JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe - 78

sustainability

Time to accelerate: stay on top of
your business and improve sustainability
The future classification of cobalt octoate and styrene is
yet unclear, while these are important ingredients in many
of today's unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins. For
composite components manufacturers, it is important to
stay on top of such classification changes, as they may influence in a major way their daily operation and the working
conditions on the shop floor. Alternative material systems
without cobalt (based on BluCure™ Technology) and styrene
are available as viable alternatives.

bert HanDels, reaCH program manager,
Willem postHumus, senior sCientist bluCure™
Cobalt-Free proDuCts,
Dragos popesCu, sCientist styrene-Free proJeCts,
Dsm

lready from their early days, unsaturated polyester resins and vinyl ester
resins contain styrene as reactive
diluent and cobalt octoate as accelerator
for curing. Thanks to their good technical
performance and low cost, these ingredients
are still the standard in today's resins.
But in recent years, both substances have
been reviewed for their potential hazardous
properties, and their future classification is
yet unclear.

Sustainable innovation
The resins used for making composite components are chemical systems, containing a
specific mix of ingredients that play a role in
achieving the right resin stability and shelf
life, curing, processing and performance in
the final application. Fine-tuning of such a
chemical system is a multifaceted process,
which requires a considerable amount of
time and resources.
Cobalt octoate and styrene are essential
ingredients in many of today's polyester

and vinyl ester resin formulations. Cobalt
octoate is the core of commonly-used resin
accelerating systems, required for curing
unsaturated polyester and epoxy vinyl ester
systems at ambient temperature. Styrene
is the workhorse reactive diluent in this
industry, that helps obtaining the right resin
viscosity for processing and, once cured,
contributes to achieving the desired enduse performance. However, both substances
have been reviewed in recent years for their
potential hazardous properties, and the
future classification is yet
unclear.

perform a safety assessment. In recent years,
an enormous amount of information has
become available, helping to create a safer
and healthier working environment for
many users in the supply chain. Also, this
has helped to spark innovation for creating
safer consumer products and enhancing
competitiveness.
A key element of the REACH dossiers is
the hazard assessment of a substance. Based
on the results of a variety of required toxicity tests, the substances can be classified

Classification of
chemical substances
Following the introduction of the REACH
legislation in Europe, all
manufacturers and importers of chemical substances
have to submit a dossier to
the responsible European
authorities (ECHA) describing in full the associated hazards and have to

78 jec composites magazine / No87 March 2014

Solutions for people and planet

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #87 - March 2014 Special JEC Europe