PU magazine international 05/2011 by Dr. Gupta Verlag

POly ur eth aNes magaziNe iNterN atiON a l

05/2011

OctOber/NOvember

ast dle e d i m ia, p a, as t F a grou N i k n i a s b ie al dustr ki, ba a b l a Pu in ba ssan a h : s rson thane e in pe r u y pol astic l p o therm ls polyo l i o l ra Natu ew previ a m Faku

Lighter, smarter, easier High Pressure RTM You’re looking to start volume production of fiber composite parts? You want a turnkey, product-oriented system concept? KraussMaffei is your perfect supplier. We work with our system partners to supply complete solutions for high-pressure resin injection (HP-RTM). Your competitive advantages: – lightweight fiber-composite parts, around 50% lighter than metals – visible parts with high-quality carbon optics – fully automated processes

Come and see us at Fakuma, hall A7, booth 7303

www.kraussmaffei.com

www.pu-magazine.com

Engineering Passion

Highway to Hell(as) or just a roller coaster ride? Writing an editorial, reflecting on global economy and on future development is quite a tricky thing these days as words written today can be as obsolete tomorrow as the suggestions to solve the problem made by some economists or politicians. But is a national insolvency such an exceptional state of emergency? Not at all, if we take a closer look at history. In April 2008, Carmen M. Reinhart, University of Maryland, and Kenneth S. Rogoff, Harvard University, published a paper called “This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises”. Reading that paper, we can find that national insolvencies happened several hundred times for various reasons in the past centuries and that governments had interesting ways to solve these financial crises. There was a time when the haircut was more a throatcut, because for example French monarchs had a habit of executing major domestic creditors during external debt default episodes (an early form of “debt restructuring”). The population came to refer to these episodes as “bloodletting.” Another way of refinancing was the merciless exploitation of colonies. Which in fact was not more than transfering the problems from one country to another. Nowadays both solutions are socially not very well perceived, politically incorrect, and therefore not applicable. Ok – joking aside…. Even I, not being an economist, understand that the situation is more complex in a globally interconnected economy and that domino effects can easily happen. And I am not sure whether the French finance minister Abbe Terray, who served from 1768 – 1774, and opined that governments should default at least once every 100 years in order to restore equilibrium, is right. On the other hand, I also understand that the long term basic needs of a growing world population can only be met by solutions provided by the plastics industry. Whether it is a better cold chain to prevent food wastage, better insulation and lightweight construction for energy savings or comfort products for an ageing society, to name but a few. For that reason I believe that we are not on a highway to hell but on a bumpy roller coaster. But even if also a roller coaster ride always ends at the very bottom of the drive and you might feel queasy when getting off – be brave and get into the wagon again for the next ride.

Best regards Frank A. Gupta

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

259 259

News Page.262

NO. 5 · OCTObeR/NOveMbeR 2011

CONTENT Editorial............................................................................................ 259 News. Industry.news................................................................................. 262

North.American.PU.industry.. takes.a.roller.coaster.ride! Page.276 Pascal.technology.... Page.282

Technology.and.product.news.............................................................. 266 People......................................................................................... 268 Reviews. ...................................................................................... 270. Events......................................................................................... 270

..........preview................................................................................... 272 North.American.PU.industry.takes.a.roller.coaster.ride!...................... 276 Energy.efficiency.remains.a.key.market.driver.in.NAFTA.................... 279 Pascal.technology:.Innovation,.. energy.conservation,.transformation.................................................. 282 PU.industry.helps.meet.Asia’s.challenges........................................... 284

BorsodChem.inaugurates.. new.TDI.plant Page.293

Open.House.at.Hennecke.Shanghai.................................................... 289 SWD.Shanghai.announces.low.carbon.footprint. PU.roof.tile.for.Asia........................................................................... 290 BMS.hosts.research.and.innovation.delegation.. from.Germany.in.Shanghai................................................................ 292 BorsodChem.inaugurates.new.TDI.plant............................................. 293 Industrial-scale.recycling.of.slabstock.foam.. residues.into.polyols.......................................................................... 294 PUTech.Eurasia.2011.preview............................................................ 296

Industrial-scale.recycling.. of.slabstock.foam.residues.. into.polyols Page.294

Growth.opportunities.in.Eurasia.and.the.Middle.East........................... 296 In person:

Hassan.Baalbaki,.Director.of.Baalbaki.Group.–.Industry.and.Trade...... 300 J. Rowlands, F. Paap

New.patented.technology.for.greener.urethanes................................ 303 C. Lindsay, S. Woutters, L. Wu, R. Camargo

Innovations.in.TPUs........................................................................... 308 T. Mitsumata, S. Ohori

Magnetic.polyurethane.elastomers.. with.wide.range.modulation.of.elasticity............................................. 310 In.person:. Hassan.Baalbaki Page.300

C. P. M. Freitag, I. C. Riegel, S. H. Pezzin, M. L. Costa, S. C. Amico

Faster.thermoplastic.polyurethane.crystallization.. with.an.organic.nucleating.agent........................................................ 315 Suppliers.list..................................................................................... 317 Publication.information.&.contacts..................................................... 322

260

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OCtObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

261

Bridgestone to build PU foam plant for automobile seats in China

Industry news BASF to open a second polyurethane systems site in Russia With a second Russian polyurethane systems site, BASF is strengthening its worldwide network of PU System Houses. In spring 2012, the applications technology centre near St. Petersburg will start operations which will provide polyurethane customers with local sales and technology services. The building will house a technology centre and office space alongside storage areas and a test laboratory. According to BASF, through its existing PU System House in Nishnekamsk, which went into operation in 2000, the company already has a strong market position in PU system solutions in Russia. BASF sees significant potential for growth especially in the automotive and construction

industries as well as in the CASE sector for applications using its PU system solutions. Like the PU System House in Nishnekamsk, the new site will also be a part of the joint venture with the Russian company OAO Nishnekamskneftechim (NKNC). This means that BASF can draw on local polyol production in Russia, and be a reliable supplier of PU products. BASF operates 38 System Houses worldwide, as well as production sites for the main precursor PU products. Only recently the company opened PU System Houses in Poland and Dubai, UAE, and has started the construction of two further sites in Tianjin and Chong- online qing, China.

Perstorp opens second caprolactone stream Perstorp announced it has doubled production capacity of its Capa caprolactone plant in Warrington, UK. Due to the rapidly growing demand for caprolactones worldwide, these speciality chemicals have been in short supply for several years. In response, the company has invested in a second Capa stream to secure long-term availability of the material.

The

online

According to Perstorp, the second stream is based on the same proprietary technology as its first stream, guaranteeing customers the same quality as before. With trial volumes already successfully produced, tested and used in downstream products, the company has begun commercial pro- online duction in September.

-button delivers added value to you!

Extended content for all articles with this symbol on

online

www.pu-magazine.com Just type some keywords in the search box on the top of the website.

262

Bridgestone will construct a new plant to produce polyurethane foam for automobile seats in Wuhan City located in the Chinese province Hubei. The new plant will be operated by Bridge stone (Wuhan) Chemical Products Co., Ltd. and will employ about 80 people. Preparations are currently underway to begin mass production in April 2012. The company will invest about USD 11 million to build the plant, to install equipment, and to start production. The new plant will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 car seats and will be Bridgestone’s second plant for producing polyurethane

foam for automobile seats in China. The company already operates a plant in Guangzhou in China, which produces the same products. PU foam automobile seat

Recticel to close converting factory in North Shields, UK Recticel Limited (UK) has announced that it will rationalise its Flexible Foams converting activities in the United Kingdom by closing its Carobel comfort foam converting factory located in North Shields (North East England) before the end of 2011.

According to the company, this restructuring plan will lead to the lay off of 52 employees on a total of 521 people employed in its Flexible Foams’ activities in the UK. The total closure costs are e s t i m a t e d a t a ro u n d G B P 200,000 (~EUR 146,000).

KraussMaffei celebrating ten years of success in China Since the founding of a subsidiary in China in 2001, the Krauss Maffei group has become wellestablished with products and services of its three brands KraussMaffei, KraussMaffei Berstorff, and Netstal in the Chinese market. As a supplier of large machines in the automotive industry, the company says it has gained a good reputation and considerably extended its customer base. Furthermore, the MX swivel-

platen and compression moulding machine for multicolour TV bezels and windscreens is well-established in the Chinese market. The CX Multinject for multicolour/ multicomponent applications in the low and medium clamping force range is just as successful. According to the company, there is also great demand for its tooling systems for polyurethane foam applications – from design and prototyping through to com-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

We create better durability.

Together.

At Huntsman Polyurethanes, we believe that working in true collaboration with customers is the only way to solve complex problems and find the solutions that will deliver real innovation. So, we strive with a passion and determination to build the deep understanding of our customers that’s required to get to the heart of their needs and establish lasting partnerships. When it comes to creating better durability in critical structures such as bridges, we’ll work with you to produce tailored MDI-based coatings that provide enhanced structural integrity and protection against corrosion. Combine our knowledge of coatings with your expertise, and we’ll create better bridges… together.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

www.huntsman.com/pu

263

plete foaming systems, for example for seat cushions and insulation applications. In addition, the company occupies a leading position in the Asian market in the production of cost-optimised machines for pipe and profile manufacturing, as well as for rubber extrusion with tyre extrusion lines. By combining its three brands and organisational structures under one roof this year, the company expects to substantially strengthen its market position in China with a wider range of products and services. The KrausMaffei group in China now already employs

more than 90 people alone in the sales and service companies as well as just under 300 people in the production plant in Haiyan. Pipe and profile extrusion machines and rubber extruders, including the successor components, have been manufactured on an area of 12,000 m2 at the plant in Haiyan since 2006. The product range is supplemented by polyurethane processing machines and complete foaming systems. According to KraussMaffei, an extension of the plant in Haiyan in the next few years is already being planned.

KraussMaffei production plant in Haiyan, China

KraussMaffei and LG Electronics to cooperate LG Electronics and Krauss Maffei have agreed to work together to drive technological development in plastics processing for electronics devices. LG Electronics also ordered more injection moulding machines from KraussMaffei’s MX series. The machines will be installed in the development

depart ment of the company’s Mold Technology Center, currently under construction in Pyeongtaek-si, Korea. The development focus is on new solutions for cost-competitive, efficient and variable production of plastic components for elec- online tronics equipment.

Huntsman to build new Asia Pacific Technology Center in China Huntsman announced that it will invest approximately USD 40 million to build a new Asia Pacific Regional Technology Center (ATC)

264

in Shanghai’s Minhang Economic & Technological Development Zone. The facility will comprise machine halls, laboratories and

offices, accommodating up to 400 technical experts, and will replace the existing Technology Center, located nearby, which was first opened in September 2008. Construction for the new ATC is expected to commence in January 2012, with completion planned for mid-2013. In parallel, part of the existing Technology

Center will be converted into an auditorium and display area, which together with the new facility will form an integrated technology and innovation campus. The new facility will complement existing Technology Centers in The Woodlands, TX, USA, and Brussels, Belgium, as well as smaller regional centers.

Novamont and Genomatica to create JV for renewable BDO Genomatica and Novamont have signed a letter of intent to establish a joint venture in Europe for the production of butanediol (BDO) from renewable feedstocks. Novamont, a producer of biodegradable bioplastics, will consume the BDO for captive use to meet the increasing demand for its products. The first plant is expected to have a production capacity of approximately 18,000 t/y and will be located in

Italy. The companies intend to convert an existing industrial site to use Genomatica’s BDO production processes to begin production of this intermediate chemical by the end of 2012. Under the agreement, Novamont will provide the capital to construct the first plant and will purchase the production output from the plant. Genomatica will have an option on a portion of the BDO production.

BASF and Carlisle SynTec cooperate on new roofing system BASF is partnering with Carlisle SynTec to jointly market a new roofing system that utilises both companies’ technologies. The system combines BASF’s spray polyurethane foam insulating technology with Carlisle’s Sure White EPDM FleeceBack singleply membrane and Fast adhesive. The roofing components

work together to create a seamless blanket of insulation that seal out air and water, while eliminating thermal bridging. According to BASF, this composite roofing system is very robust, providing durability, sustainability and energy efficiency, while delivering good performance for wind uplift resistance and waterproofing.

Bodo Möller opens a new company in Slovakia The Bodo Möller Group has established a new affiliate in Bratislava, Slovakia, for the markets in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bodo Möller Chemie Czech & Slovakia, s. r. o. has

its own warehouses and office and will provide customers with local sales and field service. Andreas Hamacher takes over the management of the new company as Managing Director.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Bekaert starts up half products manufacturing unit in Russia Bekaert recently inaugurated its plant extension in Lipetsk, Russia. The company has been present with steel cord manufacturing operations in Russia since 2010 and has built a growing customer base in the region. In view of expected efficiency and flexibility gains, it decided to extend its pro-

duction platform with a half products manufacturing unit. The investment encompassed the construction of a new building covering 13,000 m2, the installation of infrastructure and machinery, and the hiring and training of extra personnel. The plant currently employs close to 200 peple.

German plastics and rubber machinery exports pick up further According to a report by the Plastics and Rubber Machin ery Association within the Ger man Engineering Federation VDMA, the year 2010 saw a robust recovery in foreign deliveries by German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers. However, in spite of annual growth of 25.6 %, exports fell far short of the record achieved in 2008. There is a chance that the gap may close again this year, says the association, adding that German export deliveries had risen by 46.5 % by the middle of 2011. The countries with the biggest sales markets all boast significantly above-average growth rates: China ranks first with a 67 % increase, followed by the

USA with 60 %, India with 95 %, Russia with 80.1 %, Mexico with 96.8 %, and Turkey with 87.3 %. The industry’s sales were up 35 % in the first half of 2011. Based on the current forecast, sales will rise by 18 % over the year as a whole. However, in the light of the figures for the year to date, growth may in fact top the 20 % mark. The industry as a whole will therefore reach its all-time high again and is even set to exceed it, says the association. The positive sales trend is expected to continue in 2012. The industry’s new orders were up by a further 23 % in the first six months of 2011, with orders from customers in Germany rising by 21 % and those from abroad by 24 %.

Call for speakers: PDA Annual Conference 2012 The Program Planning Committee of PDA – The Association for High Performance Elasto meric Technologies is currently reviewing potential presentations for the upcoming PDA Annual Conference 2012 in Orlando, FL, USA. Presentations will be given from 27 – 29 March 2012. The committee is looking for a variety of business/technical presenta-

tions for a 45 minute time slot for general session, formulator track, applicator track, and demo online presentations.

Contact: PDA · Jackie Johnson Tel. +1 816 221-0777 Internet www.pda-online.org/ speak_about_polyurea.asp

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

265

Technology and product news Faster rotor blade bonding with new PU adhesive In rotor blade production, one way of accelerating the process would be to use PU-based adhesives for rotor blade bonding. Traditionally, blade shells and spars have been bonded using two-component epoxy resins. While these materials reliably meet the high mechanical specifications, they are reaching their limits when it comes to the automation of manufacturing processes. Henkel is now presenting a solution in the shape of its newly developed polyurethane adhesive Macroplast UK 1340. According to the company, the PU adhesive satisfies the specific mechanical requirements for use in the wind power industry and makes rotor blade production more efficient. One of the benefits offered by Macroplast UK 1340 is its accelerated cure speed. PU-based adhesives react much faster than the epoxy resins used up to now. Since it is not only highly reactive but also produces less reaction heat, this two-component adhesive reduces

both the duration and the temperature of the cure phase. Tests have shown that substantial reductions can be achieved in bonding and tempering times, says Henkel. The lower cure temperature also has a positive impact on energy consumption in addition to reducing the risk of stress cracking due to excessive thermal loading. In addition, heatsensitive foam inserts also remain unaffected. Macroplast UK 1340 fulfills all the key parameters specified by Germanischer Lloyd (GL) and is the first PU adhesive in the world to have obtained GL approval, says the company. Rotor blades manufactured using the new adhesive have already proven their worth in a field trial of more than twelve months. Furthermore, the processed adhesive has successfully passed load tests performed by the Fraun hofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technol ogy IWES. In a long-term test lasting some four months, an

The bonded joints of the 40 m long blade passed the IWES endurance testing programme.

Enercon rotor blade bonded with the PU adhesive was subjected to stresses and strains that would normally occur over a period of 20 years. The bonded joints of the 40 m long blade passed the static and dynamic tests specified in the IEC 61400-23 standard to

determine the rated load and fatigue behaviour of the blade. The test criteria specified for approval of wind energy plants were met without any problems and Enercon’s own specifications were also satisfied in this blade test.

UV-protected PU tubing with lasting colour brilliance Synthetic materials deteriorate when subjected to UV radiation. This applies not least to standard polyurethane tubing made from aromatic isocyanate compounds. Tubing of this kind loses colour over a period of time. The mechanical properties are largely retained for brief periods – or even over the medium-term. However, the tubing becomes yellowish and pale quickly. In addition, tubing without pigmentation or with light colouration can develop a net-like effect on the surface as a result of oxidation. This results in the tube turning brittle with countless micro cracks. Thus, the Osnabrück-based German company Polyvanced GmbH has developed UV-protected polyurethane tubing offering lasting colour stability and increased product safety. According to the company, it has also cut oxidative degradation to a minimum. Polyvanced produces the UV-protected PU tubing on request. UV-protected tubing is used for outdoor applications including

many marine and boat building uses as well as a range of medical applications. For all long-term UV protection requirements, the company recommends using the colour black for all tubing materials as a matter of principle. UV-protected PU tubing from Polyvanced

Polyvanced turns out some 50 million m of special tubing every year. The key industrial sectors served by the company are automation, automotive, drinking water, robotics and drive engineering. Polyvanced currently employs over 130 people in Eu- online rope.

BASF celebrates 50 years of Cellasto Car drivers expect their vehicles to run athletically, safely and smoothly on the road. The automotive industry and its customers owe this to products like

266

Cellasto, a spring aid created in 1961 by Elastogran GmbH in Lemförde, Germany – today part of BASF’s Polyurethanes division. For 50 years now, under the

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

tible, and absorb harshness, vibrations, and noise. From the beginning of series production in 1964, demand for this product increased steadily due to the growth of the autoCellasto components are used in areas subject to high dynamic stressing. motive industry as the main customer. In the seventies, production was truly automated for the first time, while the eighties for Cellasto were marked by the development of new fields of application and markets, and the expansion of exports. This was followed by numerous innovations and further customer-oriwhere other materials such as ented development into a partner rubber and steel reach their lim- to the automotive industry. its. According to BASF, today BASF operates six production nine out of ten car makers use locations for Cellasto worldwide this product. Spring and damping in North and South America, components made of Cellasto Asia, and Europe. The most reare volume-compressible, dura- cent location in Shanghai started ble and environmentally compa- production this summer. Cellasto brand name, the company has been manufacturing and selling polyurethane finished parts and springs of all kinds that are employed in those areas

Multi-faceted: Pole position

For high performance PUR at competitive prices its tough to beat Solkane® 365mfc. Solkane® 365mfc gives you the best lambda values of any ODP zero foaming agent. Ask for our latest ecoefficiency studies which impressively demonstrate how Solkane® 365mfc brings out the best in your PUR/PIR products – economically and ecologically!

Safe handling With a boiling point of 40 °C, Solkane® 365mfc is a true liquid. This guarantees easy handling, and safe and cost effective packaging.

Top team Solkane® 365mfc is the perfect team player: with Solvay’s own R 365/227 range of non-flammable blends, or other combinations with HFCs and even hydrocarbons – the choices are almost unlimited. Running Solkane® 365mfc in your system maximizes your insulating performance and minimizes raw material costs. Solkane® 365mfc in your team puts you in a win-win situation.

Strong protection Solkane® 365mfc is your ideal choice when the highest fire safety classes are specified. Enhance this even further with IXOL®: Solvay’s own range of reactive flame retardant polyols.

Saip to exhibit at PUTech Eurasia 2011 At the second polyurethane industry exhibition of Turkey, Middle Eastern and Balkan countries PUTech Eurasia, from 17 – 20 November 2011 in Istanbul, the Italian company Saip will inform about its complete range of polyurethane processing equipment and dedicated product lines in-

cluding foam dispensing machines for various foam applications, the Contitech and Ditech solutions for insulating panels, Reftech for refrigeration, as well as custom-made solutions manufactured according to ISO 9001: 2008 Quality System Certification by TÜV Rheinland.

Talk to us to find out more! Solvay Fluor Korea CO., LTD 5th Fl. Donghwa Bldg. 58-7 Seosomun-Dong, Jung-Gu Seoul 100-736, Korea Phone +82 2 757 5353 Fax +82 2 756 0354

Solvay (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Building 7, No. 899 Zu Chong Zhi Road Zhangjiang High-tech Park Shanghai 201203, China Phone +86 21 50805080 Fax +86 21 50805376

Solvay Fluor GmbH Postfach 220 30002 Hannover, Germany Phone +49 511 857-2444 Fax +49 511 857-2166 foamingagents@solvay.com www.solvay-fluor.com

Continuous line in the ce|de|pa technical centre

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

www.ahlersheinel.de

Solvay Fluor A Group active in Chemistry The use of Solkane®365mfc and of blends containing Solkane®365mfc might fall within the scope of U.S. patent no. 5,496,866. The following must be noted regarding the USA (until March 5, 2013): (1) Solkane®365mfc cannot be used in the USA, by itself or in a blend, as a blowing agent to foam a plastic based on an isocyanate to form plastic foam compositions; (2) Solkane®365mfc and blends containing Solkane®365mfc must not be made, used, offered for sale, or sold in the USA, or imported into the USA, for such blowing uses; and (3) closed cell plastic foam compositions prepared by foaming a plastic material based on isocyanate in the presence of a propellant comprising Solkane®365mfc and/or a blend containing Solkane®365mfc, cannot be made, used, offered for sale, or sold, within the USA, or imported into the USA. To do so can result in a claim of patent infringement under U.S. patent no. 5,496,866. Solvay will not sell Solkane® 365mfc or blends containing Solkane®365mfc to any purchaser intending to use the product accordingly. For addional information and details please visit our webside: www.solvay-fluor.com.

267

Recently, Saip announced the inauguration of ce|de|pa (the Continuous Panel Development Center, or Centro de Desarrollo del Panel en Continuo) in Tudela, Navarra, Spain. ce|de|pa, a joint venture of Saip and Dow, is an industrial scale technical centre dedicated to the research and development of new solutions

and technologies for the worldwide manufacturers of polyurethane-made panels for thermal insulation using the continuous manufacturing processing technology. During the three-day trade show, Saip will inform about this project, which will be supporting and servicing the panels production industry at large.

PU coating for wire guide rollers for wire guide rollers for wafer slicing equipment. TPUCO has e n t e re d t h i s b u s i n e s s i n March 2011. According to the company, the PU coating offers high mechanPU coatings from TPUCO for wire guide rollers ical strength, good antiageing properties as well as good wear and oil resistance. It is available in any hardness in the range from 60 – 97 Shore A and comes in the two main colours green and yellow. At the PUTech Eurasia 2011, Ta i w a n P U C o r p o r a t i o n (TPUCO) will present its new range of polyurethane coatings

People Owlia steps down as Senior VP Polyurethanes, BMS, Asia Pacific Dr Azita Owlia is standing down as Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing for Bayer MaterialScience’s Polyurethanes business unit in Asia Pacific. She will be succeeded by Bernd Steinhilber, who moves to Hong Kong to head the Polyurethanes business unit from Films, where he was based in Leverkusen,

Germany. Previously, he has been involved with the CAS business – experience he shares with Dr Joachim Wolff, the new Head of the Polyurethanes business unit. Owlia stated that she has no immediate career plans, but intends to remain in the online region.

F. l. t. r.: Bernd Steinhilber, Dr Azita Owlia, Dr Joachim Wolff

Evonik to showcase latest PU additives at PUTech Eurasia The Business Line Comfort & Insulation of Evonik Indus tries AG has been marketing PU additives for more than 50 years. In Turkey the company is present for more than 30 years now, offering a complete range of additives for the manufacturing of all kinds of PU foams. The portfolio includes Tegostab silicone stabilisers, Tegoamin amine catalysts, Kosmos metal catalysts, Tegocolor pigments, Ortegol performance additives, as well as Gorapur release agents from its affiliate Evonik Gorapur GmbH. During the PUTech Eurasia 2011, the company will introduce its most recent product

268

innovations, such as the three new sur factants Tegostab B 8484, B 8498, and B 84702 for rigid foam applications; the active foam stabiliser Tegostab B 8247, chain extender Ortegol CXT, and foam softening agent Ortegol FS 1 for flexible PU foams; the low emanation surf a c t a n t g r a d e s Te g o s t a b B 8734 LF 2 and B 8745 LF 2 for MDI-based foam formulations; the antistatic agents Ortegol AST 3 and AST 4 for safety shoes; and the delayed action c a t a l y s t Te g o a m i n AS MEG for the footw e a r s e c t o r a n d online microcellular foams.

