for a better world, says Merquinsa.

According to PAS 2050, a publically available standard adopted by several industry associations such as the Outdoor Industry Interior finish in Ford vehicle with Bio TPU from Merquinsa

Association (OIA), Bio TPUs generate about 40 % less green house gas (GHG) emissions than standard petroleum-based TPUs. Analyses applying PAS 2050 allow companies using this material to: • • • •

identify and reduce GHG emissions, identify potential cost savings, demonstrate environmental leadership, incorporate emissions impact into decision making processes for suppliers, • meet customer demands for data on product carbon footprints, • differentiate products and meet demands from “green” customers.

Major challenges remain Still there are three major challenges that need to be addressed in the design and commercialisation of renewably-sourced materials such as Bio TPU. • Cost: Economy of scale and development of new bio-molecules will significantly reduce costs over the next five years. The chemical industry is committed to make sustainability an industry success. The use of renewably-sourced materials in combination with recycled products can offer lower cost solutions. Bio TPU allows part weight reduction up to 7 %. From 80 Shore A up to 95 Shore A, Bio TPU offers lower density.

• Bio definition: Normalisation is becoming a priority. Standardisation of bio-content is an important factor in driving demand.

Several associations and departments are addressing this important point.

For instance, as of 21 February 2011 manufacturers and vendors of bio-based products can apply for the “United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Biobased Product” label.

• Speed of substitution: The pragmatic approach of the green innovators who first moved to renewably-sourced products is now driving the industry. Major players will soon launch a large volume of products based on bioplastics to fight CO2 emissions. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

IPL launches eco-friendly range of hoses The Italian hose manufacturer Industrie Plastiche Lombarde S.p.a. (IPL) announced it has achieved its target of a more natural product philosophy: The company has extended the use of the eco-friendly Bio TPU from Merquinsa to two of its popular high abrasion resistant hoses – Vulcano PU H 09 and Vulcano PU HDS 15. IPL sees opportunities to exploit the growing demand for green industrial policies among its customers.

Compared to TPUs made from conventional petrochemical-based materials, the Bio TPU material offers several advantages in reducing carbon dioxide emissions during its production, comparable transparency, and claims of a better chemical and hydrolytic resistance. The new hoses also meet CE

more sectors are looking for innovative ways to create a “greener” way of doing business, even in the demanding world of industrial subcontracting. 

regulations making them suitable for the delivery of dry food products.

IPL uses Bio TPU from Merquinsa in two of its abrasion resistant hoses

Both hoses are light, flexible, and suitable for various applications in the ceramics and wood industries including delivery of abrasive powders and suction of pellets and granulated materials. The chemical properties provide resistance to mineral oils, weathering, ozone and UV light. The new hoses are suitable for use within a temperature range of –40 °C to +90 °C. Both are electrically bonded according to TRB S 2153. The hoses are instantly recognisable from their green steel spiral in the transparent hose.

IPL continues to focus on the use and development of sustainable materials as more and

13 th International Conference

Blowing Agents and Foaming Processes 2011 Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel Düsseldorf, Germany 10-11 May 2011

Early Bird Offer Book before

1 March 2011 and save

€300 Image courtesy of BASF - The Chemical Company

For more information and to register online, please visit:

Organised by:

or telephone the iSmithers Conference Department tel +44 (0)1939 250383, fax +44 (0)1939 252416 or e-mail conferences@ismithers.net

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PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

16/12/2010 09:56

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Bert Veenendaal*

The use of methyl formate as a blowing agent in PU foams – an assessment The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is undertaking technical assessments of various blowing agents suitable for use as HCFC replacement in developing countries.

Such countries are, under the UN sponsored Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer, still allowed to use HCFCs but face a freeze on consumption by the end of 2012 and gradual reduction in steps from 2015 onwards. These countries receive technical and financial assistance in their reduction efforts from the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF). Assessment of the use of methyl formate (MF) is the first one to be completed and its outcome is discussed below.

1. Introduction Methyl formate (MF) used as a blowing agent in PU foams was introduced several years ago by Foam Supplies, Inc. (FSI) under the brand name Ecomate. The company filed for a US patent on December 18, 2001 which was awarded June 22, 2004. Additional patents were granted in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. By now, FSI has filed for, or has been awarded, patents in most major countries and lists several companies as licensees (tab. 1).

According to FSI the use of MF in PU foams has grown at an annual rate of just over 70 % between 2005 and the end of 2010. In total, use of MF in 2010 represented a replacement of approximately 2,500 t of HCFC-141b and a global warming reduction of 549,817 mt CO2 equivalents. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) noted this and saw an opportunity to promote this along with other HCFC replacement technologies in developing countries.

Such countries are, under the UN sponsored Montreal Protocol, still allowed to use HCFCs but face a freeze on consumption by the end

of 2012 and gradual reduction in steps from 2015 onwards. These countries receive technical and financial assistance in their reduction efforts from the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MLF).

The main objective of the Multilateral Fund is to assist developing country parties to the Montreal Protocol whose annual per capita consumption and production of ozone depleting substances (ODS) is less than 0.3 kg to comply with the control measures of the Protocol. Currently, 147 of the 196 parties to the Montreal Protocol meet these criteria. They are referred to as Article 5 countries.

Before, offering a technology for MLF sponsored projects, a full technical assessment is required. UNDP therefore formulated various assessment projects to evaluate technology issues that it deemed important and unresolved. These issues ranged from the determination of related global warming effects to validation of technologies that had been not, or only sporadic, been used in an Article 5 context (tab. 2).

Substance Supercritical CO2

* Bert Veenendaal rappa.inc@verizon.net Chemist rappa Inc., LaPorte, IN, USA

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Hydrocarbons Tab. 2: UNDP technology assessment projects

 Methyl formate Methylal

Assessment of the use of MF is the first one to be completed and its outcome is discussed below. This particular pilot project has been designed around Purcom Quimica LTDA (“Purcom”), the largest independent system house in Brazil, specialised in custommade PU systems for most PU applications, and Quimiuretanos Zadro, a system house in Mexico that specialises in PU shoe sole systems.

2. HCFC alternatives HCFCs are currently used in developed (A2) countries as blowing agents in PU foams, predominantly rigid and integral skin, as well as extruded XPS boardstock foams. To replace HCFCs, the following criteria would ideally apply: • A suitable boiling point with 25 °C being the target • Low thermal conductivity in the vapour phase • Non flammable • Low toxicity • Zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) • Low global warming potential (GWP) • Chemically and physically stable • Soluble in the formulation • Low diffusion rate • Based on validated technology Tab. 1: Global licensees of methyl formate as a  blowing agent Licensee

Region

Australian Urethane Systems Asia Pacific British Oxygen Corporation

UK & Ireland

Purcom Quimica

Brazil

Expanded Incorporation

India

resichem

South Africa

Halla Chemical

South Korea

Distribution Network

Italy; Selected EU countries

Purpose

Application

Status Ongoing

Assessment

PU spray foams

Lowering of costs

PU thermal insulation foams

Ongoing

Assessment

All PU foams

Completed

Assessment

All PU

Ongoing

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

• Commercially available • Acceptable in processing • Economically viable

alternatives in foams can be obtained from UNDP’s Montreal Protocol and Chemicals Unit.

Of course most technologies do not meet all these criteria and compromises will be required. However, one area the MLF does not want to compromise on is that replacement of HCFCs should not introduce other environmental concerns, especially global warming.

Discounting the time taken by the MLF to prepare and report the results, the technical assessment took twelve months of man hours during the period February 2009 to August 2010. It consisted of reviewing previous work by FSI and its licensees, formulation development for applications not researched before as well as industrial trials and properties testing. It also included an industrial hygiene study performed in Brazil by an ISO-certified laboratory.

Table 3 is a list of the most significant alternatives – validated, under validation or still under development – to HCFCs in PU foams.

The molecular weight is mentioned as an indication of blowing efficiency and the incremental GWP as an indication how the technology performs compared to HCFC-141b.

It should be pointed out that a comparison between GWPs is only an approximation of the climate effect. A full lifecycle determination which includes energy efficiency and other factors would be a better approach. A more detailed discussion of HCFC-141b

Table 4 shows a list of applications that have been assessed.

3. Health, safety, and environment issues Methyl formate or methyl methanoate is the methyl ester of formic acid. It belongs to the

Substance

GWP 1

M Wt

Incremental GWP 2

HCFC-141b

725

117

Baseline

1

44

-725

Used direct/indirect (from water)

Negl

72

-718

Extremely flammable

1,030

134

443 279

CO2 Cyclopentane HFC-245fa HFC-365mfc

Comments

794

148

1,430

102

522

Methyl formate

Negl

60

-725

Methylal

Negl

76

-725

reported for co-blowing only

Acetone

Negl

58

-725

Used in flexible slabstock

5

1643

-718

Under development

HFC-134a

FEA-1100 HFO-1234ze

6

114

-719

recently introduced

HBA-2

<15

<134

>-708

Under development

AFA-L1

<15

<134

>-708

Under development

Unless otherwise indicated, taken from IPCC’s Fourth Assessment (2007) Derived from comparing GWPs compared to the baseline on an equimolar base. It should be noted that in practice formulators may make changes such as increased water or ABA blends that impact the global warming effect 3 Calculated from published formulations Green = beneficial GWP effect; red = unfavourable GWP effect

Flexible and integral skin foams (FPF, ISF)

Hyper-soft moulded and blocks, visco-elastic moulded and blocks, steering wheels, structural integral skin foams, semi-rigid integral skin foams, flexible integral skin foams, shoe soles

rigid foams (rPF)

Domestic refrigeration, other appliances, transportation, reefers, panels-discontinuous, spray, blocks, pipe-in-pipe

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

As far as health issues are concerned, the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Registry does not list methyl formate for acute hazard, as a carcinogen, for endocrine disruption or for reproductive and development toxicity. MF is transformed in the body very rapidly, with a half-life of several seconds, into formic acid and methanol. OSHA (US Occupational, Safety & Health Administration), assigned the substance a 100 ppm TWA (an 8-hour time-weighted average ) and 150 ppm STEL(Short-Term Exposure Limit).

In the USA, MF is recognised as “GRAS” (Generally Recognised As Safe) and therefore exempt from the premarket approval requirements of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. In the EU, it is pre-registered under REACH with no further action required until 2018. Based on studies conducted on behalf of FSI and by UNDP by certified indusTab. 5: Physical of methyl formate and HCFC-141b Methyl formate

HCFC-141b

Appearance

Clear liquid

Clear liquid

Boiling point

31.3 °C

32 °C

Property

2

Application

The data provided on physical properties has been taken from this MSDS and compared with HCFC-141b (tab. 5).



1

Foam Type

family of oxygenated hydrocarbons (hydrocarbons with one or more oxygenated functional groups). It has a relatively low molecular weight and is commonly used in the manufacture of formamides, formic acid, pharmaceuticals, insecticides and, more recently, as a blowing agent for polyurethane foams. There has also been use as a refrigerant. An MSDS prepared by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) is available on the internet as well as from several suppliers and users.

 Tab. 3: HCFC-141b alternatives – a comparison

LFL/UFL*

5 – 23 %

7.6 – 17.7 %

Vapour pressure

586 mm Hg @ 25 °C

593 mm Hg @ 25 °C

Lambda, gas

10.7 mW/mk @ 10.0 mW/mk @ 25 °C 25 °C

Auto ignition Specific gravity Molecular weight  Tab. 4: Applications for MF that have been assessed

>450 °C

>200 °C

0.982

1.24

60

117

GWP

Negligible

630

ODP

0

0.11

*LFL/UFL – lower/upper flammability level

99

the main arguments voiced against the use of methyl formate as a blowing agent in PU foams is its perceived explosiveness. The term explosiveness, however, should be used with care and properly defined. An explosion is defined as rupture of an enclosure due to the development of internal pressure from a deflagration or detonation as defined

trial hygienists, process emissions from MF in indoor spray foam applications – a worst case emission scenario – were determined to be far lower than applicable thresholds.

