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MARCH 2022 MICRO MOLDING RESHAPES ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY SPE AUTO DIVISION SLATES EV/AV CONFAB Event looks at how next-gen vehicles will affect plastics use PLUSINSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 78 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2022 10 Additives COLOR COORDINATES Enhanced colorants complement multiple needs including sustainability and product circularity. CES Report MASS APPEAL CES 2022 trains its spotlight on tech trends and the solid growth many markets will experience. 20 30 GET YOUR OWN! Plastics Engineering keeps plastics industry professionals informed of the latest news and in-depth reporting on state-of-the-art and emerging technologies that impact the R&D and processing of plastics products. This is the magazine every plastics industry professional NEEDS to read. 4spe.org/Subscribe 4 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR IS REALITY New molded and flexible electronics combine performance and design in new product types. COVER STORY www.plasticsengineering.org | MARCH 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 126 | Thermoforming CHANGE MAKERS European Conference speakers to highlight new materials, technology and advances in sustainability. 9 | Data Points Demand for electric vehicles and batteries is surging. 18 | Design 3D PRINTING SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR MULTIPART ELECTRONICS Arburg process converts regular pellets and granules into high-tech connected housings. 47 | Calendar48 | Ad/Editorial Index INSIDE PLASTICS ENGINEERING VOLUME 78 NUMBER 3 MARCH 2022 5 | Set Point Firm tackles plastics waste with composites; Coca-Cola commits to greater use of refillable bottles. 44 | SPE News RECYCLING 2.0 Developments in technology increase reuse processes and the quality of recyclate. 40 34 | Color TEACH-IN SPE Color Division sets National Week of Coloring Plastics virtual conference in March. 28 SPE AUTO DIVISION SLATES EV/AV CONFERENCE IN MAY First annual event to focus on ways in which electric and autonomous vehicles will affect plastics use. OPTIMIZING DISPERSION Clariant data highlight advantages of metallocene PE waxes on pearlescent aesthetics. 36 2 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | MARCH 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgPatrick Toensmeier Editor-in-Chief (203) 777-1474 ptoensmeier@4spe.org Michael Greskiewicz Director, Sales & Advertising (203) 740-5411 mgreskiewicz@4spe.org Ryan Foster Art Director (203) 740-5410 rfoster@4spe.org Sue Wojnicki Director of Communications (203) 740-5420 swojnicki@4spe.org Editorial & Publishing Staff President Jason Lyons CEO Patrick Farrey President-Elect Bruce Mulholland Vice President – Chapters & Secretary ScottEastman Vice President – Business & Finance / Treasurer James Waddell Vice President – Professional Development Pavan Valavala Vice President – Sustainability Conor Carlin Vice President – Member Engagement Lynzie Nebel Vice President – Publications Raymond Pearson Vice President at Large Paul Martin Past President Jaime Gómez SPE 2021-2022 Executive Board Contributing Editors NANCY D. LAMONTAGNE ndlamontagne@gmail.com Nancy D. Lamontagne reports on science, technology and engineering. Topics she covers for Plastics Engineering include thermoforming, blow molding, medical plastics, packaging, and education and career development. ROBERT GRACE bob@rcgrace.com Robert Grace has been in B2B journalism since 1980. He covers design and business for Plastics Engineering and is editor of SPE’s Journal of Blow Molding. Professional memberships include the Industrial Designers Society of America. JENNIFER MARKARIAN technicalwritingsolutions@comcast.net Jennifer Markarian focuses on technology. A chemical engineer, she began her career in product development with Mobil Chemical’s polyethylene group. She is also newsletter editor for SPE’s Palisades-New Jersey Section. CATHY NESTRICK Cathy Nestrick is the former vice president and general counsel of Berry Global Group Inc., a Fortune 500 manufacturer and marketer of plastics packaging and engineered materials. She is the founder and co-host of Parity Podcast, which focuses on accelerating gender equality. www.plasticsengineering.org | MARCH 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 3 PEGGY MALNATI peggy@malnatiandassociates.com Peggy Malnati has over 30 years’ experience covering plastics, composites and automotive. She has organized technical conferences for SPE and served as board member and communications chair for SPE’s Automotive Division. GEOFF GIORDANO geoffgio@verizon.net Geoff Giordano has been a contributor to Plastics Engineering since 2009, covering a range of topics, including additives, infrastructure, flexible electronics, design software, 3D printing and nanotechnology. FROM THE O f all the things in life that make the world a better place, color would have to be near the top of everyone’s list. Color is both a natural phenomenon—think seasonal changes in nature—and a human creation that soothes feelings, ignites passions, acts as a comforting backdrop to daily routines, provides limitless inspiration and often clues to personal health. Even the blind, according to a 2018 study published by Nature Communications, can share a common understanding of color with sighted people, albeit in a highly abstract way. Color is, of course, indispensable to product development and brand identity. A tourist who sees a soft drink bottle in an overseas café, for example, may not speak the local language, but