When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
In a famous scene in the 1967 movie The Graduate, Mr. McGuire told Benjamin Braddock that there was a great future in plastics. He was right. Between the 1930s and 1960s, chemists invented most of the polymers used today, including nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate, and polyester. But McGuire never said it would be easy to introduce a new polymer.
In a cover story for Chemical & Engineering News, Alex Tullo profiles several companies at various stages of “breaking in” to…
[..] an established infrastructure of resin producers, plastics converters, and processing machinery makers [that] is dedicated to multi-million-ton-per-year applications such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and high-density polyethylene shopping bags. Good reasons are needed to dislodge the standard resins in favor of new, untested materials.
What makes them different from the myriad companies who have tried and failed in the past decades? These ambitious firms trying to introduce new products, Tullo writes, say they know it takes a time to develop a polymer business “and promise they have the wherewithal to follow the proposition through.” He adds that “they are also realistic about what the new polymers can actually do and are focusing on those markets where their materials’ properties provide the most value.”
Tullo reports:
Among these plastics are petroleum-based materials such as Eastman Chemical’s Tritan copolyester, DSM’s Stanyl ForTii engineering polymer, and Novomer’s carbon dioxide-based carbonate polymers. New biobased materials include Metabolix’ polyhydroxyalkanoates and Avantium’s YXY furanic polymers. Slightly older materials such as Nature Works’ Ingeo polylactic acid and Topas Advanced Polymers’ cyclic olefin copolymers have been making strides.
Tullo writes that “the nature of the plastics industry is such that it will take years to learn whether any of them are truly successful.”
Of the group, Tritan has been quite successful so far. The polyester copolymer was Eastman Chemical’s effort to compete with polycarbonate in the housewares market. “Fortuitously,” Tullo writes, “the controversy over bisphenol A, a polycarbonate raw material, came to a head just when Tritan was introduced in late 2007” and became a substitute for baby bottles and water bottles. Tritan doesn’t crack from dishwasher stress like polycarbonate, so its popularity for drinkware is on the rise. The company has a 30,000-metric-ton-per-year production facility and is opening another line with the same capacity next year.
Comments
Post a Comment