Safety – Methyl formate’s MSDS mentions “extremely flammable” and “vapour/air mixtures are explosive”. Based on this, one of 

Tab. 6: Property comparisons of hypersoft foams made with 141b and MF Test Procedure

Property

Units



HCFC141b

MF

NBR*

ASTM

Density

8 537

D-3574

kg/m3

19.4

19.2

ILD 25 %

9 176

D-3574

N

11

ILD 40 %

9 176

D-3574

N

13

ILD 65 %

9 176

D-3574

N

Comfort factor

9 176

D-3574

n/a

resilience

8 619

D-3574

%

42

in US fire safety code, NFPA 69 (National Fire Protection Association). Three essential conditions are required to explode a substance: fuel including air, an ignition source, and a containment. It should be noted that the fuel can be pure MF or an MF-based fully formulated systems. To bring the latter to explosion is virtually impossible. Apart from

Tab. 7: Property comparisons of viscoelastic foams made with 141b and MF Test procedure

Property

Units

HCFC141b

MF

NBR*

ASTM

Density

8 537

D-3574

kg/m3

34.2

34.8

10

ILD 25 %

9 176

D-3574

N

28

31

13

ILD 40 %

9 176

D-3574

N

36

39

24

23

ILD 65 %

9 176

D-3574

N

60

61

2.2

2.3

Comfort factor

9 176

D-3574

n/a

2.1

2

40

resilience

8 619

D-3574

%

6

5.5

Compression set (90 %)

8 797

D-3574

%

3

3

Compression set (90 %)

8 797

D-3574

%

5

5

Tensile strength

8 515

D-3574

kPa

80

88

Tensile strength

8 515

D-3574

kPa

60

65

Elongation

8 515

D-3574

%

460

470

Elongation

8 515

D-3574

%

230

222

Tear strength

8 516

D-3574

N/m

456

460

Tear strength

8 516

D-3574

N/m

270

301

*National Brazilian standard

*National Brazilian standard

Tab. 8: Property comparisons of flexible integral skin foams made with 141b and MF  Test procedure

Property

ASTM

Tab. 9: Property comparisons of semi-rigid integral skin foams made with 141b and  MF

MF

kg/m3

288

285

Moulded density

D-3574

Shore A

35

35

Hardness

D-2240

%

45

45

resilience

DIN

Property

ASTM

Product

Units

HCFC141b

MF

DIN

Product

Moulded density

D-3574

Hardness

D-2240

resilience

D-3574

53505

Foam core

kg/m3

300

298

Shore A

44

44

D-3574

%

45

45

D-3574

kg/m3

215

205

kPa

215

210

53505

Foam core

Internal density

D-3574

kg/m3

233

230

Internal density

kPa

229

235

Tensile strength

53571

Elongation

53571

%

63

60

Tear strength

53575

N/m

880

860

%

5

3 1,700

Tensile strength

53571

Elongation

53571

%

98

95

Tear strength

53575

N/m

1,280

1,300

%

28

30

Compression set (50 %)

D-3574

Compression set (50 %)

Skin only

D-3574

Skin only

Tensile strength

53504

kPa

1,000

1,000

Elongation

53504

%

96

95

Tear strength

53515

N/m

4,380

4,375



Test procedure

HCFC141b

Units

Tensile strength

53504

kPa

1,720

Elongation

53504

%

79

77

Tear strength

53515

N/m

4,700

4,680

Tab. 10: Property comparisons of shoe soles made with 141b, MF and methylal (ML)

Property type

All

Blowing agent

141b

Density (kg/m )

<450

400

450

>6*

38.9

25.4

Abrasion resistance (mg, maximum)

<350

337.2

161.3

Flex resistance (%, 30,000 cycles)

<200*

0

0

3

Tear resistance (kgf/cm)

R-095 sport

R-096 travel

MF

MF

ML

R-099 rigid

QZCT15 semi-regid

Test method

ML

MF

ML

MF

ML

440

450

420

400

400

400

DIN 53420 ASTM D-792

41.5

41.6

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

DIN 53507 ASTM D-624

140.3

242.3

147.0

96.5

146.9

232.8

DIN 42516 ASTM D-1044

0

0

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

DIN 53543 ASTM D-1052

*Only applicable for flexible shoe soles

100

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

the problem of igniting the polyol mixture, the heat of combustion is so low that the necessary pressure build-up cannot be achieved. UNDP conducted a special review of related flammability issues which concluded that: • MF as a pure liquid is very flammable and requires proper safeguards. The risk of explosion is, however, remote because its low heat of combustion.

• A PU system based on MF can be formulated as a low combustible liquid and will not reach the LFL even in the drum’s head space.

• There is no reason to treat MF differently from HCFC-141b.

Flammability is therefore not necessarily an issue for downstream users that apply fully formulated systems. The situation is different for system houses that purchase “pure” methyl formate, blend this with polyol and 

other components and then package the fully formulated systems into drums for shipment to customers. While measurements show that even then it is difficult to reach the lower flammable limit, the potential exists and it is therefore recommended to follow recommendations for handling flammable liquids which are: • Use appropriate personal protective equipment • The use of closed blending containers, with a dry nitrogen blanket • Explosion proof equipment (pump, agitator, light, heating/cooling) • Electrically grounded equipment and drums (grounding clip) • Install a stationary sensor with alarm function set on 20 % LEL • Provide adequate ventilation • Metering MF under the level of the liquid to which it is being added (to avoid static electricity)

Tab. 11: Property comparisons of domestic appliance foams made with 141b and MF

Tests Closed cell

Units

HCFC-141b UNDP-A

HCFC-141b UNDP-B

MF UNDP-C

MF UNDP-D

%

98.20 %

97.08 %

98.76 %

97.68 %

Density,

kg/m3

27.5

26.7

27.0

33.6

Density, cold age, -80 °F (-62.2 °C)

kg/m

Dimensional stability 1-day

Δ V, %

Dimensional stability 7-day Density, heat age, 200 °F (93.3 °C) Dimensional stability 1-day Dimensional stability 7-day Density, humid age, 158 °F, 100 % rH (70 °C) Dimensional stability 1-day Dimensional stability 7-day Density, compression, parallel

3

27.5

33.3

30.1

32.0

-21.99

-3.35

-0.62

-0.14

Δ M, %

-2.08

0.27

0.52

0.94

Δ V, %

-22.60

-4.35

-1.12

-0.21

Δ M, %

-2.56

-0.23

0.52

0.28

kg/m

27.1

32.5

30.6

32.0

3

Δ V, %

0.08

12.49

-6.43

-1.35

Δ M, %

-1.03

-0.71

-1.51

-1.45

Δ V, %

2.86

2.62

-5.26

-1.20

Δ M, %

-0.37

-0.04

-0.75

-0.98

3

kg/m

27.6

33.6

30.6

32.2 -2.73

Δ V, %

7.50

5.75

-5.24

Δ M, %

0.99

0.94

-0.07

0.35

Δ V, %

8.18

6.23

-8.91

-2.61

Δ M, %

4.10

1.45

3.55

7.09

kg/m

27.4

33.6

31.2

32.4

CS, bar

1.42

1.76

1.89

1.59

kg/m3

27.2

33.2

30.1

32.0

CS, bar

0.83

1.26

0.95

1.4

mW/m-K

10

10

10.7

10.7

K-factor

BTU-in/ft2-hr-°F

0.138

0.140

0.145

0.145

λ value

mW/m-K

19.9

20.1

20.9

20.9

Density, compression, perpendicular Thermal conductivity @ 13 °C midpoint

3

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

• In case MF is blended in isocyanate, use separate, closed blenders to avoid human exposure to isocyanate vapours Environment – MF is not registered as a hazardous air pollutant, groundwater contaminant or persistent organic pollutant. In the USA, MF is not treated as a volatile organic compound and is SNAP (Significant New Alternatives Program) at the US Department of Environmental Protection approved.

In Europe it is compliant with the RoHS ( Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) directives. Its ODP is zero and its GWP insignificant (USEPA/Federal Register 69.190 SNAP). In the EU it is preliminary permitted under REACH regulations.

4. Processability Shipping & storage – shipment of MF can be carried out in carbon steel vessels or containers. No special material is required.

Carbon steel is also acceptable for storage and piping. Under high moisture conditions (>80 % RH) it is suggested to use stainless steel. Potential for moisture contamination can be avoided with a simple nitrogen blanket. MF has a very low viscosity (10 % of that of water). This causes the need to recalibrate viscosity sensitive metering equipment, such as low-pressure pumps, but also allows for gravity or low pressure transfer at around 0.7 bar. Pump transfer is more suitable. Shipping, storage, and handling considerations are the same as for HCFC-141b.

Transportation and storage labeling has to follow applicable regulations in the countries of use.

Product stability – manufacturers typically offer shelf lives of up to 6 months for their systems after date of manufacturing if stored in original, unopened containers at temperatures typically between 10 °C and 30 °C. Assessment of MF-based rigid foam made from two year old system samples was found to still match the reactivity of freshly blended product. Industrial trials showed, however, that MF blended polyols for ISF applications are limited in stability and

101

can lose catalytic activity after about one month. It is reported; but not verified; that changes in stabiliser and/or polyol can solve this issue.

Compatibility – any auxiliary blowing agent requires compatible polyols and MF is no exception. In most cases, the same polyols, surfactants, catalysts and other additives can be used as with HCFC-141b, HCFC-22 and HFC-134a. However, optimisation trials, in particular involving spray foams where blends of different polyols are commonly used, are highly recommended. It should be

5. Foam properties

physical properties before and after replacing HCFC-141b. The technology is deemed acceptable for a particular application if the physical properties are within a predetermined range from the original properties using HCFC-141b. The data provided gives the test results of semi-industrial trials made on production equipment in test laboratories using industrial formulations for flexible foams (tab. 6, 7, 8).

Determining the acceptability and applicability of an HCFC-141b replacement technology includes the measurement of relevant

Structural integral skin foams were tested as part of the shoe sole trials. No testing was conducted on other parts as the customer

emphasised that compatibility issues when changing blowing agents are normal. In the past cyclopentane-based systems initially required significant polyol adjustments to overcome solubility issues and early HCFC141b-based systems showed severe shrinkage.

Tab. 12: Property comparisons of domestic water heater foams made with  141b and MF Physical properties Density

Core

Closed cell content

Test method

Units

HCFC-141b System

Tab. 13: Property comparisons of thermoware water heater foams made with  141b and MF MF System

kg/m3

33.1

34.0

Density

%

98.20

98.76

Closed cell content

D-1621

kg/m3

35.7

37.6

Perpendicular

Density

compression

Strength Density ΔV

D-6226

compression

Strength

D-1621

Psi

2.01

2.04

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

35.7

37.1

ΔV

D-6226

%

0.67

-0.57

Humid age

Cold age

Core

HCFC-141b MF system System

D-1622

kg/m3

25.0

26.6

In-house

%

97.08

97.68

D-1621

kg/m3

24.7

26.6

D-1621

Psi

18.41

18.08

D-1622

kg/m3

26.4

30.0

%

1.34

-1.47

ΔM

D1622

%

-1.05

-0.79

ΔM

D1622

%

-0,50

-1.11

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

36.0

37.1

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

26.8

31.2

ΔV

D-6226

%

1.35

-0.65

ΔV

D-6226

%

1.34

-1.47

ΔM

D1622

%

-1.10

-1.98

ΔM

D1622

%

-0,87

-2.04

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

35.2

36.7

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

25.9

31.0

ΔV

D-6226

%

6.04

-8.84

ΔV

D-6226

%

5.32

-12.03

ΔM

D1622

%

1.69

-0.23

ΔM

D1622

%

1.63

4.82

mW/m-h-K

22.4

24.6

mW/m-hr-K

20.8

24.0

C-518

BTU-in/h-ft-°F

0.155

0.171

C-518

BTU-in/h-ft-°F

0.144

0.155

λ Thermal conductivity @ 13 °C midpoint K-factor

Tab. 14: Property comparisons of panels and rigid block foams made with 141b and  MF Physical properties Density

Units

D-1622

Density

Heat age

Test method

In-house

Perpendicular

Cold age

Physical properties

Core

Closed cell content

HCFC-141b MF system system

Heat age

Humid age

λ Thermal conductivity @ 13 °C midpoint K-factor

Tab. 15: Property comparisons of spray foams made with 141b and MF 

Test method

Units

D-1622

kg/m3

30.1

31.4

Density

In-house

%

98.20

98.76

Closed cell content

Physical properties Core

Test method

Units

HCFC-141b MF system system

D-1622

Pcf

30.4

31.1

In-house

%

97.08

97.68

Perpendicular

Density

D-1621

kg/m3

28.5

32.5

Perpendicular

Density

D-1621

Pcf

42.6

29.8

compression

Strength

D-1621

Psi

20.54

26.72

compression

Strength

D-1621

bar

1.03

1.93

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

29.2

33.3

Density

D-1622

Pcf

31.0

48.0 -0.90

Cold age

Heat age

Humid age

ΔV

D-6226

%

-2.44

0.37

ΔV

D-6226

%

-0.48

ΔM

D1622

%

-1.75

-1.08

ΔM

D1622

%

0.00

0.37

Density

D-1622

kg/m3

29.6

34.3

Density

D-1622

Pcf

29.5

49.2

ΔV

D-6226

%

1.40

0.10

ΔM

D1622

%

-1.23

-1.02

Density

D-1622

kg/m

29.2

33.6

ΔV

D-6226

%

6.15

3.96

ΔM

D1622

λ

Thermal conductivity @ 13 °C midpoint K-factor

102

C-518

3

Cold age

Heat age

Humid age

ΔV

D-6226

%

-2.04

-7.84

ΔM

D1622

%

-7.84

-0.61

Density

D-1622

Pcf

30.6

45.5

ΔV

D-6226

%

-1.53

-2.89

D1622

9.89

%

0.12

0.11

ΔM

mW/m-h-K

20.2

26.8

λ

BTU-in/h-ft-°F

01.40

0.151

Thermal conductivity @ 13 °C midpoint K-factor

C-518

%

10.37

mW/m-hr-oK

19.9

24.5

BTU-in/hr-ft-F

0.138

0.170

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

commonly only judges the surface, which needs to be free of pinholes. In very few exceptions, drop tests or bending tests were performed. Tests on ISF used for steering wheels were conducted at a large, international manufacturer who refused to disclose the results but confirmed that the product with methyl formate met its specifications, and subsequently converted its production to methyl formate systems using in-house system blending (tab. 9, 10).

As part of an assessment at an international manufacturer of domestic refrigerators, a fully formulated, MF-based system was tested.

A Lanzen panel was used for these trials along with a Cannon high-pressure dispenser. A square mould was used in order to prepare test specimens. The resulting product missed the target density of 32 kg/m3 as well as the k-factor value by 10 – 15 %. When used in other appliances the same system was used at the previously mentioned domestic refrigerator manufacturer and tested in a commercial refrigerator unit used for bottle coolers. In this application the MF system produced acceptable results, achieving foam densities of around 36 kg/m3 and improved k-factors. 

Semi-industrial tests were conducted on a generic commercial refrigeration system back to back with HCFC-141b and have significance for all other appliance foams (tab. 11).

A more accurate thermal efficiency evaluation would be using products in side-by-side, reverse heat flow testing. A reverse heat flow test at FSI showed an only 0.75 °C lower temperature increase compared with HCFC-141b, which is deemed insignificant.

