Specialty chemicals manufacturer Sartomer Co. recently opened a plastics research and development laboratory to concentrate on developing functional additives for plastic applications.
“Our fundamental business is selling chemistry to all industries. That concept didn't work for plastics — we needed more engineering and applications data,” said Jeremy Austin, market development engineer, in a telephone interview.
The new setup, he said, is designed for interaction.
“We get a lot of feedback on what customers like to see, and it's opened a lot of doors for us,” he said.
The lab, which opened in late 2008 at the firm's Exton, Pa., headquarters, provides opportunities for Sartomer, Austin said. Engineers can research fibers, powders, pellets and liquids.
The facility has a variety of machinery, including a C.W. Brabender extruder; a Morgan-Press molder; an Instron impact tester and a tensile tester; and a dynamic mechanical analyzer, differential scanning calorimeter and rheometer from TA Instruments.
Sartomer materials are used to modify plastics' properties, including adhesion, barrier, compatibility, heat resistance, impact strength, flexibility, dielectic, compression set and melt-flow index.
The firm's specialty chemicals are used in coatings, inks, elastomers, adhesives, sealants and composites.
Sartomer will showcase its products at NPE2009 in June.