PERSPECTIVES ON THE TECHNICAL, SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL BENEFITS IN THE USE OF SINGLE-PACK STABILISER FORMULATIONS FOR POLYMER PROCESSING

The consumption of stabilisers and additives applied in a simple powder form has fallen drastically over the the last 10 years. This change is not remarkable given the many problems associated with powders, ranging from health & safety to transport, storage and feeding issues in polymer processing equipment. The reasons for the expanded growth for NO Dust Blends (NDBs) will be explored by giving a brief overview of the scientific, technical and commercial processing benefits associated with the use of NDB’s using the original data analysis and procedures that were designed in the first developments. Many of the benefits vary some difficult to quantify but overall, they will be explored here. The additive combinations chosen here focuses on phenolic antioxidants, a metal deactivator and a phosphite composition to optimise and improve additive effectiveness using an additive incorporation via NDB’s on the example of a wire & cable and a pipe application. It was found that eutectic alloy effects via DSC analysis of selected additive mixtures and pre-dispersion of additives can lead to improved stabilisation efficacy as well as practical processing benefits as measured by long term heat ageing (LTHA). The use of No Dust Blend NDB instead of powders or even granules can easily lead to significant productivity benefits and less clean-up operations for the technologist and engineers. It is the aim of this paper to present a brief overview of the NDB technology that has been developed and highlight selected scientific, technical and practical benefits which are ultimately driving their growth providing a useful insight for the polymer processor and engineer to develop their own specific needs especially high tonnage applications