Product category:
Moulding materials
News Release from: Sabic Innovative Plastics | Subject: Resins
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 May 2007
Resins can replace metal substrates
Noryl GTX resins, added to GE Plastics' range, can replace metal substrates, eliminating costly and potentially hazardous chemical pre-treatments and offering increased design freedom.
GE Plastics' conductive Noryl GTX* resins have officially joined GE's growing ecomagination* product portfolio These new, environmentally responsible materials are optimised for powder coating: they contain conductive fillers that eliminate the need to apply an electrostatic primer, which can emit harmful solvents and related compounds into the air
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 26 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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In powder-coating applications, Noryl GTX resins can replace metal substrates, eliminating costly and potentially hazardous chemical pre-treatments and offering increased design freedom.
Also, the Noryl resin grades make it possible to powder-coat metal and plastic on the same production line for economies of scale and uniform aesthetics.
Certification of Noryl GTX resins as GE ecomagination products followed a rigorous analysis that quantifies environmental and operating benefits to customers and is audited by an independent third party.
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Latest impact-resistant resins provide significantly improved flow performance compared to standard grades and may offer automotive OEMs cycle time improvements up to 10%.
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GE's ecomagination initiative is a major worldwide effort to increase research and development in environmental technologies; drive new business opportunities by helping customers solve their toughest environmental challenges; reduce the company's greenhouse gas emissions; and increase energy efficiency.
"Powder coating is a fast-growing technology due to its environmental benefits, particularly the elimination of solvents and related compounds that are emitted into the air in conventional liquid paint," said Kristie Dolan, ecomagination leader, GE Plastics.
"GE Plastics' conductive Noryl GTX resin grades make powder-coating plastic parts more practical by eliminating the cost, time, and environmental concerns of electrostatic primers.
Our unique Noryl GTX resins open new opportunities for design innovation and production efficiencies." For instance, compared to the typical liquid painting process, conversion to powder-coating can reduce volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions up to 98 percent and result in an overall coating savings of over 49 percent.
Further, they offer OEMs and their supply chain partners the flexibility to replace metal with a lightweight, high-performance plastic, or to run multiple materials on the same coating line.
Using conductive Noryl GTX resin as a substrate can eliminate chemical cleaning and pretreatment of metallic parts; which can result in reduced costs and VOC emissions.
For example, a powder coating operation processing 2.5 million square feet per month, switching to conductive Noryl GTX resin could eliminate $105,000 in pretreatment costs and over three tons of VOCs emitted into the air per year.
Noryl GTX resins provide two critical properties required for successful powder coating: conductivity and high-heat performance.
The resins are a blend of polyamide (PA) with modified polyphenylene ether (MPPE) reinforced with conductive filler packages to ensure electrostatic adhesion of the powder coating.
In addition, they offer high performance to withstand the curing temperatures of current powder-coating processes.
Unlike conventional plastics that must be coated with an electrostatic primer, or metals that must be chemically pre-treated to remove grease, GE's conductive Noryl GTX resins require only a washing step prior to beginning the powder-coating process.
In addition to productivity gains from the elimination of the primer application or chemical pretreatment, conductive Noryl GTX resins can be powder-coated simultaneously with metal parts.
Running multiple substrates on the same line enables economies of scale and avoids a colour mismatch between powder-coated metal and injection-molded plastic.
The Noryl GTX conductive resin family is an excellent candidate for powder coating applications such as furniture, marine engine components, automotive, and non-auto transportation, as well as electrical and lighting devices.
Noryl GTX resins include flame-retardant and non-flame-retardant grades, as well as glass- and mineral-filled materials.
They can be processed in injection molding machines, as well as via extrusion.
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