Page 51 - Plastics News July 2020

PRESS RELEASE

Working together to help people with reliable quality

KRAIBURG TPE is creating resources to supply system- After BaS had designed a 3D model, Rietsch GmbH
relevant plastics processors Werkzeug- und Formenbau produced the mold required
to manufacture the masks. Thanks to forward-looking
Working together to help people with reliable quality
planning, KRAIBURG TPE was able to promptly deliver
the compounds needed to produce the masks, so that it
High-quality thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) from
took only a few days for the first sample to come off the
KRAIBURG TPE are not only used in many everyday
conveyor belt. A total of 1,500 masks with breathing
applications such as toothbrushes, razors, automobiles,
apparatus filters can now be produced daily.
and many others. They have also become indispensable
in numerous areas of systemic importance. The current The special thing about this mask system is its modular
corona pandemic is an increasing challenge for the
design that combines a cleanable half-mask and an
health-care and social systems in particular. Currently,
exchangeable filter. The plastic mask is easy to clean – in
medical applications such as valves, connections and a dishwasher, for example – and can be reused with a new
tubes for ventilators, as well as simple elastic straps for filter afterwards.
fitting respirators are urgently needed.
“Our TF5CGN material was used for the BaS mask. It's
The special THERMOLAST® M and THERMOLAST® K food-safe, is very easy to clean, and has a pleasantly soft
compounds are needed here. The THERMOLAST® M surface that makes the mask fit snugly onto the face,”
medical compounds in particular are characterized by a
says Matthias Schmidt, Sales Manager Medical at
high degree of purity, which is guaranteed through a
KRAIBURG TPE. “This is one of many different face-mask
constant production process, permanently assigned
applications that have recently been implemented using
production units and numerous quality assurance tests.
In the current situation, KRAIBURG TPE has decided to
increase its production capacities for these materials
and to give top priority to their production. It goes
without saying that the internal procedures for
protecting staff members have been optimized and
adjusted accordingly. Stocks of the relevant raw
materials have been increased to ensure constantly
smooth and stable production capacity.

The raw materials supply is checked on a daily basis to
ensure continuous production at the usual consistent
and reliable quality. All of this guarantees that a rapid
our TPEs. What we like most about this special project is
supply with TPEs is ensured so that we are able to meet
the supportive collaboration there was between all of
the growing worldwide demand for these materials for a
the companies involved. Thanks to the rapid
wide variety of medical applications.
implementation of the project, local and regional
For example, BaS Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH from retirement homes, outpatient services, and medical
Eslarn is one of the German companies that have decided offices are quickly receiving help so that they can work in
to use their production capacities in the fight against a protected and safe way again during the coronavirus
Covid-19. Instead of components for the automotive and crisis.”
electrical industry, the company is now producing
Mask system with modular design that combines a
reusable face masks/respirators for welfare and social-
cleanable half-mask and an exchangeable filter. (Image:
service institutions and doctor's offices. It was the
© 2020 BaS)
company's close collaboration with KRAIBURG TPE in the
project, among other things, that made this possible.

July 2020 51 Plastics News