will know immediately what brand it is by the design and color of the label— assuming, of course, that it’s a global brand. Maintaining color integrity is thus vital to good business. And especially so for plastics compounders and processors whose responsibility it is to assure OEMs and brand owners that their products will be immediately recognizable to consumers and, in the case of durables, maintain their aesthetics long after purchase. One irony of working with color, is that many people don’t understand the technical side of specification, formulation and product application. Which is why SPE has developed a much- needed week of virtual presentations this month on color. Called “The National Week of Coloring Plastics,” the event is being presented from March 21 to 25, by the Color and Appearance Division (CAD) to educate people—beginners as well as veteran employees—in multiple aspects of the field. The agenda will include lengthy presentations on two of the most common colorants, titanium dioxide (white) and carbon black, as well as overviews of organic and inorganic pigments, computer color matching, environmental and regulatory trends, food contact regulations, sustainability—a mainstay of most technical conferences these days—and a complementary topic on formulating black and other dark colors for packaging to facilitate near-infrared sorting systems in recycling centers. There will, as well, be an optional second conference during the event titled “Plastics in UVC Sterilization.” UVC, or ultraviolet C, is a germicidal sterilization technique that operates in wavelengths between 200 and 290 nanometers. Its relevance to color is as a formulation property that allows sterilizable plastics to resist color fade after exposure. Some of the topics slated for presentation might seem basic, but Bruce Mulholland, a CAD board member, conference organizer and retired Celanese executive, says this is a strength. Mulholland notes that many people who work with color, including on product development teams and in labs, tend to make selections based on their feelings about a particular hue, as opposed to technical considerations regarding its potential effect on a particular resin, processability, general suitability for a part and, of course, sustainability. Many of these people, he adds, “touch color a lot [but] have no idea what color can do to the properties of their products, or else want appearances that just aren’t possible in plastics.” There’s no shame in not being up to speed about color. It is a diverse, complex subject that is as much at the core of materials specification as resin, additives and process technology. Attending “The National Week of Coloring Plastics” is a good way to familiarize or refresh oneself with the basics of a demanding, extraordinary and endlessly fascinating materials discipline, one whose success will directly affect the business fortunes of all companies involved—product developers, brand owners, compounders and processors. Information about the event is available at the SPE web site: www.4spe.org/events. The workshops, tutorials and presentations are free to SPE members, and $49 for nonmembers. The Plastics in UVC Sterilization conference is $99 for SPE members and $299 for nonmembers. If you work with color in any capacity, this is one place you should be this month. PAT TOENSMEIER Editor-in-Chief ptoensmeier@4spe.org LIVING COLOR 4 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | MARCH 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.orgSET POINT There are many smart people working to alleviate the crisis related to excess plastics waste. They are working to find better ways to collect, sort, clean, process and effectively reuse these materials in a safe, cost-efficient manner. One of those is Geoff Germon, who founded Talon Technology Pty. Ltd. in 1987 in Australia, near Sydney, to focus on designing everyday consumer products using advanced composites and carbon fiber. The firm (www.talon.com.au), of which Germon is CEO, has evolved into carbon fiber research and development specialists. But Germon and his team have broadened their scope to explore ways to tackle another challenge— the failure of plastics recycling to put a significant dent in the plastics waste problem. “So,” says Germon, “maybe it is time to consider another way. Perhaps we should start making products from plastics waste that ignore all the rules normally associated with designing plastics parts and think of plastics parts that can only be made economically from low-grade plastics waste.” For the past two years, he and his team have been working on a project they call the Local Plastic Micro Factory (www.lpmproject. com). Its aim is to recycle plastics waste at a village level in Asia. The first part of this program is “what can we make from plastics rubbish and how to make it with very simple equipment.” Such an approach has its own issues. Take, for example, the accompanying image of a panel made from unsorted, shredded, mixed plastics waste. It has two significant problems: first, the mix of waste makes the physical strength unreliable, meaning the core can fail easily if two or three pieces of difficult-to- melt plastic line up; and second, the appearance is inconsistent and essentially unsaleable, since it changes all the time depending on the mix of waste. Germon explains that Talon opted to pursue a solution that drew on its fiber composites expertise. In this case, they chose to use a flax material impregnated with a polyethylene matrix made from old plastic bags. This is wrapped around the plastic waste, which now