New Managing Director at Biesterfeld Polska As of 1 October 2011, Walde mar Jurczak has been appointed as the operative Managing Director at the Polish branch of Biesterfeld Plastic. The expanded management of Biesterfeld Polska Sp. z o. o. now consists of Marek Parol, who holds responsibility for the administration of the company, and Jurczak, who

is responsible for the operative business. According to the company, Jurczak has long-standing and extensive experience in the sector of plastics trading which he acquired in the past as the Managing Director of an important plastics trading company in Poland.

www.pu-magazine.com PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

More freedom of design. Automotive Solutions. Performance Passion Success Polyurethane – one of the most versatile materials of our time. Even in the most difficult application areas it guarantees an enormous freedom of design, in every detail accurate display, an outstanding image of the surface and contours and also an exceptional haptic and especially matt visual effects. Elastoskin® and Elastollan® for instrument panels and the centre consoles. BASF Polyurethanes. Everything else is standard. Further information about Elastoskin: manfred.michl@basf.com, Elastollan: stefan.arenz@basf.com, PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011 www.pu.basf.de/surfaces

269

Reviews

Events

Coatings Formulation

SPE Automotive Innovation Awards 2011

bodo Müller, Ulrich Poth, Vincentz Network, Hanover, Germany, 2011, 2nd revised edition, 292 p., hardcover, EUr 139.00, ISbN 978-3-86630-872-5

The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) has announced the date, location, and theme for its 41st annual Automotive Innovation Awards, the oldest and largest recognition event in the automotive and plastics industries. This year’s event will be held under the theme “Passion to Innovate” on 9 Novem ber 2011 in Livonia, MI, USA. The event typically draws 600 – 800 OEM engineers, automotive and plastics industry executives, consultants, and media.

The new second revised edition of the book Coatings Formula tion provides detailed explanations of new recipes and paint formulations in two steps: It opens with a look at the composition of coatings, placing special emphasis on the base binder in each type. Advice on specific formulations is then given before formulation guidelines are analysed. This analysis consists in calculating the important characteristic values of coatings, such as the pigment/binder ratio,

pigment volume concentration and, as necessary, the hardener addition level. Throughout, the focus is on coatings formulation and how to arrive at the final recipe. Examples of how to develop a real-life paint formulation are provided in the case of the most important types of coatings. All calculations based on recipes and formulations are worked through step by step and should therefore be intelligible to beginners, as well.

Market Study: Flame Retardants ceresana research, Konstanz, Germany, 2011, 780 p., two volumes, from EUr 1,895 The new Market Study: Flame Retardants by Ceresana Re search forecasts that global flame retardant revenues will rise to approximately USD 5.8 billion by 2018. According to the study, demand is above all growing in the Asia-Pacific region, with China registering the greatest increase of 7 % per year. As environmental restrictions mainly impact halogenated flame retardants, less controversial alternatives are being developed. The demand for organophosphates and different inorganic flame retardants is rising by 3.5 – 4.3 % per year, which is significantly faster than

270

for brominated or chlorinated flame retardants. The most widely used flame retardant is aluminium hydroxide (ATH), which is anticipated to continue to dominate the market in 2018. The most important sales markets are construction materials – especially made from PVC – insulating materials, rubbers, adhesives, and paints & varnishes. The study includes a detailed description and analysis of consumption by product type, sales and prices. In addition, it contains a list of manufacturers with 246 company profiles.

Contact: SPE Automotive Division · Dawn Stephens Tel. +1 248 2448993 E-mail information@speautomotive.com · Internet speautomotive.com/inno

Adhesives for wind and solar technology Vincentz Network is organising the European Coatings Conference Adhesives for wind and solar technology from 22 – 23 Novem ber 2011 in Berlin, Germany. This new conference will discuss latest technology developments as well as novel raw materials in adhesives for the wind solar energy industry. Further interesting Vincentz Network conferences in Berlin are Automotive coatings from 24 – 25 November 2011 and Construction chemicals from 13 – 14 December 2011. Contact: Vincentz Network GmbH & Co. KG Tel. +49 511 9910-000 · Fax +49 511 9910-279 E-mail info@european-coatings.com Internet www.european-coatings.com/events

Fire Resistance in Plastics 2011 Applied Market Information Ltd. (AMI) will host its sixth conference on Fire Resistance in Plastics under the motto “Trends and technical developments in the international flame retardant industry” from 29 November – 1 December 2011 in Cologne, Germany. The programme features 17 technical lectures in four sessions. Contact: Applied Market Information Ltd. · Adele Brown Tel. +44 117 9249442 · Fax +44 117 3111534 E-mail ab@amiplastics.com · Internet www.amiconferences.com

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Chinaplas 2012 The 26th international exhibition on plastics and rubber industries China plas will open its doors from 18 – 21 April 2012 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Shanghai, China. The event is Asia’s largest and the world’s second largest plastics and rubber trade show. The organiser Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., expects next year’s event to reach a new height, occupying more than 200,000 m2 of floor space and gathering over 2,600 exhibitors. Adsale further estimates the event will attract more than 100,000 visitors. Contact: Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. Tel. +852 2516-3325 · Fax +852 2516-5024 E-mail chinaplas@adsale.com.hk · Internet www.chinaplasonline.com

High Performance Elastomers and Polymers for Oil & Gas Applications

on 17 – 18 April 2012. The organiser has issued a call for papers on topics such as: market and industry reviews; new materials and applications; new requirements from end users; component design and analysis; seals, hoses and umbilicals; advances in insulation for subsea applications; and avoidance of explosive decompression. The deadline for offering a paper is 30 November 2011.

Polymers in Medical Devices iSmithers will host the first conference on Polymers in Medical Devices – Regulation, Design and Manufacture from 22 – 23 May 2012 in Brussels, Belgium. The organiser is currently recruiting speakers. Abstracts can be submitted until 30 Novem ber 2011 on key subjects such as: the current regulatory framework and future changes; material selection opportunities of new polymers; examples of best practice polymeric medical device design; moulding and manufacturing technology; testing and validation processes. Contact: iSmithers · Helen Charlesworth

iSmithers invites to its High Performance Elastomers & Polymers for Oil & Gas Applications conference, taking place in Aberdeen, UK,

Tel. +44 1939 250383 · Fax +44 1939 252416 E-mail hcharlesworth@ismithers.net · Internet www.polymerconferences.com

Better Products with Ecomate

Choosing Ecomate® for all of your foam needs is an easy decision to make. Ecomate® is green — and a competitive replacement for all blowing agents.

S U S TA I N A B L E | E N V I R O N M E N TA L LY B E N I G N | E N E R G Y E F F I C I E N T | H YG I E N I C A L LY S A F E

approved for use in refrigerated appliances and vending machines. It has excellent properties for use in construction applications such as residential doors, building insulation and commercial roofing. Ecomate® also meets the polyurethane needs of automotive and marine industries. Ecomate is both U.S. EPA and SNAP approved to replace HFCs and SMOG producers such as hydrocarbons. In fact, FSI customers in 2009 alone reduced potential greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 billion pounds of CO2e, which is 3x more than any competitor.2 So, be kind to the environment and your customers. Make the change to Ecomate. 1

Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS)

The 284 member companies of EPA’s Climate Leaders Partners, the US leaders in ghg reductions, on average reduced their emissions by 176,056 mt or the equivalent of 31,960 cars a piece. FSI customers reduced emissions by 49,817 mt or the equivalent of 90,000 cars.

Our product provides excellent foam insulation for a variety of applications. Ecomate® is GRAS1

Better Products. Better for the Environment. www.ecomatesystems.com www.foamsupplies.com

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

271

18 – 22 October 2011, Friedrichshafen Lightweight, efficient production, and savings of energy and material – the 21st Fakuma from 18 – 22 October 2011 offers visitors a complete array of ideas, suggestions, and solutions to further implement these much vaunted virtues in the plastics processing industry. With 1,664 exhibitors from 34 countries on 85,000 m2 exhibition space the Fakuma 2011 is fully booked. besides several forums and workshops, visitors can expect a 500 m2 theme park at the West Entrance about Plastics in Medical Technology. by the way – in 2011 Fakuma celebrates its 30th birthday. the very beginning of this important event goes back to the eighties. the first edition started in 1981 with 60 exhibitors; this number has been growing almost steadily up to now more than 1,600.

Visit our Fakuma online special on www.pu-magazine.com

Raw materials, systems, additives Bayer MaterialScience: Material solutions for global megatrends Bayer MaterialScience will be showcasing material developments for global megatrends like climate protection, mobility, technology, and health care under the motto “From Megatrends to Business”. Two new technologies enable automotive interior and bodywork applications to be efficiently manufactured from high-grade materials in a single process step: Direct-Skinning is a process for the finishing of parts with coloured decorative polyurethane surfaces, including surfaces with light shades and tactile textures. DirectCoating enables the efficient application of coloured coatings, soft-touch coatings or clearcoats, including high-gloss surfaces. With both technologies the coating is applied while the part is still on the injection moulding machine. The surfaces are UV and light-stable and abrasion-resistant. Desmopan TPU surfaces are resistant to scratching and wear, and can be imbued with various haptic properties as required. This is done primarily by combining soft Desmopan grades with suitable hard substrates from the Bayblend range. Another material highlight will be the “green” blend of PC and PET for both large-area vertical and horizontal automobile bodywork parts. Makroblend GR 235M is made from high quality recyclates. Thanks to this raw material basis, it compares well with virgin material. Possible applications are bodywork parts, such as spoilers, trunk lids and skirts, covers for antennas, and convertible top compartments.

Hall B4, stand 4206

Clariant: Brilliant colours Clariant will inform about Cesa additives and combibatches for freezers. These are high-brilliance UV protected white and gray colours with antimicrobial additives. Mevopur additives are suited for

272

pharmaceutical packaging, with pre-tested ingredients enabling manufacturers to fulfill regulatory requirements for this demanding sector. ColorForward 2012 is a trend analysis and colour design tool that supports customers in making colour choices for their plastics products ahead of time.

Hall B2, stand 2217

Kuraray: Innovative elastomer solutions At Fakuma Kuraray will highlight its comprehensive TPE portfolio including the established Septon and Hybrar brands and will also inform about its range of innovative liquid isoprene rubbers (Kuraray Liquid Rubber KLR). The company will exhibit together with its long-time distributor Marubeni. Under the brand name Kuramiron the company offers thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers which are highly durable, gel-free, and especially suited for film applications. Kurarity is Kuraray’s new soft acrylic TPE. It is a highly transparent and polar material for a wide range of applications, for example re-writable films. The new production facility in Niigata, Japan, is said to come on stream in November 2011. The Septon Q series comprises materials that combine light weight, durability, and scratch resistance with easy processing and soft-touch. Their first commercial application was in soccer shoes. Septon J is a series of hydrogenated styrenic TPEs specifically designed to give end products flexibility and a soft feel. It is suitable for parts requiring low-hardness gel, including bandages, and footwear insoles. The grades of the Septon K series can be injection-moulded or extruded directly onto glass or metal without pretreatment. The portfolio of the business unit Elastomers of Kuraray also comprises high-viscosity polymeric liquid rubber based on isoprene (LIR) and butadiene (LBR). These LIR/LBR are mainly used as reactive plasticisers in the rubber industry. TP-301 is a trans polyisoprene that is used as synthetic gutta-percha for medical splints and in hotmelt applications.

Hall A4, stand 4304

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Rampf: Bio-based sealing solutions The system supplier will be exhibiting at the WVIB (Association of industrial companies based in the Baden region) joint stand, where it will be presenting its solutions for sealing, casting, bonding and designing based on renewable raw materials. The starting materials for new plastics with improved mechanical properties are natural raw materials such as vegetable oils, maize, wood (lignin) and greases. To demonstrate the capabilities of material and machinery the sister companies Rampf Dosiertechnik and Rampf Giessharze will show a live demonstration where a newly developed thixotropic soft integral foam “live” is applied with a DC-CNC low-pressure mixing and dispensing unit. Raku-PUR 32-3275 is a two-component system based on polyurethane that contains no solvents or plasticisers. Its water absorption is said to be less than 5 %. Further benefits include high mechanical strength, short tack-free time and therefore fast installation and high-quality seal. The compact DC-CNC dispensing cell is wellsuited for the 2D or 3D application of casting, sealing and adhesive systems. The basic setDC-CNC low-pressure system up of the fully enclosed DC-CNC is equipped with an integrated control cabinet and a two-component material conditioning system. Further features include a Siemens Sinumerik modular control system and integrated process control for continuous monitoring of pressure, fill level and speed. The mixing and dispensing system can optionally be equipped with a high-pressure rinse agent recycling system, high-pressure water rinsing or various items of automation equipment depending on the application in question.

18-21 April 2012

Hall B2, stand 2203

Machinery, plants Cannon: Smart technologies save energy The new motto of Cannon is “Smart Technology – Save Energy”. This year the German subsidiary of the established Italian machinery company will present at Fakuma new machine concepts and further developments for processing technologies, conventional as well as recent ones. Visitors will see samples illustrating the capabilities of the company’s portfolio:

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

273

• The Estrim technology (Epoxy Structural Reaction Injection Moulding), based on the right mix of technologies able to achieve fast cycle times and automated production of composites. • The JL mixing head, an L-shaped head without injectors, simply to use for a wide range of outputs. Manufacturers of domestic refrigerators, insulation panels, refrigerated displays, and cold stores can obtain advantages in terms of reduced consumption of chemicals, better foam quality, more regular distribution of densities within their products. • The SoliStream technology for dosing fillers and solids directly into the mixing heads, and other co-injection and reinforced spray technologies. • Plants for the processing of polyurethanes and composites in automotive and refrigerators applications. Furthermore, the company informs about its high-pressure dosing units with pump or piston driven metering machines, the range of low-pressure B machines, the multi-component low-output mixing head B1-Multi for gasketing, solutions for continuous and single block production of flexible slabstock (conventional and visco-elastic), including the latest versions of CarDio, C-Max and single block foaming machines. Speed (Sandwich Panel Energy Efficiency Design) is a range of plants for the continuous production of sandwich panels, low density foams, including a version able to handle at the same time mineral wool. The Speed equipment is part of the actual project “Social houses for developing countries”. The group’s Thermoforming Division will highlight developments in the field of industrial thermoforming: dedicated machines for complex twin-sheet applications, thermo-compression for automotive interior parts, and pressure forming models for lighting industry. Technical innovation in thermoforming includes a new patented system for the adjustment of the plates and new servo versions of machines.

Hall A1, stand 1434

Desma Tec: Fully automatic production of automotive spring aids At the Fakuma 2011, the producer of low pressure polyurethane machines Desma will showcase its latest generation of polyurethane low pressure technology. The unit allows, just as previous versions, the colour change from shot to shot. The mixing head is designed for four colours, additives or catalysts in addition to four components. The component change is also possible from shot to shot. The injection PU units are mainly installed in the automotive area to produce air springs for cars. Desma Tec, a division of Klöckner Desma Shoe Machinery GmbH, located in Achim near Bremen, Germany, is specialised in the production of machinery to produce bumpers. The spring aids are injection moulded on fully automated rotary tables. The moulds are designed with multiple cavities. Depending on the part size, up to eight cavities are possible in a single mould. The release agent is usually spray-applied by robots. No manual work is necessary.

274

After cutting the runner system, the air springs are de-moulded from the cores. Afterwards, they normally pass a printer for labelling the production codes for quality control reasons. This way, tier 1 suppliers can check at any time when the parts have been produced. After printing the products online, they have to be separated and stocked. A container management system takes care of stocking them correctly sorted in the right boxes. After finishing them (trimming the flush away) they are Fully automatic production with Desma Tec's Bumready for shipment. perspeed technolody Furthermore, it is not only possible to produce spring aids for the automotive industry on the so called Bumperspeed machines. Bumpers for the elevator- and crane industries can also be produced. In these sectors, customers often request to mould in inserts in the bumpers for assembly reasons later on. These inserts are usually steel plates or the like. Often camera systems are installed into the manufacturing equipment to ensure the correct insert is placed in the right mould and to avoid crashes in the mould. The heating of the moulds can vary according to customer requirements. The standard design is medium temperation. However, it is also easily possible to electrically heat the moulds.

Hall A7, stand 7405

Hennecke: State-of-the-art and established PU processing technologies Hennecke has been developing polyurethane processing machinery and equipment for over 65 years. At Fakuma 2011, the company will present its portfolio of machine concepts and plant technology. Among the novelties will be the new version of the Wintronic plant control. In this system upgrade, the plant manufacturer has eliminated most of the conventional operator controls and, as for the new hardware, relies on a touchscreen operator panel combined with a significantly optimised user interface. Compared to function key operated devices, the complete control logic remains unchanged and the typical benefits such as shot logging and data export to external storage media are still available. The function of the new Wintronic will be demonstrated in a live simulation. Also live on display in Friedrichshafen will be a Microline production system for the processing of transparent PU systems. The system is used within the manufacture of an automotive centre console at the Engel stand (hall 5, stand 5204). In this application, a thermoplastic base support is combined with veneer using the injection moulding

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

process. Thanks to the direct connection of the polyurethane processing plant to the mould, finish coating with transparent PU systems takes place in the same production cell (clearmelt technology). The PU protects against chemical and mechanical impact and gives a high-value surface effect. The additional integration of a capacitive film enables piloting a vehicle similar to the handling of a smartphone, offering interior designers new degrees of freedom. Hennecke is Engel’s exclusive system partner for polyurethane technology.

Hall A5, stand 5215

KraussMaffei: Cutting machine costs with efficient production solutions Increasing productivity and efficiency is the main theme of KraussMaffei’s stand at Fakuma. Under the motto BluePower the company has bundled its energy- and resource-efficient production solutions. At its stand KraussMaffei will feature low to medium tonnage injection moulding machines – hydraulic and electric machines from its CX, AX, and EX series. KM will show an example of a swivel-platen machine, a CXW 200380/160 SpinForm to demonstrate the benefits of integrated assembly. Lightweight, three-part plastic closures made of PP will be produced on this machine using a cube technology. Technology partner here is mouldmaker Zahoransky. All machines on the KM stand are fitted with a central computer interface, so that production locations can be networked. Using the comKraussMaffei’s CX Spin Form pany's Mobile machine Assistant, a smartphone solution, the operator can check status and production data of the machines at any time and from anywhere in the world. KM developed the application in cooperation with a software partner, T.I.G. Technische Informationssysteme, Rankweil, Austria.

Hall A7, stand 7303

Services Listgrove: Human resources solutions The recruitment and human resources company Listgrove will be present at Fakuma for the third time. Listgrove is specialised in recruitment projects and senior executive appointments within the global plastics and packaging industries. The company’s headquarters are in Stratford upon Avon, UK. Listgrove is the only global recruitment company that exhibits at international key trade fairs like NPE, K, Interpack, Fakuma, etc.

Hall B3, stand 3131

Plasticker: Online marketplace for the plastics industry The focus of the online portal plasticker.com is the B2B marketplace for raw materials and the machine trading exchange, as well as the industry job market and an exchange for trade representatives. Furthermore, Plasticker provides daily news about companies and products, raw material prices, market data, a company directory, a calendar of events, etc. According to the IVW audited page impressions and visit statistics, Plasticker ranks among the most popular internet portals in the plastics industry.

Hall B1, foyer

SPI: New location, new start for NPE 2012 In the east foyer of the Friedrichshafen fairground will be the stand of the SPI, the Society of the Plastics Industry, organisers of one of the world’s top three plastics fairs, NPE 2012. In November 2009, SPI decided to move NPE to Orlando, FL, USA, for the 2012 and 2015 shows, a momentous change for the industry, since the venue for every NPE from 1971 to 2009 has been Chicago’s McCormick Place. The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) will once again co-locate the 2012 edition of its Antec technical conference with the NPE. Antec is the world’s largest plastics technical conference. NPE 2012 will take place 1 – 5 April 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando.

Stand FO-15, east foyer

Visit our Fakuma online special on www.pu-magazine.com

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

275

North American PU industry takes a roller coaster ride!

CPI to continue our ongoing product stewardship activities around spray polyurethane foam products. The funds will increase the reach of our online health and safety programme to include information for professionals using two-component, low-pressure foams and insulating foam sealant,” explained Salamone. “We are pleased the grant proposal was selected and look forward to starting this new project.” The grant will be administered jointly by the CPI and the RFHEE.

CPI Polyurethanes 2011 Technical Conference, 26 – 28 September, Nashville, TN, USA Despite the difficult economic conditions facing the North American economy, there was an aire of cautious optimism, and definitely no sense of doom and gloom, amongst the 783 delegates that attended this year’s center for the Polyurethanes Industry’s (cPI) Polyurethanes 2011 technical conference. “We anticipate a bumpy ride over the next 6 – 12 months, but as an industry we are so much better prepared than before, that the impact should be less dramatic,” suggested cPI Steering committee chair, Steven Snead‑Smith, Evonik.

Lee Salamone, Senior Director of the CPI, admitted that she and her staff have had a busy ten months working on key issues such as energy efficiency and product stewardship, publishing new product stewardship information on the handling of amine catalysts and isocyanates as well as a video for the truck bedliner industry. The CPI came to this conference with an almost entirely new team: Linsday Rayfield, Manager, Industry Affairs; Chris Braddock, Director Polyurethanes Markets, and Heather Palfrey, Manager EHS Affairs. The EPA Chemical Action Plans for MDI and TDI were released in April this year, listing what the EPA wants to look at. This will inevitably mean more data collection for the CPI but due the recent success in working with various federal agencies on spray polyurethane foam, these relations are on a good footing. The CPI has created a new working group for the spray foam industry, named the Spray Foam Coalition (formerly called the Systems House Group), currently comprising of some 21 member companies. The new group is self-funding and headed by a new leadership team. The coalition formally adopted its new name in June 2011 and elected Paul Duffy, Vice President of Engineering at Icynene, as Chair and Peter Davis, President and CEO of Gaco Western, as Vice Chair. “The Spray Foam Coalition is establishing itself as a leading voice in the spray foam

276

Ride the roller coaster! Conference Chair, Tom Feige, Dow, likened the last two years in the PU industry to a roller coaster ride. “Recent economic uncertainty has made it essential to maintain balance and look forward while preparing to join the ride. These changing times place a greater demand on the PU industry to be more versatile and efficient,” stated Feige during his opening address. He told the delegates that the PU industry now had to meet rising consumer expectations as well as helping industry to improve manufacturing efficiency through reducing waste and energy consumption. He encouraged everyone to use the event to seek out new solutions and innovations and take home some positive plans and ideas.

Lee Salamone, Senior Director, center for the Polyurethanes Industry (Source: cPI)

insulation industry. With this new leadership team in place, the coalition can continue its growing work in product stewardship, industry research and advocacy efforts. I am pleased to work with Paul and Peter to help the Spay Foam Coalition meet our strategic goals and expand our markets,” stated Salamone. The group has worked very fast and already established the www.whyspray foam.org website.

During a later interview Feige explained that “The PU industry has refocused on new markets and new opportunities. The benefits that PU insulation can bring in achieving energy efficiency will create fantastic and timely cPI conference chair, tom Feige, Dow (Source: cPI)

The most recent success for the CPI is an award from the Occupational Health and Safety Adminstration (OHSA) for a training grant programme. CPI, in partnership with the Research Foundation for Health and Environmental Effects (RFHEE), will execute the project. The programme will be available in English and Spanish. “This grant will allow

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

opportunities. This is a key strength of our industry”. His main impression of the conference was that delegates had come along with a renewed sense of optimism due to the versatility of PU.

• Cannon’s vacuum assisted injection technology for the appliance industry, and • Albermarle’s colour stable technology for polyurea coatings.

Training is also of great importance to the CPI. “The CPI is the industry’s voice for key initiatives and drivers that affect us and our stakeholders. It continues to be a member driven organisation and active in implementing strategies that are relevant to our members,” explained Feige.

A whole new vocabulary, a lecture on etymology

Feige stated that the CPI Polyurethanes Technical Conference continues to ensure that the PU industry has a fantastic future in optimising technology and showcasing new ideas whilst sharing collective experiences. “It is important that delegates gain some positive take-aways from the papers, trends, and technologies. The technical conference is an effective way to come together as an industry to share and gain knowledge,” he concluded. Lee Salamone welcomed five new members to the CPI: Tri Pac, RHH Foam Systems, Johnson Controls, Quadrant Urethanes Technologies, and Great Lakes Solutions (Chemtura). CPI Steering Committee Chair, Steven SneadSmith, Evonik, introduced the three finalists for the Innovation Award: • Dow’s new Pascal technology for the appliance industry, cPI Steering committee chair, Steven Snead‑Smith, Evonik (Source: cPI)

Keynote speaker Jim Carroll gave a rapid fire lecture on the needs and benefits of innovation and the effects it has upon our lives. He explained the concept of “upside down innovation”, where customers supply new ideas to their suppliers. He also provided various statistics including some from Australian researchers that suggested 65 % of children in pre-school education (kindergarten) will find work in jobs that currently do not exist! Carroll introduced delegates to new concepts of etymology (the study of words) explaining that the modern workforce is becoming populated by “digital natives”, those who are able to use all types of digital media. These natives are able to manipulate and develop all types of modern technologies (and not just manipulate their fingers!). “Location intelligence professionals” are not real-estate agents but IT professionals who can link databases to consumer and professional needs. Quoting Rupert Murdoch, Founder of News International Corp., who suggested that “Big will not beat small, fast will beat the slow” and that to be fast, companies need to innovate and increase the opportunities to generate “chameleon revenue.”

