Union Carbide materials

A.crolein, Material Safety Data Sheet, Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc., Specialty Chemicals Division, August 15,1989. 

The product secondary alcohols from paraffin oxidation are converted to ethylene oxide adducts (alcohol ethoxylates) which are marketed by Japan Catalytic Chemical and BP Chemicals as SOFTANOL secondary alcohol ethoxylates. Union Carbide Chemical markets ethoxylated derivatives of the materials ia the United States under the TERGlTOL trademark (23). 

Plastic materials represent less than 10% by weight of all packagiag materials. They have a value of over 7 biUion including composite flexible packagiag about half is for film and half for botties, jars, cups, tubs, and trays. The principal materials used are high density polyethylene (HDPE) for botties, low density polyethylene for film, polypropylene (PP) for film, and polyester for both botties and films. Plastic resias are manufactured by petrochemical companies, eg. Union Carbide and Mobil Chemical for low density polyethylene (LDPE), Solvay for high density polyethylene, Himont for polypropylene, and Shell and Eastman for polyester. 

UCAR Alcohols for Coatings Applications, Brochure F-48588, Solvents and Coatings Materials Division, Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Corp., Danbury, Conn., Sept. 1984. 

N. J. Fechter and P. S. Petmnich, Development of Seal Ring Carbon-Graphite Materials., NASA Contract Reports CR-72799, Jan. 1971 CR-72986, Aug. 1971 CR-120955, Aug. 1972 and CR-121092, Union Carbide Corp., Parma, Ohio, Jan. 1973. 

Cationic Hydroxyethylcelluloses. These materials are manufactured by Union Carbide Corp. and National Starch and Chemical Corp., marketed under the trade names Polymer JR and Celquat, respectively (47,48). The cationic substituent on Polymer JR is presumably 2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride (72). Celquat is presumably the reaction product of HEC with /V,/V-dia11y1-/V,/V-dimethy1ammonium chloride (73). Their primary appHcation is in shampoos and hair conditioners wherein the cationic moiety imparts substantivity to hair. Some typical properties of Celquat resins are given in Table 7. 

Random copolymers of vinyl chloride and other monomers are important commercially. Most of these materials are produced by suspension or emulsion polymerization using free-radical initiators. Important producers for vinyl chloride—vinyUdene chloride copolymers include Borden, Inc. and Dow. These copolymers are used in specialized coatings appHcations because of their enhanced solubiUty and as extender resins in plastisols where rapid fusion is required (72). Another important class of materials are the vinyl chloride—vinyl acetate copolymers. Principal producers include Borden Chemicals Plastics, B. F. Goodrich Chemical, and Union Carbide. The copolymerization of vinyl chloride with vinyl acetate yields a material with improved processabihty compared with vinyl chloride homopolymer. However, the physical and chemical properties of the copolymers are different from those of the homopolymer PVC. Generally, as the vinyl acetate content increases, the resin solubiUty in ketone and ester solvents and its susceptibiUty to chemical attack increase, the resin viscosity and heat distortion temperature decrease, and the tensile strength and flexibiUty increase slightly. 

Whereas celluloid was the first plastics material obtained by chemical modification of a polymer to be exploited, the phenolics were the first commercially successful fully synthetic resins. It is interesting to note that in 1963, by a merger of two subsidiary companies of the Union Carbide and the Distillers organisations, there was formed the Bakelite Xylonite Company, an intriguing marriage of two of the earliest names in the plastics industry. 

At the end of the 1970s considerable interest developed in what became known as linear low density polyethylenes (LLDPE) which are intermediate in properties and structure to the high pressure and low pressure materials. While strictly speaking these are copolymers it is most convenient to consider them alongside the homopolymers. The LLDPE materials were rapidly accepted by industry particularly in the manufacture of film. The very low density polyethylenes (VLDPE) introduced by Union Carbide in 1985 were closely related. 

For many years use of this material was largely confined to America and it was seldom met in Europe because of the cheaper EVA materials available. In 1980, however, BP initiated production of such materials, whilst in the United States the material is produced by Union Carbide. The Dow company, whose product Zetafin was the most well-known grade, no longer supply the copolymer. 

In the mid-1970s many major plastics materials producers marketed or were actively developing materials of this type. They included American Cyanamid, Borg-Warner, Dow, Du Pont, ICI, Marbon, Monsanto, Solvay, Union Carbide and Vistron (Sohio). 

Tbe term structural foam was originally coined by Union Carbide to describe an injection moulded thermoplastic cellular material with a core of relatively low density and a high-density skin. The term has also been used to describe rigid foams that are load bearing. Today it is commonly taken to imply both of the above requirements, i.e. it should be load bearing and with a core of lower density than the skin. In this section the broader load-bearing definition will be used. Whilst structural foams are frequently made from polymers other than polystyrene, this polymer is strongly associated with such products and it is convenient to deal with the topic here. 

