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October 17, 2014 02:00 AM

Momentive gearing up for some timely LSR sales

Frank Esposito
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    Caroline Seidel
    Oliver Franssen of Momentive Performance Materials Inc. and a watch with a band using the company's fiber-reinforced liquid silicone rubber.
    FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMAN —Momentive Performance Materials Inc. has plenty of time for customers at Fakuma — thanks to colorful new watchbands made with the firm's fiber-reinforced liquid silicone rubber.

    “Silicon wearables are much more popular now,” transportation elastomers global marketing director Oliver Franssen said Oct. 14 during an interview at the trade show in Friedrichshafen. “But normal silicones hadn't been good enough. By using fiber loadings, we now have many degrees of freedom.”

    Tina Wei, silicones and quartz global marketing director, added that bands made with the new LSR now can pass a “twist test” required of the product.  Wide varieties of color and clarity also help to differentiate the product, she added.

    The material used in the watchbands is Silopren Matrix fiber-reinforced LSR, which combines the flexibility of a silicone elastomer with the high strength of polymeric, carbon or aramid fibers. This composite elastomer was commercialized earlier this year and can be used to create products that are comfortable against skin, exhibit excellent UV resistance and can be easily colored to meet aesthetic needs.

    Officials with Waterford, N.Y.-based Momentive declined to identify the customer using the material in watch bands. The bands and watches are not yet in commercial production.

    Caroline Seidel

    Momentive declined to name the customer using its LSR in a watch that has not yet gone into commercial production.

    The auto market also continues to be an area of strength for Momentive's LSR products, with demand up by double-digits so far in 2014, Franssen said. The materials can offer weight, cost and process savings in pressure hoses, connector assemblies and other auto applications.

    Increased digitization in vehicles also is creating demand for more sensors that use LSR, he added.

    “Our automotive customers are investing in molds and machinery,” Franssen said. “Our top 10 customers are all positive.”

    High LSR demand also is leading Momentive to increase capacity for the material at production sites in Leverkusen, Germany, and Rayong, Thailand. The capacity increase in Thailand should be completed by the end of the year, according to Franssen, while additional capacity should be online in Rayong by mid-2015.

    Other products highlighted by Momentive at Fakuma include:

    • Silplus 30 AS anti-static silicone rubber, which can help remove static charge without the use of carbon black fillers. Officials said this enables manufacturers to create products in a variety of colors, as well as translucent products. Applications include keyboard covers, elastomeric keypads and buttons, soft-touch features on devices, as well as other consumer electronic applications.

    • Silopren LSR 3376/50, which is the first member of Momentive's new low-volatile, self-lubricating LSR family that aims to meet increasingly stringent safety specifications for automotive electrical systems. This material can address the critical need of manufacturers in Asia for connector seals that have very low levels of volatiles, according to officials, and do not require post-curing to achieve this.

    Machinery firms Engel, Wittmann Battenfeld and Dr. Boy also are running Momentive materials on their equipment at the show.

    Momentive was formed in 2006 when private equity firm Apollo Management LP bought the GE Advanced Materials unit, including silicone and quartz production, from General Electric Co. In 2010, Apollo merged Momentive with Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. — a thermoset plastics leader also majority-owned by Apollo — to create a specialty chemicals company with annual sales of $7.5 billion.

    Momentive operated under Chapter 11 bankruptcy for several months this year before exiting in August. The firm was able to restructure and eliminate $3 billion of debt, while launching a $600 million rights offering.

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