Friedrichshafen, Germany — Avient Corp. went to Fakuma 2023 with new materials to help customers meet regulations and improve their sustainability performance.
The Avon Lake, Ohio-based firm has a three-pillar approach — reduce, renew and preserve — to material selection, according to electrical/electronics senior marketing manager Benoit Flammang.
"By reduce, we mean lightweighting and energy reduction," he said. "Renew can include recycled content or biopolymers and preserve is focused on eco-consciousness, because our customers are under a lot of pressure not to use certain types of chemicals.
"A lot of it comes down to regulations and to the will of the brand owner to drive sustainability," he said.
New Cesa-brand flame retardant additives from Avient are are aimed for use with polycarbonate resins. These new additives are formulated without PTFE, which is part of per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), which are being regulated. They're suitable for various PC materials, including recycled grades.
Flammang said that the new Cesa grades can be colored and are being used in electrical housings and similar applications.
"Regulations can be a constraint or an opportunity," he added. "We see it as an opportunity."
New LubriOne-brand internally lubricated formulations from Avient extend the firm's portfolio and are made without PTFE or other fluorinated lubricants. They're available across multiple polymer systems. Officials said they provide comparable performance to conventional internally lubricated grades.
The new lubricated formulations can be used with gears in automotive and machinery applications, according to senior product manager Joachim Schwendinger. He added that they're being used with several engineering resins as well as polypropylene.
Cesa Unify A4R is the latest addition to Avient's recycling additives portfolio. It's a polyolefin compatibilizer developed to enhance and support use of recycled polyolefins. Cesa Unify A4R helps bring incompatible polymers, such as PP and PE, together by forming them into a homogenous polymer mixture.
"Sometimes PE can be mixed with PP in collection streams," Flammang said. Cesa Unify A4R "allows for more usage of recycled PP by compatibilizing PE." Potential uses for the new additive include pails, containers and other durable goods.
Also at Fakuma, Avient debuted engineered materials and performance additives that can help customers conform to proposals from the European Chemicals Agency and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restrict the use of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Other new and recent Avient product launches highlighted at Fakuma include Stat-Tech static dissipative and electrically conductive TPEs, and Colorant Chromatics High-Temperature Colorants.
Avient is as one of North America's largest producers of compounds, concentrates, composites and protective fibers. The firm posted sales of $3.4 billion in 2022.