The Color Deformation

Eth Zurich researchers have established a new type of laminate that changes colour as soon as the material is deformed. This way, the materials researchers can kill two birds with one stone: a lightweight composite material that inspects itself.

Researchers from the Complex Materials Group at Eth Zurich, working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Fribourg, have now adopted an approach that has recently garnered attention in materials research: they have created a lightweight material that uses a colour change to indicate internal deformation and thus possible material failure at an early stage. Composed of individual layers, their laminate is translucent, break-resistant, and yet very lightweight.

Artificial mother-of-pearl combined with polymer

The laminate is composed of alternating layers of a plastic polymer and artificial nacre or mother-of-pearl. The latter is a specialty of the Complex Materials Laboratory and is modeled on the biological example of the mussel shell. It consists of countless glass platelets arranged in parallel, which are compacted, sintered and solidified using a polymeric resin. This makes it extremely hard and break-resistant.

The second layer consists of a polymer to which the researchers added an indicator molecule synthesized specifically for this application at the University of Fribourg.

Fluorescence indicates overstressed parts

“We used fluorescent molecules because you can measure the increase in fluorescence very well and you don’t have to rely on subjective perception,” says Tommaso Magrini, lead author of the study, which was recently published in the journal Acs Applied Materials and Interfaces. The system could also have been set up to produce a colour change that would be directly perceptible from the outside. But: “The perception of colours is subjective and it is difficult to draw conclusions about changes in the material,” Magrini says.

With the help of fluorescence, the researchers can now identify overstressed areas within the composite material even before fractures form. This allows early detection of vulnerable areas in a structure before catastrophic failure occurs. One possible application of the novel laminate is in components in the load-bearing structures found in buildings, aircraft or vehicles, where it is essential to detect their failure at an early stage.

Though, it remains to be understood whether and how the substantial can be produced on a manufacturing scale. So far, it occurs only at laboratory scale as a proof of impression.

For more details: www.ethz.ch

Modern Technology For The Processing Of Polymers, For Apprenticeship, R&D

The Nga Group, continuously on the pulse of the time, recognized the great market potential as well as the need of the Indian industry for the latest leading-edge technology at affordable prices – and has founded Nga Plastic Technology Private Limited.

Nga GmbH holds 70 %, Tec science Service Pvt Ltd 30 %

The Austrian Nga GmbH holds 70 % of the Indian company, 30 % are held by Tec science Service Pvt Ltd, an Indian company, which, as a distributor, has been working together with Collin Lab & Pilot Solutions GmbH for more than 30 years.

The leading target of the new company is to provide rising markets with easy-to-handle test and R&D lines in laboratory-scale – based on the well-tried Collin technology, manufactured in India under the brand name “Collin Asia”.

Product portfolio – table-top machines from presses via extruders to pressure filter tests

The first series of machines will be introduced under the sub-brand Easy Line. Easy Line table-top machines are designed for the processing of polymers, for an apprenticeship, research, and development and include presses, extruders, compounders, blown as well as flat film lines, roll mills, and pressure filter tests.

Rajnissh Soodd, new member of team – target market development with direction South East Asia and Africa

In order to perfectly exhaust this potential, Nga decided to take the industry insider Rajnissh Soodd as Country Manager onboard. „From our branch office, besides the Indian market, we can also serve South East Asia and Africa perfectly “, explains Rajnissh Soodd, Country Manager Nga Plastic Technology Private Limited.

„The multilayered cooperation of Rajnissh Soodd with manufacturers of asset goods for the polymer industry for more than two decades and his closeness to different market segments, like compounding, masterbatch or petrochemical industry will help him to understand the dynamic requirements of the industry. And with his expertise, he will effectively position the range of products of Collin Asia in the target market segments. “, says Corné Verstraten.

Rajnissh Soodd is looking quite promising with his work and with years of experience in Nga Plastic Technology Private Limited.

For more details: www.nga.at

New Pet Recycling Facility To Be Constructed By Industry Partnership

Pact Group, Cleanaway, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (Ccep) have announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) to form a joint venture that will build and operate a new PET recycling facility.