The results are better than expected from the difference in the k-factor of the blowing agents and appear to indicate that MF performs better in a laminated product than in a non-laminated sample. FSI also tested for 5 year aging which showed minimal degradation of foam properties.

Additional tests were made comparing HCFC141b and MF systems in the manufacture of of waterheaters (tab. 12), thermoware (tab. 13), panels and rigid blockfoams (tab. 14), and spray foams (tab. 15). It was concluded that the system would need optimisation to meet the requirements of domestic appliance manufacturers and that this would not be within the scope of this assessment.

6. User interviews Testimonies were received from companies where MF has been trialed or is in commercial use. In total 30 testimonies were received from users in 7 countries, 18 from Brazil and 12 from other countries. Of these 29 were positive and 1 was negative. Some of these are listed in table 16.

7. Conclusions and recommendations Table 17 provides a consolidated overview of the findings derived from this assessment.

Based on the evidence provided in this assessment, UNDP recommended to the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund to allow the use of methyl formate as an alternative blowing agent to replace HCFC-141b in PU foam applications in its HCFC phaseout projects. It also recommended that: • To minimise safety risks at downstream users, such projects should preferably be implemented through local system houses;

Tab. 16: Summary of testimonies collected during the assessment of MF

Foam type

Flexible and integral skin foams

Application

Company

Country

Validation

Hyper-soft molded

Kumar

Brazil

+

Hyper-soft blocks

Aumar

Brazil

+

Viscoelastic molded

Tropical

Brazil

+

Viscoelastic blocks

Tropical

Brazil

+

Tab. 17: Consolidated overview of MF technical assessment Testimonies

Foam type

Application

Process- Physical Validation HSE ability properties result

Takata Petri Injefox Poliurethane Injefox rallyspeed

Brazil

+

Hyper-soft moulded

Brazil Brazil Brazil Australia

+ + + +

Hyper-soft blocks

+

+

+

+

Viscoelastic moulded

+

+

+

+

Domestic refrigeration

Mabe

Mexico

-

Commercial refrigeration

Gelopar Zero Chill Flow Fabristeel Perlick H & K Dallas Cooke

Brazil South Africa Australia China USA USA New Zealand

+ + + + + + + +

Water heaters

Prosol

Brazil

+

Transportation, reefers

Termosul

Brazil

+

Steering wheels Structural (rigid) Semi-flexible

rigid foam



Flexible and integral skin foams

rigid foams

+

+

+

+

Viscoelastic blocks

+

+

+

+

Steering wheels

+

+*

+

+

Structural (rigid)

+

+*

+

+

Semi-flexible

+

+

+

+

Shoe soles

+

+*

+

+

residential appliances

+

+

-

-

Other appliances

+

+

+

+

Panels, transportation, reefers

+

+

+

+

Panels continuous

Paneltech

Australia

+

Spray

+

+

+

+

Panels discontinuous

Danica

Brazil

+

Blocks

+

+*

+

+

Spray

Somma Isar Global

Brazil Brazil Brazil

+ + +

Pipe-in-pipe

+

+

+

+

Buoyancies

+

+

+

+

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

103

• Project designers should ensure that: - Chemical compatibility is verified, - Minimum density is observed, - Health, safety, and environmental recommendations are incorporated, - Implications related to the flammable and corrosive character of the substance are addressed,

- A compliance monitoring proposal is included.

The Fund also recommended its agencies share this assessment, along with information on other alternatives, when assisting developing countries in preparing projects for the phase-out of HCFC-141b in poly-

China as market for plastics and rubber machines On the occasion of Chinaplas, to be held from 17 – 20 May 2011 in Guangzhou, China, the Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association of the German Engineering Federation VDMA has published latest statistics on German and international exports of plastics and rubber machines to China.

According to the report, German exports to China in 2010 increased by 64.4 % to reach an export volume of more than EUR 587 million. This growth more than compensated

the slump experienced in the preceding year.

The export volume scarcely fell short of the peak volume recorded in 2004.

urethane foam applications. UNDP is already preparing a significant amount of projects based on this technology and notes significant cost savings compared with other technologies. Such savings allows the existing and somewhat restricted funding to reach more companies and therefore be more effective. 

share of 28.5 % in worldwide exports – became the number one foreign supplier of this equipment to China.

Further important machinery exporters to China in 2009 ranking behind Germany and Japan (25.0 %) comprise of Taiwan (8.5 %), the USA (6.7 %), Italy (6.3 %), Republic of Korea (5.7 %), France (4.2 %), and Canada (3.7 %). Within this list, only the USA and Canada showed increase rates in the year of the economic and financial crises.

Worldwide exports of plastics and rubber machines to China in 2009 reached a volume of EUR 1.25 billion, a decrease of 28.2 % when compared to the preceding period. For the first time ever, German supp lie r s out r an k ed their Japanese com- World exports of plastics and rubber machinery to China petitors and – at a 2008 EUR 2009 EUR Country

German exports of plastics and rubber machines to China



Change 2009/2008 (%)

million

million

Germany

494.5

357.1

–27.8

Japan

523.2

313.8

–40.0

Taiwan

–43.5

Year

EUR million

Change over previous year (%)

Share in world exports to China (%)

189.4

107.0

2005

307.4

–48.2

19.8

USA

75.5

84.0

11.2

2006

288.8

–6.1

17.5

Italy

97.9

79.3

–19.0

2007

346.9

20.1

21.3

republic of Korea

117.2

71.3

–39.2

2008

494.5

42.6

28.4

France

59.5

52.2

–12.3

2009

357.1

–27.8

28.5

Canada

34.7

46.3

33.2

2010

587.2

64.4

N. A.

Total

1,745.8

1,253.4

–28.2

! n o i t n e t t A

E-MAGAZINE Did you know already that you can read our magazines online?

In case you’re interested please contact our subscription department by mail or phone: Sabrina Somnitz Tel.: +49 2102 9345-12 · E-mail: service@gupta-verlag.de

104

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Spray Foam Convention & Expo 2011 More than 940 delegates attended this busy event, organised by the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA) from 9 – 11 February 2011 in reno in the Nevada desert. Ahead of the two days of technical conference and exhibition, 239 delegates participated in a number of accreditation courses and seminars, most of whom attended two courses.

These courses covered material including fundamentals of spray polyurethane foam, health and safety, uses of spray foam for roofing, building envelope fundamentals, and a foundation course for building inspectors, architects and building engineers.

“The SPFA is pleased to report a positive response to these courses from the industry. This is the highest number of participants to date”, reported Kurt Riesenberg, Executive Director, SPFA. “All the work undertaken with the federal agencies together with the CPI is paying dividends, as more and more contractors see the value in accreditation and better understand the concept of the building envelope”.

Despite of the severe lack of housing starts in the US, the market for SPF continues to grow through retrofitting buildings and finding new applications for the material. Demand in Canada is growing as the government provides tax credits for upgrading and installing insulation as well as air barriers in residential buildings. Opportunities will increase in Mexico as the government has pledged to build several thousand new “eco homes” to help solve some of the country’s severe housing shortage. These will contain some spray Kurt riesenberg, Executive Director, Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA)

polyurethane foam insulation, according to Dr. Jorge Lemus, Productos Eiffel.

The versatility of SPF was highlighted during the “National Industry Excellence Awards” lunch. This event provided a fascinating insight into the variety of applications for SPF and featured some of the best projects of 2010. Winners were selected upon their ability to highlight the benefits of SPF and its role in roofing and insulation. They included wall insulation for public buildings such as schools, military barracks, residential buildings, wine storage tanks, cheese production tanks, and the insulation of a rotating tank for soybean conditioning while it was in use! Another interesting project included the roof repairs on the Grand Coulee Dam. The hydroelectric power station is the largest generator in the US and any downtime caused by the roof repair would have created a loss of USD 50,000 per hour. Amazingly, there were no problems.

Two mornings of technical presentations provided extensive coverage of current and proposed building codes and their implications for the use of SPF, material handling, and health and safety. One example are the changes in building code due to take effect in 2012, which will require all new buildings to have an air barrier – this could create a huge growth in demand for SPF. Overall, the SPF industry in North America remains healthy, with total production in-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

creasing by 8.5 % during 2010 to an estimated 420 million lbs (190,500 t). The region is becoming a “centre of excellence” of the industry, and a growing volume of material is exported around the world.

The keynote speaker, Canadian Mike Holmes, the man whose mission is to “Make It Right”, America’s most trusted contractor, creator and host of the successful TV programme “Holmes on Homes”, emphasised that quality of workmanship is key to the growth of the SPF industry. His motivational speech suggested, that the industry should remain optimistic and see only opportunities rather than problems.

The SPFA has a busy year ahead including participation in Roof Point – a programme to evaluate the sustainability of all aspects of re-roofing. SPFA will continue to be active in developing standards and guidelines to the use of SPF in photovoltaic systems, standards for the growing use of hybrid systems, the language regarding intumescent coatings. New codes relating to thermal ignition barriers will be updated and published in June 2011. The recent appearance of a medium density SPF foam with a density in the range of 0.5 – 1.4 pcf, will require further research and discussion as to its suitability for various applications. Safety issues relating to the growing use of low pressure DIY foam kits is also on the SPFA’s list of work in progress.

During the afternoon sessions, 64 exhibitors filled the hall displaying a complete range of materials, services, and equipment, whilst also illustrating the interdependency of raw material suppliers, system houses, and contractors within the industry. 

Next year’s Spray Foam Convention & Expo will be held from 30 January – 2 February 2012 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dallas, TX, USA.

105

Dr. Wayne Stevens*

Low temperature stable isocyanate prepolymers – Pioneering continuous reaction As oil exploration continues unabated around the globe, often in the most inhospitable and remote locations, the problems associated with transporting, storing and processing polyurethane (PU) elastomer raw materials, used extensively in coating applications for the oil and gas industry, is intensified. This is due to the fact that the isocyanate component of the prepolymer needs to be kept at elevated temperatures (above 15 – 20 °C) to avoid crystallisation, which is normally achieved through the introduction of a heating process. rosehill Polymers has pioneered an innovative polymer technology, using its continuous reaction process, to produce a low temperature stable isocyanate prepolymer, which has been tested and is stable to –18 °C for up to six months.

Common uses of isocyanate prepolymers Isocyanate prepolymers are commonly used in two-component manufacturing of PU elastomers for many different types of applications in the oil and gas industry. These include areas such as coatings for pipelines to provide thermal insulation, as well as buoyancy provision, cable and flowline protection, clamps, suppression strakes, bend control items (e. g. restrictors and stiffeners), and custom thermal insulation coating for subsea items (e. g. production manifolds and riser systems).

Preparation of PU elastomers PU elastomers are typically prepared (fig. 1) via a reaction between a mixture of diols, triols (fig. 2) and sometimes higher functional polyols with monomeric diisocyanates (fig. 3) and/or prepolymeric isocyanates. The polyol components of the PU elastomer consist of polyethers or polyesters, usually depending on the

mechanical properties required. Prepolymeric isocyanates are usually known as PU prepolymers and are essentially reactive, low molecular weight PU polymers or oligomers, depending on the molecular weight of the polyol, which are capable of further polymerisation. They are produced by reacting diols and triols in an excess of monomeric diisocyanates. In essence, a PU prepolymer is essentially an isocyanate-capped polyol, diluted with monomeric isocyanate.

Advantages of PU prepolymers The advantages of using PU prepolymers in two-component PU elastomer production are as follows: • Controlled reactivity to enable easy processing.

• Reduced exotherm and shrinkage, minimising thermal degradation.

• Improved storage stability – raw methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) can crystallise below 40 °C making it difficult to handle, transport and process.

• Polymeric MDI blends can be stable at low temperatures, but can produce elastomers with poor stress-strain properties.

• The end user is able to manipulate favourable mix ratios e. g. 1:1 by volume.

In addition, PU prepolymers have significantly improved mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, elongation at break, tear and abrasion resistance. This is as a result of the urethane segments already being built into the backbone of the prepolymer before any reaction takes place with the polyol component and because prepolymers minimise the tendency for urethanes to competition reactions during processing, which can lead to poor phase compatibility and poor mechanical properties.

Freezing of iscocyanate prepolymers It is generally accepted that most prepolymers manufactured by using the batch reaction process do not withstand low temperatures due to freezing or crystallisation. The traditional prepolymers commonly used in the offshore industry still have to be kept above 15 – 20 °C to prevent crystallisation, which is achieved by introducing costly tanker, Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC), or drum heating processes.

Without any heat, the prepolymers are very viscous and more than likely totally solid, depending on the external temperature. Reheating is then required, which produces infe-

Isocyanate monomer or prepolymer N=C=O +

Difunctional polyol H-O

OH

Isocyanate monomer or prepolymer + O=C=N

H * Dr. Wayne Stevens wayne.stevens@rosehillpolymers.com Technical and Operations Director rosehill Polymers Ltd., Sowerby Bridge, UK

106

Fig. 1: PU formation



H

N−C−O

O−C−N

O

O

Urethane

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

rior elastomers due to dimerisation taking place. In addition, dimerisation can also occur when the prepolymer is in its solid form and the phenomenon is permanent, leading to inferior mechanical properties of the resultant elastomer due to the change in the number of isocyanate groups available to react.

As there is often a requirement for companies in the offshore oil and gas industry to transport, store and process prepolymers in cold outdoor environments, a low temperature stable isocyanate prepolymer is needed.

Continuous reaction process Rosehill Polymers has pioneered the use of continuous reaction to manufacture MDIbased prepolymers. Its production facility (fig. 4) has been designed and built by its team of in-house engineers to support a high production speed of 1,000 kg every 10 min, producing prepolymers consistently.

