PLASTIC TIMES Together for Plastics Telangana And Andhra Plastics Manufacturers Association For Private Circulation to Members. Not for sale Book-Post May - June, 2015

May ‐ June, 2015

YOUR SATISFACTION IS OUR CONFIDENCE

u White Masterbatches u Black Masterbatches u Color Masterbatches u Special Effect Masterbatches u Fibre / Marble Masterbatches u Fluorescent Masterbatches u Metalic Masterbatches u Glow in Dark Masterbatches u Additive Masterbatches u Transparent u Filler Compounds u Pre-dispersed Pigment Concentrates u FDA Approved Antimicrobial Antibacterial Masterbatches u Anti Fibiliration Masterbatches (antifab)

D.No. 7-2-123/2, Old Kurnool Road, Kattedan, Hyderabad - 500 077. Telangana. INDIA. Mobile : +91-9849202090, 9246537980 Email: [email protected] Website : www.vivekpolymers.com

Plastic Times 3 May ‐ June, 2015

4 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015

PLASTIC TIMES Vol X May - June, 2015 Issue - I EDITORIAL BOARD President Writes...

Dear Members, Chairman It gives me immense pleasure informing you that the R.S.LOYA 47th AGM of Telangana And Andhra Plastics Manufacturers Association is being held on 24th July, 2015 at Haritha Plaza, Begumpet, Hyderabad from 7PM onwards. I request members to take part in the proceedings. Members We would like to inform our members that Mr.V Anil Reddy, Immediate Past ANIL NAGDA ROHIT MITTAL President of TAAPMA, has been elected as President FTAPCCI. Through this VIMALESH GUPTA forum we would like to congratulate him on behalf of the whole Plastic Industry. PANKAJ AGARWAL Published by The State Govt. of Telangana has released all subsidies upto March 2015. Any TELANGANA AND ANDHRA member who has not received the subsidy should inform the Commissioner of PLASTICS MANUFACTURERS Industries so that the grievances can be addressed. The Commissioner of ASSOCIATION 304, Raghava Ratna Towers, Industries, Mr. Kartikeya Mishra, has requested the associations to forward the Chirag Ali Lane, Abids, names of the units whose subsidies have not been processed, although all the Hyderabad - 500 001. documents have been submitted. Phone : 040-23203191 Fax : 040-23201247 He has made it clear to all the Department heads that the inspections to units E-mail: [email protected] should be completed within 7days of receipt of applications and the processed Web : www.appma.org.in applications should be forwarded to the Commissioner within 30days. To OFFICE BEARERS : maintain transparency, any shortfalls should be communicated to the applicant President VENUGOPAL JASTI only through Registered Post and not through telephonic communication. Sr. Vice President The Commissioner of Industries has initiated steps to revive the sick units. He has B.L. BHANDARI requested the associations to bring to their notice if there are any sick units, along Vice President A. DAYAKAR with the reasons for becoming sick, so that they can be given assistance and Hon. Secretary needful inputs for revival of the unit. Members are requested to avail this VELLORE SURESH opportunity and inform the association regarding any such sick unit as well as Treasurer grievances in processing of incentives. NARENDRA BALDWA Joint Secretary Look forward to meeting you personally at the AGM MD. ABDUL ALEEM VIMALESH GUPTA Best Regards, Advertisement Tariff Venu Gopal Jasti Front Cover 15,000 President, TAAPMA Back Cover 12,000 Inside Cover & IIIrd Page 10,000 IVth Page & Last Page 8,000 Contents VIth Page & before Last Page 6,000 Full Page Inside 4,000 Page 06 : Glimpses of Chinaplas 2015 Half Page 2,500 Page 07 : Activities ‐ TAAPMA *Classified 200 All Payments should be made by cheque / Page 17 : News Update draft drawn in favour of Telangana and Andhra Plastics Manufacturers Association. Page 18 : New Members List Payable at Hyderabad. Service Tax will be Page 19‐20 : Membership Form charged extra as applicable. Cash will not be accepted. *Classified Advertisements Page 21‐33 : News Update Tech‐Talk Disclamer All the information published in this issue Page 08 : Lean Manufacturing Principles And Their Benefits has been collected / gathered from various s o u r c e s . TA A P M A d o e s n o t h o l d Page 11 : Material Saving Strategies in Extrusion Blow responsibility for any error or omission and Page 15 : A E I P is not liable for any legal consequences.

Plastic Times 5 May ‐ June, 2015 Glimpses of Chinaplas 2015

6 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015 ACTIVITIES - TAAPMA Felicitation of Mr.V Anil Reddy (Immediate Past President of TAAPMA), on behalf of TAAPMA on being elected as President FTAPCCI, at Hotel Haritha Plaza, Begumpet on 15th June.

Authorised Dealers of

Reliance Industries Limited Praaveen Kedia MURLI POLYMER

Head Office : Branch : Shed No. 90 H 1, IDA 21/108/2 Kattedan, RR District, Hyderabad - 77. Ist Floor, Jain Street Cell : 07702301121 Gollapudi, Vijayawada. 09177101121. Email: [email protected]

Plastic Times 7 May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk Manufacturing Principles Lean And Their Benefits Lean manufacturing principles are used to create lean techniques that aim to build and maintain the most efficient manufacturing business possible. One of the key principles in lean manufacturing is to view things from the customers perspective. Getting and using feedback from customers about your product line will ensure you make products that satisfies their needs. What's more, customer feedback ensures resources are not wasted on making a product that has features that they are not interested in and not willing to pay for.

Many people initially believe that lean techniques are mostly about cost reductions. In fact, they provide the one feasible way to cut costs while also shortening lead times and times to market, improving quality, and providing customers with exactly what they want precisely when they want it.[1] One of the principles used to achieve these benefits is to eliminate all waste in a manufacturing process. Waste is any action that does not add value to the end customer. In injection molding, the most obvious example of waste is making defect parts. This is frequently due to poor mold design. Mold design must be right from the beginning which will not only save you years of frustration of having to deal with quality issues and disgrunted employees but will also improve cycle times. Another example is the energy consumption used to make each part. Just because you use 30% more energy than your competitor, it doesn't mean customers are willing to pay more for your parts. They will probably go for the cheapest price. This is why molders need to identify areas of waste. There are literally dozens of examples of waste in plastic injection molding plants such as longer than necessary cycle times due to poor part design, poor mold design or operator incompetence. Another example is the lack of training in proper molding techniques. Insufficient training can result in costly mold and machine damage. When properly implemented, lean manufacturing principles can deliver many benefits. Some other benefits include: · Higher employee morale (which naturally improves productivity) · Establishing a reputation as a quality and reliable supplier (this will increase your customer base) Given these benefits, one would think lean implementation would be standard practise in the industry but this is not the . During the past 20 years plastic companies in western countries have preferred to move some or all of their manufacturing operations offshore to lower cost countries. Fortunately, this trend is showing signs of reversing mainly due to the realization that profit margins were not as high as expected. As a result, injection molding and mold making industries are slowly recovering in many western countries such as Australia and America.

10 8 PlasPlastictic Times Times May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk

As this trend continues, it will not be sufficient to just sit back and wait for a full recovery. Long term survival of an injection molding company hinges on the ability to eliminate waste across the entire firm and make parts that satisfy customers needs. Lean manufacturing principles provide a vehicle to see where waste exists and how to eliminate it. One would expect that these principles will grow in popularity now that off shoring has not lived up to expectations. Lean Techniques One of the most common techniques is lean 5s. Another common technique is the 7 wastes. Challenges Convincing Upper Management The biggest challenge is getting long term commitment from upper management. They need to understand how the long term benefits of implementing a lean manufacturing program outweigh the short term inconvenience of modifying the way employees think and participate in a firm. Guaranteeing Worker Job Security Workers naturally feel threatened by any change in their job roles especially one that involves cost cutting. That's why it is critical that upper management guarantee job security at the beginning of a lean program and keep this promise. Over time employees will gain confidence in the changes as they see the benefits of a program. The result will be constructive participation by all employees. Additional Comments To be most effective using lean manufacturing principles the concept needs to be embraced across the entire company. A lean manufacturing program should cover all aspects of the business. It can be applied to office environments as well as manufacturing processes. eliminates huge underground water tanks, Just cherry picking certain areas for improvement will not give long term sustainable benefits to the company.

