ONCE AGAIN again the K2013 will have the Rubber Street, an initiative of German speciality chemicals firm Lanxess. It has been organised since 1983 with the aim of improving the presence of rubber at K and today it is the home of rubber and thermoplastic elastomers.
German rubber sector stable
At a preview in July, Boris Engelhardt, Secretary-General of WDK, the German rubber industry association, said that he expects the German rubber industry to have a turnover of EUR12 million in 2013, roughly the same as last year .
Nevertheless, the sector has had a slow start. “It was not so good in the first quarter due to the long winter, with lower sales of winter tyres and subsequently the sale of summer tyres were slow too. Furthermore, the automotive production in Europe is weak.”
However, Engelhardt expects the general rubber goods sector to grow over the next six months, adding that “we are hoping for a better second half of the year.”
He added that 75% of the sales of the industry are accounted for by the automotive/tyre sectors, with Germany the top market for rubber products in Europe. The country accounts for 30% of the rubber goods sold in Europe, followed by France.
Furthermore, he said that rubber at the K is “small but beautiful”, adding that kautschuk (German for rubber) is the small k in the K2013, but with a huge innovation potential.
New material grades
Momentive Performance Materials is showcasing a totally new approach to hard-soft combinations with its newly developed UV-curing liquid silicone rubber (LSR), producing an injection-moulded multi-component part in a fully automated process in cooperation with Austrian machine maker Engel, using a mould supplied by Elmet.
Traditionally, multicomponent designs utilising silicone rubbers were limited to the combination of heat stable resins such as PA or PBT due to the moulding temperatures that were required to vulcanise the silicone. Now, UV LSR can be combined with more affordable, lower melting point resins, such as PP or PMMA, to produce multi-material moulded products with hard-soft characteristics.
With 35% of its sales turnover accounted for by silicones, Wacker, the Munich-based chemical group, will introduce a majority of silicone elastomers. It will have 12 new products for seven different industries such as automotive, elastomers, healthcare, energy, and mould making. It will launch three Elastosil products for the automotive sector.
The Elastosil 416/70 high consistency silicone rubber is for turbocharged cooling hoses since it is able to cope with rising temperatures. The firm says, though hoses are made from EPDM, customers are changing over to silicones and hence it introduced this grade in response to more requests from customers.
It has also broadened the spectrum in damping components, for reducing noise and vibrations in vehicles, with the launch of two new silicones (Elastosil R 752/30 and Elastosil R 752/70).
It will also showcase a coolant-resistant LSR (LR 3022/60), an addition curing rubber with improved sealing properties, since it retains a low compression set, even under long-term load in direct contact with coolants. It can be used in the manufacture of moulded seals for engine cooling circuits and fulfils automotive standards of car manufacturers regarding glycol resistance.
Making its debut will be a new generation of silicones (Elastosil R781/80) with magnetic properties that can be used for household appliances such as refrigerators and baking moulds. The new Lumisil LR 7600 product range consists of LSR grades that cure to form highly transparent elastomers, targeted at lenses and other optical elements in lighting technology.
In the environment friendly range, it is introducing tin-free catalyst (Elastosil Catalyst NEO) for condensation-curing silicone rubber grades that can be processed normally and possesses the same mechanical properties as compounds cured with standard catalysts.
Fresh appeal of EPDM and NBR grades
German speciality chemicals firm Lanxess is looking to capture new market share worldwide with its Keltan EPDM elastomers Innovative ACE technology plays a key role in this, producing EPDM without the use of chlorine in a high-purity process and with a composition that can be controlled with a degree of detail that has not been possible in the past.
The process enables the manufacture of new EPDM rubber grades, such as oil-extended EPDM and special high molecular weight EPDM. The firm is investing EUR235 million in the world’s largest EPDM plant at Changzhou in China, with a capacity of up to 160,000 tonnes/year. Start of production is scheduled for 2015.
