LANXESS offers new flame-retardant thermoplastic composite materials with a polyamide 6 matrix

• Top classification of V-0 in UL 94 flammability test
• High degree of strength and rigidity
• Focus on automotive, electrical/electronic and industrial applications

Tepex continuous-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites from LANXESS are characterized by their high inherent flame-retardant properties. One of the reasons for this is their high fiber content. They therefore already pass many of the flammability tests required for typical applications without flame protection. However, for some applications – such as housings for control cabinets or components of high-voltage batteries for electric vehicles – a V-0 classification in the UL 94 flammability test from the US testing institute Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is often mandatory. For such cases, LANXESS has developed three new halogen-free, flame-retardant Tepex variants with a polyamide 6 matrix. “These structural materials are the material of choice when a V-0 classification is required and the components need to have a very high degree of strength, rigidity and energy absorption at the same time,” explains Sabrina Anders, Project Manager at the LANXESS subsidiary Bond-Laminates in Brilon, Germany, where Tepex is developed and produced.
Three product variants available
Tepex dynalite 102fr-RG600(x)/47% is reinforced with roving glass fibers. These can also be arranged multiaxially and thus precisely matched to the load transfer points and load paths in the component. The composite is universally applicable and is suitable for high-voltage components of electric vehicle batteries, such as separator plates, cover plates and control unit housings. In contrast, Tepex dynalite 102fr-FG290 is targeted at applications in the electrical and electronics sector. With its reinforcement of fine glass fiber, it produces high-quality surfaces that are easy to paint. It is suitable, for example, for small housings that are required to comply with the DIN EN 45545-2 standard, “Railway applications – Fire protection on railway vehicles”. Tepex dynalite 202fr is reinforced with carbon fibers and is intended for components subjected to extreme mechanical stress, such as high-strength electronic housings. According to Anders, “It is an alternative to composites made of flame-retardant polycarbonate if their strength and rigidity are not sufficient, for example.”
Mechanical properties match those of standard products
All three structural materials are available in quantities for large-scale applications. They are also available in variants that are electromagnetically shielded by a carbon textile insert in the composite or a metallic surface coating. The UL 94 V-0 classification refers to specimen thicknesses of between 0.5 and 3.5 millimeters. “The flame-retardant additives are selected so that the mechanical properties of the composites are not negatively affected and are comparable to those of corresponding standard materials. For example, the flexural strength of Tepex dynalite 202fr is well over 600 megapascal,” explains Simon Rösen, materials developer at Bond-Laminates. All flame-retardant packages comply with the EU RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive and the European REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006)).
In addition to the three new products, LANXESS also offers further halogen-free flame-retardant Tepex variants with polycarbonate-based matrices. Most of these are certified as UL 94 V-0.
www.tepex.com / www.lanxess.in

A new type of plastic made of reclaimed waste readily degrades in less than a year. The substance that will soon serve to manufacture and break down mainly disposable products in an ecofriendly way goes by the name of polyhydroxybutyrate. This innovative material can be produced on an industrial scale in a new process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK and its partners.