Carroll went on to suggest that the US economy has three big problems: healthcare, energy, and the environment. He then illustrated how the PU industry was already involved in providing innovative solutions to these problems. One example was a modular housing unit suitable for the elderly and permitted to be constructed in the back yard of caring younger family members. The product, called Med Cottage, uses PU-insulated structural panels. Steve Burns, newly appointed Vice President Americas, Huntsman Polyurethanes, took the opportunity of the conference to mention some of the solutions his company had developed to meet these very problems. Huntsman has recently launched a flexible foam product called Vydro, for use in horticultural hydroponics. The foam is a suitable replacement for materials such as glass fibre. It can be reused and makes a significant contribution to water management. The product has undergone some initial testing as a media for green roofing schemes. In terms of energy management, Burns reported that Huntsman had seen positive growth in demand for rigid foam as insulation materials in US housing and as commercial insulation in the rapidly growing South American cold chain. As for environmental protection, Huntsman continues to help forest product manufacturers move away from formaldehyde resins to MDI binders, and has recently launched a new product stewardship website to encourage safe handling of MDI. Keynote speaker Jim carroll (Source: cPI)

Carroll also explained the differences between developed and emerging markets in terms of “replacement economies” and “first time buyer economies”. 1 billion first time consumers will join the global economy over the next decade, most of who will aspire to buy a car and a refrigerator. He suggested that replacement economies created opportunities for customised products that meet highly specific customer needs. In comparison, first time buyers simply need a product to perform its basic function.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

277

Best paper awards Awards for best paper and best poster were announced by Tom Feige, these included: • Appliances/Cold Chain was a tie between James Bowman of Honeywell: “Household Refrigerator: Low GWP Blowing Agent Performance Update“ and Vanni Parenti of Dow Italia s.r.l.: ”Pascal Technology: A Novel Breakthrough Polyurethane Foaming Technology for Domestic Appliance Insulation“. • Ron Blair’s paper entitled “Hysteresis Loss – Is it a Viable Flexible Foam Property or Not?” won the best Automotive paper, while Paul Wiggins of Albemarle won the CASE section with a presentation on “New Developments in Aliphatic Polyurea Coatings”. • The Chemistry & Fundamentals session was a tie between Elodie Hablot of Michigan State University/Chems: “Efficient Synthesis of Biobased Poly(amide urethane)s via Non-Isocyanate Route” and Max Senechal of Metabolix, Inc.: ”Meta bolix MBX-1000 – A New Polyurethane Additive”. • Winners of the two Construction sessions were Robert Tauchen of Evonik Industries: “Easing the Transition Between Blowing Agents in PIR Formulations Through Proper Surfactant Selection” and Paul Ashford of Caleb Management Services Limited: “Trends in the Selection of Next Generation Blowing Agents – An International View”. • Daniel Rosenvasser of Huntsman won the best paper in the Elastomers and Footwear session presenting “Further Advances in Footwear Elastomers with Increased Bio-renewable Content”. • There were three winners of the two Environment, Health & Safety sessions: James Chapman of Bayer Material Science LLC who reported on the “EPA’s Chemical Action Plan (CAP) for MDI and TDI”, Michael Woolhiser of Dow presenting “Sensitization Potential of LowMonomer Diisocyanate Prepolymers”, and Ryan Hulse of Honeywell presenting a “Predictive Model for Polyurethane Blowing Agent Emissions Into A House“.

278

• Heiko Tebbe of Lanxess Deutschland GmbH won the Flame Retardants and Combustibility session presenting a “Comparison of Different Phosphorus Based Flame Retardants in Rigid Polyurethane Foam for the Production of Insulation Materials”. • This year there were two session devoted to Flexible Foam and these were won by Stanley Hager of Bayer Material Science LLC with “New Chemical Technology for the Production of Super High Air Flow Flexible Foams” and John De Massa of R.T. Vanderbilt Company with “Polyol Stabilization and the Introduction of a New PUR Slabstock Foam Anti-Oxidant”. • Bjoern Dormann of Desma GmbH presented the winning paper in the Processing Innovations session, reviewing “Advanced Low Pressure High Volume Throughput Mixing Equipment”. • The final award was for the session on Renewables and was presented to Rob ert Miller of DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products presenting “Susterra Propanediol – Evaluating the Structure-Property Relationship in CASE Applications”.

Best poster awards Poster winners included: Piero Corradi of Cannon SpA: “Vacuum-Assisted Injection Technology for Refrigerators Production”, Elodie Hablot of Michigan State Univer sity/Chems: “Efficient Synthesis of Biobased Poly(amide urethane)s via Non-Isocyanate Route”, Jean Vincent of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.: “Dabco DC5350 and

Dabco EM400, New Surfactants for WaterBlown Low-Density Spray Foam”, Carol Het field of the US EPA: “Draft Ventilation Guidance For Spray Polyurethane Foam Application”, and Theodore Smiecinski of BASF Corporation: “Polyurethane GEL Network”. The Innovation Award was won by Albemar le, the team led by Sam Lane and Paul Wiggins received the award. IAL Consultants also presented a summary of the CPI’s “2010 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry” during the closing session.

Diminished expectations? Dr Kevin Swift, the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) in-house economist, wrapped up the meeting with a somewhat downbeat presentation on the state of the US economy. In contrast to the earlier themes of innovation and growth, he suggested that the US economy could be likened to a biplane flying at 62 mph, with a stalling speed of 60 mph! He also explained that analysis of statistics showed that any economic recovery would likely be a jobless recovery and he expected the European debt crisis to be the next big threat to the US economy. He concluded by stating that going forward, he had diminished expectations for the US economy. The remaining delegates might have concluded that he hadn’t ridden a roller coaster for a long time! 

F.l.t.r.: terry Pe (Line‑X Protective coatings), Paul Wiggins, Sam Lane (both Albemarle), Steven Snead‑Smith (cPI Steering committee chair, Evonik) (Source: cPI)

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Energy efficiency remains a key market driver in NAFTA

technology gadgets helped sustain the demand for specialist coatings and TPU cables for electronics as well as encapsulants. In contrast, PU resins used for RIM (Reaction Injection Moulding), showed the largest decline in production, falling by 12 % during the past two years. This decline was reported to be mainly due to competition from other materials such as TPOs especially within in the automotive industry. Production of PU coatings reported an average annual decline of 4 % over the past two years, due to their reliance on major industries such as automotive, appliances, and construction.

A review of the CPI End-Use Market Survey 2010 Government stimulus packages and legislation have helped to sustain demand from the automotive, construction and appliance industries during the economic downturn of 2009 and early 2010. Although the production of PU in North America declined during the period under review, production in canada and Mexico managed positive gains between 2008 and 2010. A summary of the report’s findings was presented during the cPI technical conference at Gaylord Opryland, Nashville,tN.

According to research by IAL Consultants, London, conducted on behalf of the ACC’s Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI), the North American PU industry produced just over 6.2 billion lbs (2.8 million t) of polyurethane material during 2010, a decrease of 2.4 % compared to the 6.5 billion lbs (2.95 million t) produced in 2008.

also continued to encourage greater energy efficiency as a strategy to combat dependency upon imports of oil and gas.

Poor housing market remained a problem

Capital investment in the energy industry is also reported to have created opportunities for cast elastomer products and specialist insulation products. Consumer demand for

As the result of the poor state of the housing market, the economic and financial downturn, high unemployment and poor consumer confidence, production of poly-

Data presented illustrated a general decline in PU production across the region from 2008 – 2010 in the construction, transportation, furniture, and bedding industries. The appliance industry actually grew overall by approximately 8 % due to a combination of stimulus packages, promotion of more energy efficient models, new designs, and pent-up consumer demand from 2009.

Total 6,263.6 million lbs

Adhesives 5%

RIM Elastomers 1 % 7%

Sealants 4%

TPU 2%

Flexible slabstock 20 % Flexible moulded 10 %

Binders 7%

Coatings 10 %

Rigid foam maintained market share In spite of the continued poor performance of the North American construction industry, including the decline in the construction of new houses between 2008 – 2010, the demand for rigid foam accounts for the largest share of production at 34.6 % (fig. 1). Overall, rigid foam production only declined by 3.3 % per year (tab. 1). Consumer demand for home insulation and more efficient household refrigerators and freezers has helped to maintain demand for rigid foam products. Government schemes such as tax credits have encouraged Canadian homeowners to upgrade insulation. The US government has

Fig. 1: NAFtA PU production by product type 2010 (%)



Rigid foam 34 %

PU product

Tab. 1: NAFtA PU production by product type 2008 – 2010

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011



2008 (million lbs) 2010 (million lbs)

% CAGR

rigid foam

2,273.0

2,127.5

–3.3

Flexible slabstock

1,315.0

1,214.7

–3.9

Flexible moulded

637.5

615.0

–1.8

coatings

701.7

647.0

–4.0

Adhesives

314.1

309.3

–0.8

Sealants

207.9

230.1

5.2

binders

421.5

452.3

3.6

Elastomers

460.0

441.3

–2.1

tPU

146.0

147.6

0.5

rIM

102.0

78.0

–12.1

6,578.7

6,263.6

-2.4

Total

279

280

also a problem. Despite these factors, total production of polyurethane in Canada increased during 2010 at an average annual rate of 1.4 % to reach 601 million lbs (272,000 t), representing 9.6 % of the NAFTA market, an increase from 8.9 % in 2008. The Canadian market had a much stronger recovery in demand for rigid foam insulation than the US. Industry suggests this grew by as much as 10 to 11 % during 2009 and 2010.

Data for the three individual countries of NAFTA showed contrasting situations (tab. 2). US production declined at an average rate of 3.6 %, but production in Canada and Mexico actually increased production compared to 2008, with average growths of 1.5 % and 3.3 % respectively. This is the fourth survey running that Mexico has shown positive growth, partly at the expense of the US, but also as Mexico has a fairly healthy export market for appliances and furniture and bedding both to the US and the rest of South America.

Mexican production of polyurethane reached 704 million lbs (319,000 t), an increase of 3.3 % per year since 2008. The main reason for growth in 2010 was due to an increase in production of refrigerators and automotive components for export to the US as well as South America. The domestic refrigeration industry continued to grow also, and exports of refrigeration to Central and South America remained buoyant during most of the global economic downturn. Automotive output in Mexico actually increased compared to

Overall, Canada’s manufacturing sector has continued to decline, especially in the furniture and automotive industries. These industries were quite badly affected due to the loss of export sales to the US, Canada’s single largest market. Competition from imported Asian and Mexican products was

Fig. 2: NAFtA PU production by end-use market 2008 – 2010 (million lbs)

2008 2010

1,001.8

1,048.4 220.5

207.0

ing

ial

Pa ck

Ot he

str du

itu re rn Fu

pli

an ce

g dd in Be

In 

303.6

271.8

373.5

411.0

507.9

472.0

571.4

Tra ns

rta tio

tru

cti

603.5

1,271.5

1,173.6

2,111.2

2,293.5



Sales of home furnishing were reported to have experienced sporadic consumer demand which proved a challenge for the entire supply chain. Retailers reduced inventory levels in 2008 only to be faced with stronger than expected demand during the first half of 2010. Since many retailers import from Asia, stock could not land for 6 – 9 weeks, causing some to miss the peak in demand. IAL suggested that these difficulties had created some opportunities for furniture manufacturers in Mexico and from domestic manufacturers who can offer shorter lead time. Despite this, imports from Asia continue to displace demand for domestic products. Imports represented 41 % of all residential upholstered furniture sales to US customers by the end of 2010. Data from the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) reported that US production of mattresses grew during 2009 and 2010 to 19.2 million units and that shipments of specialty sleep products, mainly viscoelastic mattresses, jumped by 28 %. Spending on new furniture fell and flexible foamers reported a decline of as much as 15 – 20 % in production in 2009 compared to 2008. With more than 400 US furniture manufacturers reported to have closed in the past decade, the industry is not expected to return to production levels reported in the late 1990s.

Contrasts across three countries

urethane products fell by as much as 30 % in some end-use markets during 2009. The poor housing market conditions led to a lack of demand for new furniture and bedding from new homeowners, a 30 % decline in automotive production, and no recovery in sales of building materials for new housing starts or new commercial construction. OSB manufacturers continued to experience low demand but many are reported to have taken the opportunity to develop new products using MDI binders to replace those based upon formaldehyde and phenolic resins. This created positive growth in the binders market according to IAL. Production of foams for appliances actually registered positive growth according to IAL, due to the launch of new models, greater energy efficiency, and pent-up consumer demand from 2009 (fig. 2).

Tab. 2: NAFtA PU production 2004 – 2008

Country USA

2004 (million lbs)

2006 (million lbs)

2008 (million lbs)

2010 (million lbs)

2004 – 2010 % CAGR

2008 – 2010 % CAGR

6,692.5

6,266.0

5,334.0

4,958.1

–4.9

–3.6

canada

716.0

732.5

584.7

601.1

–2.9

1.5

Mexico

499.1

549.2

660.0

704.4

5.9

3.3

7,907.6

7,550.7

6,578.7

6,263.6

–4.9

–2.4

NAFTA total

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

2008, despite a fall of 28 % in 2009. In 2010, automotive production reached 2.35 million units. Domestic demand for upholstered furniture and mattresses was affected by the downturn, though not as severely as in the US. However, in 2008, full foam mattresses in Mexico comprised nearly 40 % of the market, but in 2010, this has fallen to just 10 %. Sales of furniture to the US remained depressed in 2009, but due to competitive pricing, manufacturers regained market share in 2010.

Raw material demand IAL also provided data on changes in the overall demand for raw materials, including natural oil polyols (tab. 3). Tab. 3: NAFtA raw material demand 2010



Raw material Polymeric MDI (PMDI)

2010 (million lbs) 1,638.0

tDI

527.3

Pure MDI (MMDI)

253.6

Specialty diisocyanates

96.8

Total diisocyanates

2,515.7

Polyether*

1,858.1

Polyester Acrylic PtMEG

758.3 99.9 26.3

Total polyols

2,742.6

Non PU materials (additives)

1,005.3

Total

6,263.6

*NOP included

Research also suggested that overall consumption of NOPs in North America stabilised between 2008 and 2010, partly due to the decline in flexible foam production, but also production economics have not been as favourable as in previous years. Their use is most noticeable in automotive interior components, spray polyurethane foam and in flexible foam slabstock, mainly used for bedding. Demand for NOPs is estimated to be in the region of 70 million lbs (32,000 t). IAL suggested that an estimated 350 million lbs (158,000 t) of polyurethane foam was produced in NAFTA with measurable biocontent. An estimated 6 – 8 million lbs (3 – 4,000 t) of soy-based polyols were used in automotive components, and an estimated 30 million lbs (13,600 t) of biobased spray polyurethane foam was produced in North America in 2010.

More than

PURe

technology …

2010 wasn’t a bad year for PU In conclusion, IAL suggested that overall, the polyurethane industry had shown some recovery since the sharp falls experienced in 2009. Although production levels in 2010 were reported to be lower than in 2008 production of sealants, binders and TPU had demonstrated positive growth and production in Canada and Mexico was higher than in 2008. Full details and prices for the CPI 2010 End-Use Market Survey on the Polyurethanes Industry in the US, Canada, and Mexico are available from www.polyurethane.org. 

FRIMO PURe Line mixing and metering technologies and more ... ¾ Tooling technologies ¾ Tool carriers ¾ Stationary and mobile plants ¾ Mixing and metering machines ¾ Mixing and spray heads ¾ Peripheral equipment

Visit us:

E-MAGAZINE Did you know already that you can read our magazines online? In case you’re interested please contact our subscription department by e-mail or phone: Patrizia Schmidt Tel.: +49 2102 9345-12 · E-mail: service@gupta-verlag.de

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

1 FAKUMA 18-22 Oct 201 ny Friedrichshafen, Germa

Hall A1 / Booth 1421

FRIMO Group GmbH Tel.: +49 (0) 5404 886 - 0 Fax: +49 (0) 5404 886 - 333 info@frimo.com www.frimo.com

281

Pascal technology: Innovation, energy conservation, transformation

tion rates. The faster cure time creates a shorter demould time. Times can be reduced from 4.5 min to 2.5 min, leading to an increased productivity of more than 50 %. The new system has so far been tested using cyclopentane as the blowing agent. The resulting improvement in insulation is claimed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions of up to 8 kg per year for each appliance.

Dow Shanghai Summit 2011 Dow’s Shanghai Summit brought together Italian and chinese Government officials, academics and appliance industry leaders to celebrate the latest innovation for energy conservation in the refrigeration industry. Pascal technology can make a positive contribution to improved energy efficiency, manufacturing performance, and environmental sustainability. the new technology incorporates vacuum equipment from cannon, paired with a hydrocarbon blowing agent, and a high performance Pascal polyurethane foam to produce a better insulating foam, thus reducing the amount of energy lost during consumer use.

“Global energy consumption continues to grow and profoundly so in China where consumption has doubled in the past decade. Sustainability is now key to product development. Pascal technology can lead to a 10 % increase in energy efficiency of a household refrigerator and more than 50 % reduction in production time,” explained Peter Sykes, President, Greater China, Dow Chemical, during the opening address. “The development of smart technologies leads to energy savings,” emphasised Wong Lee Meng, Managing Director, Cannon Far East. He described how Cannon’s technologies have evolved around climate change since 1989 when the company started working with the UN Multilateral Fund to introduce changes in blowing agents, installing as many as 1,500 new machines using more environmentally acceptable technology. From 2005 onwards the company has been helping countries and customers to meet Kyoto Protocol targets by introducing technologies to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions through better insulation. “Governments are setting more stringent mandatory minimum energy targets, and consumers worldwide are demanding energy efficient appliances,” said Bruno Barbet, Global Marketing Leader Appliances, Dow Polyurethanes. “With Pascal, manu-

282

Vacuum Assisted Injection

facturers may deliver on this demand, while also increasing energy efficiency and output during manufacturing.” The new technology is important to help the Chinese government to meet its energy saving targets for the recent 12th Five Year Plan which focuses on sustainable growth. The Italian government is supporting the development and transfer of technology between the two countries. Appliance manufacturers globally are under increasing pressure to reduce the energy consumption and cost of appliances. Pascal can help to achieve both targets according to Vanni Parenti, Global Polyurethane Appliance Technology Leader, Dow Chemical, during his introduction to this breakthrough technology for the appliance industry.

Originally introduced in 1988 for the discontinuous production of insulation panels, Cannon has successfully applied the technology to the more complex geometry of a refrigerator. “We at Cannon work daily with our customers to offer innovation and production solutions. Our involvement in many different technologies and sectors has allowed use to transfer them across very different fields across the world,” explained Marco Volpato, Managing Director, Cannon. A controlled degree of vacuum is applied into the jig where an empty refrigerator cabinet is positioned, prior to foam injection. The reduced pressure applied into the cavity during the injection allows the filling and expansion of the foam into the cabinet at speed while achieving optimal distribution. The cannon rotoJig

The new technology uses a patented high performance PU system which is suitable for the faster filling of the refrigerators cabinet under vacuum. The vacuum allows the system to be injected faster and more evenly distributed throughout the cabinet void, which leads to improved insulation. The more even distribution of the foam allows a 5 % reduction in the volume of system required per unit. The new chemistry reduces the thermal conductivity whilst maintaining the foam density within industry acceptable levels. The higher reactivity of the system allows much faster polymerisa-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

foam mix is injected under 0.7 bar pressure at a rate of 1.5 kg/s. Cannon have developed a special polymerisation jig for use with this new foam technology to control the vacuum during the entire foaming operation. The new RotoJig can host two cabinets simultaneously on opposite sides of a rotating platform, allowing a 50 % reduction in the floor space required in the manufacturing plant. The VAI technology has also been extended to the manufacture of the refrigerator door using the well known Drum Unit, developed by Cannon in the early 1980s. This allows the door to obtain the same insulation standards as the cabinet.

Haier, a strategic partner Haier entered into a strategic development cooperation to install and use Pascal technology in December 2009. In just 12 months the technology was operational. VAI foaming technology is now in commercial operation at Haier’s new plant in Chongqing where 16 Cannon RotoJig units are in operation. The company has plans to install more units. Appliances made by Haier using this technology achieve A++++ rating and operate with a daily average electricity consumption of 0.19 kWh, compared to an average of 0.30 – 0.40 kWh of current models. Haier officially launched the new two

door model in March 2011 at the World Appliance Expo, Shanghai. It has also been well accepted during its recent European launch in Berlin.

Reduced energy burden important During a panel discussion, Wang Lei of the Chinese Household Appliances Association confirmed that China is now the world’s largest producer and consumer of appliances. In 2010 China produced 77.5 million refrigerators and freezers, 12 million washing machines and 90 million air conditioning units, of which the vast majority were sold for domestic use. Exports in 2010 reached approximately USD 40 billion, and represented between 30 – 50 % of appliances manufactured. China’s appliance industry has experienced some restructuring of consumer demand as well as meeting higher performance requirements. Market demand will continue to grow due to the increasing level of urbanisation, here consumers are looking for larger appliances with a higher design and efficiency specification. In the rural markets Chinese farmers are starting to earn more money and government subsidies have helped to increase demand here. Appliance renewal is also driving demand.

Scheme of foamrising

A reduction in the total power burden is very important to the appliance industry. Refrigerators were the first appliance to be labelled and rated in terms of energy consumption, and have now become a benchmark for the rest of the industry. Due to successful implementation of energy standards by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the introduction of hydrocarbon blowing agents an the introduction of international technology 90 % of refrigerators are now A class standard.

Government support proved crucial “Sustainability has to encompass social, economic and environmental factors, this is the triple bottom line,” stated Pat Dawson, Asia Pacific President, Dow Chemical. “Dow is leading by example with the construction of its LEED rated research centre, here in Shanghai, where more than 700 scientists work mainly focusing upon innovation for energy efficiency for the appliance and construction industries.” Announced in March 2011, the latest five year plan focuses on the control of GHG emissions and has set a clear target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 40 – 45 % by 2020. Pascal technology is clearly aligned to this strategy and further efforts will be made to promote technology and innovation for GHG emission. “China is already the leading investor in renewable energy technology,” stated Xiao Xuezhi, Deputy Director, Chinese Ministry for Environmental Protection. “It is impossible to achieve energy efficiency goals by ourselves, cooperation is important,” concluded Wen Wurui, Director General of Foreign Economic Cooperation, Chinese Minstry of Environmental Protection. It is hoped that the Pascal and VAI technologies can also be used for the production of insulated pipes and refrigerated trucks and containers. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

283

PU industry helps meet Asia’s challenges Report from Utech Asia 2011, 6 – 8 September, Shanghai, China

(tab. 1) by 2016 and 1.5 million t of TDI (tab. 2). One of the main growth regions for the polyurethane industry is Chongqing, South Western China. BASF expects the area to be one of the world’s biggest MDI markets.

Many leading PU material manufacturers took the opportunity of the recent Utech Asia event to showcase how innovation, technology and process solutions in the industry are helping the region to meet its many challenges. these challenges included energy shortages, urbanisation, rural development, environmental protection, growing population, and climate change. Examples included rigid foam insulation, composites for lightweight vehicles, waterborne coatings, components for solar heating systems, elastomers based upon renewable chemicals, and more efficient household appliances.

“Our investment into a MDI plant as well as a PU System House is a pioneering step into Western China. We can support China’s “Go West Policy” and their plans for rapid and sustainable development,” explained Dr Melanie Maas Brunner, Senior Vice President, BASF Polyurethanes, Asia Pacific.

“Asia Pacific (APAC) is a complex market requiring all levels of technology and products from very basic to highly sophisticated, which is why BMS has to customise its market approach and create market clusters. To operate in APAC a company needs to be fast and flexible, be horizontally and vertically integrated, take global trends and local issues and distil them to something suitable for the local market,” explained Dr Azita Owlia, former Senior Vice President, Polyurethanes Asia Pacific, Bayer Material Science. Across all of Asia there are different levels of social need, but China is thought to face the most intense challenges due to its growing population, rapid rural development, and increasing urbanisation.