Source : Improve‐your‐injection‐molding.com

tic Times PlasTimes tic tic TimesPlas 9 10 May ‐ June, 2015

10 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk Material Saving Strategies in xtrusion EBy Ottmar Brandau Summary:

As material prices skyrocket to new heights and forecasters see no end to this development any participant in the blow mould value chain has to consider cost-cutting measures. Extrusion blow molding offers unique opportunities for material savings compared to injection molding for example. In EBM the weight of the product can be adjusted with no or very simple tool modifications and at little cost. Sadly enough, many managers in the industry are not fully aware of all the possibilities the process offers. This article will explore all available strategies as they apply to and brand-owners.

Let's start with reviewing the basics of the process and relevant terminology. In EBM plastic pellets are extruded into a hollow called a parison. For this purpose, the plastic exits the extrusion head via a male pin (also called mandrel) and a female die (also called bushing). The parison is then clamped between two mold-halves and air enters through a blow pin or blow needle into the cavity forcing the parison onto the cooled mold walls where it rapidly cools and solidifies into the desired shape of . There is always flash at the top and bottom of the container that must be trimmed, ground, and fed back to the extruder as regrind. Most machines are nowadays equipped with a wall thickness controller or programmer that moves either pin or die during extrusion thereby allowing the thickness of the parison to be varied. This programmer may use 20 to 400 points to control parison thickness during extrusion. Material can so distributed to various container sections that require different amounts of material in a more uniform way. shoulders for example always need less material than bottle bodies and this can easily accomplished by using the programmer. For the programmer to work properly it is paramount that the length of the parison is always the same and that all parisons in a multi-cavity setup are of the same length. This is true because the programmed thin and thick spots must be precisely end up in the container sections they are destined for and varying parison length will move these spots up or down. To ensure this virgin plastic, regrind, and possibly color should be fed via gravimetric material feeding system that weighs each lot of material before dispensing. Many companies use these systems but unfortunately many of them are not calibrated properly and are therefore not delivering consistent batch amounts. This is often due to the fact that material handlers are not aware of the importance of this or are not trained to performing this operation. Another complication arises from the fact that regrind levels are not constant. During startup and when adjustments become necessary during a production run, inadequate are thrown onto the flash conveyor and ground. This increases the amount of regrind and fills bins up rapidly. Material handlers that have not been instructed otherwise then routinely increase the regrind percentage on the material feeding systems dramatically to work off the excess regrind. However, regrind processes differently and the result of increased regrind percentages is longer and wider parisons. The longer parisons change the positions of important program points and the result can be out of spec . Savvy operators are well aware of this fact and program their parisons in anticipation by stretching thick parison sections over more points of the program than necessary. This way, they will still make a sellable part even with a different parison length. As a result of this situation many companies make parts that are heavier than they need to be. Suggestion #1: Train material handlers in calibrating gravimetric feeding systems and establish procedures to deal with upsurges in regrind. I also recommend taping a piece of tail flash with the proper length to the safety gate so an operator can quickly check if the parison length is what it should be. Staying with this topic, I find that many operators give up too early in adjusting parison length when it comes to multi-cavity systems. To get all 4, 8, or 12 parisons extruding out of a head to the same length requires skill and patience. Small mechanical adjustments are necessary and each requires stopping the machine which operators are reluctant to do since it takes away from production time. For very short production runs it may not be suitable to spend too much time on parison length but every run over one week should be considered as deserving. Suggestion #2: Allow setup personnel time to properly adjust parison length when warranted and have them tighten up thick sections in the extrusion program.

tic Times PlasTimes tic tic TimesPlas 11 10 May ‐ June, 2015

12 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk

The next suggestion concerns the programmer itself. In order to move material in places where it is needed the programmer must be responsive and allow good control over the parison. Unfortunately, may companies still run programmers that offer only 20 or 25 points of programming points during one extrusion cycle. While this is sufficient for the short parison of a 20 oz. bottle, bottles over 32 oz. would do better with 64 points and a parison of 2 length or above should be programmed with 100 points or more (programmers with up to 400 points are available now). Only with sufficient programming points is it possible to direct material effectively into container areas that need it. The servo valve(s) that control the movement of the hydraulic cylinder(s). for programming also need to be responsive enough to follow sharp program transitions. All too often a servo valve only comes under scrutiny when it fails. However, it should be adjusted on a monthly or so basis for proper gain, a procedure that takes less than 5 minutes. Suggestions #3: Review programmer needs and plant equipment and replace inadequate programmers. Have setup personnel adjust servo valve gains regularly. When it comes to oblong bottle shapes there are additional options. Either pin or die may be ovalized with the die being the preferred tool part. This may be necessary to add strength to corners or to avoid thick ribs across the panel area of a flat oval container. This is usually accomplished by scalloping parts of the die out in some specified fashion to allow plastic to flow into these areas, which will then in turn add material where it is needed in the container. It is of great benefit to a producer to have this capability in-house rather than buying ovalized tooling from outside. That is because more often than not small adjustments can only be made after an initial run and many companies hesitate to send tools out for rework because of the ensuing production delays. As a result, insufficiently ovalized tools lead to weight settings higher than would be necessary had personnel gone the extra mile. Suggestion # 4: Build die ovalization expertise in-house and strive to perfect tools before going in production to net long-term gains. The situation is different for converters and brand owners. The latter have the highest interest in lowest-weight containers as it directly affects the price they are paying for the package. The challenge is the same whether production is in-house or through a supplier. Smaller companies can learn from large groups and develop their own sets of testing procedures that adequately reflect the product life cycle. All too often assumptions are being made about what top load the container must have or what drop test conditions are adequate. It takes a close look what the container is exposed to in the distribution chain and at the consumer to come up with testing regimens that will give a high confidence level that the product will not fail. Because EBM allows lightweighing without much cost long-term tests can be made while in production having built in some safety margin in the container. If it turns out that a lighter container will do the job this can be implemented at any time. When lightweighing engineers should know that the brimful capacity of the container will most likely go up, not just because of thinner container walls but because these thinner walls bulge out more after filling. It is therefore recommended to run initial containers at the lower end of the capacity tolerance. Suggestion #5 for brand owners: Because some testing involves long-term procedures and in order to speed up time to market, manufacture initial containers with a wider safety margin. Run lower-weight samples and test them during production. Reduce weight when testing showed lower-weight containers will perform. For converters the situation is slightly different. They are usually given a weight specification with tolerance. Let's say a container may be run at 27 g +- 1.5 g. Very often there is also a minimum wall thickness specified, usually for the bottom corner. Because operators do not like to have their production quarantined by quality control for insufficient wall thickness their tendency is to run the container at 27.5 to 28 g. However, if they had followed the suggestions above they might be comfortable in running it at 26 to 26.5 g. This would result in a 1.5 g weight saving per container and translate into Dollar savings of $2,000 or more (depending on the material used) per million containers produced. The ability to run containers consistently to tight specifications will build a reputation and attract business to the converter Suggestion #6 for converters: Implement all other suggestions and run suitable product at or slightly below the target weight for additional savings. I should also mention that tightening up on machine functions with new programmers and properly adjusted material feeders results in more consistent container dimensions, weights, and test results. This then translates into higher process capability factors when the numbers are run through statistical analysis. Large brand owners tend to want to do more business with companies that can provide these numbers!

tic Times PlasTimes tic tic TimesPlas 13 10 May ‐ June, 2015

14 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk ADDITIVE EFFECTS IN POLYMERS

Plastic polymers have chemical reaction properties similar to those of small molecules, though the polymers themselves are larger in size. This means that a range of different factors, including thermal conditions, stress cracking, or the diffusion of chemical additives , can alter the molecular structure, and thus the fundamental properties, of most plastic polymer materials. Some changes, such as unintentional reduction in molecular weight, can lead to plastic degradation and product failure, while others can supplement or improve a polymer's characteristics. Most plastic additives are introduced into a compound to produce a specific result, whether to increase formability or merely change the pigmentation. In the case of copolymers , which are composed of varied and repeating molecular units, each substance included in the material plays a part in its overall chemical makeup. This makes it important to carefully control the amount and types of additives that are included because they do not usually bond to a polymer molecule and thus increase the chemical susceptibility of a plastic material. Different kinds of additives display different vulnerabilities and strengths, but each of them can influence the effectiveness of polymer production. For information on methods for identifying the presence of additives within a polymer compound, see Carrott, Jones, and Davidson's Identification and Analysis of Polymer Additives. Plasticizing Agents While some polymers, like rubber, are naturally flexible, others, such as lignin or cellulose nitrate, are comparatively rigid and cannot be softened by exposure to non-solvent materials. For this reason, plasticizing compounds may be added to a polymer to reduce its stiffness and increase its formability. Plasticizers collect into groups of molecules between different polymer chains without altering the polymer's volume. The result is less constrained polymer chain movement, as signaled by a rising dielectric constant. Plasticizers should generally have a solubility level close to that of the polymer itself, and multiple plasticizing additives can be used in a single mixture as long as they are compatible with each other and the polymer. When a plasticizer, such as dioctyl phthalate, is introduced to a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymer, it lowers its melt viscosity and increases its light stability. It provides resistance to oxidizing acids, but also makes the polymer more vulnerable to fungal contaminants and corrosives. Pigments Pigmenting additives can be used to alter the color of a polymer material, which is beneficial for a range of consumer products. However, some pigments can increase a polymer's susceptibility to chemical reactions, making careful selection an important step in the pigmentation process. Pigments such as carbon black do not react to corrosives, but clay and other hydrophilic additives are water absorbent, which may harm certain polymers. Likewise, carbonate pigments, such as limestone, can make material susceptible to corrosion from inorganic acids. These effects can be mitigated with the addition of bonding agents, such as organosilane, which helps compensate for a lack of bonds between the pigment and the polymer molecules. UV Stabilizers and Antioxidants Many unsaturated polymers can undergo degradation from a range of sources, such as oxygen absorption, which leads to the release of organic peroxides. To reduce the risk of mechanical and chemical deterioration, phenolic or amine antioxidants can be added to these polymers, while certain pigments and stabilizers can help shield them from ultraviolet light. Some of the common additive groups used for these purposes include:

tic Times PlasTimes tic tic TimesPlas 15 10 May ‐ June, 2015 Tech - Talk

Hindered Phenol: A phenol consists of a benzene ring coupled with a hydroxyl group. When adjacent carbon atoms have their bonded hydrogen replaced with heavier elements, the result is a hindered phenol compound, which prevents oxidative degradation of polymers such as rubber. Antioxidants: Secondary amines that include aromatic hydrocarbons, such as benzene, in their composition can serve as antioxidants that protect polymers from oxidative deterioration. However, they are also reactive with acids, leaving them vulnerable to acid corrosion. Stabilizers: Some organic polymers can be degraded by photo-oxidation, which is caused by oxygen under the exposure of ultraviolet light. Pigments like carbon black and UV stabilizers like hydroxyl benzophenone can be added to inhibit the rate of photo-oxidation. Formability Additives Polymers that exhibit difficult formability may benefit from lubricants or processing aids that can help keep the material from sticking to metal surfaces and lower the amount of energy needed to fabricate it. Certain additives, such as acrylic polymers, can improve impact and provide greater ease of processing at the same time. PVC material that is intended for molding or extrusion is often treated with lubricants, processing aids, and impact additives at the same time. While beneficial, these additives may also be eroded by solvents, which may lead to contamination from other chemicals.

Source: Thomasnet.com

1016 PlasPlastictic Times Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

Coca-Cola Introduced World's First 100% Biobased PET Bottle Source: Bio‐Plastics Magazine On June 3rd, 2015 The Coca-Cola Company unveiled the world's first PET made entirely from plant materials at the World Expo - Milan. PlantBottle packaging pushes the boundaries on sustainable innovation by using groundbreaking technology to create a fully recyclable plastic bottle made from renewable plant materials. The Coca-Cola Company today unveiled the world's first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials at the World Expo - Milan. PlantBottle packaging pushes the boundaries on sustainable innovation by using groundbreaking technology to create a fully recyclable plastic bottle made from renewable plant materials. Nancy Quan, Global Research and Development Officer, The Coca-Cola Company, said, Today is a pioneering milestone within our Company's packaging portfolio. Our vision was to maximize game-changing technology, using responsibly sourced plant-based materials to create the globe's first fully recyclable PET plastic bottle made entirely from renewable materials. We are delighted to unveil the first bottles here at World Expo - a world-class exhibition where sustainable innovation is celebrated. In response to this announcement, Erin Simon, Sustainable Research and Development Manager of the WWF World Wildlife Fund stated: With every technological advance made in the industry comes the opportunity to continue to scale the impact of more sustainable production for the materials we depend on today. We're working with major companies around the world, including The Coca-Cola Company, to consider all the trade-offs involved with plant-based plastics. We all want to make sure that as we shift from fossil fuel based feedstocks to biobased feedstocks for materials we provide net positive solutions without putting additional strain on precious land and water resources. Plant-based plastics, if responsibly produced, allow us to continue to benefit from the tremendous value that plastics provide but without the negative environmental effects of using fossil fuels. Heat-conducting plastic developed at Michigan Engineering Souirce: Michigan Engineering The spaghetti-like internal structure of most plastics makes it hard for them to cast away heat, but a University of Michigan research team has made a plastic blend that does so 10 times better than its conventional counterparts. Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and flexible, but because they restrict the flow of heat, their use is limited in technologies like computers, smartphones, cars or airplanesplaces that could benefit from their properties but where heat dissipation is important. The new U-M work could lead to light, versatile, metal-replacement materials that make possible more powerful electronics or more efficient vehicles, among other applications. The new material, which is actually a blend, results from one of the first attempts to engineer the flow of heat in an amorphous polymer. A polymer is a large molecule made of smaller repeating molecules. Plastics are common synthetic polymers. Previous efforts to boost heat transfer in polymers have relied on metal or ceramic filler materials or stretching molecule chains into straight lines. Those approaches can be difficult to scale up and can increase a material's weight and cost, make it more opaque, and affect how it conducts electricity and reflects light. The U-M material has none of those drawbacks, and it's easy to manufacture with conventional methods, the researchers say. "Researchers have paid a lot of attention to designing polymers that conduct electricity well for organic LEDs and solar cells, but engineering of thermal properties by molecular design has been largely neglected, even though there are many current and future polymer applications for which heat transfer is important," said Kevin Pipe, U-M associate professor of

Plastic Times 17 May ‐ June, 2015 NEW MEMBERS LIST

Name of the Member Representative Ph. No. Line of Activity

PARTH INDUSTRIES Vikas Gupta 9849093330 Mfr.Of Corrugated 7-3-130/5/f, IDA Kattedan, (Partner) Pipes, Waste Pipe, 8885593320 Electrical Pipe Rajendranagar Mandal Vipin Jain and Other Sanitary Hyderabad, 500077 (Manager) Plastic items

Extrusion Machine For PACWAY POLYPLAST Pranay 9885563292 Gupta Making PP/LDPE Based 21-1-727/C-3 B.G. Market, Pipes/Tubes/Sticks Rikab Gunj, (Proprietor) Hyderabad, 500012

SRI VENKATESHWARA I.Sanjeeva 9912719824 Injection Moulding ENTERPRISES Reddy H.No. 17-1-382/V/51/1,Vaishali (Proprietor) Nagar, Saroornagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy

T.H.Yadav 9573430960 Manufacturing of Plastic VIKAS CONTAINERS (Proprietor) Containers upto 100 Plot no 91, Jallpally, Ltrs. Gaganpahan, Hyderabad.

SAI AKKSHEYA INDUSTRIES S.Prabhakar 9246564669 Manufacturing of (Managing Partner) Rotogravure Plot no H3, IDA Uppal //Pou Hyderabad.Telangana ches/Films.

A.Avinash 9059815300 Manufacturing of Plastic ANGEL PLASTO CRAFT Kumar(Proprietor) Injection Molding Plot no 36, Phase-V, IDA, articals(Vegetable ) Cherllapally, Hyderabad-51

18 Plastic Times May ‐ June, 2015 TELANGANA AND ANDHRA PLASTICS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION

304, 3rd floor Raghava Ratna towers, Chirag Ali lane, Abids, Together for Plastics Hyderabad – 500 001, Ph No. 040‐23203191

1. ______2. ______3. ______

Service Tax @14% Rs.

Proposer Seconder Signature & Co. Stamp of the Applicant

Treasurer Secretary President Membership Chairman

Plastic Times 19 May ‐ June, 2015

LARGE & MEDIUM SCALE UNITS, Affiliate Members & OTHERS: -

Agents / stockists / importers / exporters of plastics raw material Plant and Machinery and finished / semi-finished plastic goods and Manufacturers of plastic moulds / dies / tools and other allied Equipments / accessories and all medium and large scale industries

Micro & Small Enterprises

1. Units with hand/manually operated plastics

2. Machinery units with semi-automatic plastic Machines including Hydraulic / mechanical operated machines

3. Units with Automatic Plastic plants / machinery including extrusion Plants, automatic blow / injection / vacuum Moulding machines, Reprocessing plants, Calendaring / lamination plants, Automatic looms etc.

