Chemical Engineering July 2015 - 23

Win the
purge the lines upon installation of finished
pipe, notes Parrillo. lightweight
and spool-able, the resin is a drop-in
replacement for PEX B and C, enabling
pipe manufacturers to run product
faster on extrusion lines. Additionally,
monolithic pipe formed with Hypertherm
2399 NT resin is sustainable due
to its thermoplastic nature. Contrary
to thermosets, a thermoplastic can
be reintroduced into the manufacturing
stream or recycled at the end of its
lifetime. The finished pipe is ready for
packaging directly off the line, eliminating
time and energy used in postextrusion
curing, lengthy quality-control
measures and off-line packaging.
New frontiers
And then there are tweaks to existing
high-performance materials, which
allow them to be used in entirely new
applications, such as membrane technologies.
Water filtration is a new area
for high-performance plastics and
polymers, according to Dave Seiler,
global advisor for fluoropolymers with
Arkema Inc. " The world economy
is giving clean water to people who
have previously not had access, " he
explains. " There are now personal
water units and technologies that
allow us to turn sea water or undrinkable
water into drinking water, but it
requires the use of biocides and other
chemistries. And it is the use of the
chemicals that purify the water that is,
in turn, necessitating the use of highperformance
materials in the filtration
media because they are able to resist
the chemistry and provide durability in
these applications. "
For this reason, Arkema is developing
new products to meet the needs
of the filtration industry. " They needed
a polymer that was lightweight and
could be made into a fiber without
becoming brittle, " says Seiler. The
same characteristics - chemical resistance,
mechanical toughness and
long-term durability - that made
the company's Kynar PVDF (polyvinylidene
fluoride) resin suitable for use
in the process industries is also making
them a choice material for microfiltration
and ultrafiltration membranes,
according to Seiler.
A range of Kynar PVDF resins is
now available for use in membranes.
Kynar 700 series is made in a range
of viscosities, permitting customers
to select the appropriate product for
their membrane process. Kynar Mg
15 is a new grade designed specifically
for hollow fiber spinning. Kynar
HSV 900 is a very high viscosity
grade, especially suitable for hollow
fiber casting and other applications
requiring high gel strength. Also
available are Kynar Flex co-polymer
grades with even higher pH chemical
resistance and greater flexibility.
Kynar membranes are stable in applications
over a pH range from 1.0
to 13, and are often used in exposure
to citric acid, sulfuric acid, hydrogen
peroxide, sodium hypochlorite, sodium
hydroxide, ozone and high levels
of free chlorine.
Finally, bio-sourced high-performance
materials are becoming more
attractive in a variety of industries.
" Arkema's Specialty Polyamides
group has also expanded into biosourced
high-performance materials
with the Rilsan Clear Rnew transparent
polyamide range, making Arkema
the only supplier of bio-sourced transparent
polyamides, " says Ryan Zakszeski,
technical marketing specialist
with the Specialty Polyamides division
of Arkema Inc.
Rilsan Clear g850 Rnew and Rilsan
Clear g120 Rnew are partially biobased
materials with excellent chemical
and fatigue resistance, which will
provide advantages in the optics,
medical and consumer electronics
markets. The company has also
added polyamides 10.10, 10.12 and
6.10 to its portfolio. These resins offer
optimized properties between that
of short- and long-chain polyamides
with the added benefit of having significant
bio-sourced content, providing
solutions for automotive, monofilament
and industrial applications.
Pebax thermoplastic elastomers
(TPEs), which have been well known
in the sports and medical industries
for years, are now breaking ground in
breathable, monolithic applications.
New grades of Pebax TPEs show
promise in the house wrap and breathable
textile applications by producing
tough and tear-resistant, waterproof
barriers while remaining breathable,
plasticizer-free and monolithic (nonporous),
says Zakszeski.
n
Joy LePree
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com july 2015
23
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