One of the issues with batch reacting to produce isocyanate prepolymers is that the isocyanate is added first, followed by the addition of the other polyol. This method has a

tendency to produce unwanted chain extensions, which means that the isocyanatecapped polyol (isocyanate prepolymer) then goes on to react with another polyol and then another prepolymer to give di-prepolymers and sometimes tri-prepolymers.

In contrast, with the continuous reactor, the requisite ratio of polyol and isocyanate are mixed together in a small volume with a high intensity mixer, at the right temperature, to give an almost instantaneous reaction. This process eliminates the formation of unwanted chain extension reactions.

Low temperature stable isocyanate prepolymer

During the continuous reaction process, the temperature of each reaction component is also tailored to provide the correct reaction profile, which eliminates temperature variation.

In addition, the process reduces the amount of time before reactants are homogenised.

Low temperature stability

Rosehill Polymers has utilised its continuous reactor to produce Flexilon i2670, a low temperature stable isocyanate prepolymer, which has been thoroughly tested and is able to withstand temperatures down to –18 °C for up to 

six months. A comparison between continuous and batch prepolymer storage is illustrated in tables 1 and 2, which clearly demonstrate that the continually produced prepolymer is a clear liquid after six months at 4 – 8 °C and up to five weeks at –18 °C. It is also still a liquid alter six months compared to the batch produced prepolymer, which is solid after one week at both 4 – 8 °C and –18 °C.

As well as chain extension reactions occurring during the batch process, leading to larger than desired molecular weight species, incomplete reaction can also occur.

Fig. 3: Common monomeric isocyanate structures

CH2

NCO

CH2

CH2 

Fig. 2: Typical polyol structure (triol) HO

OCN

PMDI

4,4‘-MDI

OH

NCO

NCO OCN

NCO

CH3 OCN

CH2

n

CH3 NCO

NCO

OCN 2,4‘-MDI

OH



2,6‘-TDI

MDI = methylene diphenyl diisocyanate PMDI = polymeric MDI TDI = toluene diisocyanate

Tab. 1: Continuously produced prepolymer storage observation results 4 – 8 °C (storage in fridge)

–18 °C (storage in freezer)



NCO 2,4‘-TDI

Tab. 2: Batch produced prepolymer storage observation results 4 – 8 °C (storage in fridge)

–18 °C (storage in freezer)

1 week visual inspection

Clear liquid

Clear liquid

1 week visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

2 weeks visual inspection

Clear liquid

Clear liquid

2 weeks visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

3 weeks visual inspection

Clear liquid

Clear liquid

3 weeks visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

5 weeks visual inspection

Clear liquid

Clear liquid

5 weeks visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

3 months visual inspection

Clear liquid

Cloudy liquid

3 months visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

5 months visual inspection

Clear liquid

Very cloudy liquid

5 months visual inspection

Opaque solid

Opaque solid

6 months visual inspection

Clear liquid

Opaque liquid

6 months visual inspection

Clear liquid

Opaque liquid

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

107

In the molecular weight distributions diagram (fig. 5) the batch and continuous prepolymers are seen by Size Extension Chromatography (SEC) Analysis, which shows the differences between the processes in terms of molecular weight. The continuously produced prepolymers demonstrate narrow molecular weight, which means they contain less undesirable impurities and are less prone to crystallisation.

ture stable PU prepolymers, which is not only quicker than batch reaction but eliminates the formation of unwanted reaction by-products. An isocyanate component that eliminates the need for financially and environmentally costly heating facilities, either on site or during transportation, represents the next step forward in terms of quality assurance and reliability of PU elastomer raw materials for offshore coating applications.

In the demanding processing environments and ever-remote locations of the oil and gas industry, Flexilon i2670 is revolutionising the transport, storage and processing of PU elastomers for offshore coating applications.



Future development

Conclusion Rosehill Polymers has pioneered the use of continuous reaction to produce low tempera-

108

Fig. 4:  rosehill Polymer's continuous reactor

Batch process Continuous process

% weight

As crude oil gets hotter, due to more efficient oil extraction procedures that enable companies to go deeper into the earth, a typical PU elastomer pipe coating has to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, sometimes in excess of 150 °C. In order to meet this demand for high temperature stable polyurethanes for the offshore oil and gas industry, Rosehill Polymers is already developing two new innovative PU hybrid elastomer systems that utilise its low temperature stable prepolymer technology.

These systems have been subjected to hot wet ageing at 100 °C and 120 °C and have already shown excellent retention of mechanical properties after twelve and six months respectively. It is expected that after further age testing the new systems will be introduced where high temperature resistant material is now required.

Fig. 5:  Molecular weight distribution of batch (blue) and continuously produced (red) prepolymers

Low molecular weight species aid nucleation

High molecular weight species aid nucleation

Molecular weight

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

H. S. Kim, H. H. Park*

A study on non-shrink multipurpose foam for manufacturing automobile seat pads Generally, seat cushions, seat backs, and arm rests are made of two to three kinds of isocyanate and two to four kinds of resin premix depending on each manufacturer. The density of automobile seat pads made in Korea ranges between 45 and 60 kg/m3 in case of seat cushions, and between 35 and 50 kg/m3 in case of seat backs. There are not many manufacturing defects in case of seat cushions by virtue of their high density, but there are relatively much more defects in case of seat backs due to their low density and their thin, complicated shapes of moulds. To solve this problem, our company has developed a non-shrink multipurpose foam for manufacturing automobile seat pads which can combine various raw material systems into one single system. (Non-crushing foams, which have been limitedly used for seat cushions, were applied to seat backs.) This raw material system was developed by using MT type isocyanate, which maximised the merits of MDI & TDI, and low monol polyol with low OH value. As a result, the system enables efficient management of raw materials by combining the production line of seat cushion and seat back, and can increase productivity compared to conventional seat pads by decreasing manufacturing defect.

1. Introduction

2. Experimental 2.1 Foam preparation Moulded foam samples used in this experiment were produced, using a hand-mixer and a high-pressure dispenser (HK-650 MQ type foaming machine). The test mould was used to produce foam samples for measuring physical properties and crushability. Other conditions were as follows: • Mould size: 400 x 400 x 100 mm, aluminium alloy mould • Temperature of raw materials: 25±1 °C • Mould temperature: 65 °C • Curing time: 5 min

Curve comparison 200 Developed foam: 8.5 %

160

f (mm)

Currently, car seat makers and foam makers are manufacturing many kinds of seat pads with various densities and performances. The purpose of manufacturing various seat pads by auto makers is performance differentiation in terms of ride comfortability, gas mileage, and environmental matters, as well as reduction of the production cost. In this concern,

foam makers have various production systems including storage tanks for raw materials as many as the number of kinds of prod-

ucts, safety management and environmental facilities. Accordingly, they are operating outdoor storage tanks, working tanks, and holding tanks, which can cause many problems concerning the facilities and the quality of raw materials. In this matter, we are introducing a non-shrink multipurpose foam for manufacturing automobile seat pads, developed by our company to solve these problems.

* Hyun Sung Kim

Conventional foam: 15.9 %

120 80 40

kdhskim@kmci.co.kr researcher of Automotive parts Heon Hee Park

Fig. 1:  Comparison of the conventional and the developed foam

0

0

60

120

180

240

300

Time (s)

Team leader of Automotive parts Kumho Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Application Technical Center, Korea Published with kind permission of CPI, Center for the Polyurethanes Industry, Washington, DC, USA Paper, Polyurethanes 2010 Technical Conference, 11 – 13 October 2010, Houston, TX, USA, CPI, Center for the Polyurethanes Industry

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Fig. 2:  Comparison of shrinkage of the conventional foam and the developed foam.

109

2.2 Measurement of foam properties Foaming profiles such as foam rise (blowing and gelling velocity), temperature and pressure, the degree of shrinkage according to density (35~55 kg/m3) and indexes were examined during free foaming by using the foam rise tester. We also compared a conventional seat pad system currently used by most manufacturers and our newly developed system. Crushability was compared by measuring the load to compress a moulded foam sample into 60 % of its original volume immediately after demoulding using universal test machine (compressive strength tester, Dongil Shimadz).

Crushability can indirectly indicate the ratio of closed cell to open cell. Air flowability was measured in accordance with JIS K-6401. The cellular structure of foam was measured by using a Stereoscopic Zoom Microscope (VM-35, Pluswin) and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope: JSM5400).

Zoom Microscope are shown in figure 3, for comparison of the conventional foam and the developed foam. Figure 4 shows cell structure seen through the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to observe cell structures changed by mechanical crushing. The physical properties of conventional foam is weakened by crushing damage and seat pad quality deteriorates, whereas the developed foam was found to be excellent in physical properties because it can be produced without crushing process. It is also found that our system can open cell.

We applied non-shrink, chemical cell opening technology developed through control

of MDI ingredients and chemical combination of resin premix. Figure 5 shows a comparison of crushablity and air flowability of the two foams, and the developed foam’s superiority in the both properties.

We improved crushability and air flowability by adjusting the mixture of various ingredients focusing on the type and content of silicone surfactant, catalyst and crosslinker, which are main ingredients of polyurethane foam. Especially, silicone surfactant is useful for foam moulding and cell opening because it can control cell size and uniformity by stabilising gas bubbles during 4.653 µm 2500X

4.653 µm 2500X

Fig. 3:  Cell structure of the conventional foam and the developed foam (before crushing)

3. Results and discussion First of all, we compared foam profiles of conventional foam and the developed foam.

As shown in figure 1, the developed foam is more stable than conventional foam because of relatively less collapse. The reduction of void, collapse, and other defects in production was confirmed through line tests

by Hyundai Motors and Seat Maker of GMDeawoo Motors (KM&I).

We developed the new foam as having desirable cell opening and less foam collapse by designing it having moderate gelling speed compared to the conventional foam. Table 1 shows overall physical properties of our newly developed system. No shrinkage could be observed with the naked eyes when producing foams of 35~55 kg/m3 density.

Figure 2 shows the comparison of shrinkage between the conventional foam and the developed foam 5 min after demoulding.

The cell structure and the degree of cell opening seen through the Stereoscopic

110

Fig. 4:  Cell structure of the conventional foam (left) and the developed foam (right) (after crushing) 

20 kV x350

50 µm 000099

20 kV x350

50 µm 000097

20 kV x35

500 µm 000007

20 kV x35

500 µm 000098

Tab. 1: Physical properties of the developed foam according to changes in density

Contents Core density, kg/m3 25 % ILD, kgf/314 cm

2

Ball rebound, % Tensile strength, kg/cm2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

36.4

39.4

42.66

45.3

48.4

51.8

54.3

13.4

15.6

18.9

21.1

24.4

27.4

29.6

67

66

66

66

66

65

65

1.70

1.80

1.95

2.01

2.14

2.29

2.35

Elongation, %

132

140

142

145

148

152

159

Tear strength, kg/cm

0.77

0.84

0.87

1.01

1.02

1.08

1.15

Compression set (wet), % (50 % compression, 50 °C, 95 % rH, 22 h)

9.0

9.1

8.4

7.2

7.1

7.0

7.1

Compression set (dry), % (75 % compression, 80 °C, 22 h)

7.1

6.5

5.9

5.4

5.2

5.0

4.9

Air flowability, cm3/cm2∙s

78

71

67

53

49

45

41

Isocyanate: Cosmonate CG-3701S, NCO: 37.5 %, Index: 100

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

properties of the conventional foam and the developed foam are shown in figure 5 – 7 and table 2. The table indicates that phys-

foaming. We used additives that enable easy cell opening and excellent foam stability during foaming. The overall physical 

Fig. 5: Crushability and air flowability of the conventional foam and the developed foam.

Crushability, kgf/314 cm2

150 100 50 0



Conventional foam Developed foam

As mentioned above, our non-shrink multipurpose foam for manufacturing automobile seat pads can be summarised as follows: First, our system can reduce the cost caused by facility maintenance and quality trouble through an efficient raw material management. Many problems arise in the car seat makers, related to facility management and material quality management due to use of various raw materials for making automobile seat cushions and seat backs. To solve these problems our system can simultaneously produce various kinds of seat cushions between density range of 35 – 55 kg/m3, using only one system (only one kind of isocyanate and resin premix) in a single production line.

Conventional foam Developed foam

Fig. 6: Tensile & tear strength and elongation of the conventional foam and the developed foam.

Tear strength, kg/cm Tensile strength, kg/cm2

2.5 2.0

200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0

1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0



4. Conclusion

Air flowability, cm3/cm2

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Conventional foam

Developed foam

Elongation, %

Conventional foam Developed foam

Second, our system can reduce the production cost by freely controlling the input volume of raw materials. The foam makers can freely control the input volume and packing ratio according to the production conditions while maintaining the same hardness. As a result, the foam makers can reduce defects (shrinkage, crack, wrinkle, void, and so on) caused by an excess of closed cells. The possibility of defect reduction was confirmed through line tests by Hyundai Motors and Seat Maker of GM-Deawoo Motors (KM&I) in 2009.

Fig. 7: Compression set and ball rebound of the conventional foam and the developed foam.

Wet set, % Dry set, %

15

Ball rebound, %

70 65

10

60

5 0



55

Conventional foam

50

Developed foam

Conventional foam Developed foam

Tab. 2: Physical properties of the conventional foam and the developed foam

Contents

Developed foam

Physical properties Core density, kg/m3 25 % ILD, kgf/314 cm

Conventional foam

S/Back & S/Cushion

S/Back & S/Cushion

S/Cushion

34.3

38.0

50.6

55.4

41.0

55.1

14.9

14.8

22.3

21.9

12.43

21.16

Sag factor

3.10

3.26

3.09

3.10

3.03

3.05

Tensile strength, kg/cm2

1.72

1.78

1.98

2.06

1.66

1.83

Elongation, %

140

140

169

170

131

136

Tear strength, kg/cm

0.70

0.81

0.97

1.07

0.70

0.75

2

Ball rebound, %

67

66

66

66

61

64

Air flowability, cm3/cm2∙s

70.8

62.0

54.4

53.3

40.1

-

Compression set (wet), % (50 % compression, 50 °C, 95 % rH, 22 h)

9.5

9.1

7.5

7.0

14.4

10.1

Compression set (dry), % (75 % compression, 80 °C, 22 h)

7.0

6.3

5.1

5.0

11.1

10.3

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

ical properties of the developed foam are 10 – 30 % higher than the conventional foam.