Growth drives capacity expansion The rapid rate of growth in the demand for polyurethane has led to large increases in raw material capacity. The demand for MDI across the Asia Pacific region in 2010 is estimated to have been 2.1 million t, TDI demand was 720 kt and demand for polyether polyols is estimated at just over 1.9 million t. BMS forecasts MDI demand to grow at 7 % AAGR (Average Annual Growth Rate), TDI to grow 4 – 5 % AAGR and polyether polyols by 6 – 7 % AAGR across the region, until 2020. In response to demand, production capacity could reach more than 3.5 million t of MDI

Dr Azita Owlia, former SVP, Polyurethanes Asia Pacific, bMS

BASF aims to commission world’s largest MDI plant during 2014/2015 in Chongqing. ”We are building our plants to serve the local market in West China because that is where our customers are,” said Maas Brunner. ”Chongqing has an area of 82,000 km2 and a population of 32 million people! The five neighbouring provinces in China are home to a population of over 300 million people and are an important economic manufacturing and logistics hub for the region. Additionally, due to the increased standard of living, domestic consumption will also grow considerably and will consume a major part of MDImade PU products,” she continued. “The region is a huge potential market for our products and shows strong demand for energy efficient solutions in China, especially

MDI capacity in Asia Pacific

2010 (kt/y)

2016 (kt/y)

bASF, South Korea

190

250

Huntsman/bASF, china

240

400

Kumho Mitsui

150

200

Mitsui & co.

Nippon Polyurethane

400

Yantai Wanhua

800

1,200

bayer

350

1,000

bASF, chongqing

Huntsman Total

AAGR

240

2,190

3,750

1,300

2,000

830

1,250

7.1 %

2,130

3,250

7.3 %

Estimated demand china Tab. 1: Estimated MDI supply and demand 2010 & 2016 (kt/y)

284

 Asia Pacific Total

7.4 %

Source: Industry estimates

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

global sites will create cost savings and greater efficiencies.”

when it comes to industries like construction and automotive. Chongqing ranks no. 1 in terms of heavy industries in the whole South West China. Chongqing is the second largest production base of trucks and the third largest of passenger cars. BASF sees strong potentials in developing the local market,” she added.

Dr Melanie Maas brunner, SVP, bASF Polyurethanes, Asia Pacific

Zero food wastage

Competitive cost positions BMS remains confident about the competitive advantage provided by gas phase phosgenation technology. “Gas phase HDI production started in 1993 and even now, 17 – 18 years later, our competitors have not managed to catch up with this technology for HDI production. It has taken us a long time to transfer this technology to TDI production and its use in MDI will be far more difficult,” explained Dr Joachim Wolff, Head of Polyurethanes, BMS. “TDI capacities are expected to increase in Asia, which may in the short term lead to a highly competitive situation, but ultimately there will be some consolidation of capacity. Bayer strongly believes its strategy of plant optimisation and consolidation onto three main TDI capacity in Asia Pacific

2010 (kt/y)

China’s 12th Five Year Plan good for PU According to the recently announced 12th Five Year Plan, China wants to boost demand and consumption in order to reduce the gap between the living standards of its population compared to other major economies through social and economic development.

2016 (kt/y)

bASF, South Korea

160

bASF china

160

bayer, china

250

Mitsui, Japan

240

KPX, South Korea

125

150

Dc Korea, South Korea blue Star, china

AAGR

100

300*

beifeng Jinhua, china

150*

Nippon Polyurethane, Japan

cangzhou Dahua, china

150

300

Yantai Juli, china

150*

Gujarat Narmada, India

1,100

2,165

china

550

720

Asia Pacific

180

240

4.9 %

Total

730

960

4.7 %

Gansu Yingguang, china

Yantai Wanhua, china

Total

The Chinese government, like many others in Asia, wants to promote and develop greener energy and technologies. Overall, this plan is seen as providing several opportunities for the polyurethane industry.

Greater energy efficiency

Estimated demand

*Announced but no finance or approval; Source: Industry estimates

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

The development of a cold chain has started in China, offering a whole new area of growth for the PU and appliance industry. In China, as much as 25 % of the food produced is wasted due to inadequate temperature control. In India, this figure is as high as 40 – 50 %. Increased urbanisation causes a huge increase in the distance from field to plate, an unbroken food cold chain is therefore essential to safeguarding the supply of food to the market while also increasing disposable income for farmers. In China and other parts of Asia, as little as 5 % of the food supply passes through a cold chain, this compares to nearly 90 % in countries such as the US and Germany. The Chinese government’s objective over the next five years is to increase this to 20 %. Meat is already using the cold chain to a greater extent, with 15 %, within the next five years this is expected to increase to 25 %. “In 2010, China’s National Development and Reform Commission published a development blueprint for the cold chain industry focusing on agricultural products, highlighting the need for an additional 10 million t of cold storage capacity and an additional 40,000 refrigerated trucks by 2015,” suggested Maas Brunner.

4.6 %  Tab. 2: Estimated tDI supply and demand 2010 & 2016 (kt/y)

China produced 77.5 million household refrigerators in 2010, industry association estimates expect this to exceed 80 million units this year. Exports of appliances reached approximately USD 40 billion during 2010 representing more than 40 % of total production, however, economic uncertainty in Europe and the US may reduce exports. “In H1 2011, demand from this sector grew by 20 % , from July onwards demand has not been so good. Many manufacturers have

285

decreased output due to falling demand from export markets in the US and Europe,” reported Tony Shi, Export Sales Manager, Hongbaoli. Despite the reported slowdown, raw material manufacturers consider the current level of annual production to be sustainable, due to replacements, upgrades, and the growing rural market within China. “There are approximately 400 – 500 million households in China and the market can be divided roughly into one third new urban dwellers, one third rural households, and the remaining third replacement,” explained Peter Huo, Director Global Business Development, Yantai Wanhua. “A fridge may use an average 0.5 kWh per day, costing about USD 2 per month to run, but it prevents a much greater value of food from being wasted,” he continued. The development of the cold chain has been seized upon by Dow Chemical and its technology partner Cannon, who have recently launched Pascal technology, which among other benefits has helped Chinese appliance giant Haier to produce a household refrigerator that is 10 % more energy efficient than standard models currently available (see p. 282 f in this issue).

Construction markets face problems The Chinese government is continuing to restrict credit for mortgages as the country faces huge increases in property prices and rental costs. In urban areas, rent accounts for more than 70 % of disposable income, which also has the effect of reducing the amount of money available for other consumers and food. “The Chinese government are unlikely to allow the housing bubble to burst,” suggested Erman Tan, CEO, Asia Polyurethanes. “If the bubble were to burst like in the US, this could lead to a lot of social unrest. I am confident that the Chinese government will do all they can to avoid such a situation, I do not expect they will allow the housing bubble to be a major threat to social and economic development.”

286

China’s construction expenditures alone are expected to rise at 9.1 % per year through to 2014. This rapid development means that the savings potential which can be realised by effective building insulation materials is critical both in order to meet the country’s target on carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption set in its 12th Five Year Plan. Dr Joachim Wolff, Head of Polyurethanes, bMS

China uses 25 % of its energy for buildings heating and cooling, which is lower than in the US, but even so the government wants new buildings to use 10 % less energy than the current building stock. “In China, PU accounted for an estimated CNY 700 million of sales, but this is small considering the total insulation market in 2010 was around CNY 32 billion,” Owlia explained. Renewable energy is also a focus for many countries in Asia, with China home to some of the world’s leading manufacturers. “The Chinese solar power industry used 30 – 40 kt of MDI for insulating hot water tanks last year, but increased market penetration has slowed the growth in demand. In Shandong province alone, the market is already 80 % saturated,” stated Wenping Zhang, Supply Chain Manager, Yantai Wanhua.

Public Security has placed an interim ban on the use of polyurethane foam in all new buildings. As a result, the PU industry has joined forces to lobby the Chinese and other Asian governments regarding the benefits of using rigid PU foam as an insulation material. Many governments have set targets to reduce energy consumption in buildings over the next 5 – 10 years, and these will not be achievable without adequate insulation. The growing production PIR boardstock and the recent market entry of Invista’s range of aromatic polyester polyols may eventually help to overcome concerns over flammability. “The production of higher index foams which offer better FR properties are harder to process and create technology challenges for which Air Products can provide solutions with new additives,” said Steve Hulme, Global Marketing Manager, Polyurethane Chemicals, Air Products. As far as SPF is concerned, the global transition from 141b has been slower than expected and slowed the promotion of new additives developed for the next generation of blowing agents. In response to these concerns, many of the leading system houses, including Bayer and BASF have already developed spray foam systems that meet class B1 fire standards. Officials have also visited sites in the US and Europe to see best practices and experience the energy savings that can be created when rigid foam insulation is correctly used. toni Shi, Export Sales Manager, Hongbaoli

SPF faces an interim ban Following a fire at a Shanghai block of residential apartments in which more than 50 people died, the Chinese Ministry of

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Companies investing in technologists Some PU market segments in the region are experiencing an enhancement in innovative technology. “For example the use of viscoelastic foams has not fully penetrated the market yet but it could be a significant growth sector in the high end markets,” suggested Dr Joachim Wolff. This may not be the situation for long. As if to prove the point, Praduman Patel, Managing Director, Comfort Foam, India, announced during a short meeting later, that his firm had just launched a new concept for India. “Refresh is a new mattress concept for India, it consists of rebonded viscoelastic foam, with a viscoelastic topper,” he announced. Chinese foamers are supplying the scrap visco foam for the rebond due to a lack of material available from the domestic market currently. Peter Huo, Director Global business Development, Yantai Wanhua

production capacities but also in local research and developments centres and system houses to deliver appropriate solutions to the market and to the industry. Yantai Wanhua has recruited 700 staff, mainly scientists this year mainly at Ningbo and Yantai. Dow operates a state-of-the-art development centre in Pudong, employing 700 scientists. Huntsman announced plans for a new development centre in Shanghai to employ 400 staff. BASF has also announced plans: “2010 marked the groundbreaking of our Innovation Campus Asia Pacific, which will be located in Shanghai. The total investment in this site will be approximately EUR 55 million, including the new innovation campus and the new BASF Greater China head office, which will be relocated to Pudong from downtown Shanghai,” explained Maas Brunner. “From 2012 onwards, around 450 scientific and technical professionals will work at the new innovation campus. Research activities at the new campus will focus on product development for our businesses in Asia Pacific, developing solutions for industries such as construction, automotive, footwear, and cosmetics”. BASF currently operates three major R&D hubs: Singapore, Shanghai, and Chandivali in India, and about 100 cooperations with local universities and research institutes in place. Overall the company aims to employ 800 staff in R&D by 2020.

E H & S awareness growing As per capita consumption increases, better quality and higher performance PU products will enter the market. The quality of products has increased dramatically in just 5 – 6 years and in some cases technology has leapfrogged other parts of the world. “The Chinese market is developing more sophisticated demand and applying greater attention to detail. Even farmer entrepreneurs are realising this,” explained Peter Huo. It is no surprise that major raw material suppliers have not only invested heavily in

Environmental, health and safety (E H & S) issues are of increasing importance for the Asian PU industry. Regional industry associations are keen to promote the safe handling and use of PU raw materials. “Isopa was delighted by the high level of interest in our Walk the Talk programme, expressed by Chinese visitors. Many companies were pleased to receive one of our posters that explain safe handling procedures for isocyanates. We may have to consider running our Walk the Talk programme in China,” declared Dr Wolfram Frank, General Secretary, Isopa.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

The growing awareness of E H & S is also driving demand for new products and systems including low emission products, waterborne technology, and even the demand for Erman tan, cEO, Asia Polyurethanes

polyurethane-based rock stabilisation systems. Bian Hengwen, Assistant General Manager Sales, Bluestar Shandong Dong da, explained that the demand for this type of system is becoming significant from the mining industry in China. “There have been many mining disasters due to rock falls and flooding, the PU systems using our polyether polyols are now used for rock stabilisation. This market has grown much faster than other sectors,” he explained.

Low emissions need new catalysts Air Products has a pipeline of new products including low odour catalysts for open cell SPF, reduced emission and non-fugitive catalysts for the automotive, flexible slabstock, and household appliance sectors. Developing new products has many challenges, a major one being the time and costs associated with product registrations. “In the case of a new molecule, testing and registering can cost in excess of USD 1.5 – 2 million, so we need to be sure of its performance before going to commercialisation. Product registration in China and Korea is especially expensive. Air Products has committed to multiple new amine molecule registrations in

287

recent years, our platform of non-fugitive catalysts is a good example of this,” Hulme explained. In terms of catalysts, the biggest challenge for low emission catalysts has been to meet the physical property standards of flexible foams used for automotive seating, in particular humid aged properties. Several approaches to solving catalyst emissions have used reactive catalysts that bond into the PU matrix, but these often lead to a deterioration of physical properties in the finished product. Initial interest in non-fugitive catalysts came from the European automotive industry, but this has spread to flexible slabstock and rigid foams and the need for these products has spread as European OEMs have globalised their businesses. In addition, the high level of furniture and bedding exports from Asia to Europe and the US and the establishment of higher standards have also led to greater demand from Asian producers looking to keep up with technology. “There is still plenty of room for improvement in reducing emissions, especially in TDI flexible foams and we plan to launch a new range of catalysts within the next few months that will create a significant improvement in this application,” stated Hulme. He announced that Air Products intends to launch a new range of amine catalysts to help meet humid-aged properties within TDI-based flexible foams. These new catalysts will initially be launched in Europe due to the pent-up Steve Hulme, Global Marketing Manager, PU chemicals, Air Products

288

demand in the automotive industry and moulded foam seating. “Eventually these products will go global as the product registration is extended,” he added. An increasing number of European and Asian automotive OEMs operate transplants in the US and maintain global emission standards. American foam manufacturers are therefore becoming more skilled and comfortable using low emission technology to supply these transplants. “This may lead to seat manufacturers being proactive in offering low emission foams to US OEMs,” suggested Hulme.

in Caojing, China, to more than 80 kt. These raw materials are mainly for uses internally to produce waterborne urethane dispersions. The trimer of IPDI and HDI will also be produced for use in automotive coatings and elastomers. Earlier this year, BMS also commissioned a new HDI and TDI derivatives plant in India. These are raw materials for the formulation of a variety of polyurethane coatings and adhesives used in the automotive, industrial, and plastic coating sectors, and for wood coatings used in furniture as well as for the bian Hengwen, Assistant GM Sales, bluestar

“In China, there is a government directive regarding low emissions from flexible PU foams and some local OEMs have developed their own standards in recent years, but these are less stringent than those required in Europe. In Korea, OEMs have standards similar to Europe, Hyundai are tight on all emissions and this will prove to be an important driver within the Asian industry. In Japan, there are standards at most OEMs, based upon initial directives from the Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association (JAMA). These are quite different to other standards in that they look at cabin air quality and specify maximum limits for various VOCs including acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, toluene, styrene, and others, but do not include amines so traditional catalysts can still be used,” Hulme explained.

Waterborne dispersions

formulation of adhesives for flexible packaging. The initial capacity will be 15 kt which will be increased to accommodate the predicted demand growth for the materials in the Indian coatings and adhesive markets during the next few years.

As a signal that the Asian polyurethane markets are becoming increasingly sophisticated, several raw material manufacturers were actively promoting their range of diisocyanate-based dispersions during Utech Asia. The urgent need to reduce VOC emissions in all sectors of industry, not just in Asia, but globally, is driving demand for waterborne technologies. This small sector of the Asian PU industry is currently experiencing strong growth from the coatings, adhesives, and elastomer markets. BMS has already announced plans to expand its annual production capacity of both HDI and IPDI at its site

Yantai Wanhua also operates a small pilot facility with a capacity of 4 kt, producing HDI and H12 MDI. A new 20 kt HDI/H12 MDI plant will start up early 2012 and more capacity will be built. Yantai is already pre-marketing this capacity on a global basis. There is a high growth rate for aliphatic diisocyantes due to automotive coating upgrades and the demand for higher performance coatings. These high value products add value to the isocyanate supply chain. Perstorp is also promoting its range of aliphatic diisocyanates and derivatives ahead of its planned expansion in Singapore. The com-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

pany plans to have 12 kt of capacity on stream in Asia by the end of 2012. Sinochem International, a major state-owned Chinese chemical company, has also announced plans to supply products based on waterborne polyurethane dispersions. The fine chemical business segment of the company operates a polyurethane manufacturing plant in Taicang, Jiangsu province, supplying materials for use in rigid and flexible foams as well as urethane elastomers. Sinochem also has a development centre near Shanghai. Although the company currently sources its raw materials from a manufacturer in the Netherlands, it is believed to be conducting a feasibility study into market opportunities and where best to put resources to develop applications for waterborne polyurethane dispersions. There has been a big push by

the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, to reduce the use of solvents such as DMF (dimethylformamide) by industry, including shoe sole and synthetic leather resin manufacturers but also by other coating manufacturers. The biggest market for Sinochem’s waterborne PUs is the latex glove industry, where the materials is used to coat the surface of gloves. The company has also developed applications for the automotive industry, where the material can be used as leather coating for seating and interior trim.

Future growth in Asia certain According to all raw material manufacturers, China and the rest of Asia is expected

Open House at Hennecke Shanghai On 5 September 2011, Hennecke Machin ery (Shanghai) Limited (HMS) invited customers and representatives of the press to its Open House Day. The Chinese subsidiary

of the German polyurethane machinery supplier has made a considerable investment at the new site at Xinzhuang Industry Park in the industrial megacity Shanghai. In total,

Visitors took a close look at the new production facility

to remain an attractive growth market for the foreseeable future. The recent slowdown is expected to be short lived once credit controls are relaxed. There is no doubt that India is beginning to look more attractive with a reported growth of 20 % in PU production in an economy that is growing at 8 – 9 %. The Indian market is being driven by growth in cold storage, shoe soles, and automotive production albeit from a much smaller base. In the automotive sector here has been a slowdown during the last few months and some destocking has been happening, however, China is expected to remain the world’s largest automotive producer sustaining output at levels close to 18.5 million vehicles produced in 2010. 

HMS invested about EUR 2 million to build new representative headquarters including a spacious production facility. Hennecke China’s General Manager Andrew Chang, together with his production, sales, and service team, welcomed about 200 visitors at the 3,500 m² site that offers working space for 70 people. The heart of the new facility are the two competence centres: one for moulded foam for automotive seats and one for refrigerator parts. Visitors of the Open House took the opportunity to have a close look at the two exhibition highlights: a fully automatic oval conveyor automotive seating production line (WKH) and a further developed mould carrier (Basic) for the manufacture of refrigerator cabinets. Large parts of the two exhibits are fabricated by HMS itself. Hennecke emphasised that it underlines with this investment its strong commitment to further expand its market share in the polyurethane plant business in China and the whole Asian region. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

289

Single shot moulding

SWD Shanghai announces low carbon footprint PU roof tile for Asia Over the last decades there have been many advances in building science technology. Advances in the use of polyurethane foam in particular have helped buildings become more energy efficient than ever. Despite all these advances, the use of traditional roofing materials such as clay-fired tiles and glazed tiles remains high, especially in china.

The use of clay-fired and glazed roof tiles began in the Neolithic era in China, and rapidly became the predominant roofing treatment. Today though, the production of clayfired and glazed roof tiles has become problematic because of the high energy costs of production and the air pollutants released during the firing process. This is of particular concern in China because of the government’s commitment to reducing energy demand and improving air quality. Spray polyurethane foam has been a part of the roofing landscape in western societies for over 40 years, however, spray foam use is largely limited to flat/low pitch roofs, and is not conducive to being made into tile pieces for application on a construction project. In contrast, the novel use of moulded rigid polyurethane illustrates the possibility of using the material’s properties in an easy to use form of individual roof tiles.

PU meets environmental needs In response to the need for a technically advanced roofing system, that is easy to manufacture and apply while creating only a minimal carbon footprint, SWD Shanghai has developed a unique polyurethane roof tile system that meets these demands. The tiles can deliver superior insulation and waterproofing properties compared to traditional clay tile systems and are designed to meet ever increasing green building and environmental requirements (tab. 1). The PU tile geometry is designed for an integrated assembly that allows them to be locked to each other without seams and

290

gaps. Currently the system is available in a traditional Chinese tile pattern, but more designs will be offered in the future. Installation is easy and the working life of the tiles could be up to 50 years or longer. Its physical properties make the tile suitable for 10 – 90 degree roof slopes on single family homes, condominiums, apartments, as well as for renovation of flat to low slope roofing projects. It is suitable for use with all substrates including wood, concrete, and metal. The new PU roof tile is available immediately for sampling in China and Asia. 

Compared with traditional clay tiles, the PU tile production process requires less energy, and completely eliminates the need for the firing process. The PU tile is produced in a one shot moulding process with tile body and top protective layer moulded together. The special characteristics of the material create a lightweight tile that has high strength, and high impact resistance. The PU tiles are also designed to be wear resistant, earthquake resistant, and safe to residents should they come loose.

Specifications The new PU roof tile offers many advantages over traditional materials including: • Thermo-conductive coefficient: The PU roof tile has a thermo-conductive coefficient of 0.019 W/(m·K). Compared with traditional insulation materials, it outperforms fibreglass by 2 to 1, perlite by 8 to 1, and vermiculite by 10 to 1.

Tab. 1: comparison of the SWD PU roof tile to other traditional roof tiles

Properties Safety Weather resistance thermo-conductive coefficient

SWD PU roof tile

Clay tile

Coloured glazed tile

Concrete tile

Lightweight, limited Hard with sharp Hard with sharp Hard with sharp secondary damages edges, easy to injure edges, easy to injure edges, easy to injure Not resistant to Sunlight and freeze Sunlight resistant Sunlight resistant sunlight and freeze resistant but freeze break but freeze break break 0.024 W/(m·K)

100 W/(m·K)

1.18 W/(m·K)

1.625 W/(m·K)

Low temperature resistance

–60 °c

–

High temperature resistance

120 °c

–

Insulation

Warm preservation and cool insulation

No insulation and warm preservation

colour of surface

Designable and UV stable with ageing

red or black

colour stable

colour pigment fades

Surface matter appearance

No reflection, good appearance

rough and dull

causes UV glare and light pollution

UV reflective, rough and dull

Good

bad

brittle

Flexibility Figure and size Weight Moisture penetration Substrate treatment process

Length 1,000 mm Width 320 mm

Smaller

Length 420 mm Width 332 mm

6 – 8 kg/m2

50 kg/m2

40 kg/m2

45 kg/m2

No penetration and hydrophobic

Penetrative

Penetrative and causes cracking

Simple

complex

can be cut with air design knives

can be cut with mud knives

cutting machinery needed

cutting machinery and hand breakable

Suitable roof styles

All types

Pitched roofs

Installation method

Nail clench and adhesive stick

tiling and nailing

tiling and cement fixing

Damages during shipping

None

High possibility

cost economy index

Low

Moderate

High

cutting ability

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

• Easy installation and high adhesive properties: It is designed for easy installation, with interlocking pieces fixed to the substrate by two rivets. The adhesive strength between tile and substrate is over 60 kPa which means it could withstand a Class 10 Typhoon. • Impact resistant and good age stability property: The roof tile can be applied in temperatures from –60 °C to 120 °C. It is stable in acid, alkaline and corrosive ambient conditions, impact resistant and offers long term weather resistance.

• Lighter roof loads: The PU roof tile has a high compressive strength (≥ 800 kPa). Being both dense and light, these tiles can reduce the roof load to one eighth of traditional roof tiles. The lighter roof load therefore helps to improve the overall building structure while also reducing construction costs. During an earthquake the PU roof tiles will not cause excessive harm or damage, because of their light weight. • Environmentally friendly: The PU roof tiles are made from an environmentally friendly, solvent-free material without VOCs being emitted during production

and use. The production process effectively eliminates the damage of land resources and atmospheric pollution that is caused during the production of traditional fire-baked tiles. • Economic advantages: Because the PU roof tile system provides insulation and waterproofing in one tile, it also reduces construction costs. The tile’s insulation performance also improves the internal temperature by 3 – 5 °C and reduces the heating/air conditioning costs by up to 50 % compared to uninsulated traditional roof tiles. 

SWD PU tiles applied at a low carbon house outside Shanghai

craig Mathews craig.mathews@swdurethane.com SWD Urethane company, Mesa, cA, USA

Trusted Partners - InnovaƟve SoluƟons SWD Urethane Shanghai - U.S. Tel :021 -51905301 www.swdurethane.com.cn E-mail: swdpu@yahoo.com.cn

When your projects require polyurethanes and polyurea coaƟngs You can rely on SWD Shanghai InternaƟonal Project Experience • Manufacture & Install High Quality Materials • No Challenge is Too Big

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

291

BMS hosts research and innovation delegation from Germany in Shanghai bayer MaterialScience (bMS) recently hosted a delegation from Germany’s influential commission of Experts for research and Innovation (EFI) at its Polymer research & Development center (PrDc) in Shanghai, china. EFI is an entity of the German government, which provides authoritative scientific consulting on topics relating to research, innovation, and technological productivity to German policy makers. currently, the EFI delegation is on a fact-finding tour for a report on innovation by German companies to be completed in February 2012 as consultation material for the German government and chancellor of Germany. During the visit, Dr. Klaus Schaefer, Managing Director of BMS China and Dr. Ulrich Liman, Senior Vice President, Research & Development, APAC, BMS, gave the EFI delegation an introduction about the company and its innovation endeavours in China and around the world. This June, Bayer broke ground for the expansion and upgrading of the PRDC to one of its three global R&D centres for its MaterialScience business. Therefore, the PRDC’s role in global innovation was highlighted in the presentation. “As most of our target industries are shifting to Asia, particularly China, Asia Pacific has become the number one growth region for BMS. For Bayer, China is not just a market in which we produce products, but also a part of our global R&D community,” said Dr. Liman. “With the expansion of the PRDC in Shanghai to one of our three global R&D centres, we intend to strengthen our capability as a provider of world-class innovative solutions on a global scale and strive to be closer to customers with tailored solutions. Our innovation in the expanded PRDC will concentrate on areas in which China plays a leading global role, such as wind turbines and solar energy plants.”