acts only as a core. Talon processed it using moderate heat (140°C; 284°F) and pressure (20 tons). The resulting part addressed both shortcomings, as it provided structural integrity and gave the part an acceptable exterior appearance. Talon developed another test part—a 54-mm (2.12-inch) rod that is strong, durable, rot resistant and heavy. Unlike with most composite structures, its weight is actually a good thing. The finished weight of this rod is 2.3 kg (5.06 pounds) per meter (3.281 feet), and it uses the equivalent of 300 plastic shopping bags. The designers envision the pole replacing galvanized steel poles to hold up street signage. Wrapping it in a woven flax sheet yields an organic-looking exterior, with none of the multicolored mess of random recycled plastic that makes up its core. The mix of waste can vary enormously, but Germon says the mix they work with is approximately 30 percent PE, 20 percent ABS, 15 percent polypropylene, 15 percent talc-reinforced PP, 10 percent nylon and polyesters, and 5 percent each of polystyrene and PVC. Talon is using two layers of 200 grams (7.05 ounces) per square meter (10.76 square feet) of woven flax, which is impregnated with LDPE. “The flax provides a surprising amount of strength and rigidity and virtually eliminates creep,” says Germon, while acknowledging that they don’t yet have tested load values. They have installation parts ready to go for weathering tests shortly. He notes various types of fibers can potentially serve a purpose in these sorts of applications, among them natural fibers, glass fibers and even metal fibers. “Since these are molded parts, you can also incorporate flat spots and attachment fittings for the signs, as well as features to improve the insertion into the ground or concrete,” Germon says. In terms of cost, in some countries you actually get paid to divert waste plastic from landfill, which makes most of your raw materials better than free. The only costs are the fiber (assuming you are not reclaiming them from recycled garments), plus energy and tooling costs. “Scaling is our current challenge, while dealing with some competing aims,” Germon wrote in a Feb. 6 email interview. “We want our equipment and tooling to be rugged and inexpensive. We’re looking at automating the production of the rod, and we want to reduce the amount of heating and reheating AUSSIE FIRM USES COMPOSITES TO TACKLE PLASTICS WASTE continued on p. 7 Geoff Germon All photos courtesy of Talon Technology Talon Technology made this multicolored panel from unsorted, shredded, mixed plastic waste. It lacks visual consistency and structural integrity. www.plasticsengineering.org | MARCH 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 5Coca-Cola Co. pledged on Feb. 10 to increase the global share of its beverages delivered in returnable/ refillable containers to 25 percent by 2030. The company currently sells 16 percent of its beverages in refillable containers. The pledge was in response to a pending shareholder proposal filed by As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group in Berkeley, Calif., and Green Century Capital Management, asking the company to set stronger refillable goals. Nearly half of Coca- Cola’s global packaging is single-use polyethylene terephthalate bottles, which reportedly generate 3 million tons of plastic packaging annually, the equivalent of producing 200,000 bottles per minute, according to As You Sow. Single-use bottles are more likely to be improperly disposed of and, in coastal areas, become ocean pollution, the advocacy group states. Refillable containers are said to provide opportunities for faster, larger reductions in single-use plastic, As You Sow notes, since they don’t need to be remanufactured each time they are used. Coca-Cola operates significant refillable bottle operations in many markets. Refillable bottles are said to substantially cut plastic waste while providing substantial profits with a 90 percent collection rate. The bottles can reportedly be reused 20 to 40 times. By comparison, less than 30 percent of single-use PET beverage containers are recycled in the U.S. Refillables account for 50 percent or more of company sales in more than 20 global markets, and 25 percent or more in 40 markets. After additional analysis of the company’s goal, As You Sow and Green Century Capital Management will determine whether to withdraw their proposal. A January 2020 report by Oceana, an oceans advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., indicated considerable potential to reduce ocean plastic by increasing refill market share. The organization concluded that boosting the share of refillable bottles by 10 percent in place of single-use PET bottles in coastal countries could reduce marine plastic pollution by 22 percent. Other organizations have studied the problem of ocean plastics—polymer waste that ends up in oceans. The United Nations Environment Program, for one, has found that a total of 10 rivers in Africa and Asia carry more than 90 percent of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans. This and other findings are at the worldenvironmentday.global web site. World Environment Day 2022 is June 5. COCA-COLA COMMITS TO GREATER USE OF REFILLABLE PLASTIC BOTTLES SET POINT Global packaging supplier Mondi teamed with consumer products maker Henkel to develop a reusable package for Henkel’s hand dishwashing products. The design allows consumers to refill dispenser bottles made from 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate with detergent from flexible polyethylene pouches. The packaging concept’s first