Third, our system can reduce the cost for facility maintenance and operation, as well as quality problems caused by seasonal change. The raw material system developed by our company has an advantage that can produce without the equipment (crushing and vacuum roller) that is used to cope with the shrinkage necessarily coming out during seat pad production, and is a cause of the defects during the change of season. Production without crushing and vacuum roller can maximise the use of working space, reduce the cost for facility maintenance and

111

operation, and shorten the producton lead time (demould → rework process) when producing seat pads.

5. References [1] T. Kasuga, M. Hayashi, K. Saiki and T. Satou, “Low density MDI-based HR seat cushion having excellent durability”, Polyurethane Expo ’98, September 17 – 20, 1988, p. 491 – 504 [2] T. Jono, T. Sato and T. Fukami, ”Low density MDI-based HR foam for seat back” , Polyurethane Expo ’96, p. 512 – 516, 1986

[3] H. H. Park, J. B. Park and Hiroshi Ueda, ”Non crushing foam system for automotive seat”, Polyurethane Expo 2002, October 13 – 16, 2002, p. 61 – 69 [4] H. Utsumi, M. Obata, T. Nishioka, K. Ueno and S. Sakai, ”New HR-molded foam system for automotive seat cushion” 35th Annual polyurethane technical marketing conference, October 9 – 12, 1994, p. 489 – 497 [5] K. D. Cavender, J. Cellular Plastics, Volume 22, May, 1986 [6] M. W. Creswick, K. D. Lee, R. B. Turner and L. M. Huber, J. Cellular Plastics, Volume 25, September, 1989

Bayfomox – a new sprayable polyurethane system for use as fire resistant coating

[7] H. H. Park, J. B. Park, J. Cellular Plastics, Volume 39, July, 2003 [8] G. Rossmy, H. J. Kollmeier, W. Lidy, H. Schator and M. Wiemann, J. Cellular Plastics, November/December, 1981 [9] H. J. Kollmeier, G. Burkhart, J. Klietsch and H. Lammerting, J. Cellular Plastics, November/December, 1984 [10] D. R. Battice and W. J. Lopes, J. Cellular Plastics, Volume 23, March, 1987 [11] Mitsui Chemicals Inc., “Technical service bulletin“ 97.12



system. The system is a two-component system based upon a polyether polyol and PMDI isocyanate and contains no halogens, no asbestos or fibres, no heavy metals, no propellants or solvents.

Modifying existing technology Lanxess is a leading producer of phosphorus chemicals and uses this chemistry to manufacture a wide range of flame retardants and chemical systems. One of these products is Bayfomox, a product developed when the company was part of Bayer AG. Originally developed to create fire resistant moulded polyurethane flexible and rigid foams, the intumescent chemistry has been modified to allow its application as a spray foam coating.

Fire safety – a global concern The main principle of fire safety considers the flammability of construction materials as well as the spread of fire in a building. The flammability of materials plays a decisive role in the ignition phase of a fire and can be influenced by the choice of materials and flame retardants. In a fully developed fire, the main concern is to control the flame spread and to avoid the propagation of the fire to other parts of the building. Therefore materials that can create fire stops to avoid and

112

reduce the spread of fire are essential in creating a safe building environment.

In order to create a sprayable material that meets fire resistance requirements, the existing Bayfomox polyurethane technology has been modified. The ability to apply the material as a spray allows it to be applied quickly and efficiently whilst maintaining its excellent 

Tab. 1: PIr panel coated with Bayfomox

Fire stop materials or fire barriers are often based on intumescent systems, which can be applied as component parts or as coatings. In recognition of the growing worldwide demand for fire resistant products and coatings and the need for greater awareness of fire safety, especially in building and construction requirements, Lanxess has developed an innovative sprayable intumescent form of its existing Bayfomox polyurethane

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

level of fire resistance. Spray technology also allows even complex geometric parts to be easily coated. This new technology offers additional, economic benefits to the customer. The new Bayfomox formulation now creates a coating that combines insulation properties, acoustics and fire protection in a single product, thereby avoiding the need for several installation steps (fig 1). Bayfomox spray foam coatings outperform conventional intumescent coatings when it comes to heat insulation. In addition, they boast soundproofing properties that can be adjusted if necessary.

caused problems, such as a blocked mixing head and uneven material flow. Therefore, the challenge has been to adjust the formulation to make it sprayable while offering maximum efficiency in terms of coating coverage.

New spray technology

Working with German equipment manufacturer FluidSystems GmbH & Co. KG from Haan, Lanxess has been successful in adapting both the chemical system and application equipment to provide a sprayable, fire resistant coating that can be applied to a variety of materials, including rigid and flexible substrates. A standard machine Reactor H-XP2 from FluidSystems was used for this development (fig. 2).

Due to the use of a solid flame retardant the polyurethane system is a dispersion rather than a liquid. Dispensing the system using conventional spray foam equipment initially

Using lightweight, portable, spray equipment allows a contractor to easily apply a thin layer of Bayfomox coating to substrates in-situ, making it suitable for use in

 Tab. 2: FluidSystems’ reactor H-XP2 used for spraying

 Tab. 3: Fire resistant coating for construction materials

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

both new and retrofitting building projects.

The product is also very versatile due to its excellent adhesion properties to various substrates, including wood and metals. The chemical system is also suitable for modification, so that different densities to meet a range of performance requirements can be obtained.

Product approval Bayfomox has been tested and approved by the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik.

The applied system has a density of 250 kg/m 3 (16 pcf), meets class B2 in DIN 4102 flammability tests, and has a fire resistance time of 60 min when a 10 mm coating is applied to a 60 mm PIR panel (fig. 3). 

Under the motto “Pigments + Protection”, Lanxess recently presented its product portfolio for the coatings industry at the European Coatings Show in Nuremberg, Germany. This included the spray application for the intumescent foam Bayfomox as well as the phosphorus-based halogenfree flame-retardant additives Levagard and Disflamoll. The special properties of these transparent flame retardants also enable them to be used in paints and coatings as VOC-free solvents, viscosity depressants, dispersion and wetting agents or antifoams.

Lanxess also highlighted its extensive Preventol range of biocides, the pigments of the lightfast, weather-stable and chemical-resistant Bayferrox and Colortherm lines, and the organic and inorganic pigment preparations Levanyl and Levanox.

113

H. Ottensmann, M. Dimmers*

New concepts for aliphatic PU floor coatings based on renewable resources

are being produced as a result of the PIC reacting with water (e. g. air moisture).

The market of „green“ raw materials for the production of 100 % PU coatings experiences high growth rates. With regard to environmental sustainability, the renewable resource aspect of speciality chemicals is getting more important. Concurrently, each and every coating has to fulfil the highest technical standards in order to be competitive. Alberdingk Boley has started this development already in 2005 and is now able to offer solvent-free products for hard, aliphatic floor coatings.

The paper will show a comparison of standard aliphatic coatings versus new two-pack aliphatic polyurethanes based on renewable resources with highest hydrophobic properties. It will also disclose a comparison of different chemical basics of the polyurethanes.

Looking at a two-layer system (fig. 2), it is typical to apply a self-leveling coat layer additionally on top of the primer. This way, is it possible to achieve a layer thickness of approximately 1.5 mm. If facing larger differences in between the levels of the wear coat, it is possible to apply a levelling coat as an option to have an even surface. If a matt finish is part of the floor coat system requirements, it is necessary to apply an adequate top coat layer.

Crosslinking behaviour of polyurethane systems The basic reactions taking place in the chemistry of polyurethanes are shown in figure 1.

The formation of polyurethanes respectively polyureas depends on the reactants used as well as on the curing conditions. In order to achieve the maximum properties of the final coating, it is necessary to evaluate other parameters than just the chemical composition of the binders. Another crucial factor that has to be realised is the building of a homogeneous and highly dense polymer network. Only with an optimum combination

Exemplary layer build-up of a two-pack industrial floor coat system

between the hydroxyl-functional polyols with the respective polyisocyanate it is possible to achieve optimum results.

During pot life time and curing time, several reactions take place at the same time. The main reaction is the formation of polyurethane out of the hydroxyl groups of the polyols and the polyisocyanate (PIC). As a side reaction, carbon dioxide and polyurea

Novel polyols for aliphatic PU systems based on renewable resources Target during R & D stage of these polyols has been to develop new binders for the wear coat layer with a film thickness of 1.5 mm for the above mentioned two-layer systems.

O

Main reaction

R-N = C = O + R‘-OH Polyisocyanate Polyol

R

R‘ N O H Polyurethane

1. R-N = C = O + H2O

R-NH2

+ CO2

O 2. R-N = C = O + R-NH2

Secondary reaction * Hartmut Ottensmann h.ottensmann@alberdingk-boley.de Technical Marketing Polyurethane and

R

N H

N H

R

O Fig. 1: Typical reaction of the polyurethane



1.+2. 2 R-N = C = O + H2O

R

N H

N H

R

+ CO2

Acrylic Dispersions Markus Dimmers

Top coat (opt.)

Head of Technical Marketing Polyurethane and

Self-levelling coating

Acrylic Dispersions Alberdingk Boley GmbH, Krefeld, Germany

Levelling-coat (opt.)

Published with kind permission of Vincentz

Primer

Network GmbH & Co. KG, Hannover, Germany Paper, European Coatings Conference, 7– 8 December 2010, Berlin, Germany

114

Fig. 2: Layer build-up of a two-layer system



Concrete

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

castor oil with the extraordinary chemical resistances and the good wheatherability of polyesters. By leveraging the synergies between both, it is possible to create polyols that match all the requirements mentioned above. As a matter of fact, the new polyols now launched by Alberdingk Boley (AB polyols) have a renewable resource share of more than 50 % (tab. 1).

The following criteria have been set during development stage: • extremely high ratio of renewable resource raw materials • extremely hydrophobic behaviour • wide range of application conditions (e. g.

Asia) • easier to use • incorporating more cost-effective fillers in the formula • possibility of highly filled system • lower viscosity • improved de-aeration properties • improved self-levelling properties • economically attractive.

In general, the market demand for selfleveling floor coatings is shifting from epoxy resin coatings towards polyurethane systems, since the polyurethanes are less brittle and not as hard as EP-based coatings.

Whereas PU systems nowadays can reach the same final hardnesses, they still show some kind of flexible properties which proves to be a major advantage.

The base raw material of these new polyols usually is castor oil, which is being branched with polyesters during several chemical processes. Using this polymerisation method, it is possible to combine the low viscosity and hydrophobic behaviour of 9 8 Water content [%]

7 6

During application process of PU systems, it is crucial to use polyol grades that are as hydrophobic as possible since these prod-

ucts are being crosslinked with HDI-based polyisocyanates (tab. 2) that are highly sensitive to moisture (hydrophilic behaviour).

Besides, HDI polyisocyanates are considerably slower in their reaction time compared to aromatic polyisocyanates, which makes the use of catalysts mandatory along with aliphatic systems. While giving good working times, these catalysts are as well accelerating the reaction between air moisture and the polyisocyanate which leads to bubbling effects. In order to overcome this negative aspect of aliphatic PU systems, it is even more crucial to use an extremely hydrophobic polyol in aliphatic PU systems compared to aromatic ones. If this issue is being disobeyed, the final coating will show strong bubbling which itself leads to highly uneven surfaces that are not acceptable in today’s markets.

Determination of hydrophobic properties As shown in figure 3, the water absorption of polyol 050 and polyol 049 after 21 days of

0d 7d 14 d 21 d

5

Fig. 4: 

Coating after curing with polyol 050 and polyol 049 with PIC 1 polyol 050 + polyol 049

Fig. 5: 

Coating after curing with AB polyol 014 with PIC 1 new AB polyol 014

4 3 2 1 0

Polyol 013

Polyol 014

Polyol 050 + Polyol 049

at 23 °C and 85 % rel. air humidity

 Fig. 3: Water uptake of the polyols during storage at 23 °C and 85 rel. air humidity

 Tab. 1: Basic data of the 100 % polyols grades used Type of polyol

OH-content [%]

Viscosity [mPas]

Content of renewable resources raw materials

Polyol 013

Branched polyester-polyol

10.8

1,800

85

Polyol 014

Branched polyester-polyol

8.8

1,900

85

10.9

2,850

28

New AB-Polyols

Standard Polyols Polyol 050 * Polyol 049

Branched polyester/ polyether-polyol

* crosslinked with HDI based PIC 1 (NCO: OH ~ 110 %)

 Tab. 2: Basic data of the polyisocyanate used Type of polyisocyanate Functionality PIC 1

HDI-Trimer

~ 3.5

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

NCO-content [%] ~ 23.0

Viscosity [mPas] Solvent content [%] 1,200

0

115

storage at 23 °C and relative air humidity of 85 % is considerably higher than with the AB polyols 013 and 014. Therefore, it is obvious that polyol 050 and polyol 049 are much more hygroscopic. By incorporating AB polyols 013 and 014, it would, thanks to their hydrophobic properties, even be possible to create formulas without making use of the standard vacuum dissolver and kiln-dried raw materials. This way, the manufacturing of the coating is easier as well as it yields better results when being applied in areas with extremely high air humidity (e. g. in Asia). The effects of the hygroscopic properties respectively the hydrophobicity of the polyols can be derived from the figures 4 and 5.

