Apr 19 2008
The Dow Chemical Company today announced the widespread availability of nine developmental olefin block copolymers (OBCs), which will be marketed as INFUSE™ OBCs upon commercialization. Customers around the world can now purchase large-volume quantities of these developmental OBCs without the requirement for confidentiality agreements.
“Dow continues to experience strong interest in OBCs, and – in line with the Company’s strategic agenda of preferentially investing in its Performance businesses – we are working diligently to bring these first-of-their-kind materials to customers on a high-volume, global scale,” said Richard Barker, Product Manager for INFUSE OBCs, Asia-Pacific. “The broad availability of these developmental OBCs will allow us to significantly expand trialing and application development efforts with customers and, ultimately, work with them to increase the market for OBC-based end-use products.”
INFUSE OBCs feature unique block architecture that allows for new-to-the-world combinations of performance and processing enhancements. This material innovation was created using INSITE™ Technology, which enables olefin elastomers to expand into a wide range of potential market applications for converters and manufacturers of flexible goods and products. The nine newly released developmental OBCs offer specific processing and end-use benefits for several high-volume end-use market segments:
Liquid Packaging – Demonstrating good processability without the use of oil, OBCs can improve package performance and provide the ability to lower costs. They reach low compression set at 70°C and show very high temperature resistance. OBCs exhibit excellent seal properties, low removal torque and excellent organoleptic performance.
Soft Touch – OBCs offer processing efficiency and improved haptics. They are supplied in granular form and provide for continuous processing. They are highly compatible with both polyethylene and polypropylene, have good filler and oil acceptance; improve injection molding productivity; demonstrate good thermal stability; and provide excellent adhesion for overmolding. These developmental grades also display consistent color over time and good mechanical and compression set.
Health and Hygiene – OBCs have polyolefin-like processability with high performance at body temperature including excellent extensibility and elasticity, and superior adhesion and cohesion. They provide great form-fitting comfort and are ideally suited for elastic films as well as elastic nonwovens for diapers and adult incontinence products. These characteristics translate into improved performance and the potential for systems cost reduction.
Adhesives – OBCs offer lower application temperature and provide improved viscosity, char resistance and reduced gel formation. As a result, they provide an opportunity for formulators and end-users to lower total costs and to differentiate their products. These copolymers are easy to mix and provide better peel strength, superior adhesion, UV stability and improved color and odor performance as compared to currently used systems.
Foams – OBCs enable manufacturers to produce soft and flexible cross-link foam with lighter weight, more durable and better compression set while maintaining its overall performance due to it low density and lower shrinkage even at elevated temperature.
“The enhancements OBCs bring to these important consumer applications provide another example of how Dow uses its material science expertise to solve human challenges,” said Ho-Sung Kang, Marketing Manager for Performance Plastics, Asia-Pacific. “The release of these nine developmental OBCs will allow us to work with our customers to deliver these improvements to end users more rapidly.” Kang also added that foams application is unique to Asia-Pacific as it offers lighter weight with less materials used and can be used in a number of key applications such as sports and leisure, building and construction and consumer goods
Posted April 19th,2008