Performance Additives

Oxidation is a chemical process that in most cases occurs due to air exposition (oxygen) or due to the effects of sunlight and heat.

Plastics usually are exposed to diverse sources of oxidation: Residues of initiators or catalysts, heat, mechanical stresses, residual monomer, ultraviolet light, outdoors (weather wear). All of the above create increased stiffness, yellowing, elongation, decreased stress resistance and impact, lower flexion and weight loss.

In Aurum you can find following range of antioxidants:

• Amines
• Phosphite
• Phenolics
• Primary
• Secondary
• Thioesters

The materials that we deal with every day are made up of atoms and molecules that impart electrical properties. These materials, when interacting with air or other objects, produce an electric charge caused by friction; we call this static electricity.

The antistatic additives for plastics avoid the formation and accumulation of static charges which is very useful in the manufacture of flexible containers and especially for sensitive products such as components for electronic devices.

For over 20 years, Aurum Chemicals has been the authorized representative in Mexico of Delta Tecnic, S.A., a world leader in the Color Masterbatch sector.

The color concentrates distributed by Aurum Chemicals guarantee optimum dilution and coloration of the base compounds and polymers. In addition, they are designed to adequately withstand the transformation temperatures of PVC.

Applications

Specialized in PVC coloring in most of its applications: Profiles, electrical cables, plastic fabrics, pipes, bottles, and medical articles.

Other resins such as PE, PP, EVA, PBT, XLPE and Chorosulphonated compounds. Building wires and cables, Medium and High Voltage Power cables, communication cables (coaxial and telecomm), mining cables, automotive cables, cables for aeronautics and for heavy duty devices.

According to the customer’s application, the color concentrates could come in different forms: pellet, micro-pellet or cryo-pellets presentation, powder and fluent dispersions.

In the plastic processing industry, they are used in order to reduce cost and modify the polymer properties such as increase in rigidity, resistance, abrasion and impact, also reduction of thermal distortion, and improve the flame retardancy among other properties.

The materials used are generally inert, inorganic and mineral products, among them talc and kaolin.

Also called fire retardant additives it is a concept that defines a diversity of compounds or mixtures of chemical compounds incorporated in plastics, textiles, electronic circuits, etc., designed to reduce the flammability of a material, or to delay flames propagation throughout of its surface during the burning process.

Flame retardants distributed by Aurum Chemicals prevent ignition, spread of the flame and release of large amounts of toxic smoke; this represents an essential window of time to save lives in case of emergency.

• Aluminium Tryhidrate
• Ammonium Polyphosphate
• Antimony Trioxide
• Halogen based materials (i.e., DBDPE)
• Intumescent systems
• Magnesium Hidroxide and carbonate
• Molibdenum, Zinc and Borum Complexes

The use of plastics in the industry has increased notably due to research and development in the use of modified polymers with additives. Some of the required characteristics are better mechanical properties, low density or weight, high processability that result in productivity and competitive cost.

The use of foaming agents allow manufacturing lighter-celled polymers of high performance and mechanical properties at a lower cost.

Find in Aurum Foaming Agents like:

• Endothermic: Polycarboxylate salts complexes
• Exothermic: Azodicarbonamide, Azobisformamide & Hydracids
• Endo-Exothermic: Custom made combinations of the above for different type of polymers
• Microspheres: Spherical particles with a thermoplastic coating which allow gas encapsulation. When heated the surface softens and the gas increases its preassure resulting in a expansion which reduces the polymer density

An important property for the use of plastics is the resistance to impact, in many cases the required level is not reached by the nature of the formulated polymer itself, therefore the use of additives is necessary to strengthen this property, particularly at low temperatures.

This is generally achieved by blends of polymers, a rigid thermoplastic and an elastomer, in order to obtain plastics with a broad spectrum of well-balanced properties.

Find in Aurum your supplier of desired modifiers:

• ABS: They have their main application in the automotive industry. Indoor or outdoor use and high impact performance.
• CPE Chlorinated polyethylene: A polyolefin modified with chlorine that when added to the PVC, imparts properties of high impact, aging resistance and flammability.
• MBS: Grafted polymers for packaging, profiles and applications for general indoor uses. Mainly used for packaging films, blister packs and bottles transparent or opaque.
• Polyacrylates: They are characterized by being easily processable and compatible with PVC, excellent gloss in the finished product and good attainable levels of impact resistance.
  They are normally used for opaque applications that could be used for in and outdoor use.