Polyurethanes, BMS Asia Pacific, talked with the EFI delegation about the construction industry in China and the application of BMS innovation in the market. And Holly Lei, General Manager of Automobile, BMS China, elaborabed about the company’s partnership with China’s automaker Chery Automobile to research and develop lightweight materials for automobiles. Protection of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is also crucial for China in its drive in becoming a leader in innovation. Dr. Oliver Lutze, Head of IPR, Bayer Greater China, shared his insight with the EFI delegation. “I’m very glad to see that the Chinese local and central governments and the patent office (SIPO) are so determined to build an environment conducive for the development of innovative products and ideas in-line with its 2008 IPR strategy,” said Dr. Lutze. “The policies generally referred to as ‘indigenous innovation’

focus on building an innovative country by 2020. They will likely lead to more efficient IP protection for innovations, which are a key factor to foster investments in R&D. For a company like Bayer, which heavily invests in R&D in China to build a sustainable business as an innovation leader, this is good news.” Members of the delegation showed great interest in all the topics that Bayer representatives introduced to them and they found the visit very beneficial. “I think the visit is highly instructive and helps us form a big picture of China’s growth and Bayer’s innovation,” said Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., Chair of the EFI. “We appreciate Bayer for arranging this visit and demonstrating to us a wealth of useful information and knowledge and important aspects to follow up with.” The PRDC, which will become a global innovation centre for Bayer, is scheduled to be operational by the second half of 2012. After the expansion, the number of employees at the PRDC is planned to increase from 130 to nearly twice that number. The PRDC will then have a full range of R&D expertise and solutions-focused offerings for customers in specific industries ranging from mobility, renewable energy and construction. Upon completion of the expansion, the PRDC’s R&D activities will re-prioritize to focus on distinct industries, enabling the centre to provide industry-specific solutions. 

After the presentations, the delegation also toured the labs in PrDc.

China has pressing demands for innovation in sustainable construction, transportation and new energy. By establishing innovation centres close to the local customers, BMS hopes to quicken its responsiveness to market trends and customer demands and enable it to work more closely with customers in developing industry-specific solutions throughout the entire value chain. With a purpose to demonstrate the company’s efforts in these areas, Dr. Zhang Jie, Head of New Markets,

292

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

BorsodChem inaugurates new TDI plant borsodchem Zrt, the Hungarian subsidiary of chinese Wanhua Industrial Group, has officially inaugurated its new tDI plant at its site in Kazincbarcika in North-East Hungary. the new facility, which is now in commercial operation, has a capacity of 160 kt/y. According to borsodchem, this positions the company as Europe’s leading toluene diisocyanate manufacturer.

it is in concert with the Chinese-Hungarian co-operation aiming to improve Hungary’s competitiveness.” This important event was also attended, amongst others, by H. E. Gao Jian, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Hungary, several local dignitaries, as well as suppliers and customers of the company. “The opening of the TDI-2 plant is a major milestone for BorsodChem in becoming the leading supplier of TDI in the European market and an important step for Wanhua in the implementation of its ambitious global growth strategy,” said Jason Ding, Chief Executive Officer of Wanhua Industrial Group and Chairman of the Board of BorsodChem.

borsodchem’s new tDI plant in Kazincbarcika, Hungary

BorsodChem invested more than EUR 200 million in the construction of the new facility. The new plant has an annual nameplate capacity of 160 kt, which can be increased by another 40 kt to 200 kt/y depending on future demand.

the largest Chinese investment so far in Hungary, exemplifies the development of Chinese-Hungarian business relations and

“We are very proud of the new facility, which substantially improves production efficiency and contributes to the overall competitiveness of the company. I am sure our customers will appreciate enhanced product quality and reliability of supply. I would like to thank all who diligently worked on the construction of the plant, including contractors, suppliers, and BorsodChem’s own employees,” Wolfgang Büchele, Chief Executive Officer of BorsodChem added. 

Inauguration ceremony of the new tDI plant (f.l.t.r.): Wolfgang büchele, H. E. Gao Jian, János Fónagy, and Jason Ding.

The facility, which utilises the company’s proprietary technology, operates considerably more efficiently than its existing TDI-1 plant. Due to the current unfavourable market environment, full utilisation of the new facility is only expected at a later stage. “The Hungarian government is pleased with this significant capacity expansion that Chinese Wanhua Industrial Group has made in BorsodChem, a well-established chemical company,” said János Fónagy, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry for National Development of Hungary at the opening ceremony of the plant, and he added: “This significant development at BorsodChem, the company representing

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

293

Industrial-scale recycling of slabstock foam residues into polyols

means of several trials in an industrial size reactor. The high quality and suitable reactivity of the recycled polyols enables their use in the substitution of conventional polyol up to 20 – 25 php (parts per hundred parts of polyol) without any adverse effect on the physical and mechanical properties of the polyurethane foam. This has been proven by a reasonable number of production scale runs on a continuous slabstock line. Produced PU foams were conventional foams with density range from 22 up to 40 kg/m3 (fig. 2). All parameters such as compression set, hardness, resilience, support factor, tensile strength, and elongation at break remain in the range of the control samples. The foams also do not contain any volatile organic compounds (VOC). All tests were carried out by an independent institution.

H&S to exhibit at PUTech Eurasia from 17 – 20 November 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey the German company H&S Anlagentechnik GmbH from Sulingen introduces to the PU market a new technology and reactor installations for the chemical conversion of flexible polyurethane foam production residues into polyols. the technology is based on an optimised acidolysis process and enables the generation of high quality recycled polyols on a commercial production scale. In comparison to previously known methods, the polyols generated under H&S technology have good reactivity and do not contain primary aromatic amines (MDA or tDA) which are hazardous and not acceptable for bedding and upholstery foams. Various grades of conventional foams without and with fillers such as calcium carbonate are suitable for this process. A technology to allow high resilience foam recycling is currently in development. The process input materials are PU production residues shredded into chips of different sizes, which are then dissolved in polyether polyols with molar mass of 1,500 – 6,000 g/mol with hydroxyl functionality of 3 in presence of carboxylic acids and corresponding catalysts. The highest process temperature is 230 °C and the complete process takes 10 – 11 h (fig. 1). The reclaimed polyols have the following properties: • Viscosity: 4,500 – 10,000 mPa·s • OH number: 43 – 48 mg KOH/g • Acid number: <1,2 mg KOH/g • Amine number: <6 mg KOH/g • Appearance: Viscous liquid of light brown to dark brown colour – depending on the colour of the PU flexible foam residues. 

The quality parameters of the recycled polyols have been checked for reproducibility by

Filling of base polyol and additives + heating

0 Discharge of polyol

Cooling of polyol

Reaction phase

Filling of PU residues

Filling of additves and base polyol + mixing

Fig. 1:  Sequence of the recycling process

Fig. 2: Mattress produced out of PU foam with 20 php recycled polyol



Fig. 3: Physical and mechanical properties of flexible PU foam recycled 20 times 250 225 200

Elongation at break [%]

175 150

Tensile strength [kPa]

125

Hardness [N]

100

Resilience [%]

Compression set [%]

50 25 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Recycled PU foam no.

294

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

For industrial-scale purposes H&S has designed a special reactor unit consisting of the reactor itself and necessary units for ancillary processes like heating and cooling units as well as activating and cooling tanks.

Dr. Stanislav Fulev chemical Engineer s.fulev@hs-anlagentechnik.de Lyudmila Skokova Product Manager l.skokova@hs-anlagentechnik.de H&S Anlagentechnik GmbH, Sulingen, Germany

w.hs-anla ge

nik.de/re ech cy nt

ing

As a conclusion it can be pointed out that flexible foams produced with recycled polyol made with H&S technology are comparable with original foams and can be brought to the market without any complications or quality loss. Moreover, the technology enables the manufacturer to utilise production residues in a very efficient way by means of returning material back to the production thereby providing additional economical benefit due to reasonable savings in raw material costs. 

To optimise the benefits of this recycling technology it is important not only to execute the first recycling cycle but also to convert the residues from the resulting foam again several times. For that there were laboratory and production re-recycling tests performed. It was determined that the chemical and physical parameters of the recycled polyol such as OH number and viscosity remain within acceptable ranges. Also physical and mechanical properties of the resulting PU foams do not show any reasonable deviation from the initial properties of foams made with virgin polyol (fig. 3). H&S has found that recycled polyol can be produced at least 20 cycles without changing the process recipe.

The batch volume of the medium sized reactor is 2 – 5 t. H&S can also manufacture larger scale reactors (fig. 4).

The application range of reclaimed polyols is very wide: From comfort to technical foams, where the percentage of the recycled polyol component can be even higher than 25 php.

N O VA

Generating polyols out of slab stock foam residues As the first company H&S Anlagentechnik offers to its customers an effective recycling solution for slab stock foam residues. Contrary to the previous technologies, this solution has various advantages: complete reintegration of recycled polyols back into the production cycle reduced production costs due to recovered polyols reduction of conventional base polyol consumption up to 20-25% excellent physical and mechanical properties of the final foam odorless resulted PU foam significant independence from suppliers chain e g y du hnolo s e c e t te d al u ac t ic is t ic a S o p h e s s in p r cc to s u t us a Novem

e th

t si Vi 17 - 20

ber

2011

10 Stand C

 Fig. 4: H&S recycling reactor

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

H&S Anlagentechnik GmbH Sandstraße 19, 27232 Sulingen, Germany phone: +49 4271 1011 | fax: +49 4271 2576 295 info@hs-anlagentechnik.de www.hs-anlagentechnik.de

PUTech Eurasia 2011 preview

their new products and technologies, latest innovations as well as on regulations. Amongst others, on the second day of the event (18 November 2011) Isopa – The European Diisocyanate & Polyol Producers Association will inform about the second generation of its “Walk the Talk” programme.

Artkim Fuarcılık tic. Ltd. Sti. will host the second polyurethane industry exhibition of turkey, Middle Eastern, balkan, and North African countries PUtech Eurasia from 17 – 20 November 2011 in Istanbul, turkey.

The trade show will take place on 14,000 m2 of floor space in halls 9 and 10 of the Istanbul Expo Center. Polyurethane raw materials, systems and additives, machinery and equipment, PU coatings and adhesives, moulds, composite materials, as well as polyurea applications will be the focus of the biennially held event.

ber 2009, had already proven a great success. This year, the Artkim Group expects to welcome over 100 exhibitors from 26 countries. The international interest in this year’s exhibition is remarkable, since the event will mostly be hosting exhibitors from foreign countries (approximately 65 % of the exhibitors), says the organiser.

According to the organiser, the first edition of PUTech Eurasia, held from 8 – 10 Octo-

In the “Workshop” area, exhibiting companies will also be giving presentations on

Growth opportunities in Eurasia and the Middle East

The automotive industry continues to grow, after a 25 % fall in production during 2009, output recovered close to 2008 levels. In total, 1,094,557 vehicles were produced, of which 603,394 were passenger cars and 491,163 were commercial vehicles. Oyak

the forthcoming PUtech Eurasia exhibition aims to bridge the geographical divide between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Within the Middle East alone there are many opportunities for the PU industry in terms of both market and product development. the exhibition, centred in Istanbul, will focus on turkey as the largest single market in the region, although the event will present an ideal meeting place for PU professionals from across the region.

Turkey remains the sixth largest producer of PU in Europe and the Middle East producing an estimated 230,000 t in 2010 (tab. 1). It is home to manufacturers like Arcelik; Europe’s third largest home appliances maker, Indesit, BSH, and Vestel, as well as leading automotive OEMs including Renault, Ford Motor Co., Toyota, and Hyundai. Turkey is Europe’s largest producer of refrigerators, manufacturing 6.2 million units in 2010. The home appliances industry was badly affected by the economic downturn in Europe, with exports falling by 25 % and domestic demand down

296

Turkey remains the sixth largest producer of polyurethane in Europe and the Middle East producing an estimated 230,000 t in 2010. The event in Turkey will also be a gateway to opportunities in the Middle East as well as parts of Asia. The Middle East region already produces an estimated 630,000 t of polyurethane products and is expected to grow at around 6 % per year over the next few years. 

by 30 % according to Exports Promotion Centre, Istanbul. However, data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) suggests that domestic demand for white goods will grow on average by 10 % per year until 2013. Growth will be spurred on by a growing population living in smaller household units and an increase in income. GDP per capita is now USD 9,000. Arcelik plans to expand sales in South Africa following its recent acquisition of Defy Appliances. BSH has also announced plans this year to invest EUR 300 million in R & D facilities in Turkey, adding further to the 700 million already invested in the country.



Tab. 1: Estimated PU production in turkey, 2010 (t)

Flexible slabstock

85,000

Flexible moulded

12,500

Total flexible foam

97,500

construction panels

25,200

Spray foam

4,000

OcF

1,500

Domestic refrigeration commercial refrigeration Other pour in place

22,500 5,000 2,000

Total rigid foam

60,200

Shoe sole resin

30,000

Synthetic leather resin coatings Adhesives & sealants

3,500 35,000 3,500

binders Total CASE Total PU production

500 72,500 230,200

Source: PU Magazine International/industry estimates

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Turkey is also one of the world‘s leading shipbuilding nations; in 2009 Turkish shipyards ranked fourth in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also fourth in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of orders for mega yachts.

Renault is the leading car maker, while Ford Otosan is the leading producer of pick-up trucks and vans. Ford Motor Co. and Koç Holding, its Turkish partner, have recently annnounced an investment of EUR 205 million (USD 290 million) at its Kocaeli plant in Northwestern Turkey through their joint venture, Ford Otosan. The investment will help the company to manufacture a new van model. Ford Otosan has a share of about 15 % in the domestic market. Its share of the passenger car market is roughly 10 %, and the company’s share of the light commercial vehicle segment is nearly 20 %. Hyundai’s Turkish unit, Hyundai Assan, produces the Accent Era and i20 model passenger cars, these are supplied to the domestic market, and also exported to more than 60 countries. Country turkey Saudi Arabia

Flexible foam bounces back Production of flexible foam declined by 10 – 15 % during 2009 but recovered more strongly than expected during 2010 because the strength of the Euro against other currency allowed Turkish furniture and bedding manufacturers to penetrate some export markets, including the USA. Since its estab-

2010 (t)

2015 (t)

AAGR (%)

GDP growth 2010 (%)

230,200

320,000

6.8

8.2

53,000

65,000

4.2

3.7

Egypt

55,000

80,000

7.8

5.1

UAE

45,000

55,000

4.1

3.2

Syria

45,000

60,000

5.9

3.2

bahrain

5,500

7,000

4.9

5.0

Kuwait

10,000

12,500

4.6

2.0

Jordan

12,300

15,000

4.0

3.0

Qatar

3,500

6,500

13.2

16.2

Lebanon

12,000

16,000

5.9

7.5

Israel

25,000

32,000

5.1

4.6

Oman

2,000

3,000

8.4

4.2

Iran

107,000

120,000

2.3

1.0

Iraq

20,000

30,000

8.4

4,500

5,000

2.1

8.0

630,000

827,000

5.6

Yemen Total

Textiles & household 2% Automotive 4%

 Tab. 2: Estimated PU production in Middle East 2010 – 2015

Others 5% Furniture 15 %

Footwear 3%

Construction 22 % Bedding 30 %

Appliances 12 % Source: PU Magazine International

Energy 7%

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

lishment in 1957 Istikbal has succeeded in becoming the leading manufacturer and retailer in the Turkish furniture sector. Most of the company’s investments are based in Kayseri comprising of some 361,000 m2 of covered manufacturing area. Over 650 different products are manufactured at Istikbal plants. Construction is an important sector of Turkey’s economy with energy efficiency being a leading issue. There are at least 12 insulated building panel producers in Turkey, including Izoturk, of which the majority use rigid PU as the core material. An estimated 10 million m2 of PU insulated panels were produced in 2010 for use in commercial construction and cold storage facilities.

Gateway to opportunities in the Middle East Investment in the region’s PU industry reached new levels in July 2011 when Dow and Aramco announced a USD 20 billion joint venture to create a major integrated petrochemical complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The market opportunities for this joint venture are literally surrounding the development, with 45 % of product going to Asia Pacific, 25 % to the Middle East, 20 % to Europe and the remainder to the rest of the world markets. The new joint venture, named “Sadara Chemical Company”, comes after an extensive project feasibility study and front-end engineering and design effort which began in 2007. The new complex will comprise of 26 manufacturing units which will include isocyanates, polyether polyols, propylene oxide, propylene glycol, elastomers, LLDPE LDPE, glycol ethers, and amines. A “Value Park“ is eventually planned to attract and develop downstream businesses in electronics, automotive, medical, and household products as well as many other value added sectors.

Sadara capitalises on cost advantages  Fig. 1: Production of PU in Middle East by end use applications 2010

“Sadara will capitalise on the region‘s opportunities for growth and its cost advan-

297

tages. In Arabic, the word Sadara stands for progressive leadership, enhanced performance, and a status derived from quantifiable talent and proven mastery. These words exemplify the very nature of this world-class chemicals complex that we are embarking on. The word Sadara also represents its parent companies: ‘S_a’ for Saudi Aramco, ‘d‘ for Dow, and ‘a_r_a‘ for Arabia…Saudi Aramco Dow – in Saudi Arabia,” explained Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO Dow Chemical Co. announcing the joint venture. Construction of the plants will begin immediately and create an annual production capacity of 3 million t by the end of 2016. Sadara has already completed the engineering work, and is ready to move forward. Production is expected to ramp up early 2015 and is expected to deliver USD 10 billion in annual revenue within ten years. The Sadara investment will help to support the small but growing PU industry in the region currently supplied by a number of system houses and more recently by PetroRabigh Petrochemical who started up a 200 kt/y PO plant in 2009. The company will supply PO to Saudi Advanced Industries Co. who is in the process of establishing an integrated 120 kt/y polyether polyol plant using process technology licensed from Carpenter Co., USA. Demand for polyol in Middle East and Africa is estimated to be around 450,000 t Country

Population under 30 years of age (%)

GDP per capita (USD)

per year and is growing at 8 – 10 % per year, according to Ziad Bin Sami Al Laban, Project Engineer at SAIC. These investments represent a significant turning point in the Middle East petrochemicals industry by starting the production of high value products with added value using new technology and improving the returns of the region‘s gas resources as well as creating a good number of employment opportunities. The recent economic volatility and fall in oil prices may reduce growth rates in the short term, but population growth and the growth of consumerism as well as efforts towards better energy efficiency should help to increase the production of polyurethane materials by an estimated 6 % per year to 2015, even before the Sadara venture has started production. Total production of PU in the region is estimated to be 630,000 t (tab. 2 and fig. 1). The Middle Eastern PU market comprising of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey has been mainly developed by a series of system houses operated by major raw material manufacturers such as BayerMaterialScience, Huntsman, Dow, and BASF through joint ventures with Pearl, Arabian Polyol, E. A. Juffali, and Kanoo respectively. Dow has operated a systems house in Egypt for more than 20 years. There are an Population (million)

Algeria

7,100

35.0

bahrain

26,800

1.2

Egypt

6,400

82.3

Jordan

5,700

Libya

Morocco

Oman

estimated 20 independent system houses supplying the region, the largest being Baalbaki. Some are also back integrated into polyester polyols and forward integrated into flexible slabstock and insulated panels. In total, system houses are estimated to have supplied at least 60 % of the total raw material demand in 2010, approximately 380,000 t. The total production of PU in the region is estimated to have been 630,000 t in 2010 of which furniture and bedding represented the largest share.

Unlocking employment potential The joint venture between Dow and Saudi Aramco is designed to capture growth in the region’s fast growing sectors of energy, transportation, infrastructure and consumer products by creating a manufacturing hub. Downstream production will be stimulated to create much needed job opportunities for the region’s growing population of highly trained young professionals. In many countries less than 30 % of those aged 30 years or under age are officially in employment as the region struggles to develop domestic manufacturing industries to meet the fast growing demand for consumer goods (tab. 3). Tab. 4: Production of rigid foam in Middle East,  by country (2010) Country

(t)

turkey

60,200

Saudi Arabia

17,000

Egypt

15,000

6.5

UAE

20,000

14,900

6.2

Syria

5,500

4,800

32.0

bahrain

1,500

26,200

3.0

Kuwait

4,800

Saudi Arabia

23,700

26.0

Jordan

3,200

Syria

5,300

22.0

Qatar

1,600

tunisia

9,500

10.0

Lebanon

3,200

turkey

9,000

78.0

Oman

UAE

50,000

5.0

Yemen

2,600

24.0

Source: UN Data, World bank

298

 Tab. 3: Population figures and GDP per capita

1,000

Iran

25,000

UAE

20,000

Source: Succo and industry estimates

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Despite being rich in energy supplies, the region is becoming more responsible and starting to implement energy efficiency programs and new building codes regarding insulation. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi is a high tech approach to creating a carbon neutral city, but at a more basic level, there is a growing demand for spray foam insulation in residential houses and insulated panels for the region’s commerical buildings and cold stores. Algeria introduced energy standards for home appliances in 2008, Egypt developed its own building energy efficiency codes as early as 2003, established a Green Buildings Council

in 2009, and is in the process of developing a green pyramid rating system. The country has also developed energy standards and labels for most domestic appliances. Jordan is trying to enforce an Energy Efficiency Code and has also established a Green Building Council. Kuwait stipulates energy demand limits for air conditioning in buildings. Syria, Tunisia, and Lebanon are also in the process of developing energy labeling for appliances and codes of practice relating to the insulation of buildings.

a huge increase in demand for air-conditioning. Developers are only now being made aware of the unsustainability of these buildings and government agencies have introduced building codes to reduce energy demands of new buildings by up to 40 %. Production of rigid PU foam in the region is currently dominated by the refrigeration industry, but enforcement of new building codes should create a significant growth in demand over the coming years (tab. 4).

The rapid development of high rise, glass fronted buildings across the UAE has led to

Bookshop



www.gupta-verlag.de

ALL ABOUT POLYURETHANES Since the first Polyurethanes book was published in 1987, and reprinted with updates in 1990, the world of polyurethanes has changed dramatically. This edition has been completely re-structured, re-written and enlarged by approximately 50 %. It provides a greater focus on the whole range of components used to produce polyurethanes, a more detailed analysis of environmental issues and extended views on the application of polyurethanes. As with the previous editions, this book provides a comprehensive survey of these remarkable materials, again presented in a readable manner, and continues to provide both an easilyunderstood introduction for those with limited knowledge of chemistry as well as detailed coverage for the more chemically-minded. David Randall, Steve Lee The Polyurethanes Book John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 1. Edition, 2003 494 pages, Hardcover, ISBN 978-0-47085041-1 EUR 279,00

Dr. Gupta Verlag · P. O. Box 10 41 25 · 40852 Ratingen/Germany · Tel. +49 2102 9345-0 · Fax +49 2102 9345-20 · info@gupta-verlag.de · www.gupta-verlag.de

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

299

Interview with H. Baalbaki

In person:

can formulate up to 12 kt/y of polyols, and in UAE we formulate up to 19 kt/y of polyols and manufacture 6 kt/y of prepolymers.

Hassan Baalbaki, Director of Baalbaki Group – Industry and Trade

Both these sites will be expanded substan tially within 2011 – 2012.

PU Magazine: What is your background and how did you become involved in this part of the Baalbaki business?

PU Magazine: Firstly, can you provide a brief introduction to Baalbaki Group and the creation and de velopment of its involvement in PU chemi cals, systems and products during the last 40 years?

Hassan Baalbaki: I was educated overseas and have degrees in economics, banking, and education. I was aim ing at joining the group’s banking division but was sent to Amman, Jordan, to establish the Jordanian Exporter Company and was delegat ed by the Jordanian government to organise the first Amman International Trade Fair.

