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What makes auto bumpers less likely to crunch in a collision, prevents mildew from taking over your shower curtain, and provides a smooth, attractive finish for the vinyl siding and windows on your house?
It's chemistry — specifically, plastics additives! You might ask how one product could do all that. Actually, plastics additives are a diverse group of specialty chemicals added to plastic product formulations before or during processing, or to the surfaces of finished products after processing. Look around your house and you'll see so many different types of plastics — the plastics in your car, the plastic in your child's lunch box or your home's vinyl siding. All of these products have different applications and different performance requirements. Plastics additives are what adds a unique, useful characteristic to plastic products.
Rohm and Haas Company is the global leader for plastics additives, according to C. S. Chou, Ph. D. who, along with Tom Stewart, Ph. D, directs the Technical Center for Rohm and Haas's Plastics Additives business, in Bristol, Pa. The Technical Center has two teams; one provides technical customer service for North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America and supports European marketing efforts. The other technical team conducts research for new product development.
"Rohm and Haas was the first company to develop several types of plastics additives more than 30 years ago," says Dr. Chou. "Since then, our additives have enhanced quality and performance and expedited the development of many plastic products used in every day living, especially PVC (polyvinyl chloride) products."
Today Rohm and Haas has a $441 million plastics additives business that includes five primary product types.
Impact Modifiers
Impact modifiers make plastic products tougher and more impact resistant.
Rohm and Haas scientists were the first to develop acrylic weatherable impact modifiers more than 30 years ago. These additives enable plastic products to withstand very cold temperatures — as low as -40 degrees F without cracking or breaking on impact. They are used in building and construction products such as the vinyl siding on your house, fencing, decking, window profiles, door frames, gutters, pipes and electrical junction boxes. They also are found in auto body parts such as bumpers and dashboards.
"If a child throws a snowball against the vinyl siding of your house when it's 20 degrees outside, the siding won't crack or dent if it's made with impact modifiers," says Dr. Chou. "These additives also extend the construction season for contractors because they can saw and drive nails through vinyl siding and other building materials in colder weather without breaking them. Impact modifiers ensure a longer life for many building products.
"In addition, people who live in climates with sub-zero temperatures will find that their cars have a longer life when the parts are made with these additives," adds Dr. Chou. Non-weatherable impact modifiers provide toughness and impact resistance for indoor products such as plastic containers, blister packs, food packaging, housing for computers and other business machines, and household appliances.
PVC heat degradation is a problem because it won't melt until it reaches over 200 degrees F, and it starts to degrade before that. Rohm and Haas's processing aids enables PVC to be processed at lower temperatures, eliminating heat degradation and ensuring quality.
Lubricants
Just as automotive lubricants enable car engines to run more smoothly and efficiently, lubricants used in plastic formulations enable these products to be processed faster, moving smoothly through the processing equipment. "Lubricants enable the metal parts of the processing equipment to release the plastic material being processed more easily," explains Dr. Chou. "This results in a smoother product finish so, for example, the vinyl siding on your house will look nicer."
Lubricants are used for building and construction products, film and sheet products, injection molding and extruded products.
Processing Aids
When plastics are processed, they begin as powder or pellets that must be melted, then poured and molded into the specific shape and size of the end product being made, such as window profiles, fencing, siding and decking.
"To get the shape you want, you need a lot of control over the flow of the melted material," explains Dr. Chou. "Acrylic processing aids provide that control, enabling the melted plastic to flow more smoothly.
"Rohm and Haas was the first company to develop a processing aid specifically for the PVC (polyvinyl chloride) industry," he notes. "With PVC, heat degradation is a problem because it won't melt until it reaches over 200 degrees F, and it starts to degrade before that. Our processing aids enables PVC to be processed at lower temperatures, eliminating heat degradation and ensuring quality."
"PVC products would not have been developed as quickly or efficiently or used as broadly without these aids," adds Dr. Chou.
Heat Stabilizers
Heat stabilizers also help to eliminate heat degradation during PVC processing. Rohm and Haas was the first to develop a special type of heat stabilizer specifically for use with PVC — methyltin mercaptide.
"These stabilizers are considered the most effective in the industry," notes Dr. Chou. "They are used in the manufacture of all PVC products, including pipes, window profiles, vinyl siding, furniture and decking."
Antimicrobials
If you've ever had a mildew-infested shower curtain, then you will appreciate the value of antimicrobials. These additives protect plastic products from destructive attack by mold, mildew and bacteria, all of which can lead to unsightly staining, unpleasant odors and ultimately, a shorter product life span.
Look at all the applications for Rohm and Haas Company's antimicrobials that you'll find around your house:
- Boat accessories such as canvas covers and marine upholstery
- Housing for ball bounces and other children's amusements
- Gasketing around refrigerator doors
- Flooring and carpet backing
- Swimming pool liners
- Awnings, tarps
- Outdoor furniture
- Outdoor decking
- Wall covering
- Shoe insoles
- Mattress covers
- Processing Aids
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