Everyday life devoid of plastics – that would be hard to imagine. They figure prominently in packaging and consumer goods, and are indispensable to industry applications such as automotive and medical engineering. Reuse and recycling of plastics from fossil resources is hardly common practice. On top of that, they degrade at a glacial pace and pollute the environment for a long time to come. The great patches of plastic waste floating on our oceans attest to their power to pollute. Plastic bottles and bags despoil beaches and, in many places, entire stretches of land.
The Bioeconomy International research initiative
The need for global recycling strategies is urgent, given plastics’ heavy use all over the world. More and more governments are resorting to bans to curb the swelling tide of plastic waste. A viable option to replace fossil-based plastics on a large scale has yet to be found. This is why the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the “Bioökonomie International” (Bioeconomy International) research initiative in close cooperation with Fraunhofer IPK, the Department of Bioprocess Technology of the Technical University of Berlin, regional industrial partners and international research partners from Malaysia, Columbia and the USA. These researchers are developing a method of manufacturing polymers without drawing on premium resources such as mineral, palm and rapeseed oils, the production of which is very detrimental to the environment.
A new plastic much like polypropylene
This new process turn industrial leftovers such as waste fats that contain a lot of mineral residue into polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Microorganisms can metabolize these residues in special fermentation processes. They deposit the PHB in their cells to store energy. “Once the plastic has been dissolved from the cell, it is still not ready for industrial use, because the hardening process takes far too long,“ says Christoph Hein, head of the Microproduction Technology department at Fraunhofer IPK. The raw material has to be mixed with chemical additives downstream in post-production stages. For example, the research team adjusted the plasticizing and processing parameters to trim the recrystallization time to fit the timing of industrial processing. The resultung biopolymer’s properties resemble those of polypropylene. But unlike PP, this plastic degrades fully in six to twelve months.
In this method of producing plastic, microorganisms synthesize the entire polymer in a biotechnical process. “To this end, we convert biogenic residues such as waste fats into polyesters that can be put to technical use,” says Hein. The researcher and his team opted for microorganisms, genetically modified with molecular methods, to serve as biocatalysts. With the help of chemical purification processes and an extensively optimized material, they have been able to develop a novel family of materials that
satisfy the demands of technical plastics.
No petroleum-based synthetic components needed
The new process not only dispenses with petroleum-based synthetic components altogether; it also enables green plastic alternatives. Naturally occurring microorganisms can break down these newly developed plastics, so they need not be subjected to the special conditions that serve to degrade matter in industrial composting plants. They offer an ecofriendly alternative to making and degrading single-use products and other disposable items.
The process also lends itself to producing high-quality plastic parts for certain technical applications and periods of use. The specifications for this sort of product are more demanding. They may have to exhibit specific geometric tolerances and surface qualities or be reproducible with great precision. The researchers developed highly specialized replication processes to meet these requirements.
www.ipk.fraunhofer.de

Engineering thermoplastics from Mitsubishi for reliable electronics
Plastics distributor Ultrapolymers has added special NOVADURAN PBT blends from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics (MEP) to its portfolio which outperform corresponding standard PBT grades in specific applications. The recently introduced NOVADURAN LX grades, for instance, set a benchmark in terms of low warpage. A new range of electrically insulating or electrically conductive grades offers thermal conductivity around 5 to 50 times higher than that of standard PBT. Applications for the new grades include enclosures and packages for sensitive sensors and other electronic components of the kind typically used for example in self-driving vehicles or automation and internet-of-things (IoT) settings.
Warpage minimized
The ultra-low-warpage NOVADURAN LX range currently comprises the UL-HB grade LX-530V with 30 wt.% glass fiber and the flame-retardant grades LX-515N (15 wt.% GF, V-0 at 1.6 mm), LX-530N (30 wt.% GF, V-0 at 1.6 mm) and LX-530N (30 wt.% GF, V-0 at 0.8 mm). All share PBT’s typical combination of excellent flow properties and surface characteristics, low outgassing and high heat, oil and chemical resistance. Testing of round specimens 100 mm in diameter and 1.6 mm in thickness revealed that the warpage (maximum deflection at the edge of the test specimen) measured on LX-530V after cooling was only 0.8 mm and thus a factor of 3.6 lower than in the case of the previous benchmark NOVADURAN 5810G30 and only around one tenth of the value measured on the standard grade 5010G30. The new grades are also marked out by comparatively low density.
Greater heat dissipation
When it comes to temperature management, an important issue for sensors, the new electrically conductive NOVADURAN TCV grades 515T2, 517H and 521H meet very stringent thermal conductivity requirements with values of around 20 W/mK (ISO 22007-2). When used to make sensor enclosures, they enable heat dissipation which is higher by a factor of 50 than standard PBT and so provide particularly good protection from overheating. Also new are the electrically insulating grades NOVADURAN TGN515U, TGN525T and TGV525T which, with a thermal conductivity of around 2 W/mK, achieve values a factor of 5 higher than the corresponding standard PBT grades.
As Sebastian Thomsen, MEP’s PBT business development manager in Europe, explains: “The electrical and electronics segment and in particular packages for high quality sensor systems are a target market for MEP.” And Marc Swatosch, product manager for engineering polymers at Ultrapolymers, adds: “These new NOVADURAN PBT blends expand our already extensive portfolio of engineering polymers which also includes DOMO’s Technyl One, Technyl Orange und Technyl Red polyamides. This widens the range of problems we can solve and extends our offer of individual solutions to European customers in the E&E industry.”