Hassan Baalbaki: Our activities started by my great grand father, Izzo Baalbaki, in 1870, where he saw the opportunity to initiate business and industry in Jordan and Syria. He started various businesses ranging from textile pro duction to commodity trading. My father Dr Ihsan Baalbaki joined the company in the late 1950s and started Barada Metallic In dustries for the production of refrigerators and metal furniture in conjunction with Linde and Mauser Germany. The total Baalbaki business was nationalised in 1960. After nationalisation, Dr Baalbaki started anew to build businesses in real estate, banking, industry, and other trading invest ments, including polyurethane. In 1984, the Baalbaki industrial activity in the UK was sold to an American company. I joined the group in 1990, working in the Baalbaki business in Jordan, and later came to manage a small coatings operation within Baalbaki. In 1993, we started a small sys tem house in Syria. Baalbaki was already involved in supplying components and PU materials to HVAC, refrigerators and panels’ manufacturers in the Middle East region, and therefore, buying PU materials was some thing with which we were familiar. The Syrian market was not a big one, and thus, it was decided to further penetrate the regional markets and position ourselves as one of the key players in the PU industry.

300

“

Diversity and profitability drove me to producing PU paints...and that was when I got infected with PU!

”

Our goal was to become the supplier of choice within the region, leveraging our cul tural, lingual, and geographic advantages over multinational competition. Accordingly, we established a number of production facili ties in the region, mainly in UAE and Egypt. We recently acquired a systems distributor in Turkey. It is our plan to exploit this move by establishing a system house in the Turk ish market by Q2 2012. We currently have four distribution hubs outside Syria, including one in Iran. We have considerably expanded our produc tion capacity of the Syrian site. This site is currently capable of producing more than 85 kt/y of systems along with capacities to produce aromatic and aliphatic polyesters, acrylic polyols, TPU, adhesives, etc. We currently employ 250 staff in the poly urethane and speciality chemicals division, and another 80 in our flexible slabstock plant in Damascus, Syria. At our site in Egypt we

Due to the invasion of Kuwait, at that time, the project was halted and I returned to Da mascus where Baalbaki owned amongst oth ers a small chemical plant, which manufac tured paints. It was not strategic business at all at that time, but I was attracted by the opportunities I saw in the business to im prove its profitability and product diversity. Diversity and profitability drove me to pro ducing PU paints...and that was when I got infected with PU! Currently, I am responsible within our diversi fied family business for all the industrial ac tivities, R & D, and new projects and develop ments within Baalbaki. I find the endless op portunities of working with polyurethane fascinating. We also believe in upgrading ourselves and staff through executive education. We also send key employees to known educational institutions such as Insead, France; AIF, Am sterdam, the Netherlands; HBS, USA; and the American University of Beirut. We also have a list of consultants and specialists in the PU industry who act as mentors in our special training programmes. Family businesses have a type of flexibility and ability to create a strong sense of ur gency and loyalty amongst employees.

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

PU Magazine: Baalbaki started the first system house in the Middle East in 1994, since then system houses have been established in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. What further ex pansion plans do you have and are they be ing affected by the political uncertainty in the region?

Hassan Baalbaki: We make no secret of the fact that we want to be the leading regional supplier of PU sys tems and materials. We also have a ware housing facility in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Al geria to supply some of our product range. This will undoubtedly expand when the time is right.

PU Magazine: Your company logo is a tortoise – can you explain why this was chosen?

Hassan Baalbaki: We have taken the tortoise to be the busi ness symbol for the entire Baalbaki Group. In the banking sector our customers want us to be dependable and reliable long term part ners. Tortoises live for a very long time. We have chosen this logo to convey that Baal baki is a long term, consistent and reliable supplier. Business in this region is based upon long term relationships.

PU Magazine: What changes have you experienced during the last five years regarding the demand for

PU products and chemicals in the Middle East?

Hassan Baalbaki: The Middle East is often overlooked and underestimated in terms of growth and busi ness opportunities. China is always quoted as being the largest market in the world and so plants pop up to meet this demand and before long the country has an overcapacity problem. Growth in the Middle East during 2010 was 28 % compared to 2009. We have a very young and aspiring population, as well as a high birth rate. This also creates a huge demand for homes and the enduse industries such as furniture, footwear and appliances. Although GDP is not uniformly high across the region, the effect of the diaspora should not be underestimated. Syria also has a huge disaspora of an esti mated 11 million people out of a total estimated population of 24 million. So although GDP is low it does not reflect the money returning to the country from those living overseas. Therefore, the region may in fact be growing faster economically than the simple GDP rate.

PU Magazine: What do you consider to be the main factors driving demand now?

Hassan Baalbaki: Local influence over legislation and its imple mentation will help develop demand for PU and other goods and materials. Baalbaki has

“

We have had our facilities successfully audited, which is a great reflection on how we have developed our business.

”

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

been effective at the local level to influence and persuade government institutions to change legislation with regard to building insulation. In particular, we have focused upon initiating changes to building regula tions in Syria etc. New buildings are now le gally required to be insulated, whereas even three years ago this was not the case. We and our business partners try to educate and influence the public sector. We believe an important part of our job is to develop and grow the PU market. We are not competing on price but we can gain business through supporting our cus tomers develop, and developing the total market. We would like to see the Middle East demand for PU at 6 – 7 kg per capita, much closer to that of Europe.

PU Magazine: Does the lack of “local” raw material manu facturers create difficulties, especially when supplies become tight?

Hassan Baalbaki: We were established since 1993, and time has taught us about the dynamics of supply and demand. We can depend on wellestab lished supplier relationships from Europe and Asia. To be a dependable and successful regional supplier of PU systems, we have already created a wellestablished manufac turing network years ago for the supply across the region. From our facilities in Damascus we ship in bulk to our regional blending facilities. When Egypt had problems – for the known reasons, earlier in the year – supplies could be serviced from our UAE site. Baalbaki also supplies product to leading multinationals. We operate a 32 kt/y poly ester plant making aromatic and aliphatic polyols, unsaturated resins, and speciality esters for coatings. We are also approved suppliers of speciality brominated aromat ic polyols into Europe. We sell material to customers in GCC, Pakistan, India, and Europe etc. Material originating from Syria or Egypt does not pay customs entering into Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

301

PU Magazine: There have been several new raw material investments in Saudi Arabia, and Sabic is undertaking a feasibility study for the con struction of a PU raw materials complex. If this were to happen, how could it affect the supply chain in the Middle East?

Hassan Baalbaki: We now know that Dow and Aramco will in vest in a new petrochemical complex in Sau dia Arabia, including plants for the produc tion of PU chemicals, however, the PU indus try in the region is very traditional. Therefore, any new large supplier entering the business greenfield, without a large domestic market will not find it easy to enter the market, due to the strategic and historic relationship be tween key suppliers and customers. How ever, I must say such an investment will provide new regional business opportunities for the given industry and probably new mar kets as well.

PU Magazine: All your plants seem to be very new and well equipped, are you setting the industry stand ards for the PU industry in the Middle East?

Hassan Baalbaki: Multinational companies set the standards for the PU industry. Nonetheless, Baalbaki tries to set the standards for local independ ent system houses in the region. We have had a process and workplace safety consult ant here for six months working on all our safety procedures and responses. We need to ensure, not only the safety of our chemi cal plant, but also our staff. They are our family. Everything is documented. Due to these standards we are approved suppliers to multinational companies in the PU industry. We have had our facilities successfully au dited, which is a great reflection on how we have developed our business.

PU Magazine: The success of a system house depends upon its ability to meet local needs and offer technical solutions to manufacturers’ prob lems. How do you ensure that Baalbaki can

302

attract and develop such staff and offer a technical advantage over other system house suppliers?

Hassan Baalbaki: We have a saying in the Middle East that “You should pay the baker his price if you want good bread”. So we have employed a human resources specialist who has worked hard to develop a programme to attract the right quality people to our company. People who grow with us help our business grow. For example, only two Syrian companies known to me offer executive education – and we are one of them. We spend a significant amount of money each year to develop our key employees. It is expensive, but using this programme we know that this will pay back easily by the benefits each employee will then contribute to our business. This ap proach has been very successful during the past 3 – 4 years.

PU Magazine: Many Middle Eastern governments are focus ing efforts to increase employment opportu nities for their growing educated popula tions. Do you think the PU industry can help here?

Hassan Baalbaki: The PU industry can undoubtedly help the economic and social development of the Middle East at a micro level, but there has to be a macro effort/effect to develop indus tries at the regional level including those that we do not have fully developed yet, like auto motive etc. Polyurethane is creating jobs in

insulation, bedding, packaging, and other areas. The CASE sector also covers a wide range of industries and applications and could expand rapidly as consumers start to understand the benefits of PU materials.

PU Magazine: What effect has the recent political unrest had upon the PU business in the region?

Hassan Baalbaki: The effect on our business has not been so big. In fact our market share has probably increased because there has been an in creased lack of interest from customers to import in the region. The situation is not as bad as it may appear. In Egypt the effect of the uprising lasted for about 40 days but demand has recovered in about a month time. In Tunisia, demand was interrupted for one to one and a half months, but it has started to pick up again. Through our supply network we have always been able to supply our customers. Here in Syria the difficulties affected our business for about a month. However, life continues and so does the need to consume and build. For example, in the past two months the in crease in non preapproved construction activity in Syria has been phenomenal. There has been more new construction in May and June of 2011 than in a normal year!

PU Magazine: Thank you for the interview Mr Baalbaki. 

“ At our site in Egypt

we can formulate up to 12 kt/y of polyols, and in UAE we formulate up to 19 kt/y of polyols and manufacture 6 kt/y of prepolymers.

”

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

J. Rowlands, F. Paap*

New patented technology for greener urethanes During 2009, the team at Green Urethanes in the UK, started to discuss how to preserve the essential physical properties of urethane foams which contain small volumes of polyols derived from so called green feedstock – specifically palm oil, soy bean oil, rapeseed and castor oil as well as oils from animal sources. the result was that a total of six patents were applied for during 2009, and in March 2010 these were consolidated into a single application, now published as WO 2010/100421 A2 and WO 2010/100421 A4 (US 2010/0227151 A1). the Green Urethanes patent application has recently been registered in canada, china, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, and brazil. An application has already been lodged in the USA. Further examinations are planned for russia, India, Indonesia, and Europe. by the end of 2011, Green Urethanes technology will be registered for patent examination in 23 countries worldwide. the patent application shows that the technology developed by Green Urethanes could remove the troublesome low molecular species normally present in natural oil polyols (NOPs) by reacting the NOP with isocyanates using specific catalysts. this results in a molecular weight distribution more similar to that of a conventional petrochemical based polyol. Foams produced using these polyols have processing and physical properties characteristics similar to traditional “non green” foams.

1. Current NOP usage It is becoming increasingly desirable to make polyurethane foams from lipid-based polyols such as natural oil polyols. Currently, there are limits to the maximum incorporation of NOPs into urethane formulations. For example, one of the largest uses for NOPs is in the production of flexible slabstock foam in which typically only a maximum of 22 php (parts per hundred polyol) of conventional polyol can be replaced by NOP. Higher levels of up to 30 php incorporation are possible but the resulting foam has poor compression set, foam settle after rising, poor stability, as well as other reduced physical properties, tensile tear and elongation, making it unsuitable for use by most customers particularly in the furniture and bedding industries. In HR (high resilience) foams the maximum toler-

ated NOP level may be only 5 – 10 php. Above this level the HR foam exhibits unacceptable faults, such as splits and internal pockets of collapsed foam. The incorporation of unmodified NOPs into polyurethane formulations is complex for two main reasons: • NOPs are hydrophobic because the chains do not contain oxygen linkages compared to conventional petroleum-based polyols. As such they do not readily mix and react with other components in the formulation. • In NOPs the OH groups are formed through the use of double bonds, transesterification with multifunctional alcohols or cleavage/oxidation. This tends to give sterically hindered hydroxyl groups distributed along the carbon chain rather than at the end of the chain as in conventional polyols. This leads to the characteristically lower reactivity of NOPs.

* Jeff rowlands jeff.rowlands@greenurethanes.com Dr Frans Paap

1.1 Introduction to the Green Urethanes technology

Green Urethanes Ltd., Walton on trent, Derbyshire, UK www.greenurethanes.com

Green Urethane technology allows the use of very high levels of NOPs in all types of

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

urethane foams, including flexible, rigid, semi-rigid and microcellular types. There are examples in the application of flexible foams made containing for example, 75 php of palm oil and soy oil based polyols. The resulting foams have all their essential physical properties preserved by this innovative technology. In simple terms this means that (at for example the 75 php inclusion level) 50 % of the flexible foam mass has been grown on top of a farm field and not drilled from under an oil field. Also, the processability of these foams is excellent, and has been commented on as being superior to that of so called conventional foams, particularly in terms of tin processing range and the tendency to form undesirable splits. In addition to this greatly increased renewable content, the use of Green Urethanes’ polyols will increase the hardness of a flexible foam by up to 25 % and also increase its flame retardancy by up to 25 % compared to standard polyether flexible foam slabstock. Flame retardant levels can therefore be reduced compared to their normal use levels. Another frequent problem associated with NOPs is the characteristic odour of residual aldehydes and other odour generating species that can be present in the finished foam. Whilst not a problem in rigid foams, consumers of flexible foams in furniture and in particular mattresses do not always like these odours. The odour of foams made with NOPs tend to smell of popcorn or french fries due to the presence of hexanal, nonanal, decanal and other aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acid derivatives.Through the selection of the correct isocyanate and catalyst in the Green Urethanes technology, these very odourous species can be wrapped up and eliminated from the NOP and therefore eliminated or substantially reduced in the finished foam. The Green Urethanes technology also allows the production of a wide range of stable, low odour blends of NOPs and polyether polyols which can be stored for long periods, making them highly suitable for use in the systems market. Therefore this new approach to raising the level of NOP usage in poly-

303

urethane foam, appears to solve three problems simultaneously.

of the OH groups present. The reaction is generally powered by a polyurethane gelation catalyst.

2. Summary of the invention

No additional external heat is required for this process and the resulting prepolymer is storage stable for use in the production of polyurethane foam of all types.

A foam, preferably flexible, can be made from a mixture of isocyanate modified polyol (i. e. prepolymer), and foam forming ingredients, where the isocyanate modified polyol is made by reacting at least one lipid-based (NOP) polyol with at least one multifunctional isocyanate. The isocyanate modified polyol is a non-foamed polyol polymer with available OH groups. The isocyanate normally reacts with between 0.01 – 70 % of the OH groups present but most preferably less than 30 % 

The suggested mechanism of the invention is that the process makes the reaction characteristics and dynamics of NOPs more similar to those of conventional polyols through a reduction in the hydrophobic behaviour of the NOP and an increase in the NOP‘s reactivity. This results in a more even distribution of NOP and conventional polyol

throughout the reaction mix; instead of the NOP reacting relatively late in the foam forming process. The more even distribution and behaviour of the NOP also avoids adverse plasticising effects which NOP can have, which can affect the stability and physical properties of the foam. These adverse effects may occur when the macro polymer created by the relatively early reaction of the conventional (synthetic) polyols and isocyanate, is then coated on its outer surface by the polymer strands formed by the polyurethane reaction with the NOP, because of the delay caused by the NOP reacting late, onto the already partially formed macro synthetic polymer chain. This especially is thought to be the characteristic effect of

Tab. 1: Data for high index NOPs prepolymers

Isocyanate modification of the NOPs (pbw) Green E Green c

97,3

97.5

96.5

97.5

P1388/P4156 DbtL Sn Oct 33 %

0.002

75 25

0.03

0.03 0.03

0.03

tDI 80/20

2.7

0.4

2.6

3.6

2.4

Percentage of total OH groups being reacted

100

Kosmos EF

Foams using isocyanate modified NOPs from above Iso modified Green E from above P1388 Dabco 33LV

0 50

0.20

Amine A1

0.10

Sn Oct 33 %

0.70

Silicone b2370

0.80

Iso modified Green c from above

100

Water

4.00

tDI (index)

105

4.00 105

tDI php

58.7

51.2

58.7

50.1

58.7

50.9

66.0

Density kg/m3

21.8

22.7

22.8

22.3

22.1

22.3

22.6

21.7

24.1

Density PcF

1.36

1.42

1.425

1.39

1.38

1.39

1.41

1.36

1.51

Hardness IFD AStM 25 % lbs Hardness 40 % cLD kPa

5.74

3.78

3.56

5.73

3.77

5.5

5.6

3.91

7.42

Hardness after humid age HALL

4.61

2.79

2.65

4.41

2.87

4.5

4.52

3.02

Hardness loss %

19.7

26.2

25.6

23.9

18.2

19.3

22.8

19.1

Hysteresis % tensile kPa

105

Elongation %

122

125

110

Excellent

Processing comments Php green content approximately % Source: Green Urethanes application

304

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

NOPs with their relatively low hydroxyl or sterically hindered functionalities.

which can lead to inferior physical properties in the finished polyurethane.

bled mixture of molecular weights reacting at different times.

2.1 Changes to molecular weight distribution

The technology invented by Green Urethanes, preferentially reacts the short chain triglycerides of the NOP, especially monomers and dimer oligomers, into higher molecular weight polymers. Therefore, the most undesirable oligomers will be preferentially reacted because they are naturally more reactive to the isocyanate and are preferentially “cleaned up”. Additional chain extension reactions will take place between other classes of oligomers leading to tri- and tetraspecies which will also then react with either lower or higher molecular weight oligomers and species. These reactions lead to a steeper and tighter bell curve distribution of oligomer species in the NOP. The formation of macro molecules prior to foam production also gives a higher hardness to the foam, better processing and better physical properties compared to foams made with the inclusion of NOPs without the “pre-reaction” or “pre-treatment” as described here.

A demonstration of the width and extent of the technology is shown in table 1. Look at table 1 to see how two NOPs, produced from two different natural oils (soy beans and palm mesocarp) can give flexible foams with a wide range of physical properties by varying the levels of isocyanate (in this case TDI) and also varying the type and level of gelation catalyst in the Green Urethanes technology. The last two columns, you will note, have foams with natural contents of 50 % of the total foam weight, being made with 75 php of the NOP.

NOPs typically contain a large, wide distribution of different weight oligomers which react at different rates as the main polyurethane polymerisation reaction proceeds. The molecular weight bell curve distribution for NOPs is therefore far flatter and lower than the tight, high bell curve of conventional (synthetic) polyols which have been perfected and engineered over the years. Earlier research by Abraham et al. (WO 2006/116456 A1) shows that low level inclusion of NOP may be successful if 35 % of oligomers are tetramers or higher, 5 – 10 % are trimers and dimers are limited to 8 – 12 %. This scatter of polymers with different molecular weights leads to different NOP oligomers with different molecular weights reacting at different stages and times of the production reaction. This can create difficulties in processing and a profusion of short chain polymers being produced Tab. 2: comparison of flexible foam properties using  various prepolymers Foam 1 P4156

Foam 2

Foam 3

PO56 (Europe) Soy prepolymer

49 51

(P4156/Soy) prepolymer

100

Dabco 33LV

0.2

Amine A1

0.1

Sn Oct 33 %

0.7

Silicone bF2370

0.8

total water php

52.2

1.4

1.46

1.5

22.4

23.36

2.95

3.7

tDI php Density PcF Density kg/m

cFD 40 % kPa AStM ILD25 %

29.5

31.2

23.9

27.8

18.9

24.8

Hysteresis

48.8

47.1

tensile kPa

103

Elongation %

126

160

182

compression set 75 %

14.3

8.5

Hardness after humid age Hardness loss %

Source: Green Urethanes application

The use of gelation catalysts which happen to be ricinoleic acid salts can also create special complexes that can trap low molecular weight odour compounds or react with them. The amount of catalyst required is at least 0.001 – 0.1 mMoles/100 g polyol, although higher levels can be used. 2.2 Scope of the Green Urethanes technology The scope of the technology allows the manufacture of an isocyanate modified, hydroxyl ended polyol (prepolymer) for use in the manufacture of urethane foams, which has been made from any combination of NOPs with any synthetic polyols (ether or ester) reacted with any isocyanate(s) with any gelation catalyst. Combinations of NOPs, synthetic polyols, isocyanates and gelation catalysts work too. The result is the production of a “new” polyol which has the hybrid characteristics of the NOP(s) and synthetic polyol(s) from which it was originally made. This is why the Green Urethanes prepolymer now acts and reacts as a single reactant in the foam forming process, and not as a jum-

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

So, in table 1 (line 10) shows the preparation of various isocyanate modified NOP with between 4 % and 28 % of the available hydroxyl groups being reacted with the diisocyanate according to the invention. Also, various metal catalysts at various levels are shown being used to catalyse the hydroxyl-isocyanate interactions of the invention. 2.3 100 % NOP content possible If the whole polyol element (NOP plus synthetic polyol) is subjected to this technology then the plasticising effect of the NOP during the foam production is minimised to the fullest possible level, the miscibility of the NOP element, the size of the macromolecule and optimisation of the physical properties, including the compression sets, of the material produced are further improved to the maximum extent table 2. The lipid-based polyol content of polyurethane foams made according to this invention can be 100 % of total polyol content by weight. The physical properties of the material may not be fantastic at this stage of the development cycle, but the 100 % NOP Green Urethanes modified material does process easily into a stable foam product. (See 5. Future work). The foams made using the isocyanate modified polyols can be made with or without water, they can be mechanically frothed

305

normally involves spraying the NOP as a stream into a chamber or vessel which is under some kind of vacuum. The intention is to flash off some of the lighter components. Some of these will be volatile materials which contribute to the odour of the NOP. Ricinolaeic acid and/or one of it salts may be injected into the vacuum space or added as a dispersed component to the liquid NOP input stream. These salts can be incorporated at any suitable stage in the production of the NOP or the isocyanate modified polyol. Ricinolaeic acid itself alone has been found to be a particularly effective deodorant.

or not mechanically frothed and the foams can use auxiliary non-reactive blowing agents. 2.4 Odour reduction Isocyanates can be used to reduce the odour of an isocyanate modified polyol and/ or foam made from NOPs. Those based upon TDI generally show lower odour characteristics compared to MDI-based isocyanate modified polyols. Thus it is preferable to use TDI as the multifunctional isocyanate for low odour foams.

Obviously, TDI in combination with ricinoleic acid or its metal salt may also be introduced to make an airborne isocyanate modified polyol which also removes or lessens the odour of the exiting NOP by forming an in situ weak Green Urethanes prepolymer.

Foam odour is very important especially when the foams are used in automotive applications and used in a confined, air locked environment and subject to heat, for example via solar gain. It is also important when the foam is used for bedding. Every attempt is therefore made to reduce odours in foams for these industries. It is possible to remove or reduce the odour using part of this Green Urethanes technology. There are two routes to odour reduction described in the application. One is by using a combination of TDI as the preferred isocyanate and a metal salt of ricinoleaic acid as the preferred gelation catalyst when making the isocyanate modified prepolymer.

The BMW smell test was conducted according to protocol VDA 270/DIN 10955. This means that each odour panellist rates the odour according to the following scale: 1 = no smell; 2 = slight smell, inoffensive; 3 = easily detectable; 4 = uncomfortable smell; 5 = very disturbing. As illustrated (tab. 3) NOP Green B has an odour of 3, when this polyol is made into a modified isocyanate polyol as used in examples 7, 8, 10 and 12 the odour level is reduced. The use

The other techniques may be used during the NOP manufacturing process. This process 

Tab. 3: changes in odour achieved with various catalysts in isocyanate modified polyols

Component

Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example Example 1 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

(pbw) L4070

Green b

100

M 220

Kosmos EF

0.003

Kosmos 54

0.003

of DBTL in combination with TDI in example 13 does not reduce the odour nor does the use of stannous octoate in example 14. Example 9 does not use TDI and does not reduce the odour when compared to Green B alone (in example 11). Lupranol 4070 had an odour rating of 1 – 2 across all panellists. Identification and total removal of odour is complex. A certain odour from one species may be masked by that of another in an odour panel test. Sometimes the odour removal process may eliminate one odour but reveal another, so that the odour rating test may not change in intensity but panellists reported a change from, for example, “acid” to “sweet”. Results (tab. 4) show the effects of adding and mixing ricinolaeic acid into various soy-based polyols at room temperature (18 °C) and leaving the mixture to stand for seven days. The odour panellists reported that the strength of the odour had lessened but had also changed in character.

3. Improved storage life The photograph (fig. 1) shows the stability of the isocyanate modified polyol using NOPs over a period of 12 h at 18 °C. On the right 20 pbw of Green C polyol thoroughly mixed with 80 pbw Voranol RA 800, a standard rigid polyol. The mixture shows almost complete separation of the two polyols in a short time. The mixture on the left contains Green C polyol and Voranol RA 800 which has been agitated and reacted with 1 php 

Tab. 4: changes in polyol odour using ricinoleic acid

Component

Example 15

Example 16

Example 17

Example 18

(pbw)

DbtL

0.003

Green D

100

Sn Oct 33 %

0.03

Green E

100

tDI

0.4

ricinoleic acid

0.1

VDA smell test Panellist 1

VDA smell test 2

1–2

Panellist 1

Panellist 2

Panellist 3

2–3

Panellist 3

Panellist 4

Panellist 5

Source: Green Urethanes application

306

Source: Green Urethanes application

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

TDI and 0.004 php of Kosmos EF. There is no separation of the two polyols showing how the technology increases the compatibility of NOPs in a urethane system that has a stable shelf life and that is therefore suitable for worldwide shipment.

