Additives for engineered plastics

An expanded line of additives for engineered plastics is now available. Struktol Company of America, headquartered in Stow, Ohio, brought its process additives for the plastics and rubber industries at NPE 2015. The company provides Intelligent Additive Solutions for a variety of polymer-based products and compounds for the consumer, industrial, packaging, and automotive industries.

STRUKTOL®TR 063A is a highly-efficient lubricant and viscosity reducer for nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 compounds. The product boasts a novel chemistry which makes it highly compatible with polyamides and is superior in performance to alternative lubricants such as Montan ester waxes. TR 063A provides compounders and processors with a cost-effective, versatile process additive that can significantly improve throughput and efficiency. It can be added directly at the compounding stage or by the processor during part manufacturing. In pellet form, it can be easily added to extrusion or injection moulding machines.

Another product, STRUKTOL® TR 044W, provides a combination of viscosity reduction and mould release characteristics for polycarbonate resins and compounds. Loading levels as low as 0.2% result in increased melt flow and allow for significant improvements in mould filling and release. Processors using STRUKTOL® TR 044W in clear applications will see minimal haze development even at higher loading levels. The improved processability can result in lower moulded-in stress in injection moulding applications that often will mean better part performance. The product is also effective in highly-filled polycarbonate compounds, providing improved dispersion and lower viscosities.

For added metal release, processors of nylon 6 and 6,6 will find STRUKTOL® TR 077 to provide additional benefit. It exhibits added external lubricity for both extrusion and moulding applications. It is an excellent replacement product for applications where traditional powder zinc stearate is currently being used, offering superior processing, as well as better handling due to pastille product form. It also works well in many other polymer systems including polystyrene, concentrates, thermosets, and many olefins. It also meets the requirements of many FDA applications.

Increased flame retardance property
A unique process additives for polymers containing high levels of mineral fillers and increased amounts of flame retardance was also introduced by Struktol. These products are useful in a variety of resin systems from polyolefins to engineered plastics, offering greater dispersion and processability.  The process additives are targeted for compounds containing greater than 50% mineral fillers, as well as those utilising higher than traditional loadings of flame retardant packages. They also are beneficial in applications involving difficult to disperse materials, such as pigments and natural fibres.

One of these is STRUKTOL® TR 451,  a unique product designed to improve the incorporation of fillers into polyolefin compounds. This product enables the user to increase filler content, reducing the overall economics of the compound. The additive also provides significant viscosity reduction, mould release, and consistent processing.  Studies show that adding STRUKTOL® TR 451 to highly-filled calcium carbonate-polypropylene compounds allows for higher filler loadings without sacrificing processing or performance. Also, compounders using treated fillers may be able to substitute untreated fillers in combination with STRUKTOL® TR 451 to cut cost and realise performance benefits.

The base technology in TR 451 can be altered and/or combined with other Struktol technologies to further enhance a specific desired property. One example of this is STRUKTOL®TR 055, a combination product designed to offer more external lubricity for improved flow and metal release. It has proven to be very effective in automotive applications to replace traditional lubricants for improved processing and end product properties, including better fogging characteristics. STRUKTOL®TR 055 works well in extruded, injection moulded, and thermoformed part applications.