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.TOP NEWS
ANTEC® Classic Program announced!
SPE
ANTEC® Classic, slated for May 10-21, will offer real-time, remote presentations occurring over 10-days with 20 technical tracks. View schedule now!
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Applications for SPE 2021 scholarships, including the Crain Communications Bill Bregar Memorial Scholarship, close 11:59 p.m., April 1, 2021.
SPE
The SPE Foundation offers numerous scholarships to students who have demonstrated or expressed an interest in the plastics industry. They must be majoring in or taking courses that would be beneficial to a career in the plastics industry. This would include, but is not limited to, plastics engineering, polymer science, chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, journalism or communications. For more information or to apply, click below.
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.SPE CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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| Date |
Event |
More Information |
| Feb. 17 |
WEBINAR: Formulating Thermoplastics with Non-Halogen Flame Retardants: An Introduction |
Registration |
| Feb. 19 |
Intellectual Agreement Fundamentals - Week 3 |
Registration |
| Feb. 22 |
SPE Akron and Cleveland Sections Joint Virtual Meeting — MD Plastics |
Registration |
| Feb. 23 |
International Polyolefins Virtual Conference |
Registration |
| Feb. 25 |
WEBINAR: Environmental Stress Cracking |
Registration |
| Feb. 26 |
Intellectual Agreement Fundamentals - Week 4 |
Registration |
| March 3 |
SPE Pacific Northwest - Presenting SGS Analytical and Testing Experts |
Registration |
| March 4 |
WEBINAR: Less is More: How to Maximize Energy Savings in Plastics Processing — Part 1 |
Registration |
| March 11 |
SPE Additives and Colors Academy: Trends and Training |
Registration |
| March 18 |
WEBINAR: Thermal Analysis of Plastics |
Registration |
| March 31 |
WEBINAR: Less is More: How to Maximize Energy Savings in Plastics Processing — Part 2 |
Registration |
| May 5-28 |
ANTEC® 2021 - All Day Virtual Conference |
Registration |
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Promoted By
RJG, Inc.
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Promoted By
C.W. Brabender Instruments, Inc.
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Medical plastics 101: Cyclic olefin copolymer fulfills complex medtech performance requirements
Plastics Today
A balance of properties, including purity, clarity, sterilizability and chemical resistance, drive use of the polymer in applications ranging from diagnostic products and wearable insulin devices to primary drug packaging.
Cyclic olefin copolymer is a unique member of the polyolefin family, which also includes high-volume materials like polyethylene and polypropylene.
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Laser welding plastics for medical applications
Industrial Laser Solutions
An innovation in laser welding technology makes it possible to join two optically clear plastic parts for the first time. Previously, laser welding required one clear or “transmissive” plastic part and one dark or “absorptive” plastic part so the laser energy could pass through the clear plastic and be absorbed by the dark part. The new process, called “clear-on-clear,” is particularly timely, as patient-point-of-care, in vitro diagnostic test kits, which require optically clear test cartridges, are being used for rapid detection of COVID-19 antigens and antibodies.
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Bergen International Foamazol™ 1001 & Foamazol™ 1002 CFAs formulated for Polycarbonate and high temp polymers in extrusion, structural foam & injection molding. They provide molders:
- Density reduction
- Sink mark removal
- Warp reduction
Foamazol™ 1002 is formulated to NOT produce any moisture, eliminating brittleness due to polymer degradation
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Weekly resin report: Trading enters uncharted territory
Plastics Today
Through the years, we have seen hurricanes, petrochemical/plant fires, tariffs, economic crises, sudden plant outages, force majeure declarations, and swings in energy and feedstock costs affect the resin market, writes the PlasticsExchange in its Market Update, but, it adds, it has never seen anything like this. Over the past couple of quarters, several events stacked on top of each other have slammed the industry.
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Catalyst turns mixed plastic waste into natural gas
Chemistry World
Plastic waste can now be efficiently converted into methane using a ruthenium-based catalyst. The patented technology could help mitigate the planet’s growing plastic waste problem while producing methane for use as a fuel or chemical feedstock in a more environmentally friendly way than fracking.
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Promoted by Chroma Color Corporation
 What Are Color Concentrates?
Historically the most common form of Color Concentrates (a.k.a. masterbatches) are colored plastic pellets. These concentrated colored pellets are typically built to contain 15-50% of specially selected pigments and additives. The remainder of the recipe is a blend of carrier resin, process aids and binders to support consistency within the virgin base resin.
The initial consideration when designing a plastic component is ensuring the base resin AND the color concentrate are suitable for the selected forming process. Common process examples include injection mold, blow mold, injection stretch blow, compression mold and extrusion.
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Supply issues and virgin competition jostle resin prices
Plastics Recycling Update
Recycled plastic sellers are facing cost pressures from cheap virgin material, and an expert says reclamation costs will not come down to close that pricing gap.
Tonya Randell, a program manager at plastics recycling research firm More Recycling, delved into how the virgin plastic market is impacting recycled plastic markets, and she offered insights on the market realities for key recovered resins.
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Extrusion basics: Don't have a cow over purity
Plastics Today
Cows matter in this month of vaccination. Cow in Latin is vacca — used because Edward Jenner discovered in 1796 that milkmaids who got cowpox were protected from the far deadlier smallpox. We made it this far, and most of us will make it far enough to relax our defenses, but not yet. We have a lot of vaccinating and awareness to go, and we still need film and sheet and tubing extruders to shield us from the virus.
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With Kautex packaging die heads 100% color change can be
achieved while saving up to 75% in time and materials.
RapidXchange technology allows to reduce the purging process by up to 75% through rheologically optimized flow channels.
The groundbreaking results were achieved in comparison with uncoated heads in mono-layer applications.
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3D printing: How it changes the game
FifeFreePress
A few technologies have been so disruptive as 3D printing, or additive manufacturing. From a layman’s point of view, it’s hard to imagine printing that’s capable of producing something solid. The ability to create a three-dimensional figure from a digital 3D model or a CAD model is simply out-of-this-world. Till now.
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Recycling plastic without sacrificing quality
Innovation Origins
More and more environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic are appearing on the market. Scientists from Groningen and China at the Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center have succeeded made plastic from the natural molecule lipoic acid. This material is easier to recycle than existing plastics, according to the researchers.
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From surgical caps to N95 masks, demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) remains high. Our Branson™ ultrasonic welders cut, seam and bond non-woven synthetic materials with precision and repeatability—increasing PPE production and providing the necessary levels of hygiene. Tell us more about your application: go.emersonautomation.com/branson-consult-an-expert [go.emersonautomation.com].
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3D-printed metamaterial could lead to lighter, safer cars
Plastics Today
A new type of 3D-printed material made by combining polyethylene and polypropylene with carbon nanotubes is tougher and lighter than similar forms of aluminum, scientists say. The plastic-carbon nanotube composite plate-lattice metamaterials belong to a class of artificially-created cellular solids, designed and engineered to manifest properties that do not occur in the natural world.
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