Plastics News reporter Frank Esposito gathered the following items at Flexpo 2003, held Sept. 17-19 in Galveston, Texas.
Vistamaxx may have impact in cast film
The impact of ExxonMobil Chemical Co.'s new Vistamaxx-brand specialty elastomer will be ``a game-changer'' in the cast film market, according to senior research associate Sudhin Datta.
``When Vistamaxx is used in film, there's no permanent deformation,'' Datta said. ``It resumes its shape when stretched and it's very soft.''
Cast film uses for the material include diapers and hospital gowns. ExxonMobil Chemical of Houston will launch Vistamaxx production in the first half of 2004 at a 200 million-pound-capacity plant in Baton Rouge, La. The plant also will make Exact-brand plastomers and metallocene-based grades of Vistalon-brand ethylene propylene diene monomer.
Other potential markets for Vistamaxx include impact modification, elastic fibers and nonwovens and construction products.
Five Star technology moves into plastics
Five Star Technologies of Cleveland is close to commercializing plastics additive uses for its controlled-flow cavitation technology.
Five Star's particle-reduction technology, which incorporates nanostructuring, can create reduced materials with five to 10 times the effectiveness of similar-size resins, said applications engineer Roger Weinberg. The firm's material, produced at a pilot plant in Cleveland, coats the resin pellets and does not use an extrusion process, business development Vice President Robert Wyvill said.
The technology also can be used in fuel cells and a number of pharmaceutical applications.
Five Star recently completed a round of financing, which included an investment from oil and chemical maker ChevronTexaco Corp. The Mazzella family holds the largest stake in the privately held firm.