Lubricants for PVC are used in the transformation processes of plastics such as injection molding, extrusion, blowing molding and others. They minimize the friction generated internally by the polymer molecules, reduce viscosity and avoid adhesion of the molten polymer with the hot metallic parts of the equipment. For functionality with PVC, they are classified as internal and external lubricants.

Some types of plasticizers you’ll find in Aurum are:

• Bis (steroyl) ethylene diamine
• Calcium stearate
• Erucamide
• Ester base special waxes
• Glyceryl monostearate
• Metallocene waxes
• Montan waxes
• Oleamide
• Oxidized polyethylene waxes
• Paraffin waxes
• Polyethylene waxes
• Stearic acid

Plasticizers for PVC are low volatility materials that are incorporated in the formulation of PVC and polymers to increase their flexibility, hardness, softness and processability of plastic compounds.

Plasticizers are classified according to their effectiveness, permanence, flexibility at low working temperature, compatibility and solvation power.

Some types of plasticizers you’ll find in Aurum are:

• Bioplasticizers Phtalate Free
• Brominated (Flame Retardant)
• DIDP
• DNP
• DOTP
• Epoxidized soybean (ESBO)
• TOTM
• TINM

In general, they are acrylic products that help the processing of the PVC transformation process, making the operation smoother and with a faster fusion that promotes and increase the productivity, providing also a better product finishing. As the name implies, they help the process modifying the melt viscosity of the product in a similar way as lubricant does.

Process Aids that Aurum offers:

Low molecular weight

• With lubricant properties Aurovin HL-275

Medium molecular weight

• Aurovin HL-220

High molecular weight

• Aurovin HL – 200

Ultra-high molecular weight

• Aurovin HL – 300

Organofunctional silanes and organometallic titanates are materials that are added to polymers and that react with a wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds; these are used as coupling agents, adhesion promoters, crosslinking agents, surface modifiers, wetting agents, water repellents, catalysts among others.

• Adhesives, coatings and inks

Improvement of wet and dry adhesions on various substrates without the need for priming, initial resin crosslinking by moisture, improved chemical resistance, weather-wear resistance and durability, better pigmentation, dispersion and rub resistance.

• Fiberglass reinforced compounds

Coupling of resins with fiberglass to improve the blocks recovery, better resistance to humidity and electrical properties of FRP compounds, as it improves the integrity of the fiber strand, protection and the handling.

• Filler Treatment

Improved coupling of resins with mineral fillers, better filling wetting/moisture, dispersion and ease of processing in thermosets, thermoplastics and elastomers.

• Polymer Modification

Cured bond and moisture-based cross-linking for an improved environment and chemical resistance of the polymers.

• Thermoplastics

Polyethylene for cable and pipe by moisture curing, mineral fillers and pigment treatment for dispersion and coupling of resins with thermoplastic fillers and high performance HFFR compounds.

• Tires, rubber and elastomers

The coupling of resin with mineral fillers to improve the resistance of the compound, hardness, abrasion resistance, friction resistance, traction and wear, electrical properties of moisture and control of the rheology and better charge dispersion.

Unlike most plastics, chlorine integrated in PVC prevents ignition. However, in the event of fire a large amount of toxic smoke is created.

Smoke as well as corrosive is also harmful to health due to the vapors of hydrochloric acid it contains. The addition of smoke suppressors distributed by Aurum Chemicals reduces the formation of dangerous fumes and vapors that can cause death by suffocation.

The different transformation processes of PVC undergo high temperature conditions and consequently promote the deterioration of the physical properties of the polymer. Due to this it is required to add thermal stabilizers that prevent the decomposition due to the effect of the heat generated during its processing.

Organic Options

• Butyil Tin Thioglycolates, Mercaptides and Carboxylates
• Methyl Tin Reverse Esters
• Mixed Alkyls
• Mixed Metals: Ba/Zn, Ca/Zn, Ba/Ca/Zn
• Octyl Tin
• Tin Mercaptides
• Zinc Boosters

Co-stabilizers

Sometimes the only use of the heat stabilizer is not enough, due to this, it is necessary to add additives to improve the heat resistance during the PVC processing and the performance of the stabilizer.

UV and UVA Light Absorbers are used to extend the life of plastics. Plastics used outdoor are exposed to ultraviolet radiation, in the range of 295 to 400 nm wavelength. UV radiation is the main cause of degradation in these materials: discoloration, viscosity change, cracking of the surface, loss of physical, mechanical and optical properties. These situations occur due to the exposure of the polymers to the environment during the extrusion process or when the final plastic piece is exposed to the UV light generated by the sun.

In Aurum you can find the following range of UV absorbers:

• Benzophenones
• Benzotriazoles
• HALS
• Monomeric
• Polymerics