4. Manufacturers of re- processors, Master batches and plastic Processing Machinery, Moulds and ancillary equipments

Admission Fee

Environmental Contribution

LARGE & MEDIUM SCALE UNITS, Affiliate Members & OTHERS Rs. 25,000/-

Micro & Small Enterprises Rs. 15,000/-

Admission Fee Rs. 1000/-

Environmental Contribution Rs. 1000/-

+Service Tax @14% Enclosures: 1. P assport size photograph (s) of the representative(s) 2. Valid MSME / SSI registration certificate 3. VAT registration copy 4. Partnership Deed / Memorandum of Association of Company

20 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015 mechanical engineering and corresponding author of a on the work published in the current issue of Nature Materials. Pipe led the project with Jinsang Kim, another corresponding author and associate professor of materials science and engineering. Heat energy travels through substances as molecular vibrations. For heat to efficiently move through a material, it needs continuous pathways of strongly bound atoms and molecules. Otherwise, it gets trapped, meaning the substance stays hot. "The polymer chains in most plastics are like spaghetti," Pipe said. "They're long and don't bind well to each other. When heat is applied to one end of the material, it causes the molecules there to vibrate, but these vibrations, which carry the heat, can't move between the chains well because the chains are so loosely bound together." The Pipe and Kim research groups devised a way to strongly link long polymer chains of a plastic called polyacrylic acid (PAA) with short strands of another called polyacryloyl piperidine (PAP). The new blend relies on hydrogen bonds that are 10-to-100 times stronger than the forces that loosely hold together the long strands in most other plastics. "We improved those connections so the heat energy can find continuous pathways through the material," Kim said. "There's still a long way to go, but this is a very important step we made to understand how to engineer plastics in this way. Ten times better is still a lot lower heat conductivity than metals, but we've opened the door to continue improving." To arrive at these results, the researchers blended PAP plastic strands separately with three other polymers that they knew would form hydrogen bonds in different ways. Then they tested how each conducted heat. "We found that some samples conducted heat exceptionally well," said Gun-Ho Kim, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow in mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering. "By performing numerous measurements of the polymer blend structures and their physical properties, we learned many important material design principles that govern heat transfer in amorphous polymers." Two other first authors are Dongwook Lee and Apoorv Shanker, graduate students in macromolecular science and engineering. The paper is titled "High thermal conductivity in amorphous polymer blends by engineered interchain interactions." The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences as part of the Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion in Complex Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center. Gun-Ho Kim has also received a fellowship from the U-M Energy Institute. Self-Chilling Roof Material Could Cool Your House For Free Souirce: Michigan Engineering It's June, and that means that summer is coming ... and it's bringing the heat. Cities especially start to bake in the summer months, as sunlight heats up asphalt and rooftops, turning metropolitan areas into heat islands noticeably warmer than their surroundings. In a world that's warming up quickly, researchers are looking for ways to cool down. Australian researchers have an additional motivation: their country is heating up faster than other places, adding an additional level of urgency to their work. Now researchers at the University of Technology in Sydney have developed a neat new material that can keep roofs cooler than the air above them, even in direct sunlight. By preventing roofs from warming up, homeowners can expend less energy on air conditioning, and reduce the heat island effect in their city. The material is made from layers of specialized plastics stacked on top of a layer of silver. The material reflects heat so well that it doesn't warm up, even on bright sunny days, only absorbing three percent of the sunlight that hits it. Compared to currently available roofing materials that are designed to reduce temperature (usually white roofs that reflect sunlight), the test material stayed more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. A test roof was placed on an existing rooftop in downtown

Plastic Times 21 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

Sydney and monitored for days. Even when the roof got dirty (something that happens in cities), the material still worked. "Cool roofing reduces the severity of the urban heat island problem in towns and cities and helps eliminate peak power demand problems from the operation of many air conditioners," co-author of the research Geoff Smith said in a press release. The material isn't on the market yet, but with a warming planet and large populations of people living in warm areas of the world, the researchers hope that eventually, their invention could help us keep our cool in the face of climate change. Nylon, PBT Play Key Role in New Energy- Conserving Tankless Water Heaters Source : Plastic Technology

The next-generation Supercharger tankless water heater units from Houston-based Seisco International utilize 'DuPonts engineering thermoplastics in several key components and have been designed to help homeowners meet the newly updated National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) requirements. Seisco's president David Seitz says the new standards could drive up the cost and size of tank-type water heaters because efficiency technology will have to be added to the tanks that are 55-gal or larger. A Seisco Supercharger coupled with a 40-gallon tank matches the performance of a 60 to 80 gallon tank with significantly lower energy use because you heat less water all day. Thousands of gallons of water are wasted each year waiting for hot water to travel through cold pipes. Heating at the use point can significantly reduce water waste and save energy. The Supercharger unit is small enough (15 x 7 x 6) to be placed near the use point. It features an internal heating chamber, which is injection molded of DuPont's Zytel nylon for high-heat resistance, thermal stability and compliance with NSF and UL requirements. DuPont's Crastin PBT delivers impact resistance and compliance with UL flammability requirements in a one-piece protective exterior housing.\ A microprocessor control manages on/off when flow starts/stops. The water heater's patented mixing chamber provides a small amount of heated water and the patented Power-Sharing technology helps ensure elements heat evenly. These innovations are said to protect against scalding, scaling and sediment build-up. The single-chamber Seisco models can be used as a back-up for both new and existing hot-water storage tanks in single-family homes. Multifamily water heaters allow building owners eliminate storage tanks in each unit. ''Sheffields 3D Printer to Produce Plastic Parts as Fast as a Production Line Source: worldindustrialreporter.com UK's Sheffield University is on the verge of building a $1.5 million 3D printer that it hopes will produce plastic parts as fast as a production line, reports The Financial Times. The machine, which is scheduled to start work in 2017, uses a new process that generates less heat and will allow parts to be printed in seconds rather than hours, the university said. The biggest part would be as large as a washing machine. Neil Hopkinson, an engineering professor at the university, said the printer would enable serious production of volumes over 1 million, which is currently inconceivable. Small components could be built at a rate of less than one second per part, allowing 3D printing to compete with injection moulding for high volume manufacturing, said Hopkinson. 3D Printing has been around since the 1980s, but it is only in the past few years that advances in technology have helped it play a bigger role in manufacturing, though it remained restricted to small runs because it can be time consuming and expensive. While at Loughborough University, Hopkinson helped develop a new 3D printing technique known as high-speed sintering (HSS). The HSS method selectively fuses the polymer powder layer by layer that is built up to create an object. Instead of using lasers, the new Sheffield HSS machine will print infra-red-absorbing ink on to a powder bed. After a layer has been printed, it will be exposed to infrared light that will heat the powder covered by the ink, causing it to fuse, while the rest of the powder remains cool.

22 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

The aim is to license the new technology to industrial makers: Voxeljet, a German maker of 3D printers, is among those taking it up and hopes to have an HSS machine for sale by 2017 or 2018. The government has helped fund the Sheffield project and has encouraged research input from companies such as BAE Systems, the aircraft maker, and Unilever, the consumer goods business. The university is also working with Xaar, an ink-jet printhead maker. Other companies have been rushing to come up with new technologies that could help accelerate its uptake in the manufacturing industry by making the process significantly faster and improving the quality of production. Hewlett-Packard is launching a 3D printer next year, which is expected to be much faster than others and in March Carbon3D, a Silicon Valley start-up, revealed a technique that can print plastic objects in minutes. The industry has progressed dramatically compared to where we were 5 to 10 years ago, said Pete Basiliere, an analyst at consultancy Gartner. The aerospace industry has been leading the way in adopting additive manufacturing with companies such as Boeing, Rolls- Royce, Airbus and General Electric already using it to make end products. The UK government too is leaving no stone upturned to boost 3D printing's industry use. Last year, it committed $236 million of funding to the area. It has also created a national center for 3D printing to support the aerospace, automotive and medical industries, which will open this year in Coventry. Colored PET: Pretty To Look At; Headache For Recyclers Source : Plastic Technology oPTI lightweight foamed PET bottles from Plastic Technologies Inc (PTI). The company says the process enables white or silvery colored bottles to be made without additives. PET. Thanks to its hygienic, strong and extremely lightweight characteristics, the packaging industry has embraced the material. And don't forget that PET is the largest material recycled in both the U.S. and Europe. Traditionally, unpigmented PET has the highest value and the widest variety of end-use applications for , according to the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR, Washington, DC, USA). But trends aren't always about what's easy and right now, many brands are taking a new path: colored packaging. The idea behind packaging with bright colors is pretty simple: it produces bottles with striking visual attributes and offers the potential to give brands differentiation in the marketplace. But this 'colorful' world of packaging could be problematic for recycling. The trade group Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE, Brussels, Belgium) recently discussed how the markets of packaging, home and personal care are switching from HDPE to PET for cost, marketing and sustainability reasons. However, this market shift could bring about more than 300,000 additional tones of colored PET, including black and white colors. PRE warns that the PET recycling markets can't afford to absorb these extra colors. If collected and sorted together, these numerous colored containers will need extra sorting in the PET recycling plants, the organization stated. In order for recyclers to sell this colored fraction, the material will have to be tinted in black or grey, but no market currently exists for such a material in high quantities. According to the APR, the use of translucent and opaque colors is for bottle-to-bottle and engineered resin uses. Although newer sorting technology is capable of identifying white PET from other PET colors, much is also problematic and should be examined for their impact on the recycling process. Inclusion of nucleating agents, hazing agents, fluorescers and other additives for visual and technical effects should be examined specifically by the reclaiming industry for impact on the overall plastic bottle recycling stream, the APR states. PRE says that its data shows that if PET milk bottles contain TiO2, the recyclers' end product will be highly contaminated. For example, the transparency of clear recycled PET will be reduced (i.e. haze affect), while colored recycled PET will have TiO2 up to 5%. In both cases, this will lead to a fall in the use of recycled PET on the market, the group states. These 'colorful' future trends will weaken the image of PET as a recycled product. Additionally, it will create great difficulties for the PET recycling industry, which already has other market barriers to overcome, the group said. Furthermore, the existing HDPE recycling industry, which already has a market for colored HDPE applications (e.g. the pipe industry) will suffer if colored PET continues to grow.