China is the world’s largest market for EPDM, driven above all by automotive and construction industries. The new plant will produce ten premium grades of EPDM tailored to Chinese customer needs. EPDM is used above all in the automotive industry as door sealants, hoses, belts or anti-vibration parts.
The product is also used in the plastics modification, cable and wire, construction and oil additives industries. Its properties include low density, good resistance to heat, oxidation, chemicals and weathering as well as good electrical insulation properties.
Furthermore, the High Performance Elastomers business unit is pursuing the development of nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) grades and new Baymod powder NBR grades, with a new compounding step in polychloroprene production to extend the range of applications for this rubber.
Two new product families, Baypren HP and GF, have been innovated. Baypren HP includes products with properties that are not yet available on the market, says the firm, while the polyethylene-vinyl acetate (EVM) Levapren materials under development include a grade for impact resistance modification of PLA. The business unit has also invested in Asia, with a 30,000-tonne/year nitrile rubber plant opened in Nantong, China, in May 2012 in conjunction with a partner.
CNT compounding improved
Rhein Chemie Rheinau, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lanxess, will showcase a dispersion process for the manufacture of CarboElast carbon nanotube (CNT) masterbatches for NBR.
The dust-free CNTs are easier to incorporate into a compound than Rhein Chemie’s Rhenogran CNT powder , allowing for improved mechanical reinforcement. Due to the low CNT proportions in the vulcanisate, the shear modulus is subject to a 30% lower dynamic mechanical loss than vulcanisates with conventional fillers and a comparable level of reinforcement (modulus 100%). With CNT masterbatches, it is therefore possible to produce high-strength compounds with excellent elasticity.
The project was undertaken as part of publicly funded Innovation Alliance for Carbon Nanotubes, which receives public funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), together with Freudenberg Forschungsdienste and the German Institute of Rubber Technology.
Rubber chemicals and additives Rhein Chemie is also reintroducing Rhenogran Geniplex-70 as a co-accelerator, crosslinking activator for sulphur vulcanisation and blowing agent. It is an effective coagent for crosslinking weight-reduced elastomer components for automotive applications. It is ideal for use in EPDM and standard types of rubber, such as NR, SBR and NBR. It can be used in both expanded and solid rubber compounds.
Meanwhile, Rhenoblend is Rhein Chemie’s new line of oil-extended mixtures of transpolynorbornene, which is capable of absorbing up to ten times its own weight in plasticisers as well as large quantities of inorganic fillers. These two properties make Rhenoblend unique and enable conflicting characteristics – excellent damping and high strength–to be combined in a single elastomer component.
Available in five grades, it can be used for anti-vibration and damping elements, tyre treads, automotive and applications. It can be used on its own or as a blend component to modify technical elastomer properties. Another new product from Rhein Chemie is the Addonyl additive for manufacturing/modifying cast polyamide for lightweight construction technologies in the automotive sector.
New machinery makes processing easy
A highlight at Austrian Elmet Elastomere, which makes metering systems for LSR and multi-cavity LSR moulds, will be a new generation TOP 3000 two-component metering system, now available in front-loading or side loading versions, to make best use of floor space.
Redesigned controls are said to be easier to use and allow production data to be extracted via USB interface in a format compliant with the ISO/TS 16949 automotive quality standard.
Elmet will also show two mould concepts, one for making UV-curing two-component parts at Momentive’s booth, and the other for moulding of ultra-small parts measuring less than 2 mm and weighing under 1 mg with dimensional tolerances in the range of 10 microns at machine maker LWB’s booths. Elmet says it has overcome the drawbacks associated with processing two-component plastics and LSR. Since the curing reaction with these materials is triggered by cold light sources instead of high temperatures, there is no need to rely on high-melting (and hence, costly) thermoplastics any longer. Moreover, the use of rugged LED lamps helps to extend the mould life.
Uth GmbH from Germany will present its roll-ex fine-mesh straining systems and extrusion systems. A highlight is the latest model from the roll-ex series, allowing for fine-mesh straining of rubber compounds in mixing lines with outputs of up to 10,000 kg/hour.