One of the most pressing recent issues in the mechanical processing and conversion of waste into solid recovered fuels (SRF) is the high fire risk. This is largely due to a constantly increasing number of lithium batteries in the general waste collection. If damaged, a chemical reaction is often initiated, which leads to incredibly high temperatures. This may cause severe damage to facilities and plants and, in the worst case, start a major fire. To minimise such fire hazards, Lindner‘s FPS (Fire Prevention System) detects overheated particles in the material stream, cools them to a safe temperature and makes sure that objects that cannot be cooled can be safely removed by hand.
 
Whether smartphones, cars or toothbrushes – in today’s digitalised, mobile society it’s hard to imagine life without batteries. Billions of them are used for countless applications. According to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce’s information website (Austrian Chamber of Commerce, 2019), about 4,700 metric tons of rechargeable batteries are sold annually in the Alpine Republic, 40% of which are lithium batteries. Only about 45% of all batteries are disposed of correctly and, according to the University of Leoben, an estimated 1.4 million of them end up in the general waste collection every year (VOEB, 2019). The University also estimates that this figure will double in the medium term to 2.8 million (VOEB, 2019). Consequently, the risk of fire increases exponentially during mechanical processing, when converting waste into alternative fuels. Due to the technology used, lithium batteries, along with other highly flammable materials such as tar-soaked textile waste, have therefore become one of the most common hazards for serious fires.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY MECHANICAL BATTERY DAMAGE
Just like any other energy storage cell, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) consist of an anode and a cathode, separated by a Li-ion permeable membrane and a non-conductive electrolyte. Energy is released when the ions flow between the two electrodes or is stored in the anode when over-voltage is applied. Compared to other technologies, lithium-ion batteries have one of the highest energy densities thanks to the very high working voltage that can be generated between the anode and cathode. Ultimately, this is the problem when the battery is mechanically damaged and short circuits. If mechanical processing bends or severs the cell this could destroy the separator, producing a short circuit. This causes the voltage between the poles to drop to zero, releasing the stored energy as heat at different points. Even with apparently run-down, used batteries, the remaining energy is so high that temperatures of over 600 C may occur. Under certain circumstances this leads to an unstoppable chain reaction: the thermal runaway. The temperature spikes cause neighbouring cells in the battery to overheat and within milliseconds, to release their stored energy. This results in a fire or explosion that is almost impossible to extinguish. In this context it’s particularly problematic that the thermal runaway is delayed and cannot take place immediately after the mechanical damage. In SRF production this means a higher risk of fire throughout processing. The worst-case scenario is for the damaged battery to end up in the fuel storage bunker, where it could cause a devastating fire. Even if the battery burns by itself and doesn’t cause an explosion, the resulting temperatures are an enormous problem due to the fuel’s ignition point of 319 – 460 C (Lorber, 2010).

LINDNER’S FIRE PREVENTION SYSTEM (FPS) ACTIVELY PREVENTS FIRES
The continuous, process-related monitoring of surface temperature at several relevant points has proven to be highly successful in combatting potential fire hazards and actively improving safety in facilities that produce solid recovered fuels (SRF). Lindner’s Fire Prevention System (FPS) therefore sports optical sensors that constantly monitor the temperature on the conveyor belts and trigger a water sprinkling system to cool overheated particles in the material stream automatically. Thanks to the very early detection of these particles, most hazards are identified at the start of a thermal reaction keeping the required amount of water low.
Furthermore each unit has its own control sensor detecting objects that cannot be cooled, such as lithium-ion batteries where the thermal runaway has already been initiated. This triggers an alarm, stopping the conveyor belt under an active cooling nozzle so the hazard can be manually removed. Depending on the application the threshold value can be chosen freely. To counteract even a delayed reaction of the energy cells, it’s possible to install as many sensor pairs as needed depending on the size of the facility.
Lindner’s FPS is designed as a space-saving plug&go solution to facilitate the integration of the system in existing facilities. Its heated box version also makes it perfect for cold environments.
BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLE – MAYER RECYCLING GMBH
One of the first companies to try out this innovative solution was Mayer Recycling GmbH in Upper Styria, Austria. The data collected since mid-2019 clearly demonstrates the benefits of this sophisticated technology. Figure 2 shows the temperature on the conveyor belt during typical SRF production. On average, over 350 overheated particles in the material stream are detected per month. Of these, approximately 10% were still too hot for further processing, triggered the alarm and were manually removed. Of the removed materials, around 70% were batteries that were already undergoing a chemical reaction. The remaining system triggers were coolable materials such as metal particles that got too hot after shredding.
To summarise, the data collected clearly shows that Lindner’s FPS substantially reduces the fire risk in SRF production facilities.
www.lindner.com / lithium-info.at  