AB polyols fulfil demanding requirements for industrial floor coatings The AB polyols have been tested and evaluated according to: • Tensile bond strength (according to DIN EN 13813 part 5.2.12) • Hardness (according to DIN 53505) • Tensile strength (according to DIN 53504) • Elongation at break (according to 53504)

ly outperform the current systems in terms of resistances and useability. Therefore, a comparison study was made by evaluating major parts of the current AB product portfolio (PUDs, hydroxyl-functional acrylic dispersions, hybrids) with the recently developed UV-curable water-based PUD. Besides that, different solvent-borne binder systems have been included in the study as well.

Traditional problems of waterbased UV-curable dispersions

The basic reactions in the PU chemistry previously described (fig. 1) are valid for both, the polyurethanes systems described before as well as for the water-based binders.

• Due to a lack of mobile UV-equipment that is compliant to all working safety regulations, this concept could not be used by now. In addition to the lack of equipment, there has been a lack of UV-curable dispersions, that have been adapted to the mobile UV-equipment.

• As a 2nd prohibitive reason, the binders formerly available were clearly inferior in their resistances against the standard chemicals that are important in the field of standard industrial floorings (e.g. brake fluids, acids, bases, different oils, etc ) Within a short period of time, the mechanical properties of the lacquer have been destroyed by these chemicals.

For curing of the waterborne UV-dispersions, only the wavelength range between 270 and 400 nm was being used.

The curing process of waterbased UV-curable dispersions takes place in two steps: After application of the top coat/sealer, the water has to evaporate out of the coating in the first place (figs. 8, 9). After that, the radical polymerisation by using the UV-equipment takes place.

Even though the advantages of waterbased UV-curable dispersions are evident, they were, up to now, not useable in the application field. This was mainly due to the following reasons:

90 Shore D Elongation at break [%] Tensile strength [MPa]

80 70

Due to the test results according to DIN EN 13813 [part 5.2.12 tab. 11] the coatings have to be classified as B 2.0 (figs. 6, 7).

As the new AB polyols feature an extremely high share of renewable raw materials, their carbon footprint is considerably more positive when compared to standards epoxy based systems. Additionally, the new AB polyols 013 and 014 fulfil the demanding requirements for industrial floor coatings.

60 50 40 30 20 10 Fig. 6: Mechanical properties



0 Polyol 013

Polyol 014

Polyol 050 + Polyol 049

3.0

Novel waterborne UV-curable polyurethane dispersion

2.9

[N/mm2]

2.8

In the following, the focus will be on the sealer systems of the top coat, which is called two-layer system (fig. 2).

2.7 2.6 2.5 2.4

As before, Alberdingk Boley has set the R & D target with this novel concept to clear-

116

Fig. 7: Tensile bond strength



2.3

Polyol 013

Polyol 014

Polyol 050 + Polyol 049

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

• Even more than that, is very common to park cars on these sealed top coat surfaces with warm or even hot tyres. This means that the tyres of the cars might well have a temperature of approximately 50 C when parked on the coating. For many dispersions, it was the case that the glass transition temperature (Tg) has been exceeded. As an effect of this, the compound of tyre and lacquer layer will be removed from the substrate when the tyre is moved the next time (=> coating failure).

• The most critical issue in top coat applications were and still are the so-called hot tyre-resistances. Even thought the film integrity has been achieved in some cases, it could well happen that the coating was marked with dark-brown stains that are optically unacceptable.

Parameters of the binder systems evaluated

By investing comprehensive R & D work, Alberdingk Boley now has succeeded to synthesise water-based UV-curable binders that are able to completely fulfil the high requirements of industrial floor coatings.

• Different binder system morphology • OH content • Binders on different raw material basis (water- and solvent-borne systems).

After manufacturing and application of the lacquers, the coatings have been cured accordingly. After that, the coating films have been stored at 23 °C and 50 % relative air humidity for 7 days.

 Tab. 3: Parameters of binder systems OH-content OH-equivalent[%] (on solid) weight

Binder

Solvent content [%]

Remarks

UV-WB 1

--

--.

~0

Multi-phase

UV-WB 2

--

--.

~0

Selfcrosslinking dispersion

WB acrylate 3

1.8

944

~0

2 K acrylic dispersion crosslinked with hydrophilic HDI

SB PES 4

5.3

320

~ 35

Crosslinked with hydrophobic HDI

SB acrylate 5

1.6

1,060

~ 40

Crosslinked with hydrophobic HDI

WB = water-based; SB = solvent-based

 Tab. 4: Parameters of the polyisocyanates used Type of polyisocyanate

Type of hydrophilic additive

Functionality

NCO-content [%]

Viscosity [mPas]

PIC 2

HDI-trimer/uretdion

CAPS

~ 3.0

~ 22.5

650

0

PIC 3

HDI-biuret

--

~ 3.5

~ 16.5

250

25

 Fig. 8: Physical drying

In table 3 the different binders are described in detail regarding their characteristics. As it can be seen, the variation has been done among the following parameters:

Solvent content [%]

First test criteria were the so-called water resistance test (AB test method), since industrial floor coatings are being used in any case by floor-borne vehicles which are the minimum criteria.

Every tyre shows unique behaviour. Due to this reason, it is necessary to evaluate different tyre types (winter/summer) of the different tyre manufacturers for a comparative study. Expectedly, the winter tyres of the dif-

 Fig. 9: UV-curing

UV-radiation

Polymerdispersion

Polymerparticle Photoinitiator Substrate

Substrate

Water (evaporating)

Physically dry lacquer film Substrate

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Highly crosslinked lacquer film Substrate

117

ferent suppliers proved to be much more critical in terms of discolouration effects to the coating than summer tyres. This is not surprising, since much softer rubbers, bigger amounts of oils, different anti-ageing additives and lower hardening (less “curing”) are being incorporated into winter tyres (fig. 10).

The novel UV-curable dispersion UV-WB 2 has been equal in performance, compared to the solvent-based system SB-PES 4 and the AB hydroxyl-functional acrylic dispersion AB acrylate 3.

were close to the detection limit. The incorporation of coating additives, that are up till today, still contain solvents, had a far more severe effect to the VOC-results.

Afterwards, the chemical resistance of the systems has been evaluated, in order to find out if they are feasible for industrial floor top coats in this matter (fig.11).

As a matter of course, the VOC-measurements of UV-WB 1, UV-WB 2 and WB-acrylate 3 have been conducted. The results have actually been extraordinary low, actually they

In the meantime, several test applications under conditions of a construction site have been done with Alberdingk Boley UV-WB 2.

Up to now, the positive lab test results are

Very well

VOC-free and chemical resistant

As a final step, the abrasion resistance of the systems have been evaluated. The abrasion resistance tests have been conducted with a Taber 5131 Abraser and CS-17 castors. As it can be seen in figure 12, the new UV-curable systems from Alberdingk Boley are feasible for manufacturing high-performance industrial floor top coats.

fully duplicated in the trial application sites that are without any claims (fig. 13).

Summary It was shown that a UV-curable polyurethane dispersion can offer an extremely rapid cure profile and high chemical resistances. The advantage of this solution is not only the possibility to work VOC-free, but even more the fact that the top coat system is extremely fast in application and curing profile compared to traditional two-pack systems.

Literature [1] Manfred Bock. Polyurethane für Lacke und Beschichtungen. Vincentz, Hannover 1999.

[2] Peter G. Garrat. Strahlenhärtung.

Vincentz, Hannover 1996.

Fig. 13: Exemplarily a floor coating in an underground  parking with good hot tire pick-up resistance

5 4 3 2

bad

1 0 UV-WB 1

UV-WB 2

WB-acrylate 3

SB-PES 4

SB-acrylate 5

Fig. 11: results of the chemical resistance tests (0 = test area destroyed,  5 = no visible marks)

 Fig. 10: results of the tyre resistance tests (0 = test area destroyed 5 = no visible marks)

 Fig. 12: Overview of the results of the abrasion resistance tests

5

60

Abrasion [mg]

4

3

2 UV-WB 1 UV-WB 2 WB-acrylate 3 SB-PES 4 SB-acrylate 5

1

0 Water [10 d]

118

500 revolutions 1,000 revolutions

50

Skydrol [10 d]

CH3COOH 25 % [3 d] C2H5OH 48 % [1 h]

40 30 20 10 0 UV-WB 1

UV-WB 2

WB-acrylate 3

SB-PES 4

SB-acrylate 5

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

B. W. Naber, G. Behrendt*

Recycling flexible foam PUR – part 2 – raw material method Currently known methods of recycling flexible polyurethane foams (referred to here as PUr-FF) as a raw material are presented. The technological processing steps in the product preparation and recycling process are listed and evaluated. The description of each individual procedure is completed with a review of the properties and applications of the recycled materials.

1. Introduction Polyurethane foams (PUR-FF) are crosslinked polymers, their flexibility derives from the relatively long molecular chains between the crosslinking points. Crosslinking points are usually:

Because of the crosslinking, PUR-FF with the exception of a few frequently occurring types based on polyester polyols (PESOL) is not thermoplastic. However, there is a small temperature range slightly below the thermal decomposition temperature in which it shows a certain softening and stickiness.

• The tertiary or quaternary carbon atom in the polyol molecule, which is predetermined by the structure of the starting molecule (glycerol, trimethylolpropane).

• Secondary products of the reaction of excess isocyanate with the urethane groups formed already (allophanates) or with themselves to form isocyanurates.

• Substituted urea groups from the reaction of water with isocyanates and their derivatives when isocyanate predominates (biuret). The reaction with water is essential in PUR-FF chemistry, as this produces the carbon dioxide, CO2, needed as the blowing agent. Physical blowing agents, as well as added (liquid CO2) are of minor importance in recycling processes.

• Crosslinks in the isocyanates, whether from the structural composition of the prepolymers or from the multifunctionality of the isocyanate, when polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate (pMDI) is used.

PUR-FF types based on polyether polyol (PETOL), by far the commonest type in this class, differ from one another in:

* Dipl.-Chem. Bernhard W. Naber,

The limits to recycling used PUR-FF have already been described in part 1 of this article. The following remarks refer, unless specifically stated otherwise, to manufacturing waste and residues, that are clean and have a defined composition.

bernhardwnaber@aol.com Industrieberatung Naber, Schwarzheide, Germany Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Gerhard Behrendt, University of Applied Sciences Wildau, Germany

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

• The density, which is held in the range of 10 – 50 kg/m3 (maximum up to 70 kg/m3).

In general, it can be assumed that density decreases with increasing content of urea groups.

• The elasticity, which can be adjusted from highly elastic (high resilience) to viscoelastic. Usually, the viscoelastic component of the elasticity increases with decreasing isocyanate index.

• The base polyol. In addition to the (small) percentage of PUR-FF based on PESOL and the main bulk based on PETOL there are ever more PUR-FF, which contain so called polymeric polyols (graft polyols).

These polyols contain proportions of thermoplastic polymers such as polystyrene, polyacrylonitrile among others grafted onto the ether chains to improve the loading capacity of the foams at reduced density.

In addition, the general supply requirements applicable to a waste stream for recycling given in part 1 also apply without exception for raw material recycling.

2. Flocked composite (re-bonding) 2.1 Technology This method is the oldest of all recycling processes for PUR-FF (it has been extended to other PUR materials in recent years and used successfully here as well).

PUR-FF scrap is normally ground in a slow speed granulator. The resulting flake has an undefined geometry within a narrow particle size range, whose maximum is determined solely by the holes in the granulator sieve.

Current flake sizes are 5 – 30 mm diameter, where these limits can only be taken as approximate.

Occasionally flake is produced by sawing.

This flake has a geometry varying from cube to prism and an extremely narrow particle size distribution. This procedure is only used for producing highly specialised recycling products.

The flake so produced is coated with isocyanate binder, mostly (long chain) prepolymer, but also pMDI, and hardened or bonded together under moderate pressure and temperature or by injecting saturated steam.

The mould surfaces must be coated with a release agent, usually wax based, seldom silicone based, to prevent these surface from becoming caked with the very reactive binders.

Semi-finished products in basic shapes (cylindrical or rectangular blocks) or moulded parts are produced. These semi-finished shapes are converted to usable moulded parts by the same processes (sawing, splitting, grinding, etc.) that are used in block PUR-FF. Off-cuts and scrap can usually be re-worked into the process, which makes the process waste free. The recycling rate can be up to 90 % (foam waste minus binder).

119

Approximately 130 kt PUR-FF are usefully recycled each year in western Europe by this process (Source: ISOPA fact sheet).

erties (such as barium sulphate, BaSO4 for X-ray applications).

2.2.2

From the safety point of view attention should be given to the fact that PUR-FF powder is combustible and that adequate safety measures for dealing with combustible dusts are complied with, when handling it.

2.2 Process variables The resulting flake composite is a separate class of substance whose properties are impossible to replicate or can only be replicated with great difficulty by direct foaming.

In this regard, the composite flake process is a good example of “upcycling”. A variety of materials with many controllable properties can be made by varying the process parameters, which explains the widespread application of flake composites.

The following incomplete list shows what variations are possible and usual.

2.2.1

Varying the feedstock

• Varying flake size, the smaller the flake, the higher the compressive strength, when other parameters are kept constant.

• Varying the amount of binder to be added, higher binder content leads to harder composites.

• Varying the nature of the binder, long chain prepolymers give softer composites than pMDI gives, when the quantity of isocyanate is kept constant.

• Varying the composition of the PUR-FF flake used by changing the density, hardness or flake size. Composites optimised for their application are created through experimentation.