Under the MOU, the parties intend to come together to provide an industry model for recycling solutions in Australia. This will include the new facility as well as the PET recycling facility currently being built by Pact Group, Cleanaway and Asahi Beverages through Circular Plastics Australia (Pet) in Albury-Wodonga, which is expected to be completed later this year.

The proposed facility will provide a massive boost to Australian recycling by processing raw plastic material collected via Container Deposit Schemes and kerbside recycling. It is expected to process the equivalent of around 1 billion bottles each year to produce over 20,000 tonnes of new recycled PET bottles and food packaging. The facility will use state-of-the-art sorting, washing, decontamination and extrusion technology.

The cross-industry solution combines the complementary expertise of each participant to enhance their individual sustainability goals. Cleanaway will provide available PET through its collection and sorting network, Pact will provide technical and packaging expertise and Ccep, Asahi Beverages and Pact will buy the recycled PET from the facility to use in their respective products. The plant, when fully operational, will be run by Pact.

A decision on the plant’s location is anticipated in the coming months and construction is expected to be complete by 2023.

Ccep and Asahi Beverages, while competitors in the beverage market have, for the purpose of this joint venture, joined with Pact and Cleanaway to increase the production and availability of recycled PET resin in Australia. The parties are proud to work with one another to advance the cause of sustainability and recycling. This proposed plant is an important step forward in creating a local plastics circular economy in Australia. This new self-sustaining industry is expected to create dozens of new jobs during the construction phase and operation of the plant.

In describing the deal, Peter West, Ccep Vice President and General Manager Australia, Pacific and Indonesia said, “This new joint venture will deliver a collaborative cross-industry solution to recycle the material that we use to produce our products. Together we can work towards creating a circular economy for PET within the beverages industry, ensuring that we are using more locally processed recycled content for the production of our bottles in Australia.”

Asahi Beverages Group CEO Robert Iervasi said, “This will be a ground-breaking project that will massively boost PET recycling capacity. It will help transform recycling in Australia by providing a new, local source of high-quality recycled PET. The building of this larger PET plant along with the facility in Albury-Wodonga is a major step towards helping us deliver a truly circular economy for our consumers.”

Cleanaway Chief Operating Officer Brendan Gill said, “This project supports Cleanaway’s Footprint 2025 by ensuring we have the right infrastructure in place to create a domestic circular economy. This PET plastic pelletising facility is a huge win for the environment by creating a high value, recycled raw material from plastics we collect and sort through our network. At Cleanaway our mission is to make a sustainable future possible and we see waste as a resource to achieve that.”

Group CEO and Managing Director from Pact Group, Sanjay Dayal said, “We are delighted to be able to bring a scaled cross-industry solution that solves for the local production of recycled resin. We are proud to have Ccep, Asahi Beverages and Cleanaway as partners creating a local circular economy. This partnership shows the value of a solution that works for industry and consumers. This is completely aligned to Pact’s strategy which is to lead the local circular economy through reuse, recycling, and packaging solutions”.

For more details: www.pactgroup.com

The Largest Network Of German And Indian Plastic Industry Located In Europe And Worldwide.

Gippev encourage their members in both the markets bestowing the advantages and opportunities. Gippev purpose is to put German and Indian groups in the focus of commitment. The Company aim to give India a better title in the German and partly in the European Plastics industry and in return to prevent the well-known hurdles and possible snares for German companies starting a business in India. With a drive to facilitate access to each other both business and personal to learn from and benefit from one another and to build healthy lasting business relationships. With its tools and programs, the organization reacts flexibly to the corresponding developments in the German and Indian plastics industry and their market relationships with specific others as well as their position in global competition. The representation of our mission is being suspicious, come together, learn from each other, get to know various others, take profit from each other, finding ambitious partners, and being victorious in your target market. As a standard platform of its members from Germany and India, the organization shall be the hub in inaugurating an export and expansion-oriented collaboration between the Plastics industry of these both countries.