In the low-pressure systems a shot of material is injected into the mould which, if it did not expand, would give a short shot. However, the expanding gas causes the polymer to fill the mould cavity. One important form of the low-pressure process is the Union Carbide process in which the polymer is fed to and melted in an extruder. It is blended with nitrogen which is fed directly into the extruder. The extruder then feeds the polymer melt into an accumulator which holds it under pressure (14-35 MPa) to prevent premature expansion until a predetermined shot builds up. When this has been obtained a valve opens and the accumulator plunger rams the melt into the mould. At this point the mould is only partially filled but the pressurised gas within the melt allows it to expand. 

This polymer first appeared commercially in 1965 (Parylene N Union Carbide). It is prepared by a sequence of reactions initiated by the pyrolysis of p-xylene at 950°C in the presence of steam to give the cyclic dimer. This, when pyrolysed at 550°C, yields monomeric p-xylylene. When the vapour of the monomer condenses on a cool surface it polymerises and the polymer may be stripped off as a free film. This is claimed to have a service life of 10 years at 220°C, and the main interest in it is as a dielectric film. A monochloro-substituted polymer (Parylene C) is also available. With both Parylene materials the polymers have molecular weights of the order of 500 000. 

The first commercial polymer Table 21.3, II) was offered in 1965 by Union Carbide as Bakelite Polysulfone, now renamed Udel. In 1967 Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing introduced Astrel 360 Table 21.3, V), which they referred to as a polyarylsulfone. In 1972 ICI brought a third material onto the market which they called a polyethersulphone (III) and which they then marketed as Victrex. They also introduced a material intermediate between III and V known as Polyethersulphone 720P (IV) but which has now been withdrawn. In the late 1970s Union Carbide introduced Radel (VI), which has a higher level of toughness. Around 1986 Union Carbide sold their interest in polysulphones to Amoco. In addition the Astrel materials were produced by Carborundum under licence from ICI. 

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. 

One such material is the copolymer first marketed by the Japanese company Unitika in 1974 as U-Polymer and more recently by the Belgian company Solvay as Arylef and Union Carbide as Ardel. (Around 1986 the Union Carbide interest in Ardel, as well as in polysulphones, was taken over by Amoco.) Similar polyarylates have since been marketed by Hooker (Durel), Bayer (APE) and DuPont (Arylon). This is a copolyester of terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid and bis-phenol A in the ratio 1 1 2 Figure 25.23). 

The original drive for the development of modem carbon fibers, in the late-1950s, was the demand for improved strong, stiff and lightweight materials for aerospace (and aeronautical) applications, particularly by the military in the West. The seminal work on carbon fibers in this period, at Union Carbide in the U.S.A., by Shindo, et al, in Japan and Watt, et al, in the U.K., is well-documented [4-7]. It is always worth pointing out, however, that the first carbon fibers, prepared from cotton and bamboo by Thomas Edison and patented in the U.S.A. in 1880, were used as filaments in incandescent lamps. 

The most important lesson to be learned from Bhopal was missed by most commentators the material that leaked was not a product or raw material but an intermediate, and while it was convenient to store it, it was not essential to do so. Following Bhopal, the company concerned. Union Carbide, and other companies decided to greatly reduce their stocks of MIC and other hazardous intermediates. A year after the disaster, Union Carbide reported that stocks of hazai dous intermediates had been reduced by 15% [3]. 

L.L. Carpenter et al, Manufacturing Methods for Oxidizer Encapsulation , Union Carbide Corp for Air Force Materials Laboratory, Technical Report AFML-TR-68-144 (June 1968) [Declassified on 31 Dec 1974]... 

The use of copolymers is essentially a new concept free from low-MW additives. However, a random copolymer, which includes additive functions in the chain, usually results in a relatively costly solution yet industrial examples have been reported (Borealis, Union Carbide). Locking a flame-retardant function into the polymer backbone prevents migration. Organophosphorous functionalities have been incorporated in polyamide backbones to modify thermal behaviour [56]. The materials have potential for use as fire-retardant materials and as high-MW fire-retardant additives for commercially available polymers. The current drive for incorporation of FR functionality within a given polymer, either by blending or copolymerisation, reduces the risk of evolution of toxic species within the smoke of burning materials [57]. Also, a UVA moiety has been introduced in the polymer backbone as one of the co-monomers (e.g. 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone-formaldehyde resin, DHBF). 

It is presumed that the product(s) to be produced is (are) known. The size of the containers it will be shipped in depends on the size of the expected orders, the facilities the customer has for handling the materials, and the hazardous classification of the material. Material shipped in bulk quantity is cheaper than packaged items, but it requires the customer to have more elaborate unloading and storage facilities. Bulk shipping is only used when large amounts are purchased at one time. Union Carbide will not ship in bulk less than 40,000 lb (18,000 kg) of material. Table 3-2 gives a summary of the maximum bulk shipments possible by various carriers. 

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