Page 52 - Plastics News December 2022

TECHNOLOGY

Base Materials Announces the Development of New Tooling Material

structure, low coefficient of ther-
mal expansion, excellent dimen-
sional stability, and an inert sur-
face for wide-ranging compatibility.
John Miller, Managing Director of
Base Materials, said: “The launch of
Ares 770 represents a substantial
investment in, and commitment to,
leveraging our industry-leading re-
search and development capabilities
to enhance innovation and support
our customers, particularly those in
the UK, in these challenging times.

“From automotive to aerospace and
beyond, Ares 770 is a cost-competitive
Tooling board manufacturer, terials, is designed for the manufac- novel material that can help our cus-
Base Materials has announced its ture of master models and patterns tomers to protect their margins with-
intention to strengthen its long- used in the production of carbon out compromising performance.”
standing commitment to invest- fibre parts, and for vacuum form- Base Materials’ Ares 770 novel
ing in research and development ing and thermoforming applications. material, which is manufactured
to meet the needs of its custom- The new tooling material is Suit- in-house at Base Materials is avail-
ers with the launch of Ares 770. able for use across a range of in- able in a selection of board thick-
res 770 is a new cost-competi- dustries including automotive and nesses up to 200 millimetres.
Ative novel tooling material. The aerospace. Tooling material is suit- Base Materials also produces an-
new proprietary resign system, able for use at temperatures up to cillary products including adhe-
which is made from syntactic ma- +130 OC and boasts a fine surface sives, sealers, and release agents.

MIT scientists develop new chemical process to break down plastics.

into a single product, propane. Recycling plastics has been a difficult
ropane can then be used as a problem, according to Román-Leshk-
Pfuel for stoves, heaters, and ov. Because the long-chain molecules
vehicles, or as a feedstock to pro- in plastics are held together by car-
duce a wide variety of products, bon bonds, which are “very stable
including new plastics, thus po- and difficult to break apart.” Existing
tentially providing at least a par- techniques for breaking these bonds
According to new research from tial closed-loop recycling system. tend to produce a random mix of dif-
MIT and elsewhere a chemical ferent molecules, which would then
process using a catalyst based The finding is described in the open require refining methods to separate
on cobalt has been found to be access journal JACS Au, in a paper out into usable specific compounds.
very effective at breaking down by MIT professor of chemical en- Leshkov added: adds: “there’s no
a variety of plastics, such as gineering Yuriy Román-Leshkov, way to control where in the car-
polyethylene (PET) and poly- postdoc Guido Zichitella, and seven bon chain you break the molecule.”
propylene (PP), the two most others at MIT, the SLAC National A catalyst made of a microporous
widely produced forms of plastic, Accelerator Laboratory, and the Na-
tional Renewable Energy Laboratory. material called a zeolite that contains

52 PLASTICS NEWS December 2022