Plastic Times 23 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

The solution? PRE believes its full body sleeves/ that could still produce a colorful effect. But let's not forget that full body shrink sleeve labels also present plenty of problems in the recycling process. PRE says it calls on the PET and HDPE value chains to join efforts to avoid breaking the circular functioning of these recycling streams. What are your thoughts about this? Should PET have a colorful future? Ak Inovex develops recycling technology without using water Source: Bio‐Plastics Magazine Traditionally, processes involve using a lot of water. In order to avoid this waste, Mexico-based Ak Inovex developed a new green technology that doesn't require liquids, and has the capacity to process materials such as styrofoam, polystyrene and ABS using the same type of customizable machinery. The technology developed by Marco Adame, founder of Ak Inovex, can process more than 90 percent of any type of plastic, avoids water waste and reduces production costs by half without reducing the quality of the pellets (small beads of recycled plastic) by avoiding stages with severe changes in temperature. Marco Adame said than the original process of obtaining recycled beads involves washing and then grinding plastic containers. However, this type of plastic has the distinction of being hygroscopic (when it comes in contact with water it retains moisture at a molecular level), so it has to be dehydrated in order to be crystallized; this involves applying heat at 180º C and then cooling the material with water. However, because AK Inovex's technology requires no water, energy consumption is reduced by half. Moreover, the system is compact, requiring less space than conventional processes, and produces better-quality pellets, whichmakes the recycling process more profitable. "Ak Inovex has a pending patent registration of the three technologies that integrate the development, which are responsible for cooling the plastic through contact with special walls and form the plastic beads, explained. Adame. The advantage of this technology is its ability to process any type of plastic, such as styrofoam, polystyrene, PET and ABS; the difference lies in the mechanism, because there is a special piece for each type of material. The production capacity of plastic beads is of two tons and the team is currently working on increasing it to ten. For next year, the company wants to change its business strategy and add an ecological washing machine for plastics that uses a special biodetergent, which will reduce the cost of operation even more. Marco Adame commented that during their participation in the Cleantech Challenge Mexico, a contest to promote the development of green companies, he had contact with the ALINSA group, which is engaged in the manufacture of environmentally friendly cleaning products using biodegradable chemicals. After the competition, the two companies started talking and have now joined forces in order to integrate the ecological washing machine system (which uses plastic substances claimed to biodegrade in less than 28 days) which does not impact the environment, hence replacing lye, which is the current substance used for washing the materials. (KL) Self-Lubricating Plastic Bearings for Continuous High Rotational Speeds Source: Bio‐Plastics Magazine igus announced its self-lubricating plastic bearings utilizing their iglide L500 plastic material. These self-lubricating plastic bearings are designed for continuous high rotational speeds under low loads. The L500 material combines extraordinary wear resistance in long-running, high speed applications. Continuous rotational speeds of more than 16 ft./s are possible, and the L500 material performs even under extreme environmental conditions, such as temperature ranging from -148° to 482° F, as well as media contact. The L500 material is characterized by its low moisture absorption and thermal expansion. These self-lubricating plastic bearings are ideal dry-running, wear resistant alternatives to sintered bearings. The positive material properties of the iglide L500 allow the self-lubricating operation of electric motors, fans, and ventilators, where sintered bearings were previously used. There is a standard range of RoHS-compliant L500 self- lubricating plastic bearings available, as well as production of customer-specific solutions.

24 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

Top DuPont Award Goes To Flex-Rigid Mono-Material Container Source : Plastic Technology When DuPontannounced the winners for its 2015 Awards for Packaging Innovation, it noted that this year's competition will be remembered as the year of design since 77% of the winners were honored for design excellence in enhancing the users' experience. This year's winners stand out as leaders in packaging innovation. They exemplify how collaboration, innovation and packaging excellence converge to generate game-changing solutions that positively impact our lives, said William Harvey, president of DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers. This is certainly exemplified by the winner of the Diamond Award, the program's highest honor. It went to Canada-based IPL, Inc. for its design and production of SkinnyPack, a salsa container for ' Anas Foodsof Austin, Texas. Honored for excellence in technological advancement, responsible packaging, and enhanced user experience, IPL's new hybrid flexible-rigid, mono-material container is allowing Ana's Foods to be a standout on store shelves, and the technology certainly has potential for other applications. Through their collaborative effort, Ana's Foods replaced its rigid salsa containers with the unique new package. IPL's SkinnyPack is an injection molded PP container that is made by fusing a thin, flexible in-mold (IMLO film to a sturdy, rigid frame. The process reportedly ensures that a strong adhesion exists Between the film and injected plastic, allowing the packages to remain sturdy and strong throughout production, filling, transport, distribution and consumer use. The lightweight, thin-walled SkinnyPack uses 54.8% less plastic than the original containers. The mono-material-material packaging structure makes the container 100% recyclable. Prior to use, the empty SkinnyPack is nestable to maximize warehouse space. After use, SkinnyPack can be easily crushed to optimize space during the recycling process. On each salsa package, Ana's Foods communicates their commitment to sustainability with their consumers: made with less plastic for a greener world. Meanwhile, the package's design differentiate itself on store shelves. The high-clarity film windows offer a look inside to give consumers confidence in the product prior to purchase, and the in-mold labeling offers high-resolution for high- impact shelf appeal. The package's round mouth offers easy access to the product while the square edges of the bottom provide better grip and handling. The unique square-round (squround) shape of the container ensures distinction on store shelves while also providing ease for food manufacturers to adopt the new package. The squround shape is compatible with most current packaging equipment, whether it is for square or round containers. New plastics 'bleed' when cut or scratched -- and then heal like human skin Source: Science Daily.com A new genre of plastics that mimic the human skin's ability to heal scratches and cuts offers the promise of endowing cell phones, laptops, cars and other products with self-repairing surfaces, scientists reported . The team's lead researcher described the plastics, which change color to warn of wounds and heal themselves when exposed to light, in San Diego at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). "Mother Nature has endowed all kinds of biological systems with the ability to repair themselves," explained Professor Marek W. Urban, Ph.D., who reported on the research. "Some we can see, like the skin healing and new bark forming in cuts on a tree trunk. Some are invisible, but help keep us alive and healthy, like the self- repair system that DNA uses to fix genetic damage to genes. Our new plastic tries to mimic nature, issuing a red signal when damaged and then renewing itself when exposed to visible light, temperature or pH changes." Urban, who is with the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg foresees a wide range of potential applications for plastic with warn-and-self-repair capabilities. Scratches in automobile fenders, for instance, might be repaired by simply exposing the fender to intense light. Critical structural parts in aircraft might warn of damage by turning red along cracks so that engineers could decide whether to shine the light and heal the damage or undertake a complete replacement of the component. And there could be a range of applications in battlefield weapons systems.