• Varying the mixture, it is possible to obtain certain desired properties in the composite by including non-PUR ingredients in the mix. Such components include fibres (synthetic and natural fibres), solid flame retardants (polyammonium phosphate, melamine powder, aluminium hydroxide, magnesium oxide, whiting) and additives to achieve specific prop-

120

Varying technical parameters

• Varying the compression. After wetting the flakes with binder, the mixture is poured into moulds and compressed to the intended final gross density. The higher the degree of compression and hence the higher the resulting moulded part density, the higher are the values for compressive strength, flexural strength and resilience.

• Varying the curing conditions: If the moulding material is cured simply by heat, softer moulded parts are usually obtained than from steam curing. A disadvantage of this method is the time required for complete curing, which rises disproportionately with the part thickness. It is more effective to cure by blowing saturated steam into the moulding material.

Complete cure is achieved in minutes.

This method has its limits in high density parts. Regardless of which method is chosen: The part, especially if it is a large block, should be cooled down in the tool to prevent tears forming in the core. This risk increases with the moulding thickness and the degree of compression.

2.3 Recycled materials and their applications Flake composites thanks to their excellent properties are widely used in many applications of everyday life and industry. Because of the rather unsightly surfaces of the mouldings and cut parts they are almost always provided with covers of different materials or their use is in places that are either not visible or where their appearance plays only a minor role.

2.3.1

Automobile industry

• Manufacture of sun shades with very good safety characteristics (crash tests) • Car seat parts to improve side grip • Complete seat cushioning for trucks and tractors • Manufacture of head restraints

• Sound insulation parts for acoustic separation of the engine compartment and passenger compartment • Inserts in the front and rear areas to improve crash performance 2.3.2

Upholstered furniture industry

• Side parts of chair cushions • Office chair armrests • Padding on stools 2.3.3 • • • • • •

Other applications.

Judo and gymnastics mats Toys Carpet backing Acoustics Packaging Loose fill applications (cushions, packaging, etc.)

3. Powder incorporation (regrind) Currently about 1,000 t/a PUR-FF production waste are re-processed by this method in western Europe (Source: ISOPA fact sheet).

It is possible to re-work all the waste occurring in the entire block foam production (scrap from cutting and punching) back into block foam by this method. Polyurethane foams incorporating powder have almost the same characteristics as the original foams.

The recycling rate is up to 20 %. A significantly higher PUR powder loading in the foam is not viable. The foam particles are found almost exclusively in the nodes of the foam network. They are very rarely found in cell walls and webs for geometrical reasons.

When nearly all nodes are occupied, particles are trapped randomly in webs, leading to a predictable dramatic drop in the foam physical and mechanical properties.

The process of incorporating powder was developed by the companies Metzeler Schaum GmbH (foam producer), Bayer AG (raw material supplier), and Hennecke GmbH

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

(machinery builder) and marketed under the name GrindFlex technology. This type of recycling of PUR-FF is an upcycling process.

Basically, the process of incorporating ground material can, with minor technological adjustments, also be used in the manufacture of moulded parts from PUR-FF. There have been many attempts to disperse ground PUR into polyol components, and hence into new PUR. All these attempts failed due to the fact that no more than about 5 %, or at most 10 % regrind can be incorporated.

Higher concentrations lead to an uncontrollable viscosity increase even up to a paste-like state. In addition, the particles rapidly absorb activator amine from the components, which has a negative affect on the system’s reaction profile. A solution to this problem is to change to a three-component system (component A1: polyol + crumb; component A2: blowing agents, activators, cell regulators, etc.; component B: isocyanate).

Incorporating PUR crumb into isocyanate components leads to unstable products or products that are stable only for a few hours.

After this they gel quickly even becoming totally solid, which can lead to significant problems in foaming plants. Dosing the ground crumb into the isocyanate stream has been tried several times, but never successfully on a significant scale, because of substantial technological problems.

3.1 Product preparation The PUR-FF is ground in a first step in this recycling process. The problem of grinding PUR-FF comes from the properties of the foam. Thanks to its low density, high elasticity, and good physical and mechanical properties, it resists the mechanical grinding by avoiding it. More often than not a 30 mm flake will pass through a 10 mm mesh size sieve. Essentially three main methods are known for producing powdered FF: • Grinding in a (Teller) mill: Ground material with fineness of no finer than 0.8 mm is achievable. The flow rates are low, several passes through the mill are necessary.

The mill throughput is limited by the heat-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

ing effect. The ground crumb has a wide particle size spectrum. Sometimes mills are arranged in a cascade sequence.

• Cold grinding: PUR-FF is cooled with dry ice, or (better) with liquid nitrogen to temperatures below –50 °C. The temperature must be below the glass transition temperature of the flexible foam (–45 °C to –52 °C, determined by DMA) to ensure that the product is brittle. The grinding is carried out with conventional mills. Grain sizes of <0.5 mm can be achieved, the grain size range is narrow. The cooling makes the process very costly.

• Roller grinding: The flocked PUR-FF is reduced to powder by shearing in a roller mill. Any particles that are too big (oversize) are separated by sieving and sent back to the roller system until the desired particle size is reached. Crumb fineness of <0.2 mm can be achieved, the grain size distribution is narrow. Roller milling is today the cheapest method to re-work PUR-FF to a powder. Systems of this type can process several 100 kg PUR-FF per hour.

capacity of the foam is only about 3 % by volume. As long ago as the first half of the 1970s there were attempts, to condense PUR-FF to a high degree, with the aim at that time of making it possible to carry out certain analytical procedures on these materials. It was then found that elastomeric products with outstanding physical and mechanical properties can be obtained under certain conditions. With this recycling method as well it is important to take into account the chemical uniformity of the foam used, as the pressing conditions need to be optimised for each foam type. PUR-FF types based on TDI, MDI and pMDI behave completely differently.

Foams, which contain polymeric polyols (graft polyols), demand different pressing conditions from those based on conventional PETOL. The pressing conditions are quite extreme: • Press temperature: >120 °C • Pressure: >180 kN/cm2 • Press time: >5 min, depending on the film thickness • Density of the recycled material: >1.1 g/ cm3

3.2 Powder incorporation The powder is conveyed from a silo in an appropriate manner, e. g. by a helical screw, and mixed into a polyol stream, which is fed directly into the mixing head where it is mixed with isocyanate. The polyol stream can accommodate up to 30 % powder. Up to 140 kg/min of powder can be incorporated into block foam. A variant of the process from the KraussMaffei GmbH company metres the powder feed directly into the finished reaction mixture as it leaves the mixing head. Up to 20 % by mass of the mixture can be incorporated into the resulting PUR. PUR-FF with properties practically identical to unfilled products is produced in this process version.

4. Super compression PUR-FF types are manufactured with a bulk density of 10 – 50 kg/m3 (up to a maximum 70 kg/m3). The pure PUR has a density of about 1,200 kg/m3. It follows that the filling

Presses that can apply such conditions over large areas are big, heavy, and expensive. These are probably the reasons why this seemingly elegant method has not become established. Elastomers with comparable or better features are easier and cheaper to produce by conventional casting processes.

The elastomers made in this way are poly(urethane ureas) with predominantly urea bonds, which, in casting elastomers, are manufactured by the use of amine chain extenders, but the usual type of polyureas as in PUR-FF can not be obtained.

The poly(urethane urea) elastomers of this type are therefore characterised by a different level of physical and mechanical properties than comparable cast elastomers. They are particularly noted for their transparency, when no polymeric polyol has been used in the starting PUR-FF and similarly for their relatively high resistance to hydrolysis. 

121

Suppliers list

Raw materials Adhesives

Colorants

Flexible facings for PUR/PIR panels

DISTRIBUTION-NETWORK Color Paste, IMC, Release Agents, Blowing Agents, Spray Systems, TPU Tel: +39.0522.693774 Fax: +39.0522.745506 Cell: +39.3482607526 Mail: pbalboni@distribution-network.it Web: www.distribution-network.it

Liquid colours and additives

ALFA Klebstoffe AG vor Eiche 10 · CH-8197 Rafz Tel. +41(0) 43 433 30 30 info@alfa-klebstoffe.com www.simalfa.ch

Amine catalysts Your PU Factories in Taiwan

TOSOH EUROPE B.V. Crown Building – South Hullenbergweg 359 1101 CP Amsterdam Z.O. The Netherlands Tel. +31-20-565-0010 Fax +31-20-691-5458 www.tosoh-europe.com info.tse@tosoh.com

• • • • • • • • • • • •

TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) TPU Hot Melt Adhesive TPU Adhesives (granules, powder) TPU Adhesives for Ink PU Adhesives for Shoes CPU (Casting Prepolymers) CPU (Doming Casting PU) PUR (R-HM) Adhesives RPU (1 & 2 components) Adhesives WPU Adhesives (Water-based) MPU (Millable Urethane) MOCA, Hardener Additives

FAX:+886-2-2299-1888 Email:pu@taiwanpu.com

h t t p : / / w w w. t a i w a n p u . c o m

Caprolactone based polyols

REPI S.p.A. Via B. Franklin 2 21050 LONATE CEPPINO VA ITALY tel. +39 0331 819511 fax +39 0331 819581 repi@repi.it www.repi.it

Isocyanates

Fillers

Klöckner polyPUR Chemie GmbH Vinckeweg 15 · 47119 Duisburg · Germany Phone: +49 (0) 203 50039-0 · Fax: -39 info@polyPUR.de · www.polyPUR.de

HOFFMANN MINERAL GmbH P. O. Box 14 60 86619 Neuburg (Donau) Germany Phone +49 (0) 84 31-53-0 Fax +49 (0) 84 31-53-3 30 info@hoffmann-mineral.com www.hoffmann-mineral.com

Polyols

hm_809_Bezugsquellen_4c_40x40.indd 26.11.2009 1 10:40:33 Uhr

Flame retardants

INVISTA Resins & Fibers GmbH Philipp-Reis-Str. 2 65795 Hattersheim am Main Germany Tel: +49 69 305 85556 Fax: +49 69 305 85560 E-Mail: Intermediates@invista.com www.invista.com

Perstorp UK Limited Baronet Road, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6HA, United Kingdom Tel. +44 1925 643500 Fax +44 1925 232207 E-mail: contact.capa@perstorp.com Web: www.perstorp.com

Silcart S.r.l. via Spercenigo, 5 31030 Carbonera (TV) - Italy Phone +39 0422 445507 Fax +39 0422 445492 www.silcartcorp.com tec@silcartcorp.com

Klöckner polyPUR Chemie GmbH Vinckeweg 15 · 47119 Duisburg · Germany Phone: +49 (0) 203 50039-0 · Fax: -39 info@polyPUR.de · www.polyPUR.de

Colorants Flame retardants

Im Mühlenfeld 5 31008 ELZE · Germany Phone 00 49 / 50 68 / 925 - 0 Fax 00 49 / 50 68 / 925 - 25 Email info@ISO-ELEKTRA.de Internet www.ISO-ELEKTRA.de

Milliken Chemical Division of Milliken Europe BVBA Ham 18 − 24 B-9000 GENT (Belgium) Tel +32 (0) 9 265 11 35 Fax +32 (0) 9 265 11 95 E-mail eurochem@milliken.com www.millikenchemical.com

122

Schöne Aussicht 39 65396 Walluf, Germany phone +49 6123 798-0 fax +49 6123 798-44 office@luh.de · www.luh.de

Klöckner polyPUR Chemie GmbH Vinckeweg 15 · 47119 Duisburg · Germany Phone: +49 (0) 203 50039-0 · Fax: -39 info@polyPUR.de · www.polyPUR.de

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

Suppliers list

Raw materials Polyols

Kuraray Europe GmbH BU Elastomer Hoechst Industrial Park Building F821, Room 314 65926 Frankfurt am Main / Germany www.kuraray.eu www.kuraray.co.jp phone: +49 69 305 35849 fax: +49 69 305 35656

Pourable compounds Casting resins

PU systems

PUR-Systems GmbH & Co. KG

Sonderhoff Chemicals GmbH Richard-Byrd-StraĂ&#x;e 26 50829 KĂśln¡Germany Tel +49 221 95685-0¡Fax +49 221 95685-599 info@sonderhoff.com¡www.sonderhoff.com

Station Road ¡ Birch Vale ¡ High Peak ¡ SK22 1BR, UK Tel. +44 (0)1663 748004

6WHSDQSROÂ&#x160; 7KH *OREDO /HDGHU LQ $URPDWLF 3RO\HVWHU 3RO\ROV

7HO )D[ ( PDLO SRO\ROV VDOHV#VWHSDQHXURSH FRP ZZZ VWHSDQ FRP

([FHOOHQFH LQ 3RO\XUHWKDQH &KHPLVWU\

46 avenue des Allobroges BP 116 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26103 ROMANS CEDEX â&#x20AC;&#x201C; France Tel. +33 4 75 72 72 75 ¡ Fax +33 4 75 02 11 73 E-Mail info@baule.com Internet www.baule.com

Pourable compounds Casting resins

Im Mßhlenfeld 5 31008 ELZE ¡ Germany Phone 00 49 / 50 68 / 925 - 0 Fax 00 49 / 50 68 / 925 - 25 Email info@ISO-ELEKTRA.de Internet www.ISO-ELEKTRA.de

%D\6\VWHPV *PE+ &R .* 0LWWHONDPS 2OGHQEXUJ *HUPDQ\ 7HOHIRQ 7HOHID[ ( 0DLO LQIR#ED\V\VWHPV GH ,QWHUQHW ZZZ ED\HU ED\V\VWHPV FRP