With the vast range of businesses like Chemical materials manufacturing, Recycling & Bio based materials, Composites & High-Performance materials, Auxiliary, Automation, Tool making / Mold making, Prototyping, Recycling, Injection Moulding, Trading, Packaging, Solar, Pipe / Profile / Cable Extrusion Calendaring, Coating, Filament/tape winding, Supplying industry and many more Gippev have footprint.

The central purpose of the association is to promote the export and cooperation of minute and medium-sized enterprises (Smes) in the plastics industry in Germany and India. As a shared platform of its fragments from Germany and India, the association is to be the linchpin in the initiation of export and expansion–oriented cooperation of the plastics manufacturing of these two countries, but also a platform of rapprochement and mutual exchange between the two cultures, There you will be informed about the tendencies regarding Market & Innovation development in Germany and India shortly.

For more details: www.gippev.org

Pv Project In India Has Been Completed In Line With The Schedule, Despite Multiple Challenges During The Pandemic

Engie, has announced the commissioning of a 200 Mwac (290 Mwp) Solar Power Project at the Raghanesda Solar Power Park, in Raghanesda, Gujarat. Engie collaborated with multiple Government of Gujarat entities to construct the project that will generate close to 546 gigawatt-hours of electricity while reducing 387,056 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The project was won in a tender process run by Guvnl and the Power Purchase Contract for 25 years was signed in August 2019 with Guvnl (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited), and the Implementation Support Agreement was signed in October 2019 with Gpcl (Gujarat Power Corporation Limited). Debt for the project has been secured under a long-term project financing arrangement with the Asian Development Bank (Adb) and Societe Generale.

The project has been implemented through Electro Solaire Private Limited (Espl), a special purpose vehicle owned by the Engie Group.

Neerav Nanavaty, Country Manager, Engie India, said, “After overcoming several challenges at the site, the team is excited to announce the commissioning of this marquee project that is sure to boost the dynamic Indian solar industry and contribute towards decarbonizing India’s energy mix. We would like to thank all the public and private sector stakeholders and the local communities for their support and cooperation in helping us achieve this critical milestone in our renewable growth journey in India.”

Suresh Bhaskar, Managing Director Renewables – Middle East, Egypt & India, Engie Asia Middle East and Africa, said, “Engie is fully committed to play an active role to support India in achieving its ambitious clean energy goals for 2030. Successful commercial operation of this project is a testament to Engie’s continued interest to pursue renewable opportunities in India and further grow its renewable portfolio of more than 1 GW installed capacity in the country.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           With 17 ventures with over 1.1 GWp of solar PV and 280 MW of wind power, Engie’s portfolio developing in India . This innovative reiterates Engie’s ambition to be a major renewable energy provider, as India becomes a rapidly growing market in the transition to clean energy. This project going to set a mark on upcoming industries to look towards eco-friendly ways.

For more details: www.engie.com/en

Electroimpact, Toray And Janicki Advance Processing Technologies For Rapid Manufacture Of Large Thermoplastic Composite Parts

A joint advancement between Electroimpact, Toray Advanced Composites, and Janicki Industries has achieved a leap forward in the high-speed manufacture of large thermoplastic composite parts. The project has resulted in the extension of automated, cost-effective processing technologies that can manufacture large-scale thermoplastic parts at high-speed deposition rates of up to 4000 inches (100 meters) per minute.

Electroimpact, High-speed Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) equipment has been enhanced for processing thermoplastic materials with a Variable-Spot-Size Laser heating system. This system uses a wide range of processing temperatures for robust process control across single tows to accommodate severe contours while allowing thermoplastic composite parts to be repairable during AFP lay-up, thereby decreasing the risk of wastage throughout the manufacturing process.

Processing speeds of up to 4000 IPM (100 m/min) have been achieved with light or heavy tack levels to guarantee part geometry. “When these advancements are combined with increased AFP reliability, in-process real-time inspection and maintenance intervals, the resulting AFP 4.0 processing increases 4x-6x current productivity”, Michael Assadi, Chief Engineer at Electroimpact”.

