Chemical manufacturing processes films

Cellulose is the most abundant natural biopolymer and is readily available from renewable resources. Esterified cellulose is a highly flexible material as its properties can be varied by controlling the type and amount of the ester substituents during the chemical manufacturing process. Some cellulose esters have been applied as optical films for decades by virtue of their excellent properties such as high transparency and heat resistance. The cellulose ester used is mainly cellulose acetate, while the applications are rather limited to photographic films and protective films. 

The PEM (proton exchange membrane) material is a perfluorosulfonic acid polymer film. Several manufacturers make PEMs in one form or another. We used one made by du Pont called Nation 117. Nation 117 is a transparent polymer film about 175 microns (0.007 inches) thick. Dow Chemical Co., Asahi Chemical Co., and Chloride Engineers Ltd. make something similar. A patent describing how one PEM manufacturer s film is processed is listed in the references section at the end of this article. 

For industrial products, such as films and fibers (woven and un-woven), the concept development stage is shown in Fig. 10.3-2. Under materials development, searches are carried out for chemicals and chemical mixtures having the desired properties and performance, and reaction paths for chemical synthesis. Under product/process technology development, often new methods are needed for example, methods for creating multilayer films. And, finally, under manufacturing process development, an example of something new would be multilayer dies for producing multilayer polymer films. 

Manufacturing processes can be divided into discrete parts processes and continuous processes. The metalworking industry, where many single items are produced, uses discrete parts manufacturing. Chemical processing, used, for example, in the film- or fiber-making industries, uses continuous processing. In this entry, we will concentrate on discrete parts. 

Other tertiary recycling processes that have been developed include a Freeman Chemical Corp. process to convert PET bottles and film to aromatic polyols used for manufacture of urethane and isocyanurates. Glycolized PET, preferably from film, since it is often lower in cost than bottles, can be reacted with unsaturated dibasic acids or anhydrides to form unsaturated polyesters. These can then be used in applications such as glass-fiber-reinforced bath tubs, shower stalls, and boat huUs. United States companies that have been involved include Ashland Chemical, Alpha Corp., Ruco Polymer Corp., and Plexmar. Unsaturated polyesters have also been used in polymer concrete, where the very fast cure times facilitate repair of concrete structures. Basing polymer concrete materials, for repair or precast applications, on recycled PET reportedly leads to 5 to 10 percent cost savings and comparable properties to polymer concrete based on virgin materials. However, they are still approximately 10 times the cost of portland cement concrete. There appears to be little commercial application of these processes at present. 

---