4. Experimental laboratory test materials used The following materials were used: • Green B – a soy oil-based polyol BiOH 5000, Cargill Inc, USA • Green C – a mesocarp palm oil-based polyol, PolyGreen Chemicals (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. • Green D – a soy oil-based polyol from USSC (Urethane Soy Systems Co.) USA • Green E – a soy oil-based polyol from USSC, USA • Lupranol 4070 – a trifunctional polyol with glycerol starter, PO backbone and tip, BASF AG • Polyol Pluracol 1388 (aka Pluracol 4156) Hetro polyol – 56 OH, from BASF Inc. • Voranol RA 800 – rigid polyol, Dow Chemical Company

• Voranate M220 – polymeric MDI, Dow Chemical Company • Kosmos EF – catalyst of tin ricinoleate, Evonik AG • Kosmos 54 – catalyst of zinc ricinoleate, Evonik AG • Sn Oct 33 % - Stannous Octoate 33 % solution • Ricinoleic acid – Sigma Aldrich Co., UK • DBTL – Dibutyl tin dilaurate – Sigma Aldrich Co., UK • Tegostab B2370 – flexible silicone, Evonik AG

duced stable easily processable foams (fig. 2), but the elongation and tear results were judged to be “marginal”, with elongation results just hovering around 100 % and with less than 1.0 lbs/inch tear strength. Through changes to the Green Urethanes prepolymer architecture it should be possible to improve these results. Green Urethanes already has a live project looking at applying its technologies to HR foams. Normally the addition of even fairly low levels of NOPs to flexible foams make the foam feel dry and dead, but perhaps these properties could prove useful in viscoelastic grades of foam.

5. Future work

Fortunately, Green Urethanes has access to additional technology from sister company Innochem which can boost the ILD SAG factor of NOP foams to around 2.4. Conventional foams made with synthetic polyols have ILD SAG factors of around 2.0 – 2.2, so this 2.4 level is already a great improvement. This effort with HR should therefore, allow even higher ILD SAG ratings to be achieved. 

The Green Urethanes technology is now in routine use in the USA, where our foamer licensee makes approximately 15+ different grades of foam at will. Use level of NOP in these grades is 50 php thus giving the foams a 33 % (certified) natural content. The years 2009 and 2010 have been busy years for Green Urethanes, however research is now focused upon the production of a 75 – 85 php NOP content foam which will have acceptable physical and compression set properties at 90 %. Initial work at this NOP level has pro-



Fig. 1: Green Urethanes prepolymer stability



Fig. 2: 75 php flexible foam sample

Foodnote Just a few comments from the authors on this work with NOPs and why it was done. At Green Urethanes we are not “religious” about being green. We encountered this problem which the inclusion of NOP presented to urethane foams, and we solved it. So as far as the “Tank-und-Teller” debate, concerning the arguments about whether mankind should be converting possible foodstuffs into replacements for various crude oil derivatives; here are some figures from the United States Department of Agriculture: “There are about 6.8 billion people in the world. In 2008/2009 the wheat harvest was 682.4 million t and rice was at 444.9 million t. If the starch content is 70 % then this gives 318 g of carbohydrate each day. The worldwide harvest of sugar and potatoes gives a further 120 g per day. The recommended daily need for the average human is 300 grammes of carbohydrate which is the 2,000 kilo calories figure which every one knows and struggles to keep down to, at least in the “Developed world”. So, we don’t need to worry about corn, meat and the other staples, because these four items, wheat, rice, sugar, and potatoes already give 50 % more calories than the world needs.” (Figures and script from USSC.) So the problem is not the amount of food that is grown to feed the world, but where it is grown and the problems of getting the foodstuffs where it is most needed. Food for thought?

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

307

C. Lindsay, S. Woutters, L. Wu, R. Camargo*

Innovations in thermoplastic polyurethanes

2.1 Soft elastic TPU materials Conventional TPU chemistries allow manufacture of products with hardnesses in the range Shore A 70 (soft) to Shore D 70 (hard). Access to lower hardness either leads to loss in performance or requires the use of plasticizers. Huntsman has now developed a family of soft TPUs with Shore A hardness in the range 55 – 65 which display outstanding elasticity and excellent processability based upon the use of a special diamine chain extender. This excellent combination of properties is based upon a highly efficient phase separated structure (fig. 1) which is driven by powerful urea hydrogenbonding within the hard block (fig. 2).

thermoplastic polyurethanes (tPUs) are widely employed elastomers as a consequence of their flexibility, elasticity and strength combined with good abrasion resistance and versatile melt processability. this combination of features arises from a two phase morphology in which rigid chain segments formed by the reaction of diisocyanates with short chain diols alternate with flexible chains derived from long chain oligomeric diols. However, there are limitations to the range of property and processing characteristics accessible by conventional tPU chemistries. For example, it is very difficult to manufacture soft, elastic tPUs without employing a plasticizing agent. Furthermore, the relatively high melt viscosities of tPUs can limit their application as adhesive materials. this paper describes two new technologies from Huntsman which overcome these difficulties and thus extend the application possibilities for tPUs.

1. Experimental

2. Results and discussion

The soft elastic TPUs and high flow TPUs were prepared in pellet form by bulk polymerization of 4,4’-methylenediphenyldiisocyanate (4,4’-MDI), low molecular weight diol chain extenders (CEs) and oligomeric polyols with novel amine-functional compounds. Films of width 15 cm and thickness 635 µm were prepared by single-screw extrusion of the pelletized products. Injectionmoulded plates of 1.25 cm x 10.5 cm x 2 mm were also prepared. Specimens for evaluation were cut from the films and/or mouldings. Physical property testing was performed according to ASTM and DIN standards.

Novel chemistries were applied to Aromatic TPUs based upon 4,4’-MDI in order to generate new “soft elastic TPU” and “high flow TPU” product families. These technologies are discussed separately below.

The unique performance characteristics of the new family of soft TPUs are illustrated by the property comparison of two of the new materials with a conventional diol-extended TPU in table 1. The Shore A hardness of 71 for the reference TPU was the lowest achievable via conventional diol chain extension, whereas Shore A 58 was easily achievable

Typical structure of an aromatic TPU



OCN

NCO

Huntsman Polyurethanes, Everberg, belgium Lifeng Wu

308

H 2N

NH2 or

N H

Fig. 2:  Urea hydrogen bonding in hard blocks of soft tPUs

H n

Huntsman Polyurethanes, the Woodlands, tX, USA

Huntsman Polyurethanes, Auburn Hills, MI, USA

Steve Woutters

O N

chris_i_lindsay@huntsman.com

Hard segment

O * chris Lindsay

Soft segment

Fig. 1: Structure of soft tPUs

rafael camargo

O R1

H O

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

with the new chemistry. The excellent elasticity of the Soft TPUs is evident from the high resilience and low tensile set (recovery from 200 % strain) reported in table 1.

High flow TPU supramolecule principle

Heat  Fig. 3: High flow tPUs: thermally reversible chain extension effect

Cool

Typically TPUs are made of log chains with very high molecular weights. This leads to excellent mechanical properties but the relatively high melt viscosities can restrict flow and penetration. The melt viscosities of the TPUs can be lowered by reducing molecular weight but this typically leads to a dramatic reduction in mechanical properties. Huntsman has overcome this issue by developing a family of high flow TPUs based upon low molecular chains terminated with chemical groups capable of thermally reversible chain extension. This is illustrated in figure 3.

1,00E+07

Viscosity, mPa·s

1,00E+06

Conventional TPU

1,00E+05

High flow TPU

1,00E+04

120

140

160

180

200  Fig. 4: tPU melt viscosities

Temperature, °C

Properties Hard block (wt/wt.-%)

2.2 High flow TPU materials

Soft TPU 1

Soft TPU 2

Reference TPU

17 %

19 %

26,50 %

Specific gravity

1.13

1.17

Abrasion, mm3

Hardness, Shore A

58A

61A

71A

bayshore rebound, %

compression set 22 h @ 23 °c, %

tensile set (24 h – 200 %), %

tensile strength, MPa

17.1

Ultimate elongation, %

912

378

345

100 % tensile mod., MPa

1.7

8.0

3.0

300 % tensile mod., MPa

2.73

tear strength, N/mm

tMA peak, °c

130

150

125

Hard grade

 Tab. 1: typical properties of soft tPUs (F = Extruded film; M = Injection-moulded specimen)

The unique combination of low melt viscosities and good physical properties make the high flow TPUs particularly suitable for applications as film adhesives and hot melt adhesives.

3. Conclusions

Soft grade

Property

Conventional

High flow

Conventional

High flow

Melt index

100

too high

Shore A hardness

tensile strength, MPa

Ultimate elongation (%)

640

570

800

580

100% Modulus, MPa

5.5

6.1

2.0

2.2

300% Modulus, MPa

6.0

6.6

5.0

4.8

tear resistance, N/mm

Specific gravity

1.15

tMA softening peak (°c)

102

120

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Figure 4 shows the very low melt viscosities of high flow TPU technology in comparison to analogous high molecular weight TPUs. Normally, TPUs with melt viscosities similar to those of high flow TPUs would have much lower physical properties than their high molecular weight analogues. However, table 2 demonstrates that reversible chain extension chemistry can deliver both hard and soft high flow TPUs which have substantially retained properties compared to their conventional TPU equivalents.

 Tab. 2: Properties of high flow and conventional tPUs

TPUs with performance-processing characteristics have been developed by the use of novel chemistries. A new family of soft, elastic TPUs is particularly suitable for extruded film and injection-moulding applications. Families of high flow TPUs with uniquely low melt viscosities provide advantages which can be used in film adhesive and hot melt adhesive applications. 

309

T. Mitsumata, S. Ohori*

Magnetic polyurethane elastomers with wide range modulation of elasticity A new magnetorheological elastomer that demonstrates drastic and reversible changes in dynamic modulus in air was obtained. the magnetic elastomer consists of polyurethane and carbonyl iron particles. the magnetic elastomer with a volume fraction of 0.29 exhibited a reversible increase by factors of 277 of the storage modulus and 96 of the loss modulus upon a magnetic field of 500 mt. the elastomer underwent high mechanical toughness with a braking strain exceeding 0.8, and demonstrates the giant magnetorheological behavior for half year after the synthesis without degradation.

1. Introduction Magnetorheological (MR) material is an intel ligent material that rheological properties can be controlled by a magnetic field. It is widely known that the viscosity of MR fluids alters in response to the application of mag netic fields. Not only in fluids but also in solids, many attempts to fabricate MR mate rials have been performed using soft materi als such as synthetic polymer gels [1], sili cone elastomers [2 – 7], and rubbers [8, 9]. Details of the past investigations about MR gels and elastomers have been reviewed in the literatures [10, 11]. The stability of mag netic particles in MR solids is superior to that in MR fluids because of high viscosity of MR solids, e. g. the sedimentation of magnetic

* Dr. tetsu Mitsumata tetsu@yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp Assistant Professor Suguru Ohori Master course student Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Japan reproduced by permission from the royal Society of chemistry from tetsu Mitsumata and Suguru Ohori, Poly. chem., 2011, 2, 1063 – 1067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c1PY00033K

310

particles does not take place easily in MR solids. However, the MR response of solids was generally small compared to that of fluids. This originates mainly from that the magnetic particle is difficult to move and form a chain structure in solids. So far, many investigations have been carried out from various points of view; magnetodeformation of soft rubbers [12], the influence of geo metries between particle alignment and applied magnetic field on magnetoelastic effect [13], magnetoelasticity and its applica tions to dampers and seals [14, 15]. In many cases for MR solids, the relative change in the storage modulus (the ratio of storage moduli at magnetic fields to offfields) was less than several times. We have investigated the effect of magnetic fields on the dynamic modulus of magnetic gels based polysaccharides, and found the giant negative MR effect [16 – 18]. The mag netic gel exhibits reductions in the storage Young’s modulus of ~107 Pa and in the loss modulus of ~106 Pa by only irradiating a magnetic field of 1,000 mT, not under the magnetic field. The magnetic gel contains a particle network which was made of many fragile (physical) contacts between mag netic particles, and the network is destroyed by the transitory magnetic field. This fact indicates important knowledge: heterogene ous dispersion (particle network) obstructs the MR effect, oppositely, random disper sion leads to drastic changes in dynamic modulus.

Based on the above findings concerning the negative MR effect, we succeeded to synthe sise a new class of magnetorheological gel that demonstrates drastic and reversible changes in dynamic modulus without using strong magnetic fields [19]. At zero mag netic field, the storage modulus of the mag netic gel is extremely low with ~104 Pa al though the gel contains large amount of particles with f~0.30, resulting from random dispersion of the magnetic particle in the gel. The magnetic particle, under magnetic field, aligns to the magnetic lines of force and forms a chain structure contributing to high storage modulus exceeding 4 MPa. The importance of random dispersion can be also understood from the recent literature [20] that a highly swollen physical gel with a storage modulus of ~10 kPa demonstrates the modulus increase up to 60 times. Thus, we obtained now magneticfield sensi tive gels with wide modulation of elastic modulus, however, magnetic gels are, in gen eral, mechanically fragile since magnetic gels are swollen by a large amount of water. It is also a serious issue that the MR effect is strongly affected by the water content of the gel. These problems limit a practical use of magnetic gels and should be improved using nonswelling materials such as elastomers or rubbers. Generally, the elastic modulus of elastomers is higher than that of polymer gels, therefore, the magnetorheology of magnetic elastomers can be expected to be decreased. In this paper, we tried to synthe sise a new magnetic elastomer consisting of polyurethane with extremely low elastic mod ulus as well as magnetic hydrogels, and in vestigated its magnetorheology.

2. Experimental procedure 2.1 Synthesis of magnetic elastomers The magnetic elastomer was synthesised from liquid diphenylmethane diisocyanate, castoroilbased polyester polyol, carbonyl iron of magnetic particles (BASF Japan), and trace amounts of organotin compounds as a catalyst. The diphenylmethane diisocyanate, polyester polyol, catalyst, and carbonyl iron

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

(CI) particles were mixed using a mechanical mixer for 30 min. The content of liquid diphenylmethane diisocyanate to the polyol [NCO]/[OH] was kept at 0.33. The mixture was poured into a glass mold and cured for 3 h at 100 °C in air. The diameter of CI parti cle was determined to be 2.8 µm by a parti cle size analyzer (Shimazu Sald7000). The shape of CI particle was observed using a SEM with an accelerating voltage of 5 kV

(S800, Hitachi HighTechnologies). The weight concentration of CI particles was var ied 0 – 70 wt.%, which corresponds to a vol ume fraction of 0 – 29 vol.%. The volume fraction was calculated by the densities of the magnetic elastomer, polyurethane elastomer (1.00 g/cm3), and the CI particle (6.293 g/ cm3) [19]. The saturation and remanent mag netisation of CI particle were measured to be 207 and 1.3 emu/g, respectively, by a vibrat

(a)

(b)

107 500 mT 10

G' (Pa)

105

 Fig. 1: (a) Magnetic particles used in the present study; (b) Effect of magnetic field on the strain dependence of storage modulus for polyurethane elastomers containing cI particles (f=0.29).

0 mT 3

Fig. 2: 

10-5

10-4

10-3

10-2

(a) Strain dependence of storage modulus for magnetic elastomer with various volume fractions. (b) Storage modulus in the linear viscoelastic regime at 0 and 500 mt as a function of the volume fraction of cI particles. Solid line represents the Einstein equation, broken line is guide to the eye.

5·104

107

(a)

3·104 2·10

1·104

䃥 0 0.11 0.15 0.21 0.29

500 mT

105 G'0(1+2.5φ)

104

0 mT

10-5

(b)

106 G' (Pa)

G' (Pa)

4 ·104

0·10

2.2 Rheological measurements Dynamic viscoelastic measurements were carried out using a rheometer (MCR301, An ton Paar) with a nonmagnetic measuring plate, which is a special plate for the meas urement under magnetic field. For strain sweep measurements, the frequency was kept at 1 Hz, and the strain amplitude was varied from 106 – 102. For the measurement of magneticfield response, the frequency and strain was kept at 1 Hz and 104, respec tively. The temperature was controlled at 20 °C during the viscoelastic measurement. The samples were discs with dimensions of 20 mm diameter and 1.5 mm thickness. The breaking point of magnetic elastomers was measured at room temperature using a uniaxial compression apparatus (STA1150, Orientec) with a compression speed of 100 mm/min. The sample was a disc of 8 mm thickness and 35 mm in diameter.

3. Results and discussion

104

ing specimen magnetometer (Toei Co, Ltd.). Carrageenan (CA) magnetic gels, which is a comparison material, were synthesised by the similar way reported previously [19]. The CA concentration was kept as 1 wt.%.

10-4

10-3

10-2

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

0.05

0.1

0.15 φ

0.2

0.25

0.3

Figure 1 displays the effect of magnetic field on the strain dependence of storage modulus for magnetic elastomer with a volume frac tion of magnetic particles f=0.29. In the lin ear viscoelastic regime, the storage modulus at 0 mT (offstate storage modulus) was 6.45 kPa, and the storage modulus at 500 mT was 1.55 MPa, respectively. The high modulus under the magnetic field is at tributed from a structural change from ran dom dispersion to chain structure of mag netic particles. As discussed in the previous paper [19], this huge increase in the storage modulus cannot be explained by only the magnetic interaction acting on magnetised particles. It has to mention that the storage modulus of magnetic elastomer maintained a high modulus with 0.57 MPa even at g = 102. Our previous paper reported a rheological feature that the storage modulus remarkably decreases at high strains [18], called the

311

Figure 3 demonstrates the change in storage modulus and loss modulus of magnetic elas tomers in response to stepwise magnetic fields with 500 mT (= 39.8 kA/m). The G’ val ues in the reversible regime (during the time 120 – 240 s) were analyzed. The magnetic elastomer demonstrated huge, exceed two orders of magnitude, and reversible changes in the storage modulus synchronised with the

312

107

(a)

G' (Pa)

106 105 104 103

G" (Pa)

106

(b)

105

104

Fig. 3:  change in storage modulus (a) and loss modulus (b) at g = 10-4 for magnetic elastomers (f = 0.29) in response to stepwise magnetic fields (500 mt).

B (mT)

103

500 0 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Time (s)

107 106 ∆G' (Pa)

Figure 2a shows the strain dependence of storage modulus G’ for magnetic elastomers with various volume fractions of CI particles. All samples exhibited the storage modulus independently of the strain, indicating linear viscoelasticity. Figure 2b shows the storage modulus at g~104 as a function of the vol ume fraction. Interestingly, the storage modulus of magnetic elastomers was inde pendent of the volume fraction of CI particles although the volume fraction was raised up to 0.29. The solid line in the figure repre sents the relation between the storage mod ulus and the volume fraction of dispersed particles based on the Einstein equation [22, 23]: G’=G’0(1+2.5f), where G’ and G’0 are the storage moduli of the magnetic elas tomer and polyurethane elastomer without magnetic particles, respectively. The stor age modulus of magnetic elastomer almost obeyed the above equation, indicating the CI particles are randomly dispersed in the elas tomer. As the storage modulus did not show rapid increase at high volume fraction end, the interaction between CI particles and ma trix is considered to be extremely weak.

According to the literature [2], the storage modulus of silicone gels with carbonyl iron particles increased by 2.5 times at 59 kA/m (from 20 – 50 kPa); this would be, as far as we know, a highest value in the past studies of magnetorheological elastomers. The absolute value of the change in the storage modulus DG’ was 1.28 MPa, and the relative change in the modulus G’B500/G’B0 was 180 fold. The change in the loss modulus observed here

magnetic field. The observed modulus change equals to that for magnetic hydrogels demon strating giant magnetorheology [19, 24]. How ever, only the first response, the storage modulus exhibited slight increase in the mod ulus after removing the first magnetic field, suggesting the occurrence of a small amount of aggregation in the elastomer. As seen in the following response, the aggregation did not develop by switching the magnetic field.

105 104

Elastomer

103

Gel

102 103

Fig. 4:  Volume fraction dependence of the increment in storage modulus (top) and relative changes in storage modulus (bottom) at g=10-4 for magnetic polyurethane elastomers and magnetic carrageenan gel (500 mt).

G'B500/G'B0

Payne effect [21], which originates from the destruction of particle network. The high stor age modulus under magnetic fields means that the chain structure formed in the mag netic elastomer is hard to destruct by strain compared to magnetic hydrogels. When the magnetic field was reduced to 0 mT, the stor age modulus decreased to 17.6 kPa, which is higher than the offset storage modulus. This indicates that CI particle does not per fectly recover the original position before ap plying the magnetic field. It might be the for mation of aggregation in the elastomer due to weak remanent magnetisation (~1.3 emu/g) of CI particles although appar ent aggregation was not observed.

102

101

Elastomer Gel

100

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

matrix. Hence, softness of matrix in which magnetic particle can move easily is needed for MR materials with giant magnetorheologi cal effect.

was DG” 239 kPa, which corresponds to 65 times of the relative change in the loss modu lus G”B500/G”B0. The loss tangent (tand) for the present elastomer is worth to mention for dis cussing damping properties. The change in loss tangent for a cispolybutadiene MR rub ber was D(tan d) = 0.02~0.015 by magnetic fields from 0 – 700 mT [25]. In the present elastomer, the loss tangent altered D(tan d) = 0.15~0.60 in response to the mag netic field 0 – 500 mT, which is a practical level for dampers. This wide range modulation is caused by the drastic change in the distri bution of magnetic particles accompanying with the local deformation of polyurethane Fig. 5: 

f>0.30. The relative change in the storage modulus increased with the volume fraction, and the value was similar to that for mag netic carrageenan gel. This strongly sug gests that the CI particles are able to align along the magnetic lines of force within the polyurethane elastomer, as well as magnetic carrageenan gels.

The increment in storage modulus DG’ (= G’B500–G’B0) and the relative changes in storage modulus due to magnetic field as a function of the volume fraction were shown in figure 4. The DG’ for magnetic carrageen an gels demonstrating giant magnetorheol ogy is also shown in the figures for the com parison. The increment in the storage modu lus increased with the volume fraction and saturated to approximately 4.8 MPa at

Figure 5 shows the influence of degradation on the magnetorheological properties for magnetic elastomers and carrageenan gels. The storage modulus of magnetic gel stored in air increased significantly within two hours because of water evaporation from the gel, as a result, the magnetorheological effect was diminished. After three hours, the mag netic gel lost its softness (solidified), and the MR effect was not observed. Contrary to this, the magnetic elastomer maintained its MR response even after half year from syn thesis. Not only water evaporation but also freeze of water limits the usage of magnetic gel. The magnetic gel was solidified at the freezing point of the swelling medium i. e. water, but the obtained magnetic elastomer kept its softness below 0 °C (Tg~40 °C). Other serious problems on a practical use of magnetic hydrogels are degradations of magnetic particle and polymer matrix. The photos in figure 5 show the material degra dation due to the rust of CI particle. The color of magnetic gel was black when at syn thesis and changed to dark yellow within few days, causing by the oxidation of CI particle. This leads to a decrease in the magnetic permeability of the magnetic gel as a bulk state, as a result, the MR response is mark edly weakened. It has been found by chemi luminescence experiments that natural rub ber with large amounts of iron particles

Degradation of magnetorheological response for (a) magnetic carrageenan gel and (b) magnetic polyurethane elastomer. Stepwise magnetic field with 500 mt was applied to the samples (f = 0.29, g = 10-4). Photo: magnetic gels as synthesised (top) and 2 days after synthesis (bottom).

107

Magnetic carrageenan gel

(a)

10 G' (Pa)

105 104 as synthesized

103

2h as synthesized

107

(b)

G' (Pa)

106 105 104 as synthesized

103

6 months

B (mT)

2 days after synthesis 500 0 0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Time (s)

 Fig. 6: Stress-strain curves of (a) magnetic carrageenan gels and (b) magnetic polyurethane elastomers in the absence of magnetic field (f = 0.29). 5·105

(a)

8·104

Stress (Pa)

1·105

6·104 4·104 2·104 0

(b)

4·105 3·105 2·105 1·105

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 Strain ε

0.5

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4 Strain ε

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

313

underwent degradation by oven ageing [26]. It is considered that such degradations are less in the present elastomer compared to magnetic gels or rubbers, because the elas tomer does not contain solvent such as wa ter, and polyurethane is a chemically stable material. It would be important to investigate that both the oxidative stability of the present elastomer and the stability of iron particles against humidity. Figure 6 shows the stressstrain curves of magnetic carrageenan gels and magnetic elastomers. A breaking point was not seen in the magnetic elastomer up to a strain of 0.8. The magnetic elastomer undergoes high strain due to elastic deformation, which is similar behavior of magnetic polyvinyl alco hol gels previously reported [24]. Of course, the braking stress for these softmaterials must be lower than that of conventional MR elastomers with high offfield elastic modu lus, although the breaking point was not ob served. It would be that this mechanical feature, high braking strain and low braking stress, enables to move the magnetic parti cles within the polyurethane matrix. The magnetic carrageenan gel, giant magneto rheological gel, exhibited a breaking point at 0.30 with a breaking stress of 15.9 kPa. It can be considered that these values are enough to make slight movement of the magnetic particles. However, the low me chanical toughness arising from brittle frac ture is serious problem on a practical use. The present magnetic elastomer did not ex hibit a permanent strain, while the carra geenan magnetic gel did not recover its original shape after removing the strain (completely collapsed). Thus, the present magnetic elastomers possess both high breaking strain and giant magnetorheology.