To maximize production performances, the AFP layup is developed directly on an out-of autoclave heated lay-up tooling system, engineered by Janicki Industries, which is then fully consolidated in-situ, achieving a complete thermal process cycle in less than one hour. The tooling mode is designed for scalability to support parts that are too large for traditional heated press applications and achieves significantly faster cycle times than high-temperature autoclaves.

For more details: www.toraytac.com

European Brands Association, Alliance To End Plastic Waste And City Of Copenhagen Join Forces

The European Brands Association and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste proclaimed today a partnership to drive the next stages of growth for smart waste sorting under the Digital Watermarks Initiative Holy Grail 2.0. Both will work with the City of Copenhagen to conduct the semi-industrial test period about the pilot. By this milestone, developers advance one step closer to precision classification and sorting of plastic packaging waste through digital watermarks, with the potential to revolutionize the sorting and recycling method of plastic packaging.

Digital watermarks are imperceptible codes, all the size of a postage stamp. They embrace the facade of customer goods packaging and carry a broad range of characteristics such as packaging type, material, and practice. Used packaging is gathered and scanned on the sorting line with a high-resolution camera which identifies and decodes the digital watermark. This packaging is then sorted into analogous streams, based on detailed attributes including food, non-food, or polymer types. This leads to more precise sorting streams and higher quality recyclates to be channelled into the plastic packaging value chain.

The breakthrough signifies the second year of the HolyGrail 2.0 project. After its launch in September 2020, it has grown to include over 130 participating companies and organizations across the complete packaging value chain. This pioneering HolyGrail 1.0 was facilitated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation between 2016 and 2019.

“We are delighted to enter the next phase of semi-industrial testing within the Digital Watermarks Initiative together with our new partner, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste”, quoted Michelle Gibbons, AIM Director-General. “An initiative like this can only thrive with the wide support of different key stakeholders in terms of expertise, but of course also financial support. Collaboration is the way forward to achieve the EU’s circular economy goals and we are confident that this technology has the potential to drive a truly circular economy for packaging.”

“Recycling is a key pillar that must be invested in to advance a circular economy in plastic waste. The Alliance is excited to support the scaling of this project in its next phase of progress, in line with our mission to end plastic waste in the environment,” continued Jacob Duer, President, and CEO of the Alliance. “As testing continues, we know there will be many things to solve along the way, but with strong collaboration of our public and private sector partners, we believe intelligent sorting can be a new frontier that could help dramatically improve plastic waste management.”

The two machine vendors, Pellenc ST and Tomra, together with the selected digital watermarks technology provider Digimarc, are developing add-on modules for their detection sorting units to be combined with existing NIR (near infra-red) sorters.

With modernization, we need a smart approach to our plastic waste. With this revolutionary, developers advance one step closer to precision classification and sorting of plastic packaging waste through digital watermarks, with the potential to revolutionize the sorting and recycling method of plastic packaging.

For more details: www.digitalwatermarks.eu

Innovative Masterbatches Supplier

JJ Plastalloy was established in 1995 as a global leader, with a maximum manufacturing and developing master batches with a volume of 60,000 metric tons per year. JJ Plastalloy is an award-winning manufacturer ISO/TS 16949:2009, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications, Economic Times Award 2019/2020/2021 are some of those awards JJ Plastalloy has been honored with.

JJ Plastalloy is a versatile manufacturer with key products like Colour Masterbatches, Additive Masterbatches, White Masterbatches, Black Masterbatches, Talc Masterbatches, Fibre Masterbatches, Calcium Carbonate Masterbatches, Modifier Masterbatches, and Polypropylene Compounds, with an extended range. Though out JJ Plastalloy had been exporting to over 30 countries across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

JJ Plastalloy has a global network for supplying raw materials that consistently delivers globally. The company mainly focuses on Quality, Cost, and Delivery to ensure reliability, sustainability, and profitability for its customers. With a hard focus on in-house research and development (R&D), JJ Plastalloy has built a state-of-the-art infrastructure operated by 5 in-house scientists. Precocious equipment, specialized research facilities and a robust ERP system enable continuous innovation in uniform standards and efficient services. JJ Plastalloy’s end-to-end manufacturing, ERP and distribution system enables it to efficiently and effectively fulfill the apt demands of its clients at competitive pricing.