application is in Germany, with Henkel’s Pril brand detergent. Available since January, consumers buy the keep-at-home refillable rPET pump dispenser from Henkel and the refills in lightweight PE standup pouches produced by Mondi. The pouch reportedly reduces plastic consumption by 70 percent every time it replaces rigid plastic bottles and is easy to recycle where existing infrastructure exists. It has been certified by “Blauer Engel” (Blue Angel), the independent ecolabel of the German federal government that sets standards for environmentally responsible products and services. The pouch completely empties due to its shaped design, leaving no residue. It is soft touch with a sturdy base so it can stand in-store, offering consumers eye-catching shelf appeal while communicating brand information including sustainability benefits. Mondi’s leak-proof pouch is certified according to the ISTA 6 (International Safe Transit Association) standard, providing a durable package for in-store and online shopping. The refill system sup- ports Henkel’s sus- tainability targets of making 100 percent of its packaging recy- clable or reusable and reducing 50 percent of fossil-based virgin plastic use by 2025. Mondi, meantime, has adopted sustainability goals that include a target to make 100 percent of the packaging products it makes reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Coca-Cola has agreed to boost its use of refillable PET bottles by 2030. Courtesy of Russian internet RECYCLABLE REFILL SYSTEM REDUCES VIRGIN PLASTICS USE Standup PE pouch developed by Mondi supplies detergent refills for users of Henkel’s rPET pump dispenser. Courtesy of Mondi 6 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | MARCH 2022 | www.plasticsengineering.organd get the process down to a single heat cycle to save on energy costs. “That said, I am really confident that we have no real technical barriers between where we are now and true volume production. We just need some additional smart process engineering.” Where Talon could use funding is in the process automation area. There is a lot of money being invested to promote plastics recycling, he notes, but most of it to date has been spent on collection and sorting. Talon’s project doesn’t fit the typical mold, so to speak. In the past couple of months, however, Germon says he has seen a significant shift in Australian government priorities. The administration recently launched a “ReMade in Australia” program (RemadeinAustralia.gov.au) that aims to showcase cool products made from waste materials. The campaign “invites Australian industry, retailers and consumers to get involved in helping Australians choose products that have been made from recycled material right here in Australia.” Germon says Talon is in discussions with a couple of groups. “We have also entered a consortium with the University of Southern Queensland, where we will be looking at what products could be made from unsorted plastic waste.” So, why use composites? The thermoplastic molding industry has had 25 years to come up with a solution, and for the most part its response has been: “Give us clean, sorted waste at the same price as virgin material and we will use it to make the products we are making now.” That is simply not going to happen. “The products that are going to be made from plastic waste in the future will not be [typical] plastic parts,” asserts Germon, who since 2014 has also served as an adjunct professor in design at the University of Canberra. “They are going to be products currently made from steel, concrete and wood, with their strength and aesthetics achieved through composite fibers.” He sees the composites Industry as being uniquely equipped to make a difference in tackling the serious global problem of waste. “The industry has a long history of innovation and of seeking solutions by using new materials. We have some of the best designers and engineers skilled in the all-important use of reinforcing fibers, and finally we have an obligation to bring our skills to bear on such a serious problem.” Readers interested in getting involved in this project can contact Germon at geoff@talon.com.au or visit www.lpmproject.com —Robert Grace Composites, p. 5 This panel has a waste plastics core and is wrapped with a PE-based dyed woven flax. The PE is from recycled shopping bags, and on this version the black lettering showing through are safety instructions printed on the bags. Talon says it could modify the approach for a more uniform look. Talon sees potential in using waste plastics as a core for rods such as this, which it wrapped with two layers of woven flax in a PE matrix. The rods exhibit great strength, and each meter of rod consumes about 300 plastic bags. TEIJIN AUTOMOTIVE ADDS CHINA CAPACITY FOR EVS Teijin Automotive Technologies announced on Feb. 14 that it has begun commercial operation of a composites manufacturing facility in the Wujin National Hi-Tech Industrial Zone in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. The facility has 39,000 square meters (419,640 square feet) of work area. The company also reported that it is constructing a third plant in China, in the Technological Development Zone of Tiexi District in Shenyang, Liaoning province, and will begin operating this plant, with 13,000 square meters (139,880 square feet) of work area, in the summer of 2023. Teijin’s new automotive composites plant in China supplies U.S., European and Chinese electric vehicle OEMs. Courtesy of Teijin Automotive Technologies continued on p. 8 www.plasticsengineering.org | MARCH 2022 | PLASTICS ENGINEERING | 7Next >