4. Conclusions We have succeeded to synthesise magnetic polyurethane elastomers and investigated the magnetorheological property, mechani cal property, and degradation of the elastom ers. The magnetic elastomer exhibited a re versible increase by factors of 277 of the storage modulus and 96 of the loss modulus

314

upon a magnetic field of 500 mT, which were nearly the same level with magnetic hydro gels demonstrating the giant magnetorheol ogy. The magnetic elastomer maintained the magnetic field response for half year after the synthesis. In addition, the magnetic elas tomer underwent high mechanical toughness with a breaking strain exceeding 0.8, and did not show a permanent deformation after re moving the strain. These features clearly in dicate that magnetic elastomers are suitable for materials working under the air, than magnetic gels. We firmly believe that this magnetic elastomer which dramatically pro longed the lifetime will be widely used in the magnetically controllable smart devices in near future.

5. Acknowledgements We are grateful to SanEi Gen F.F.I., Inc. for the offer of samples. This research was sup ported by T. Hojyo and K. Yamamoto of Pa nasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. and Arakawaku foundation of Tokyo.

6. References [1] T. Mitsumata, K. Ikeda, J. P. Gong, Y. Osada, D. Szabo, and M. Zrinyi, J. App. Phys., 1999, 85, 8451 – 8455. [2] T. Shiga, A. Okada, and T. Kurauchi, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1995, 58, 787 – 792. [3] M. R. Jolly, J. D. Carlson, B. C. Munoz, and T. A. Bullions, J. Int. Mat. Sys. Struct., 1996, 7, 613 – 622. [4] J. M. Ginder, S. M. Clark, W. F. Schlot ter, and M. E. Nichols, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B., 2002, 16, 2412 – 2418. [5] G. Bossis and C. Bellan, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B., 2002, 16, 2447 – 2453. [6] T. Mitsumata and T. Okazaki, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 2007, 46, 4220 – 4224. [7] T. Mitsumata, T. Kuribayashi, and T. Okazaki, Curr. Trends Polym. Sci., 2009, 13, 11 – 16. [8] M. Lokander and B. Stenberg, Polym. Test., 2003, 22, 245 – 251. [9] M. Lokander and B. Stenberg, Polym. Test., 2003, 22, 677 – 680.

[10] M. Zrinyi: Eds. Y. Osada and A. R. Khokhlov: In Polymer Gels and Networks (Marcel Dekker, New York, 2002) ch. 11. [11] G. Filipcsei, I. Csetneki, A. Szilágyi, and M. Zrinyi, Advances in Polymer Science, Oligomers, Polymer Compos ites, Molecular Imprinting, Ed. Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2007, 137 – 189. [12] L. V. Nikitin, G. V. Stepanov, L. S. Mironova, and A. I. Gorbunov, J. Mag. Magn. Mater., 2004, 2072, 272 – 276. [13] Z. Varga, G. Filipcsei, and M. Zrinyi, Polymer 2006 47, 227. [14] S. Abramchuk, E. Kramarenko, G. Stepanov, L. V. Nikitin, G. Filipcsei, A. R. Khokhlov, and M. Zrinyi, Polymers For Advances Technology 2007, 18, 883 – 890. [15] S. Abramchuk, E. Kramarenko, G. Stepanov, L. V. Nikitin, G. Filipcsei, A. R. Khokhlov, and M. Zrinyi, Polymers For Advances Technology 2007 18, 513 – 518. [16] T. Mitsumata, A. Nagata, K. Sakai, and J. Takimoto, Macromol. Rapid Com mun., 2005, 26, 1538 – 1541. [17] T. Mitsumata, K. Sakai, and J. Taki moto, J. Phys. Chem., 2006, 110, 20217 – 20223. [18] T. Mitsumata, T. Wakabayashi, and T. Okazaki, J. Phys. Chem., 2008, 112, 14132 – 14139. [19] T. Mitsumata and N. Abe, Chem. Lett., 2009, 38, 922 – 923. [20] H. An, S. J. Picken, E. Mendes, Soft Matter 2010, 6, 4497 – 4503. [21] A. R. Payne, J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 1960, 3, 127. [22] A. Einstein, Ann. D. Physik, 1906, 19, 289. [23] A. Einstein, Ann. D. Physik, 1911, 34, 591. [24] K. Negami and T. Mitsumata, Chem. Lett., 2009, 39, 550 – 551. [25] T. L. Sun, X. L. Gonga, W. Q. Jiangb, J. F. Lia, Z. B. Xua, W. H. Li, Polym. Test. 2008, 27, 520 – 526. [26] M. Lokander, T. Reitberger, and B. Stenberg, Polym. Degrad. Stab., 2004, 86, 467 – 471. 

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

C. P. M. Freitag, I. C. Riegel, S. H. Pezzin, M. L. Costa, S. C. Amico*

Faster thermoplastic polyurethane crystallization with an organic nucleating agent An organic salt, sodium octacosanoate proved to be an efficient nucleating agent for polyester-based TPUs of distinct molecular weights 1. Introduction The combination of rubber-like properties and easy processing makes thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) an important class of materials. Due to their high toughness and good abrasion resistance, polyester-based TPUs are extensively used in the automotive, footwear and furniture industries. Reasonably low crystallization time is very important for acceptable productivity for some applications, such as footwear. Besides, the crystallization process can noticeably affect morphology and, as a consequence, the physical, chemical and me-

* caroline Pereirada Motta Freitag, M.Sc. carolinefreitag@gmail.com

chanical properties of semi-crystalline TPUs. The crystallization kinetics of thermoplastic polymers has been investigated in many scientific studies. A number of organic and inorganic compounds have been used as nucleating agents, i. e. crystallization initiators and accelerators that allow higher degree of crystallization, smaller crystallites and lower crystallization time. For that, polymer/agent interaction must reduce the interfacial free energy barrier for spontaneous nucleation and growth. Despite the wide use of nucleating agents in polymer technology applications, studies on the crystallization of TPUs in the presence of nucleating agents are hard to find.

2. U sing organic salts as nucleating agent for TPUs

Prof. Sandro campos Amico, Ph.D. Program of Postgraduate Studies in Mining, Metals and Materials Engineering Federal University of rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/rS, brazil Prof. Izabel cristina riegel, D.Sc. Feevale University, Novo Hamburgo/rS, brazil

Organic salts have an advantage over inorganic nucleating agents in that they promote homogeneous distribution in polymers even with ordinary mixing techniques. Montanic acid salts, i. e. n-octacosanoates (CH3(CH2)26COO-), are organic high molecular-weight compounds that show low volatil-

ity and exudation, being generally applied to polyester and polyamide formulations. This study focused on the effect of an organic nucleating agent based on sodium octacosanoate (NaC28-32, 0.5 % in weight) on the crystallization and material properties of two aromatic crystalline TPUs (Pearlbond D180) of distinct molecular weight (57,000 and 30,000 Dalton, corresponding to melt flow-rates of 19.4 and 81.3 g/ 10 min, respectively). These TPUs will be called TPU1 and TPU2 respectively. We performed non-isothermal crystallization runs on the neat TPUs and TPUs/ NaC28-32 systems using a differential scanning calorimeter and we concluded that the filled TPUs exhibited higher crystallization temperatures (Tc) and lower crystallization times (t c) than the respective neat TPUs (tab. 1), whereas the enthalpy of crystallization (DH c) did not show a clear trend. Application of the modified Avrami model [1], which gives information about nucleation and also growth geometry of the crystalline region of the polymer as a function of time and temperature, to the results revealed that the addition of NaC28-32 did not affect the crystalline morphology but induced instantaneous nucleation and the production of axialites (disc-shaped superstructures). We used the Avrami-Ozawa model [2], which is a modification of the Avrami model that allows evaluation of non-isothermal processes, to evaluate the correlation between cooling rate (Rc) and crystallization time (t). The cooling rate required to reach a given degree of crystallinity showed a systematic increase with Xc(t) (the relative volumetric crystalline fraction) for neat and filled TPUs.

Prof. Sérgio Henrique Pezzin, D.Sc.

5 °C/min

Mechanical Engineering Department, Santa catarina State University, Joinville/Sc, brazil

Neat tPU1

Michelle Leali costa, D.Sc.

tPU1/Nac28-32

Mechanical Engineering Department, University of São Paulo State, Guaratinguetá/SP, brazil Published with kind permission of Society of Plastics Engineers, Newtown, ct, USA (www.4spe.org)

Neat tPU2 Tab. 1:  Kinetics parameters for tPU2/Nac28-32 all samples from non-isothermal crystallization [3]

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

10 °C/min

20 °C/min 10.1

tc (°c)

18.2

14.3

tc (min)

16.7

8.9

4.9

tc (°c)

20.9

18.1

13.8

tc (min)

16.2

8.6

4.7

tc (°c)

19.7

15.7

11.1

tc (min)

16.4

8.8

4.9

tc (°c)

23.0

19.6

14.9

tc (min)

15.8

8.4

4.6

315

The highest molecular weight TPU required lower cooling rates than its respective filled system up to X(t) = 0.77, whereas the other TPU showed that in the whole X(t) range. Images for the former TPU obtained using polarized light optical microscopy (fig. 1) showed very small crystals, which were smaller for the TPU/NaC28-32 system compared with neat TPU for the same crystallization time, again indicating the effectiveness of the agent. We used isothermal crystallization kinetics and the modified Avrami model to calculate the NaC28-32 reduced crystallization times for both TPUs. We plotted curves of the variation of the crystallinity degree (Xc) as a function of time at three different temperatures for TPU1 (fig. 2). The S-shaped curve profile indicates that TPU quickly crystallizes in the primary crystallization stage, up to Xc = 0.7 (i. e. 70 %), slowing down after that. One can also observe that the addition of NaC28-32 increases the slope of the curves, confirming its positive effect on TPU nucleation, and makes the crystallization time less temperature dependent. We also evaluated tensile properties (such as strength and modulus) of all samples but we did not observe consistent variations between neat and filled TPUs. The degree of crystallization was also unaffected.

which were not affected by the incorporation of the nucleating agent. Reduction of the crystallization time of this polymer may enable its wider application in the shoe industry, considering the short processing times required in this sector. Our next step is to determine the percentage of rigid segments within the TPU in an attempt to optimize the action of this additive. We also plan to study other nucleating agents that could further reduce crystallization time.

4. Acknowledgements

materials and CNPq, Brazil, for financial support.

5. References [1] A. Jeziorny, Polymer 19 (1978), 1142. [2] M. Y. Liu, Q. X. Zhao, Y. Wang, C. G. Zhang, Z. S. Mo, S. K. Cao, Polymer 44 (2003), 2537. [3] C. P. M. Freitag, I. C. Riegel, S. H. Pezzin, M. L. Costa, S. C. Amico, Polym. Eng. Sci. 51 (2011), 931.

The authors would like to thank Merquinsa and Artecola for supplying the raw



100 µm

Fig. 1:  Polarized optical microscopy images obtained after 10 min of crystallization at 100 °c (a) neat tPU1 and (b) tPU1/Nac28-32 [3] 

100 µm

(a)

(b)

Fig. 2: relative crystallinity versus time for 21, 22 and 23 °c isotherms (a) neat tPU1 and (b) tPU1/Nac28-32 [3] (a)

3. Results

(b)

1.0 0.9

21 °C

0.8

22 °C 23 °C

0.9

23 °C

21 °C

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.6 XC(t)

XC(t)

In summary, we have shown that TPU crystallization was favored in the presence of sodium octacosanoate, which caused an increase in its temperature and rate of crystallization, consequently reducing the crystallization time. This effect was partly credited to the development of a larger number of crystallization nuclei. The use of well-established kinetics models to the study of the crystallization process indicated that TPU crystallization occurred with the development of 2-D lamellar aggregates, axialites,

1.0

22 °C

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.0 0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Time (min)

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Time (min)

www.pu-magazine.com 316

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Suppliers list

Raw materials Adhesives

Colorants

Curatives

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

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

ISL-Chemie GmbH & Co. KG Cliev 11. 51515 Kürten. Germany Phone: +49 (0)2207 96 91 0 information@isl-chemie.com www.isl-chemie.com

ETHACURE® Curatives Your PU Factories in Taiwan

Amine catalysts

Milliken Chemical

• • • • • • • • • • • •

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

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

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

Fillers Caprolactone based polyols

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 Perstorp UK Limited Baronet Road, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6HA, United Kingdom

<281*¶6 &25325$7,21

Albemarle Europe SPRL Parc Scientifique de LLN Rue du Bosquet 9 B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium Tel: 32.10.48.1711 emasales@albemarle.com www.curatives.com

Tel. +44 1925 643500 Fax +44 1925 232207 E-mail: contact.capa@perstorp.com Web: www.perstorp.com

Liquid colours and additives 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

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

hm_809_Bezugsquellen_4c_40x40.indd 26.11.2009 1 10:40:33 Uhr

6XSHUVRUE 7,

As moisture scavenger (absorbent) in PU coating and elastomers Preventing gloss reduction, hazing, popping and yellowing ZZZ \RXQJVFRUS FRP H[SRUW#\RXQJVFRUS FRP

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

317

Suppliers list

Raw materials Flame retardants

Polyols

Eddy Vanstraelen Free-lance sales representative PU-system development consultant PU-business turn-around manager

:H DUH D VXSSOLHU RI IODPH UHWDUGDQWV )5 WR WKH IOH[LEOH DQG ULJLG SRO\XUHWKDQH IRDP PDUNHWV /DVW \HDU ZH ODXQFKHG WKH IROORZLQJ QHZ ORZ IRJJLQJ DQG ORZ HPLVVLRQ 92& )5ÂˇV Â&#x2021; Â&#x2021;

&(//7(&+ 5HDFWLYH KDORJHQ IUHH )5 IRU WKH SURGXFWLRQ RI IOH[LEOH SRO\HWKHU IRDPV &(//7(&+ +LJK PROHFXODU ZHLJKW KDORJHQDWHG SKRVSKDWH HVWHU )5 IRU IOH[LEOH SRO\HWKHU IRDPV &RQWDFW 8V 7HO ( PDLO MKLFNO#FHOOXODUWHFKQRORJ\ HX :HE ZZZ FHOOXODUWHFKQRORJ\ HX

Mobile +32 486311745 E-mail eddy@evspolyservice.be Business Products: Polyester Polyols PU systems MDI & TDI Prepolymers

7HO )D[

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

Pourable compounds Casting resins

Im MĂźhlenfeld 5 31008 ELZE Âˇ 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 Im MĂźhlenfeld 5 31008 ELZE Âˇ 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

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

Isocyanates

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

318

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

( PDLO SRO\ROV VDOHV#VWHSDQHXURSH FRP ZZZ VWHSDQ FRP

Flexible facings for PUR/PIR panels

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

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

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

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

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

Sonderhoff Chemicals GmbH Richard-Byrd-StraĂ&#x;e 26 50829 KĂślnÂˇGermany Tel +49 221 95685-0ÂˇFax +49 221 95685-599 info@sonderhoff.comÂˇwww.sonderhoff.com

PU MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOL. 8, NO. 5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Suppliers list

Raw materials PU systems

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

%D\HU 0DWHULDO6FLHQFH 2OGHQEXUJ *PE+ &R .* 0LWWHONDPS 2OGHQEXUJ *HUPDQ\ 7HOHIRQ 7HOHID[ ( 0DLO LQIR#ED\V\VWHPV GH ,QWHUQHW ZZZ SX V\VWHPV ED\HUPDWHULDOVFLHQFH FRP

%D\HU 0DWHULDO6FLHQFH $ 6 .URQERUJYHM '. 2WWHUXS 7HO ( 0DLO LQIR#ED\V\VWHPV GN ,QWHUQHW ZZZ SX V\VWHPV ED\HUPDWHULDOVFLHQFH FRP

PU systems

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

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

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

Stabilisers, Catalysts, Release agents Other auxiliary agents

Evonik Industries AG Goldschmidtstrasse 100 45127 Essen Âˇ Germany Phone: +49-201-173-2466 polyurethane@evonik.com www.evonik.com/polyurethane-additives

System house & blowing agent supplier ([FHOOHQFH LQ 3RO\XUHWKDQH &KHPLVWU\ (UD 3RO\PHUV 3W\ /WG *UHHQ 6WUHHW %DQNVPHDGRZ 16: $XVWUDOLD 7HO )D[ (PDLO HUDSRO#HUDSRO FRP DX

Sonderhoff Chemicals GmbH Richard-Byrd-StraĂ&#x;e 26 50829 KĂślnÂˇGermany Tel +49 221 95685-0ÂˇFax +49 221 95685-599 info@sonderhoff.comÂˇwww.sonderhoff.com

www.erapol.com.au

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

TPU

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

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

0DQXIDFWXUHU RI 738 738 IRU 38 $GKHVLYH 738 IRU +RWPHOW $GKHVLYH 738 IRU ,1. LACKFA Isolierstoff GmbH + Co. KG IndustriestraĂ&#x;e 2 25462 Rellingen Âˇ Germany Phone: +49 4101 3916-0 Fax: +49 4101 3916-16 Email: info@lackfa.com - www.lackfa.com

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

ď&#x192;ź Formulated PUR systems ď&#x192;ź Adhesives technology

PUR Foam Systems PUR Slab Stock Foam Technogel Max-NĂ¤der-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

738 IRU ,QMHFWLRQ

PUR-Systems GmbH & Co. KG Werner-von-Siemens-StraĂ&#x;e 22 49124 GeorgsmarienhĂźtte Âˇ 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

PU MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOL. 8, NO. 5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

738 IRU ([WUXVLRQ 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

Phone: +49 7144 8257 0 Fax: +49 7144 8257 30 Email: info@zelu.de www.zelu.de

319

Suppliers list

Machines Gear pumps 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

High pressure metering and mixing machines

Low pressure metering and mixing machines

• Zahnraddosierpumpen Gear Metering Pumps Antriebseinheiten • •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

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

RAMPF Dosiertechnik GmbH & Co. KG Römerallee 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

Flow measurement Zweigniederlassung der Oerlikon Textile GmbH & Co. KG Geschäftsbereich Pumpen Leverkuser Straße 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

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 heat exchangers and static mixers

POLYCRAFT GMBH HEATING HOSES for PUR/POLYUREA SPRAY GRACO®-GUSMER®-GAMA® Tel.: 0049 (0)6106.23341 E-mail: info@polycraft.de www.polycraft.de

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 polyurethane@secmer.com www.secmer.com

Low pressure metering and mixing machines 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

46 avenue des Allobroges BP 116 – 26103 ROMANS CEDEX – France Tel. +33 4 75 72 72 75 · Fax +33 4 75 02 11 73 E-Mail info@baule.com Internet www.baule.com

Sonderhoff Engineering GmbH Allgäustraße 3 6912 Hörbranz·Austria Tel +43 5573 82991·Fax +43 5573 82946 info@sonderhoff.com·www.sonderhoff.com

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

320

PU MAGAZINE – VOL. 8, NO. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 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

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. 5 – OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 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

321

Publication information & contacts

Services Elastomers, polyurethanes, TPE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; development, testing, failure analysis

Dr. Joop Koster

,$/ &RQVXOWDQWV 0DUNHW 5HVHDUFK DQG &RQVXOWDQF\ 6HUYLFHV IRU WKH 38 LQGXVWU\

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

$ 'LYLVLRQ RI %5* 8. /WG &3 +RXVH _ 8[EULGJH 5RDG /RQGRQ : 7/ _ 8QLWHG .LQJGRP W I H FIODQDJDQ#EUJJURXS FRP Z ZZZ LDOFRQVXOWDQWV FRP

â&#x20AC;˘

Testing, calculation, analysis, development, consultancy, sampling Contact: Dr Markus Grass +49 (0) 62 01 80 51 23 markus.grass@freudenberg.de

â&#x20AC;˘

Failure analysis Contact: Dr Kurt Marchetti +49 (0) 62 01 80 50 28 kurt.marchetti@freudenberg.de

Freudenberg Forschungsdienste KG 69465 Weinheim / Germany www.forschungsdienste.de

Testing Flow meter 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

End products Flow meter

Contract gasketing

High precision ďŹ&#x201A;ow measurement VSE Volumentechnik GmbH HĂśnnestr. 49 58809 Neuenrade / Germany Phone +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 30 Fax +49 (0) 23 94 / 6 16 33

Sonderhoff Services GmbH Mathias-BrĂźggen-Str. 126-128 50829 KĂślnÂˇGermany Tel +49 221 956526-0ÂˇFax +49 221 956526-39 info@sonderhoff.comÂˇwww.sonderhoff.com

www.vse-ďŹ&#x201A;ow.com info@vse-ďŹ&#x201A;ow.com

Publication information & contacts Publisher Dr. Heinz B. P. Gupta

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

Postal address P. O. Box 10 41 25, 40852 Ratingen, Germany Tel. Fax

+49 2102 9345-0 +49 2102 9345-20

E-mail info@gupta-verlag.de Internet http://www.pu-magazine.com Editors Dipl.-Chem. Frank A. Gupta (Editor-in-Chief) Angela Austin Jiri Drobny Paul Farkas Dr. Heinz B. P. Gupta Dipl.-Biol. Markus Linden Dr. Stephanie WaschbĂźsch Editorial secretary Tel. +49 2102 9345-0

322

Layout Ulrich Gewehr Frequency of publication 6 issues / year Post distribution no. 66226 ISSN 1864-5534 Bank accounts Postbank Essen Sort code 360 100 43 Acct. no. 516158-431 IBAN DE51 3601 0043 0516 1584 31 BIC PBNKDEFF Deutsche Bank Sort code 300 700 24 Acct. no. 470 71 70 IBAN DE43 3007 0024 0470 7170 00 BIC DEUTDEDBDUE Sparkasse H Âˇ R Âˇ V BLZ 334 500 00 Kto.-Nr. 42 122 309 IBAN DE56 3345 0000 0042 1223 09 BIC WELADED1VEL

Reference to common names, trade names, names of goods, etc., does not warrant the assumption that such names are unrestricted and may therefore be used by anyone. Legally protected registered trademarks are often involved, also when these are not expressly shown as such. Subscriptions, terms of receipt and delivery: Annual subscription fee EUR 120 (incl. delivery costs). Single issue EUR 30 (domestic fees are understood as inclusive of the appropriately valid value added tax). Orders are accepted by the publisher and all national and international book shops. Taking up of a new subscription applies initially for the current calendar year. The subscription is automatically renewed if it is not cancelled in writing six weeks before the end of the calendar year. The subscription fees are invoiced each year in advance and, when participating in direct debit payment, they will be debited automatically. Should the magazine not be delivered due to reasons that are outside our control, there is no right to claim later delivery or reimbursement of subscription fees already paid in advance. The legal domicile for trading is Ratingen, which also applies for all other purposes, insofar as claims for payment are to be enforced. Copyright and publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights: Articles signed with the authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name or signature do not necessarily represent the editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinion. Unrequested manuscripts will only be returned if return postage is provided. The publisher requires that the author possesses copyright and rights for use of all constituents of the material submitted, namely also for pictures and tables, etc which are also submitted. With acceptance of the manuscript, the right to publication, translation, re-prints, electronic storage in databanks, additional printing, photocopying and microfiche copying is transferred to the publisher. The magazine and all its contributions and pictures are protected by copyright. All use beyond the limits established by the law on authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s copyright is not permitted without approval of the publisher.

PU MAGAZINE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; VOL. 8, NO. 5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; OctObEr/NOVEMbEr 2011

Â Â?

Â?Â?Â? Â Â Â Â?Â&#x20AC;

This exhibition is organized under the permission of TOBB according to the law 5174

”Comfort is so overrated.“ Well, we don’t think so. We think we all deserve it. Actually we continuously develop new products which help you to innovate foams providing ever better comfort properties. Used in our cars’ seats and headrests, or for noise, vibration, and shock absorbing parts. Feeling comfortable is more than having a convenient seat it is also about feeling safe. We know the formula for comfort. Because we understand products’ needs.

Do you speak foam? We do.

Evonik Industries AG Essen, Germany phone +49 201 173-2229 fax +49 201 173-1991 polyurethane@evonik.com www.evonik.com/polyurethane-additives