Review
Clear industry trends at the K Besides sustainability, materials and machinery companies were actively promoting technologies related to the theme of megatrends (like urbanisation, growing energy requirements, globalisation and climate protection) at the K2010 exhibition held from 27 October to 3 November in Germany. More visitors from Asia The number of visitors was down to 220,000 - a decrease of 9% - compared to the figures in K2007; the decline is due to a slack in the economy for the last three years since the 2007 show. However, with the current improving economic situation, the show organiser Messe Düsseldorf said the 3,102 exhibitors reported an overwhelming volume of contacts and a marked willingness amongst visitors to invest. Of the visitors, close to 60% came from outside Germany, compared to 57% in 2007. Asia had the largest number of visitors at 30,000, of which, 11,000 came from India. A substantial increase of visitors was also registered from Turkey and Israel with 4,100 and 3,600, respectively (compared to 2,800 and 2,300 at the previous event). Of the two thirds of visitors polled, machinery and equipment building ranked first in terms of interest at 48%. This was 7% more than the K2007. Innovation with sustainability Germany-based Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) showcased 80 new applications based on sustainability. Summing up the company’s aim, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMS, Patrick Thomas, said it was to explore new business opportunities by fulfilling future needs. “We are known around the world as the inventor company and K2010 is the perfect environment in which to position ourselves as a technology leader,” he said. When asked if the applications shown would be commercialised, he said, “Almost 40% of the materials BMS sells today were not in existence five years ago. Nearly 80% of our business is supplying valuable commodities, where there are no switching costs involved for customers, and the other 20% consists of differentiated materials.” Amongst the solutions included is a PU sheathing for solar modules with an integrated assembly system; a sandwich composite of PC sheets with solar cells and flexible solar modules. A solar air collector roof insulation system developed together with Puren showed how energy generated from solar radiation could be combined with thermal insulation. Another energy efficient solution comes in the form of thinwall refrigeration with the use of PU nanofoams, under 150 nm. In mobility, BMS, together with Solvay, showcased the Solar Impulse solar-powered aircraft innovated by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. Ultra-light materials are used to reduce the weight of the next
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prototype to less than 1,600 kg. BMS supplied the foam used in the cockpit cladding, engine cowling and the wings. In the health sector, BMS is working on a joint project with Professor Sankai of Cyberdyne – a spin-off company of Tsukuba University in Japan – on a robot suit known as HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb). It works by “reading” nerve signals from the brain to the muscles, through bioelectric signals registered on the skin. These signals activate small electric motors in the suit that assist the movements of patients wearing it. BMS has developed a PC grade that can be used for the robot. Step change for multi-layer films using mPEs Focusing on its Enable and Exceed metallocene polyolefins (mPEs) and Vistamaxx propylene-based elastomers, ExxonMobil Chemical showed how these resins could be used in the processing of multi-layer films to offer benefits to processors. Though it did not have a booth, the US supplier had its resins processed at various machinery booths that were showcasing three, five and nine-layer blown and cast film lines. Windmöller & Hölscher and Hosokawa Alpine were producing five-layer 40 micron packaging film using Exceed and Enable while Macchi and Reifenhauser Kiefel were producing nine layers on their lines using the mPEs. While three-layer blown films will still continue to dominate the flexible packaging market, ExxonMobil says it is working on introducing next generation solutions for five and nine-layer films. “Although it is early in the development cycle, initial results from trials using the mPEs on the five-layer lines show ExxonMobil’s Exceed mPE adds on promising opportunities higher capabilities to multi-layer in a range of flexible film films applications,” said Dirk Permentier, Research Associate, Polyolefins Technology, ExxonMobil Chemical Europe. When asked if mPEs would add on to the process cost, he replied, “The cost will be moderate but output will be higher.” He added that the 40% increment of stiffness would make the films especially suited for heavy duty sacks. Other applications are for collation shrink and lamination films.