WACKER to showcase three new additive masterbatches at K 2022
Munich, Germany – WACKER will be showcasing three new additive masterbatches for modifying biodegradable poly- esters at the 22nd International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber. Available as VINNEX® LA 2540, VINNEX® LA 2640 and VINNEX® LA 8040, these products are pelletized polymer blends consisting of vinyl acetate-based polymer resins and polylactic acid. They have the same effect as pure vinyl acetate-based resins, but are easier to handle and therefore particularly easy to process. This year’s K show will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 19 to 26.
The product launch rounds out WACKER’s tried and tested VINNEX® additive system. The novel free-flowing dry blends are optimized for further processing: solid mixers can now be used to directly stir the blends into the raw polymer that is to be modified. In this way, plastic processors can eliminate complicated compounding steps.
The masterbatch carrier is a polylactic acid produced from renewable raw materials. The actual active component is a vinyl acetate-based polymer resin. WACKER offers three products for this purpose, namely VINNEX® LA 2540, VINNEX® LA 2640 and VINNEX®
LA 8040. The ready-to-process additive masterbatches have an active ingredient content of 40 percent, while the polylactic acid content is 60 percent. The grain size is around three millimeters, allowing the dry blend to be smoothly dosed.
The new additive masterbatches are compatible with all biodegrad- able polyesters. Unlike non-compounded vinyl acetate-based poly- mer resins, they can generally be transported and stored without cooling, even in summer ambient temperatures. Temperatures up to
30 degrees Celsius do not cause clumping.
The three product types differ in terms of the polymer resins used and therefore achieve different effects:
VINNEX® LA 2540 and VINNEX® LA 2640 are ideal for the pro- duction of highly transparent, biodegradable films. Both grades increase the melt strength, thereby allowing optimized extrusion. With their higher melt strength, these two grades reduce the necking, i.e., constriction of the extrudate, observed in numerous biodegradable polyesters. In blown film extrusion, they stabilize the extruded polymer bubble, which makes high process speeds possible.
VINNEX® LA 8040 lowers the melt viscosity at both low and high shear rates. This grade is therefore the additive masterbatch of choice, if the polymer melt has to be particularly flowable, as is the case, for example, in the production of complex, finely struc- tured plastic articles by injection molding or 3D printing.