RAMPF Giessharze GmbH & Co. KG AlbstraĂ&#x;e 37 D-72661 Grafenberg T +49 (0) 7123 9342 - 0 F +49 (0) 7123 9342 - 2444 E info@rampf-giessharze.de www.rampf-giessharze.de

PU MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOL. 8, NO. 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; APrIL/MAy 2011

Werner-von-Siemens-StraĂ&#x;e 22 49124 GeorgsmarienhĂźtte ¡ Germany Phone +49 (0) 54 01 83 55-0 Fax +49 (0) 54 01 83 55-83 Internet: www.pursystems.de Email: info@pursystems.de

Fax +44 (0)1663 746605 www.dowhyperlast.com

PU systems

6WHSDQ (XURSH %3 &KHPLQ -RQJNLQG 9RUHSSH

PU systems

RAMPF Giessharze GmbH & Co. KG AlbstraĂ&#x;e 37 D-72661 Grafenberg T +49 (0) 7123 9342 - 0 F +49 (0) 7123 9342 - 2444 E info@rampf-giessharze.de www.rampf-giessharze.de

(UD 3RO\PHUV 3W\ /WG *UHHQ 6WUHHW %DQNVPHDGRZ 16: $XVWUDOLD 7HO )D[ (PDLO HUDSRO#HUDSRO FRP DX

www.erapol.com.au

Kuraray Europe GmbH BU Elastomer Hoechst Industrial Park Building F821, Room 314 65926 Frankfurt am Main / Germany www.kuraray.eu www.kuraray.co.jp phone: +49 69 305 35849 fax: +49 69 305 35656

Sonderhoff Chemicals GmbH Richard-Byrd-StraĂ&#x;e 26 50829 KĂśln¡Germany Tel +49 221 95685-0¡Fax +49 221 95685-599 info@sonderhoff.com¡www.sonderhoff.com

Zelu-Chemie GmbH Robert Boschstr. 8 71711 Murr a. d. Murr Germany

PUR Foam Systems PUR Slab Stock Foam Technogel

LACKFA Isolierstoff GmbH + Co. KG IndustriestraĂ&#x;e 2 25462 Rellingen ¡ Germany Phone: +49 4101 3916-0 Fax: +49 4101 3916-16 Email: info@lackfa.com - www.lackfa.com

ď&#x192;ź Formulated PUR systems ď&#x192;ź Adhesives technology Phone: +49 7144 8257 0 Fax: +49 7144 8257 30 Email: info@zelu.de www.zelu.de

Max-Näder-Str. 15*37115 Duderstadt*GER Phone +49 (0) 5527/848-0 Fax +49 (0) 5527/848-1823 Internet: www.ottobock-kunststoff.de email: kusto@ottobock.de

123

Suppliers list

Raw materials

Machines

Stabilisers, Catalysts, Release agents Other auxiliary agents

High pressure heat exchangers and static mixers

Evonik Goldschmidt GmbH Goldschmidtstrasse 100 45127 Essen ¡ Germany Phone: +49-201-173-2738 polyurethane@evonik.com www.evonik.com/polyurethane-additives

System house & blowing agent supplier

Foam Supplies, Inc. 4387 N. Rider Trail Earth City, MO 63045 Phone +1 (800) 325-4875 toll free Fax +1 (314) 344-3331 Email: tkeske@foamsupplies.com www.foamsupplies.com www.ecomatesystems.com

MANUFACTURING OF MIXING AND DOSING MACHINERY ulitsa Gvardeyskaya 190, Tsurupinsk, Khersonskaya oblast, 75101, Ukraine Telephone: +380 67 553-95-79 E-mail: info@osv.com.ua Internet: www.osv.com.ua

46 avenue des Allobroges BP 116 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 26103 ROMANS CEDEX â&#x20AC;&#x201C; France Tel. +33 4 75 72 72 75 ¡ Fax +33 4 75 02 11 73 E-Mail info@baule.com Internet www.baule.com

Flow measurement

Kracht GmbH Gewerbestrasse 20 58791 Werdohl, Germany fon: +49 (0)2392/935 0 fax: +49 (0)2392/935 209 mail: info@kracht.eu web: www.kracht.eu

High pressure metering and mixing machines

Tel./fax: +7 495 983 15 99 RAMPF Dosiertechnik GmbH & Co. KG RĂśmerallee 14 D-78658 Zimmern o.R. T +49 (0) 741 2902 - 0 F +49 (0) 741 2902 - 2100 E info@rampf-dosiertechnik.de www.rampf-dosiertechnik.de

High precision ďŹ&#x201A;ow measurement VSE Volumentechnik GmbH HĂśnnestr. 49 58809 Neuenrade / Germany

7$,:$1 6+((1 6221 3URIHVVLRQDO

0DQXIDFWXUHU RI 738

Phone +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 30 Fax +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 33 www.vse-ďŹ&#x201A;ow.com info@vse-ďŹ&#x201A;ow.com

738 IRU 38 $GKHVLYH 738 IRU +RWPHOW $GKHVLYH 738 IRU ,1.

1R /X .XQJ 6RXWK WK 5G /XNDQJ 7RZQ &KDQJ KXD &RXQW\ 7DLZDQ 5 2 & 7(/ )$; H PDLO WZVV#WZVVFR FRP WZ ZHEVLWH ZZZ WSX WZVV FRP WZ

â&#x20AC;˘ Zahnraddosierpumpen Gear Metering Pumps Antriebseinheiten â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘Drive Units with mit Zahnraddosierpumpen Gear Metering Pumps Mahr Metering Systems GmbH Carl-Mahr-Str. 1, D-37073 Goettingen, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 551 70 73 0 Fax: +49 (0) 551 70 73 417 MahrMeteringSystems@Mahr.de Mahr.com

Zweigniederlassung der Oerlikon Textile GmbH & Co. KG Geschäftsbereich Pumpen Leverkuser StraĂ&#x;e 65 ¡ 42897 Remscheid ¡ Germany Phone +49 (0)21 91 67-1814 ¡ Fax +49 (0)21 91 67-1794 pumpsales@barmag.de ¡ www.pumpen.barmag.de

124

Graco Ohio Inc. 8400 Port Jackson Ave NW North Canton, Ohio 44720 USA Phone: +1 800 367 4767 gusmer-decker@graco.com www.gusmer-decker.com

46 avenue des Allobroges - BP 116 26 103 ROMANS sur ISERE - France Tel.: +33 4 76 85 97 04 Fax : +33 4 76 85 97 07

Gear pumps

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Graco Ohio Inc. 8400 Port Jackson Ave NW North Canton, Ohio 44720 USA Phone: +1 800 367 4767 gusmer-decker@graco.com www.gusmer-decker.com

Global Therm OOO office 20, 8A Elektrodniy proezd 111123 Moscow, Russia E-Mail: info@globaltherm.ru www.globaltherm.ru

TPU

Low pressure metering and mixing machines

POLYCRAFT GMBH

polyurethane@secmer.com www.secmer.com

HEATING HOSES for PUR/POLYUREA SPRAY GRACOÂŽ-GUSMERÂŽ-GAMAÂŽ Tel.: 0049 (0)6106.23341 E-mail: info@polycraft.de www.polycraft.de

Sonderhoff Engineering GmbH AllgäustraĂ&#x;e 3 6912 HĂśrbranz¡Austria Tel +43 5573 82991¡Fax +43 5573 82946 info@sonderhoff.com¡www.sonderhoff.com

PU MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOL. 8, NO. 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; APrIL/MAy 2011

Suppliers list

Machines Processing machines

LACKFA Isolierstoff GmbH + Co. KG Industriestraße 2 25462 Rellingen · Germany Phone: +49 4101 3916-0 Fax: +49 4101 3916-16 Email: info@lackfa.com - www.lackfa.com

PU processing machinery, plants & moulds

PU processing machinery, plants & moulds

Tank farm, IBC-Station High pressure dosing machine Plant construction Industrie-System-Technik Woitzel Wickingweg 23a D-49479 Ibbenbüren Tel: 05451 - 45 081 Fax: 05451 - 970 347 E-Mail: ist@woitzel.com

PURe Competence Engineering Tooling Tool Carriers Rotary Tables Overhead Conveyors Mix-/Metering Machines Spray/Mix Heads Service

www.frimo.com

CASTING, SPRAYING, BONDING, FOAMING

FRIMO Lotte GmbH Phone: +49 (0) 5404 886 - 0 info.lotte@frimo.com

Hennecke GmbH Birlinghovener Str. 30 53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany Tel: +49-2241-339-0 Fax: +49-2241-339204 E-mail: hennecke@hennecke.com Internet: www.hennecke.com

Plant construction Screw pumps

KRAL AG, Bildgasse 40 Industrie Nord, 6890 Lustenau, Austria Tel.: +43 / 5577 / 8 66 44-0 Fax: +43 / 5577 / 8 84 33 www.kral.at, E-Mail: info@kral.at

High precision dosing and metering pumps Customer specific sub-systems

Phone +49 (0) 23 32 / 55 86 - 0 Fax +49 (0) 23 32 / 55 86 31

SAIP S.R.L. Via Bressanella, 13 22044 Romanò di Inverigo (C0) Italy infosaip@saipequipment.it · www.saipequipment.it Tel. +39 031 605762 · Fax +39 031 606934

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

H & S Anlagentechnik GmbH Sandstraße 19, 27232 Sulingen, Germany Phone +49 4271 1011 · Fax +49 4271 2576 E-mail: info@hs-anlagentechnik.de www.hs-anlagentechnik.de

Transfer gear pumps

Beinlich Pumpen GmbH Gewerbestr. 29 58285 Gevelsberg / Germany

POLYTEC EMC ENGINEERING GmbH & Co KG Kiesstrasse 12 A-4614 Marchtrenk / AUSTRIA Tel.: +43-(0) 72 43 - 53 9 52 Fax: +43-(0) 72 43 - 53 4 51- 405 e-mail: office@polytec-emc.com www.polytec-industrial.com

Storage tank systems · Blending stations · System houses · Reactors and process technology for prepolymers and synthetic polyols

www.beinlich-pumps.com info@beinlich-pumps.com

Kracht GmbH Gewerbestrasse 20 58791 Werdohl, Germany fon: +49 (0)2392/935 0 fax: +49 (0)2392/935 209 mail: info@kracht.eu web: www.kracht.eu

THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS STORAGE TANKS PRODUCT HANDLING PROCESSING FACILITIES DISCHARGING UNITS PROCESS AUTOMATION RENEWABLE ENERGIES

Hans-Jürgen Keil Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG Zum Welplager Moor 8 49163 Bohmte-Hunteburg, Germany Tel.: +49 5475 9200-0 Fax: +49 5475 9200-190 Wwww.keil-anlagenbau.de

125

Publication information & contacts

Testing

Services

End products

Flow meter Dr. Joop Koster Kracht GmbH Gewerbestrasse 20 58791 Werdohl, Germany fon: +49 (0)2392/935 0 fax: +49 (0)2392/935 209 mail: info@kracht.eu web: www.kracht.eu

KRAL AG, Bildgasse 40 Industrie Nord, 6890 Lustenau, Austria Tel.: +43 / 5577 / 8 66 44-0 Fax: +43 / 5577 / 8 84 33 www.kral.at, E-Mail: info@kral.at

Chemin Chantemerle, 26 CH-1260 Nyon Tel. fix/fax + 41-22-3617960 Tel. mob. + 41-79-2020035 jkoster@iprolink.ch

Flexible Foam Production & Cutting FORMSÜNGER VE YATAK SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş.

1.Organize Sanayi Bölgesi 8.Cad. No:60 38071 Kayseri – TURKEY Tel : + 90 352 322 10 20 - Fax: + 90 352 322 01 26 info@formsunger.com.tr - www.formsunger.com.tr

Elastomers, polyurethanes, TPE – development, testing, failure analysis

Contract gasketing •

Contact: Dr Markus Grass +49 (0) 62 01 80 51 23 markus.grass@freudenberg.de

High precision flow measurement VSE Volumentechnik GmbH Hönnestr. 49 58809 Neuenrade / Germany Phone +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 30 Fax +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 33 www.vse-flow.com info@vse-flow.com

Testing, calculation, analysis, development, consultancy, sampling

•

Failure analysis Contact: Dr Kurt Marchetti +49 (0) 62 01 80 50 28 kurt.marchetti@freudenberg.de

Sonderhoff Services GmbH Mathias-Brüggen-Str. 126-128 50829 Köln·Germany Tel +49 221 956526-0·Fax +49 221 956526-39 info@sonderhoff.com·www.sonderhoff.com

Freudenberg Forschungsdienste KG 69465 Weinheim / Germany www.forschungsdienste.de

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Advertisement Tel. +49 2102 9345-14

Address Dr. Gupta Verlag Am Stadion 3b, 40878 Ratingen, Germany VAT No. DE 157894980

Subscription Tel. +49 2102 9345-12

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126

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PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 2 – APrIL/MAy 2011

SAVE SA VE THE DATE Make Plans Now for Polyurethanes 2011 Technical Conference

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For more information on the Polyurethanes 2011 Technical Conference, Conference please visit us online at www.americanchemistry.com/polyurethane or call us at 1-202-249-6121.

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”You’re so cool.“ Perfect insulation of fridges is what keeps stuff inside them cool and fresh and lasting. Perfect insulation makes fridges more efficient and environmentally friendly – and saves the consumers money. Developing additives to continuously improve the insulation properties of refrigerators and freezers is our goal.

That’s how we support you innovating systems and formulations that meet the ultimate goal: climate conservation. We help you to shape our future fridges, as we understand products’ and people’s needs.

Do you speak foam? We do.

Evonik Goldschmidt GmbH Essen, Germany phone +49 201 173-2229 fax +49 201 173-1991 polyurethane@evonik.com www.evonik.com/polyurethane-additives