Fillers market

Filler market in plastics alone totals over 10,000 tones per year. " Calcium carbonate takes about 2/3 of this market. The market is very large but a large segment of it consists of use in products which are not sophisticated technically. The main applications include ... 

The consumption of each polymer is immediately mirrored by the consumption of the fillers used in this polymer. The most recent changes in PVC consumption were reflected in the consumption of fillers. At the same time, future trends and developments in fillers are more related to the advances of plastics as they replace many traditional materials. For plastics to give the required performance, new filler technology was required. Current developments allow us to predict some future directions in filler markets. These technologies will become more important ... 

Minerals, such as calcium carbonate, talc, silica, are quite common fillers in plastic industry. They, often at abont 6-15 cent/lb, replace a much more expensive plastic, increase stiffness of the filled product, and render the plastic more flame resistant. The world filler market for plastics is dominated by carbon black and calcium carbonate. Of abont 15 billion pounds of filler in America and Europe, about half the filler volume goes into elastomers, a third into thermoplastics, and the reminder into thermosets. About 15% of all manufactured plastics contain fillers. 

Calcium carbonate has about two-thirds of the plastics mineral filler market. Most of it is destined for either PVC or the thermosetting polymers. The ground variety (in contrast to the precipitated form) accounts for the great majority, i.e., 7.3 M tonnes globally, which dwarfs the consumption of all other fillers. Nevertheless the amount of the ground form used in Europe (1.7 M tonnes) is only a small fraction - perhaps one-tenth - of the ground calcium carbonate sold in Europe for all proposes. 

Ke3Twords recycling, stabilizer, filler, market, degradation, MFI, melt... 

It is virtually impossible to place a value on the world fillers market, but specific sectors involving speciality types with higher economic potential have been surveyed. The best documentation comes from the US market, and it can be expected that the markets in Europe and Japan/Asia will be about the same size. 

Despite the almost limitless array of potential filler types, the numbers that have achieved wide-scale commercial adoption is far more limited (Table 23.1). A multibillion-euro per year filler market is dominated by fewer than 10 fillers. Elastomers account for approximately 50% of filler usage followed by thermoplastics at 35% and thermosets with 15%. 

Table 23.1 Fillers Market in Terms of Volume and Value...

In 1989 the aerosol industry in the United States consisted of about 250 companies that ranged from propellant, valve, and overcap, manufacturers to contract product fillers and product marketers. The industry employed over 50,000 people in 1989 and retail sales amounted to over 10 biUion. 

AH markets, except paper, have been adversely affected by the downturn in the automotive and constmction industries in the early 1990s. Most large-volume fillers are sufficiently diversified so that their growth trends foUow GNP. There are some exceptions. Table 4 gives 1992 price information on specific fillers, including some physical properties and manufacturing processes. 

Eatty bisamides are used primarily to kicrease sHp, reduce blocking, and reduce static ki polymeric systems. Other specialty appHcations kiclude cosolvents or coupling agents for polyamide reskis, fillers for electrical kisulation coatings, additives for asphalt to reduce cold flow, and synthetic waxes for textile treatments (68). Bisamides have been used ki all the traditional primary amide appHcations to kicrease lubricity and have become the amide of choice because of thek better efficiency. Bisamides have the highest commercial value ki the amide market. 

The use of calcium carbonate in paint, paper, and plastics make up the principal part of the market. In the paper industry calcium carbonate products find two uses as a filler in the papermaking process and as a part of the coating on paper. 

The initial uses of colorants in plastics were as extenders and additives. Carbon black and titanium dioxide were and are stiU used as fillers (qv) because of their low cost. Almost from plastics inception the limitation of black and white did not offer sufficient color choices for end users looking to differentiate their products. The increase in aesthetic requirements along with different performance requirements and resin compatibiUties led to a great expansion in the number of different chemical classes of colorants and forms in which these colorants are available in today s market. 

Several blends based on polysulphone materials have been marketed. Probably the most well known is Mindel, originally produced by Uniroyal, acquired by Union Carbide, but now marketed by Amoco. Whilst not exhibiting the heat resistance of the unblended homopolymer, Mindel materials, which are blends of polysulphone and ABS, are lower in cost, easier to process and have higher notched impact strengths. The Mindel A materials are unreinforced, the Mindel B grades contain glass fibre, and the Mindel M grades contain other mineral fillers. A related polysulphone/SAN blend has been marked as Ucardel. 

A major market which has developed for fabric fillers is for the control ot flue-gas fly ash in the utility industry. This market is primarily at the expen.se of electrostatic precipitators. Fabric filters have the inherent advantage of operating at a high level of collection efficiency tor a wide range of dust and gas conditions. 

A considerable amount of work has already been successfully carried out in HASETRI with naturally occurring oils as eco-friendly process oils in conventional tire recipes [31,32]. These naturally occurring oils were found to be suitable on the basis of low PCA content. Some of the naturally occurring oils showed better processing properties, polymer-filler interaction, and dispersion properties in NR-based truck tire tread cap compound and hence better mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties. As the presently available low PCA oil in the market in the form of MES TDAE and naphthenic oil are comparatively costly, these natural oils can act as the best alternative processing aids for the elastomer industry, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. 

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