Plastic Times 25 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

Plastics have become so common, replacing steel, aluminum, , paper and other traditional materials because they combine desirable properties such as strength, light weight and corrosion resistance. Hundreds of scientists around the world have been working, however, to remedy one of the downsides of these ubiquitous materials: Once many plastics get scratched or cracked, repairs can be difficult or impossible. Self-healing plastics have become a Holy Grail of materials science. One approach to that goal involves seeding plastics with capsules that break open when cracked or scratched and release repairing compounds that heal scratches or cuts. Another is to make plastics that respond to an outside stimulus -- like light, heat or a chemical agent -- by repairing themselves. Urban's group developed plastics with small molecular links or "bridges" that span the long chains of chemicals that compose plastic. When plastic is scratched or cracked, these links break and change shape. Urban tweaked them so that changes in shape produce a visible color change -- a red splotch that forms around the defect. In the presence of ordinary sunlight or visible light from a light bulb, pH changes or temperature, the bridges reform, healing the damage and erasing the red mark. Urban cited other advantages of the new plastic. Unlike self-healing plastics that rely on embedded healing compounds that can self-repair only once, this plastic can heal itself over and over again. The material also is more environmentally friendly than many other plastics, with the process for producing the plastic water-based, rather than relying on potentially toxic ingredients. And his team now is working on incorporating the technology into plastics that can withstand high temperatures. Plastic Honeycomb-Like Device Could Help Control Light Around Sharp Curves Source: worldindustrialreporter.com Researchers from the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) and University of Central Florida (UCF) have developed a plastic honeycomb-like device which could provide a new way of controlling light around sharp curves. The device which is much smaller than a bee's stinger can steer light beams around tighter curves than ever before, while keeping the integrity and intensity of the beam intact. The work introduces a more effective way to transmit data rapidly on electronic circuit boards by using light. Sending information on light beams, instead of electrical signals, allows data to be transmitted thousands of times more quickly. But controlling the light beams without losing their energy has been the challenge. Microchip and computer manufacturers however, are increasingly looking to light as the best way to overcome speed bottlenecks associated with today's electronics. Computer chips and circuit boards have metal wire connections within them that transport data signals, said Raymond Rumpf, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UTEP. One of challenges when using light is figuring out a way to make tight bends so we can replace the metal wiring more effectively. That's where UCF comes in. Direct laser writing has the potential to become a flexible means for manufacturing next-generation computer devices, said Stephen Kuebler, associate professor of chemistry at UCF. Kuebler and his students used direct laser writing, a kind of nanoscale 3D printing, to create the miniature lattices. The team then ran light beams through the lattices and confirmed that they could flow light without loss through turns that are twice as tight as any done previously. The finding is significant because with the demand for ever-smaller and faster computers and hand-held devices, engineers need ways to pack ultra-fast data-transmission devices into smaller spaces. Conventional light waveguides, like optical fibers, can be used to steer light through turns. But the turns must be gradual. If the turn is too quick, the light beams escape and energy is lost. Thus in order to make ultra-sharp turns, the team designed the plastic devices so that its lattice steers the beam around corners without losing energy. The UTEP-UCF team's technology creates a new record in the field of optics for its ability to bend light beams. Kuebler said the team is now working to double that record, creating a lattice that will turn the light through an even tighter turn. Rumpf, who runs UTEP's Electromagnetic Lab, envisions this groundbreaking technology will first appear in high- performance super computers before it can be found in people's everyday laptops

26 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

Volatile but Profitable Market Exists for European Chemical Producers, IHS Says Source : Modern Plastics & Polymers

Crude oil price swings in recent months, combined with a devalued euro, have created a volatile but profitable marketplace for European petrochemical producers, according to analysis from IHS. Petrochemical markets are heavily impacted by changes in the crude oil price, since crude oil, and in particular, its derivative naphtha, is an essential steam- cracker feedstock for the production of gasoline and numerous chemicals. Changes in crude oil prices influence not only the overall price level for petrochemicals like olefins and aromatics, but are also a primary driver behind changes in the supply and demand picture. After crude oil prices started dropping in the summer of 2014, buyers began postponing their buying decisions for as long as possible, waiting for prices to bottom out," says Michael Smith, vice president of European chemicals, at IHS Chemical. Now buyers are focused on restocking their inventories in a tight market." He says the challenge for buyers is simply sourcing material, not negotiating on price and this is a "welcomed advantage" for European petrochemical producers. Polymer and other petrochemical buyers are currently facing a "once-in-a-generation supply squeeze," saysMatthew Thoelke, director of olefins at IHS Chemical. He lists four main factors contributing to this situation: buyers have an incentive to restock, European consumption is improving, imports are at reduced levels thanks to a devalued euro and, as a result of these factors, buyers of polymers face a "virtual supply nightmare." The weakened euro has certainly been contributing to the Eurozone's recent improved performance along with very low oil prices and stimulus from the European Central Bank, which is benefiting industries such as petrochemicals," says Howard Archer, Ph.D., chief European and UK economist, IHS Economics and Country Risk. In particular, the weakened euro has provided a significant boost to the competitiveness of Eurozone manufacturers, particularly in export markets." With the euro climbing off its mid-March lows and Eurozone growth expected to continue to firm, IHS thinks it is "unlikely" that the euro will dip below parity against the dollar. "The advantage here for European producers, in terms of the euro disparity, is likely to erode." he says. However, the euros' performance could be impacted by whether or not Greece stays in the Eurozone. How long this tight supply of petrochemical market will last in Europe depends on what happens with oil prices," Thoelke says. "Fundamentals still point to an oversupplied oil market, and IHS Energy expects the Brent price to fall back to $50 per in the coming months, when close to 2 million per day of crude oil will be heading into storage. If this happens, demand is likely to ease."

''The Indian sub-continent: the worlds fastest growing regional polymer market Source : Plastemart

The Indian sub-continent has established itself as the most exciting and dynamic emerging market in the world and is one full of potential and investment opportunities. With a population greater than China but with a polymer demand less than one-fifth the size, the region is expected to enjoy the fastest growth in polymer demand anywhere in the world over the next five years outstripping China and other emerging economies. According to a recently published study by leading industry consultants, Applied Market Information Ltd (AMI Consulting), there is now massive investment occurring in the region's petrochemical, polymer production and downstream plastic processing industries, driving strong growth in polymer demand - AMI forecasts that at the region's current rate of growth its thermoplastics market will surpass 20 mln tons by 2020.

Plastic Times 27 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

The market in the region is dominated by India on account of its huge population and high GDP. However, growth in the region on the whole is driven by its increasingly globally-minded governments that are introducing policies to encourage foreign direct investment and facilitate closer integration with the worldwide economy, helping to drive investment in petrochemicals, polymer production and downstream plastic processing. Growth in the region is not only fuelled by such policy relaxations but also by rising urbanisation of a large, youthful, population, leading to greater consumer spending for items that require plastics - from packaged goods to mobile phones and automobiles. While much of these products are still imported, there is now considerable investment taking place in plastics processing operations to support manufacturing investments, driving growth in polymer demand; those that understand and participate in this market now will reap the benefit of future growth. Although rapidly developing, the region does face substantial challenges. For example, lack of sufficient local polymer production is a major obstacle faced by many plastics processors in the region with each country besides India being heavily or even entirely reliant on resin imports depending on the country in question; these imports are mainly sourced from India, the Middle East and South East Asia. Exchange rate fluctuations of local currencies against the dollar add further uncertainty to the market, making it harder to compete against cheaper Chinese imports of finished goods. In general, power supply in the sub-continent is tight but also erratic and unreliable in many regions, which can dramatically reduce effective utilisation. However, in India in particular, the government is seeking to address these issues by implementing strategies to tackle infrastructural and power limitations. In addition, in September 2014, it announced its Make in India initiative, designed to catalyse Indian manufacturing to make the country a globally recognised manufacturing hub for years to come. It is clear that plastics will be called on to play a vital role in this changing region and the plastics industry will benefit from national efforts to encourage and improve manufacturing. In its report, AMI forecasts 8% per year average increases in the Indian sub-continent over the next five years, with levels of annual growth varying from 5% in Sri Lanka to up to over 8% in India. Indian Oil Corp commissions propylene recovery unit at Mathura Refinery Source : Plastemart State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has commissioned a propylene recovery unit at its Mathura Refinery. Sanjiv Singh, Director (Refineries), IOC inaugurated the new propylene recovery unit which is designed to process cracked LPG feed to produce 165,000 tpa of 99.7% pure, petrochemical-grade propylene product. Petrochem makers in Asia to take up LPG in June amid sharp price fall Source : Plastemart

Buyers in Asia's petrochemical sector are likely to start taking up liquefied petroleum gas again in June due to a sharp fall in prices for the fuel, after shunning LPG as a feedstock for several months in favour of naphtha, as per Reuters. Some 200,000 tons of naphtha could be replaced in June by LPG, traders estimated, and this could quicken the drop in naphtha prices as supplies balloon. "The current price spread between naphtha and LPG is about US$50-60/ton, making it quite workable to do a switch," said a Singapore-based trader. For substitution to take place, LPG prices have to be at least US$50/ton lower than naphtha. The expected LPG volumes would be only about half the record quantities used in June a year ago. But they would be up significantly from negligible usage in January through May this year due to an unexpected cold snap in Europe and North America that kept LPG prices high, the sources said. Asia's petrochemical units are able to replace up to 15 percent of naphtha with LPG to produce products such as ethylene and propylene, which are used mainly for making plastics. Naphtha sellers, who until recently were cashing in on strong spot prices, could be hard hit. The sudden LPG influx is coming at a time when more European naphtha cargoes are streaming to Asia and as cracker maintenance is set to pull down Asian naphtha demand. Additionally, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co will raise its naphtha exports as soon as it ramps up its expanded Ruwais refinery to about 90% in June.