With environmental sustainability as a key priority, the company has designed its entire process to minimize environmental impact and implemented several initiatives for reducing its carbon footprint. Following thorough recycling and waste allocation process, the minimum waste is disposed of.

“How wonderful it is that nobody waits a single moment before starting to improve the world”

In times like this when companies are competitive and grasp any opportunity for the global establishment, JJ Plastalloy Stands with the notion #Makeinindia. With no compromise in quality, with process excellence and digital transformation. JJ Plastalloy produces optimal designs and priced masterbatches that ensure reliability, sustainability, and profitability for customers.

For more details: www.jjplastalloy.com

Harvard’s Eardrum-Restoring Phonograft Enters Commercial Development

The technology is now entering commercial development. Driven to make the innovations available to patients, entrepreneurial members of the research team launched a startup company, Beacon Bio, with an exclusive license from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) to commercialize the PhonoGraft innovations co-owned by Harvard and Mass General Brigham. Beacon Bio was acquired this summer by California-based Desktop Health, a healthcare business within Desktop Metal Inc. that focuses on new 3D printing and biofabrication solutions for personalized medicine. Nicole Black, Ph.D. ’20, CEO of Beacon Bio, will continue to lead the platform as Vice President of Biomaterials and Innovation at Desktop Health.

The PhonoGraft device is a 3D-printed, biocompatible graft that could be implanted to repair a damaged eardrum. If its clinical advancement is victorious, the PhonoGraft technology could alleviate the pain, drainage, and hearing loss associated with eardrum perforations that affect millions of individuals worldwide.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have Beacon Bio become a part of the Desktop Health team, and to see these innovations advance so far from their earliest days in the lab,” said Black, who is a co-inventor of the PhonoGraft technology and spearheaded its development at Harvard and MEE. “The general support, manufacturing expertise, and regulatory expertise of an established company will be key to bringing the PhonoGraft platform to patients and to developing a regenerative medicine platform around the technology.”

The researchers at Harvard and MEE created the PhonoGraft technology to utilize a novel biomaterial-based approach that guides the regeneration of native eardrum tissue. Its 3D-printed structure mimics the structure of a normal eardrum and effectively stimulates the tissue’s self-healing characteristics, as demonstrated in animal models. The team believes the PhonoGraft material technology – unlike other methods – could potentially enable permanent repair by first closely mimicking and then restoring the eardrum’s sound-conducting mechanical features and barrier functions.

To keep up their momentum, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold, the founders of Beacon Bio joined the Harvard Innovation lab (i-Lab), which provides help to fledgling entrepreneurs of early-stage life science or biotech ventures, in the form of fundraising advice, market research, VC relationships, and educational seminars. Beacon Bio was named the $25,000 winner for the Health & Life Sciences Track in the 2021 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge, held annually by the i-Lab to reward promising translational initiatives that push the boundaries of their fields. In addition, the team participated in the Mass MEDIC IGNITE ManTech accelerator program, gaining valuable insight into the medical device industry through targeted mentorship and workshops. Their participation in the IGNITE program culminated in winning a runner-up prize at the 2021 MD&M BIOME Digital virtual pitch competition.

While the startup team was about to complete its path to independence, Desktop Metal expressed interest in Lewis’ lab and work – which led to an introduction to Beacon Bio. The license now granted to Desktop Metal by Harvard OTD, as a consequence of the startup’s acquisition, includes access to intellectual property covering certain 3D printing inks as well as artificial tympanic membrane devices. Together with Black, Lewis, Kozin, and Remenschneider, seven other researchers from Harvard SEAS, the Wyss Institute, and MEE had contributed as inventors, reflecting the collaborative effort from the earliest days of the project.

For more details: www.yss.harvard.edu