At Big Blue this language is already old5 this year unlike the rest of the countryRemains that the fullscale experiment will startIt is notably expected to directly help some SMEsIt is the despair of the Evanescence commented badly on an intervieweeThe most often attached to hospitals they lack visibilityThe European banking compartment is granted almost 125 billion already released in their favourFor the startup the approach is differentIssuers must also make a significant haircutIn times of crisis, base chemicals, also known as "commodities" and sold cheap in very large volumes, suffer more reductions in price and performance materials. By primarily focusing its strategy on innovation, Arkema strives to resist in the ambient doldrums. "Within five years, our portfolio of innovative products will change scale and it is expected to generate additional revenues of the order of EUR 400 million," announced the week last Thierry Le Hénaff, Chairman and CEO of Arkema. In this context, the chemist will concentrate development on two key areas. First, the materials of high performance, whose sales are expected to explode from 25 to 250 million euros between 2008 and 2013.
Then, the chemicals contributing to solving the problems related to sustainable development, which should generate additional revenue of EUR 150 million. "In the collective mind tends to think that a high-performance product can not be renewable origin, while the two are not at all incompatible", said Christian Collette, Director of the R & D of Arkema. As evidenced by the newly developed material developed by the research of the chemical group French.
Non-food culture
Dubbed "Rilsan HT", it is the first thermoplastic high temperature, flexible, called to replace the metal tubes under the hood of the engine. High performance that does not prevent this new issue resin in the sector of castor bean to contain up to 70 of carbon of vegetable origin and non-food culture. Above all, this new generation material meets the objectives of eco-design of vehicle manufacturers. "Rilsan HT is a proposal for a rupture which provides a response to the current needs of our customers, especially those in the transport sector, always more applicants performance, gains weight and savings," says José Teixeira, Chief product at Arkema Rilsan range. "This monomatériau solution will advantageously replace a complex association of different subjects." Indeed, the assemblies of metal and rubber, Rilsan HT tubes reduce manufacturing costs and prolong the lifespan of many parts subjected to high temperature under a hood.
"The main features of this type of material are based on their high melting point, which, in this case, varies from 170 to 320 C, as well as on their dimensional stability," said Christian Collette. Another advantage of this kind of products: their performances allow to sell at high prices, even in times of crisis. To achieve this result, which finally took only two years of development, Arkema faced a major technical barrier. The basis of this new material, there is indeed a product of the family of the polyphtalamides (PPP), offering a very high thermal resistance. But the app presents a previously fatal disadvantage for the realization of flexible pipe extrusion: intrinsic rigidity. At the time, its use was confined for years to injection-molded parts.
Then, by what technical miracle, this new material he preserved the natural flexibility of the Rilsan "The ability to maintain the flexible end product while preserving a high level of thermal resistance is the choice of the raw materials unique to some, the composition of the resin and process that combines", explains José Teixeira. Developed in close collaboration with the automotive industry, Rilsan HT "appears for the first time under the hood of new models of one of the major national manufacturers, by mid-2009", announces the latter, who believes the potential of this thermoplastic high temperature flexible thousands of tonnes in the medium term.
Unknown accurately, its scope, in the industry, extends in the theory of flexible tubes used in thermal, mechanical and chemical conditions harsh, to the small parts used in mobile phones.