28 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

Vadodara Municipal Corporation to use fibre-reinforced polymer manhole covers Source : Modern Plastics & Polymers

VADODARA: The local civic body has decided to replace manhole covers on drainage lines in the city with fibre- reinforced polymer (FRP) material instead of the conventional reinforced cement concrete (RCC) covers on an experimental basis. The FRP covers are believed to last longer than those made with RCC. Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) traditionally used to fit cast iron covers on its drainage manholes. But these are stolen frequently and the city police had even detected a case of theft of such covers by a scrap collector. It was after this that the civic body decided to use on RCC covers. The RCC covers are, however, prone to damage and breakage frequently. The situation is particularly bad in monsoon when such wet covers break easily. The civic body had recently put up FRP covers at a couple of locations. "The experience with these covers was good and they lasted longer than the RCC covers. To carry the process forward we have decided to use 200 such covers on an experimental basis throughout the city," said VMC city engineer P M Patel. The FRP covers will cost the civic body Rs 5,850 each and it will spend around Rs 11.7 lakh on them. Patel said that besides being durable, the FRP covers had no scrap value. This will ensure that they are not stolen as has been the experience in the past.

Plastics, elastomer materials for medical devices, drug delivery, implants and surgical instruments Source : Plastemart The medical device market is expanding worldwide providing vital health technology to the growing population and enabling a much higher quality of life through new advances. These developments include custom-made personalised devices, such as 3D-printed artificial bone implants and tissue scaffolds, and combination devices providing drugs and functions in the same piece of equipment. At the other end of the scale, bulk cheap devices such as syringes and fluid delivery and tubing are reaching much wider markets with advances in healthcare in developing nations. Polymers offer a cost-effective, accurate mass manufacturing option. For example, Solvay Specialty Polymers has illustrated how to replace metals with plastics in products such as surgical retractors. AMI's Medical Grade Polymers 2015 conference on plastics and elastomer materials for medical devices, drug delivery, implants and surgical instruments, takes place in September. Medical Grade Polymers 2015 kicks off with a review by Mark Moyer (formerly at Smith & Nephew, now with the Center for Advanced Medical Learning at USF), of how to innovate, sort out the regulatory compliance and get a new product into the healthcare market as quickly as possible. The molder, Cequr, will follow this with an outline of manufacturing trends and market challenges for innovation. The scale of the legal liabilities in this industry has deterred some of the larger materials companies from participating fully: the law firm Keller and Heckman will give a critical outline of the key issues for material suppliers in the medical marketplace. Manufacturing costs are being driven down by fierce market competition; it is vital to find the most efficient production technology and best components to build a viable future for the medical device industry without cutting corners. Raumedic has focused on the design requirements and manufacturability of medical tubing for stent and balloon delivery systems, while Mack Molding has discovered several ways to cut production costs and UFP Technologies produces a number of medical foams and films used in wound care. Massachusetts Materials Research has looked at material selection from the perspectives of manufacturing, use and interaction. Durability and life-time expectancy are highest in the orthopaedic sector: DePuy Synthes has studied the use of antioxidant-stabilized UHMWPE in implants. Visibility on X-rays is important, particularly in some investigative procedures and PolyOne has developed translucent radio-opaque compounds. Lubrizol provides flexible

Plastic Times 29 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

thermoplastic polyurethane materials for medical applications. Cambridge Polymer Group will review the difficult process of introducing new materials to this market. Reliable materials and clean room manufacturing processes are critical for safety in medical production. Hence a wide range of test protocols are specified by the regulatory and standards authorities, primarily the FDA and ISO, to maximize the safety of healthcare technology at source. This includes chemical tests on the materials and devices for extractables and leachables, which could migrate out in use: Aspen Research has reviewed how to set up and conduct one of these studies. Fresenius Kabi has recently tested an acrylatebased device, while Toxicon examines issues such as the safety and efficacy considerations of device/drug/biologic interactions. Plasticizers leaching from vinyl materials have caused concern in the past: BASF will review the selection of these additives. Sterilization protocols and packaging can affect devices and must be carefully specified. Device failures do occur and statutory reporting ensures that lessons are learned. Battelle has looked at some of the issues and is shedding light on some of the factors that affect material stability. Companies like Exponent undertake a range of testing and at Medical Grade Polymers 2015 they will speak on structure-property relationships in material selection. Infection prevention is a big issue for healthcare providers who aim to eliminate the pain and costs of hospital- acquired infection; there are options in device development to incorporate antimicrobials in and device surfaces. Sciessent is developing some of these antimicrobial materials.

India to be preferred plastics sourcing destination Source : Modern Plastics & Polymers

According to a recent report released by Plastindia Foundation, the Indian plastics industry which has been growing at a rate of 13% annually is expected to witness investments of $10 billion in the next five years. The slew of investments is expected to spruce up India's image of becoming a preferred sourcing destination for the global plastics industry. Titled 'Report on Indian Plastics Industry 2012-2016', the study forecasts that the growth prospects of the industry are bright as the per capita consumption of polymers industry in the country during 2012-13 was low at just 9.7 kg as compared to other developed nations. While sharing the highlights of the report, JR Shah, Chairman, National Executive Council, Plastindia 2015 said, India is a growing market for plastics and consumes about 11 million tonne annually against a global consumption of 275 million tonne per year and worldwide, the plastics and polymer consumption is growing at an average rate of 10% and is expected to touch 16.5 million tonne by 2016. The report points out that about 30,000 processing units with 113,000 processing machines have created manufacturing capacity of 30 million metric tonne per annum. This has been achieved with a 13% CAGR of processing capacity during last 5 years. The industry has invested $5 billion in the machinery and it is expected to make further project investment of $10 billion for further increase in capacities during the next 5 years. The plastics industry is conscious of its responsibilities as the consumption increases said Subash Kadakia, President, Plastindia Foundation. Increasing capacity of plastics recycling is a priority. We are working closely with many authorities to increase the efficiency of processes. Plastindia Foundation is continuously embarking upon education initiatives at various levels in our society he concluded. The association estimates that the demand for polymers to jump to 16.5 million metric tonne by 2016-17 from 11 million tonnes during 2012-13, resulting in consumption rising by 10.8% CAGR. The report estimates that major

30 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES Mar ‐ Apr, 2015 polymers manufacturing capacities during the same period is expected to reach 15.2 million metric tonne from 10.4 million metric tonne. Thus, the new capacity addition in major polymers such as (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), Polystyrene (PS) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) by 2016-17 is estimated at 4.8 million metric tonne. Some of the major producers in the industry include Reliance Industries, IOC, Haldia Petrochem and Gail. As against this, the report estimates the total polymer (Thermoplastics and Thermosets) consumption to grow 10.7% CAGR from 11.8 million MTs in 2012-13 to 17.6 million MT. Further, the thermoplastic polymer consumption is estimated to grow from 11 million metric tonne during 2012-13 to 16.2 million metric tonne and further to 20 million metric tonne by 2020. Packaging industry is growing at 15% annually valued at $15.6 billion. Flexible packaging industry accounts for 35% of this consumption, followed by 14% industrial, 13% rigid packaging, 12% by infrastructure, 10% by consumer durables and lifestyle, 9% by agriculture, 3% by automotive and 4% others. Thus, it is more than evident that the plastics industry would be a direct beneficiary of increasing per capita income, rising consumerisation and impact of modern ways of living particularly in urban India.