Rotary tube for controlled PET inline crystallization

As of now, ips Intelligent Pelletizing Solutions GmbH & Co. KG is offering a newly developed, compact rotary tube for the inline crystallization of PET pellets as a supplement to its ips-UWG S underwater pelletizing systems and as a “stand-alone”.
PET is an ideal plastic for the production of packaging films, bottles, fibers and packaging tapes. However, before it can be processed, the material must be dried and crystallized. Ips has now launched the ips-DR / K rotary tube as a system option for its underwater pelletizing systems especially for the inline crystallization of PET recycled goods.
The ips-DR / K with its compact, horizontal design and targeted process control is particularly suitable for continuous production and the efficient crystallization of amorphous PET granulate and regrind. The permanent movement – without the supply of external energy – prevents the amorphous PET granulate from clumping and sticking during the crystallization process.
The amorphous PET crystallizes quickly and effectively by optimally regulating the speed or the dwell time in the thermally insulated rotary tube. Throughputs of up to 2,500 kg / h can be achieved in continuous operation.
The amorphous PET pellets come directly from the ips-GT pellet dryer with a pellet temperature above the necessary crystallization start temperature into the rotary kiln. The use of the PET granulates’ own thermal energy allows them to crystallize. An external energy input, for example by infrared heaters, is not necessary. Thanks to the special arrangement of the conveyor elements, the PET granules are gently transported and simultaneously separated. The optimal speed range prevents breakage, abrasion and damage to the product.
The rotary tube is controlled easily and conveniently via the control panel of the ips-UWG S or via a local control panel directly on the ips-DR / K rotary tube. The rotary kiln is driven by a three-phase motor, the speed of which is continuously adjustable.
The ips-DR / K rotary kiln enables gentle and energy-efficient crystallization of PET granulate with degrees of crystallization greater than 30 percent. The simple and robust structure offers very good access to the conveying elements inside, so that the rotary kiln can be cleaned and serviced quickly and easily.
https://www.pelletizing.de/

Nordson Has Built a Production Line that Enables the Company to Deliver a New BKG Die Plate in Just 3 Weeks, Reducing Downtime and Increasing Flexibility for Customers

Nordson Corporation has built a dedicated production line for BKG die plates used in underwater pelletizing, enabling the company to deliver a new electrically heated die plate in only three weeks after order placement, including order entry, engineering, and production. This is less than half of competitors’ delivery times.
While most common die plates are on stock and can be delivered within a couple of days, building a new plate requires a range of engineering and manufacturing steps. By creating a database of standard designs, Nordson has eliminated upstream engineering processes that had contributed to longer lead times. To reduce manufacturing time, it has dedicated a complete production line to die plates. The line is part of an extensive new facility for BKG pelletizing and melt delivery products completed in Münster last year.
While the dedicated line produces only two-piece, electrically heated die plates in the BKG A, AH, Compact, and AHD190 families, these standard designs constitute the largest share of Nordson’s die plate output. At the same time, the company continues to produce die plates based on custom designs, as well as oil-heated die plates.
Die plates are wear components which periodically must be refurbished or replaced in order to maintain required levels of productivity and product quality. “The dedicated production line for die plates enables Nordson to meet the needs of customers much more quickly, helping then to reduce downtime and maintain product quality,” said Andreas Trouvain, Sales Director EMEA. “We continue to expand the range of designs that can be produced in this line, and we are looking for more ways to shorten the processes upstream and downstream of die plate production in order to make lead times even shorter.”
The BKG A, AH, Compact, and AHD190 families of die plates are available with the most common nozzle bore diameters. Optional features include several different carbide inlays, thermal insulation layers, pressure reduction, staggered rows of nozzle bores, and both standard and short land lengths.
 

To prevent injection moulds from opening during installation and removal as well during transport and to prevent any moving plates, like ejector assemblies from shifting out of position, it is essential to secure them against unintentional movement. The new mould lock Z730/… available exclusively from HASCO provides a simple, reliable solution and ensuring maximum safety.

Positive locking action

With its positive locking action, the tool lock can be operated with just one hand and without any tools, avoiding any damage to the mould. The lock, which can remain on the mould, ensures secure transport and production positions. This product, which is available exclusively from HASCO, can be used at temperatures of up to 90°C.