Rubber processing presents enormous challenges day in day out for rubber and tyre manufacturers. Accordingly, Uth has updated the roll-ex extruder systems. Roll-ex gear extruders are used when frequent compound changes are involved or coloured materials used. They can be cleaned quickly and thoroughly on account of their unique design. The modular roll-ex system can be combined with a two-roll feeder (TRF), a screw feeder, or a conical twin- screw ext ruder.
Outputs range from 70 kg/hour to 10,000 kg/hour for standard applications, while customer-specific solutions can also be realised. Precision extrusion is another primary application of roll-ex gear extruders and gear pumps, where high operating pressures (up to 800 bars) can be applied. Uth can supply, among other things, system solutions involving complete lines for the manufacture of rubber coated wire, yarn, or fibre components.
Rubber injection moulding
German supplier Desma will showcase the S3 series. New are the EcoSilence temperature control units, which reportedly save as much as 50% energy when used together with the EnergyControl software. Desma also offers the FlowControl cold runner systems. Another focus is set on process automation and it developed the MoVis mould surface scanner at the last K2010. The effective optimisation and control of machines and processes is being demonstrated with the extended Propter software controls. Jointly with RheinChemie, Desma will also present the BlendIn method, a concept for the continuous production of rubber compounds.
French rubber injection moulding machinery maker REP International will focus on its new generation G10 machine, featuring a new ergonomic design, with embedded intelligent wireless 3G technology to simplify remote diagnosis without going through the customer network and predictive maintenance.
REP will also exhibit its flagship CMS, a compact multi-station injection machine, the economical RT9 range and the compression moulding machines of its Taiwanese partner Tung Yu.
Another novelty to be presented in Düsseldorf is the HSM devulcanisation, which devulcanises rubber scraps.
The patented HSM process applies to any kind of uncontaminated rubber production waste. Controlling the strain applied to the compound by the HSM machine causes the rubber to be devulcanised by preserving properties that are said to be close to the virgin compound.
This is a 100% thermo-mechanical process that does not require any chemical additives and is undertaken at a low temperature, to prevent the characteristics of the devulcanised rubber from being altered.
REP has also acquired Watson Brown HSM in Berlin, its HSM devulcanisation technology as well as its devulcanisation centre. This centre is equipped with an operational devulcanisation line and a test laboratory operated by a team of six persons.
REP says it will carry on with the development of the HSM technology and promote devulcanisation machines and service on the international market to compounders and processors. Watson Brown HSM is the seventh subsidiary of the REP group, the others being involved in the sales and after-sales of REP presses throughout the world.
Efficient solution for processing
In elastomer engineering, processors demand efficient system solutions. Hence, six partner companies from Austria and Italy will display the Rubber Carousel process chain for the production of O-rings and seals.
It uses a FIFO injection moulding machine MHF700/300XL from Maplan Austria and a 4×54-fold mould from the Italian mould maker ORP Stampi with four-drop cold runner technology. A focus is the cold runner systems with direct gating of cavities to save material and optimise processes. The four nozzle cold runner mould (Cold Runner Block) is designed with open nozzles, quick opening device, temperature control and regulators for volume flow control. The four nozzles fill each pad (containing 54 cavities) with an elastomer, allowing for an output of 216 seals/cycle.
Compounder Mesgo supplied the orange NBR 65Sh A sealing material. Each part has a weight of about 0.25 g. The total shot weight of the four pads amounts to 420 g.
Meanwhile, another partner GiBiTre instruments is tasked to plan the entire production process and to create production related work equipment for measurements and tests.
From Gamma Stampi comes the punching machine for separating parts while the final inspection is carried out by devices from UTPVision, a manufacturer of intelligent inspection equipment. The task is two-fold: testing quality of parts and sorting out faulty parts. The inspection consists of an optical test installation. It checks the dimensional accuracy of the seals, surface finish and injection deviation.