A medical device designer's guide to PEEK performance Source : Medical Plastics News

Shawn Shorrock, global business manager, healthcare, Solvay Specialty Polymers talks PEEK in the med-tech space. Specifying plastics for medical devices can be a major challenge for designers used to working with metals. Yet high-performance polymers can offer the same level of strength and rigidity as metals at ambient temperature, along with additional advantages. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a resin commonly fabricated via conventional melt processing methods, delivers particularly advanced performance in high-end applications, including aerospace, chemical processing and increasingly in medical devices. PEEK offers several benefits over metals commonly specified for medical device designs, including lower weight, enhanced aesthetics, more favorable ergonomics, improved costs and easy colorability which enables devices that are easily and quickly identified in the operating room. PEEK has also shown it is an effective alternative to metals for implantable medical applications, where targeted grades deliver enhanced chemical inertness and biocompatibility for intracorporeal devices, such as surgical implants or components of surgical or dental devices. Implant-quality grades of PEEK, such as Solvay's Zeniva ZA-500 and ZA-600, conform to the requirements of ASTM F2026 Standard for PEEK polymers targeting surgical implant applications. While these high-performance materials share fundamental properties with conventional PEEK grades, they are manufactured in compliance within the relevant guidelines of ISO 13485 and under the applicable requirements of current Good Manufacturing Practices. Solvay's Zeniva PEEK finds application in numerous implantable devices and in the development of new applications cleared by the FDA as well as by other regulatory bodies globally. To take full advantage of PEEK's capabilities and benefits, it is helpful for designers to better understand the three interrelated factors that influence PEEK's performance. These include the material's molecular structure, its processing and its unique material properties. Understanding these relationships can lead to the design of more innovative, functional and reliable medical devices and implants.

Plastic Times 31 May ‐ June, 2015 NEWS UPDATES

PEEK structure Generally, the polymerisation process through which PEEK is synthesised results in a molecular structure consisting of repeating units of aromatic rings linked by ether, ether and ketone. This aromatic backbone, along with PEEK's crystallinity and lack of hydrolysable groups, helps explain its excellent chemical resistance, its ability to withstand sterilisation and its excellent resistance to in vivo degradation. The regular, linear structure of the PEEK backbone is rigid and crystallisable, which makes the bulk material strong and stiff. PEEK also delivers low density vs. metals, leading to high specific strength. The level of strength and stiffness depend on the level of crystallinity, whereas the amorphous region determines ductility and fatigue responses. In medical implants, the typical crystallinity is between 30 and 35%, depending on the melt fabrication process and post-fabrication thermal treatments. PEEK processing PEEK's physical properties, such as crystallinity, strength, stiffness and ductility, can be modified by controlling the bulk resin's average molecular size, often described as molecular weight distribution and associated molecular weight averages. Smaller molecules correspond to lower viscosity and higher flow. For example, lower average molecular weight and a distribution of molecules that is shifted toward smaller sizes can result in a two- to three- times reduction in viscosity vs. standard grades. PEEK's molecular size is determined by its flow grade, and the resin's manufacturing technology. Although commercial resins within a certain flow grade may all share a similar average molecular size, closer examination may reveal some grades offer a narrower distribution biased toward larger molecules. Such grades have been shown to deliver improved ductility, durability, notch sensitivity and fatigue resistance than comparable resins. Grades favouring slightly larger average molecular sizes also crystallise more slowly at a given temperature. These are relevant considerations for designers expanding existing product lines or innovating new applications. PEEK exhibits the same basic crystallization behavior when it cools to the solid state, generating the same crystal structure and essentially the same semi-crystalline morphology overall. So, designers may select flow grades based on their intended fabrication method. Certain processing conditions and post-processing thermal treatments can offer minor differences in physical properties. But on a practical level, matching the flow characteristics of different PEEK grades is sufficient to ensure similar physical properties. In addition to influencing the average molecular size within a PEEK resin, manufacturing technology can also introduce measureable differences in colour. There is no known direct correlation between colour and performance of PEEK. However, colour measurements actually reflect structural information, and offer a practical means to distinguish grades from different suppliers. For example, neat PEEK resins made with Solvay's technology consistently exhibit greater luminosity (or brightness) and appear less yellow than corresponding competitive grades. PEEK properties PEEK's chemistry, structure and semi-crystalline morphology form the foundation for its excellent combination of mechanical and chemical properties, as well as its superb biocompatibility. The material also performs well in applications requiring good impact strength. As with most high-performance polymers, PEEK is notch sensitive, exhibiting lower impact strength in parts with sharper notches, such as sharp corners, threads and similar features. As it does with other properties, manufacturing technology influences notch sensitivity. In some cases, such as Solvay's specific nucleophilic polymerisation process, fabrication of the polymer can enable improvements of 10 to 20% in notched Izod impact strength in some grades. PEEK offers high stiffness. This does not vary appreciably across different grades from different suppliers for short- term elastic properties. All materials exhibit PEEK's characteristic elastic response at low strains, followed by yield and necking before failure. Higher flow grades crystallise more readily, but fracture at lower elongations compared to standard flow materials.

32 Plastic Times NEWS UPDATES May ‐ June, 2015

Manufacturing technology can impart more notable disparities in the comparative tensile stress-strain curves for different materials, where a substantial difference in elongation at failure becomes evident. Solvay's manufacturing technology, for example, produces PEEK resins that exhibit greater ductility and durability, as measured by the area under the stress strain curve. Medical devices manufacturers may design products to perform within PEEK's elastic regime, where manufacturing technology has no discernable effect. However, by choosing grades with greater ductility, they can enhance the long-term durability and fatigue properties of parts targeting more demanding applications. Conclusion The growth opportunity for medical-grade polymers is outpacing the growth rate of medical devices overall, thanks in part to the increasing selection of high-performance polymers over conventional metal solutions. PEEK resins, in particular, offer unique benefits over metal, including lower weight, enhanced aesthetics, more favorable ergonomics and improved costs. But medical device manufacturers can optimize their designs further by working with PEEK suppliers that can couple their material's outstanding performance with detailed processing guidance, technical support and regulatory support. Manufacturers should also seek PEEK suppliers that offer well-developed 510(k) master access files for their resins to facilitate clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This path can help accelerate time to market for a new device, and greatly improve its competitive edge.

Over 190 tonnes of scrap produced by exhibitors at NPE recycled Source : Modern Plastics & Polymers

At NPE2015, 82 exhibitors participated in the programme to recycle processing scrap generated on the show floor, twice as many as at NPE2012, causing a dramatic increase in the amount of material collected for recycling, it was announced by SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, which produces the triennial NPE. Commercial Plastics Recycling (CPR), the official recycling company for NPE2015, collected, sorted, and recycled 191 tonnes of processing scrap, which was 62% more than was collected at NPE2012 and 235% more than at NPE2009. As the show has grown and the amount of scrap has increased, the recycling programme has increased its capacity, ensuring plastics scrap is being managed properly. We reached out to exhibitors well in advance of NPE2015 to find out their needs and get a clear idea of how we should prepare, said Paul Benvenuti of CPR. Another big help was having our containers and trucks on site during setup since machines were being operated and generating scrap well before the start of the show. Altogether, NPE2015 generated 518 tonnes of waste at the Orange County Convention Center, including both processing scrap and post-consumer waste. Of the total, 452 tonnes, or 87%, was recycled. CPR reclaimed the processing scrap at its recycling facility in Tampa, FL, and through a contract carrier, the Orange County Convention Center arranged for recycling of post-consumer waste. All of this was driven by NPE's Recycling Committee, comprised of representatives from companies exhibiting at NPE2015, and SPI's director of operations, Lori Campbell. SPI and the plastics industry's commitment to reduce, reuse, or recycle was a significant focus of the show, and we believe our recycling efforts were a realization of that commitment, said Bill Carteaux, SPI's President and CEO. As the leading trade event in plastics, we needed to model the appropriate behavior, and thanks to the efforts of our recycling programme partners, we were able to do just that.

Plastic Times 33 May ‐ June, 2015

34 Plastic Times PEARLPOLYMERS

Del Credere Agency for Polymer Products at both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States For

Reliance Industries Limited

For All Polymer Products of PP, PE, PVC, EVA & UHM

HEAD OFFICE : H.No. : 6‐3‐347/22/1, F.No. : 102, Blossom’s Residency, Near Sai Baba Temple, Dwarakapuri Colony, Punjagutta, Hyderabad ‐ 500 082. Tel : 040‐42027777 Tel/Fax : +91‐40‐42410140 Mobile Nos. : +91‐93962‐11456, +91‐93920‐18181, +91‐93914‐18181 E‐mail: [email protected] Website : pearlpolymers.co

BRANCH OFFICE : Shop No. : 99, MGWC Complex, Mahindra Nagar, Gollapudi, Vijayawada ‐ 521 225. Mobile : +91‐93923‐18181

40