Appliance Design - August 2008 - (Page 19)

PLASTICS custom tinting with Milliken’s ClearTint® colorants can give customers the look that they require, while keeping the polypropylene optically clear. Clarity is just one of its benefits, Burkhart says. The additive also acts as a nucleating agent that very quickly crystallizes the polymer chains for faster processing and better dimensional stability, says Burkhart. Transparency and impact resistance were two properties that were needed by Suggar, a Brazilian appliance maker that produces 2,500 clothes washing machines per day. The company had created a machine with a transparent lid in three of its washer models using styrene acrylonitrile (SAN). The seein washing machines became almost immediately popular and sales increased, but durability issues began to creep up and the company began to look for alternatives. While the clarity and cost of SAN were good, its impact resistance was not quite good enough. Suggar then looked at polycarbonate (PC), which is a naturally transparent material that offers high strength, toughness, heat resistance, and dimensional and color stability, but its price point was too high for the application. Polypropylene (PP) was then considered. PP is a very versatile material, durable and inexpensive, but there were some concerns about its clarity, says Burkhart. With Milliken’s additive, those concerns were put to rest. With the additive, Suggar was able to replace the SAN material with the less expensive and more durable clarified PP, reducing haze by 50 percent compared to standard clarified polypropylene, thus preserving Choosing colors and effects from the multitude of options can be daunting for designers, but web site’s such as Ciba’s matchmycolor.com and Xymara.com can help the see-through clarity desired by consumers. Impact resistance was improved through the use of PP. In Izod pendulum tests, impact resistance was improved by more than five times as compared to SAN. In this case, by choosing a material and an additive, the O EM was able to manufacture an appliance that was more durable and less costly to produce. As color palettes continue to grow, and more and more functionality is required from the plastics and the materials that color them, matching the right color to the right material for the right application will become ever more paramount. < LLC Introducing the MM643KX The SmartValve™ Q3400 Replacement Silicon Nitride for your toughest application. Drop-in installation (OEM dimensions). Replaces hundreds of common applications. For more information, email: Bayer MaterialScience: john.skabardonis@ bayerbms.com CIBA: gareth.morgans@ciba.com Clariant: steve.duckworthhu@clariant.com Milliken: brian.burkhart@milliken.com Sabic: yvette.bogaert@sabic-ip.com Contact us today for special pricing: info@surfaceigniter.com www.surfaceigniter.com SPECIAL INTRODUCTION ON PAGE 21 applianceDESIGN August 2008 19 6/13/08 9:58:22 AM 800-321-4147 www.applianceDESIGN.com AD07084Surf3.indd 1 http://Xymara.com http://matchmycolor.com http://www.surfaceigniter.com http://www.surfaceigniter.com http://www.appliancedesign.com

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Appliance Design - August 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Plastics Switches Noise & Vibration Control Joining New Products Design Marts Association Report: CEA Advertiser’s Index

Appliance Design - August 2008

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