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Chemicals & Polymers Blog

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Renewable Raw Materials

“One man’s waste is another man’s treasure” has never been more true than it is today.

Renewable raw materials present an opportunity to not only use cheap by-products previously designated as waste for a new, ultimately beneficial purpose but also present the chance to shake up the current product base for the better.

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Bio-Based Chemicals & Their Benefits

The demand for sustainable alternatives to petroleum products is constantly increasing as companies look for environmentally friendly compounds to use in important industrial applications.

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What Is A Surfactant? How Does It Work?

Have you ever used a product like soap and wondered how it actually works? Why does soap bubble up and separate when it interacts with water? How does it clean oil and grime off of dishes?

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What Is Silane? [Properties & Applications]

Silane is a chemical compound composed of silicon and hydrogen atoms. It is a colorless gas that is highly flammable and explosive in its pure form. Silane has a variety of uses in industrial and commercial sectors, including adhesives, sealants, and coatings.

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Miscible Blends of PTMEG Polyols with Polycaprolactone Polyols

PTMEG are known as high-performance polyols capable of formulating polyurethane elastomers in several positive directions. PTMEG polyols afford polyurethane elastomers with enhanced performance with respect to flexibility, dynamic properties, low-temperature performance, resiliency/rebound, hydrolytic stability, low hysteresis, and abrasion resistance.

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Epoxy Resins

Epoxy resins are a highly versatile class of multifunctional reactive intermediates that are crosslinked into three-dimensional networks with curing agents or “hardeners” such as multifunctional amines, carboxylic acid anhydrides, and phenolic resins.  When cured, the resulting thermoset materials are formed without the generation of volatile by-products. This results in void-free cured parts, which is particularly important in thick structures. 

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5 Key Facts About 1,4-Butanediol (BDO)

1,4-Butanediol (BDO) is a versatile liquid diol intermediate with reactive primary hydroxyl functionality and a linear structure that lends itself to formulating polyurethane elastomers with a superior balance of properties and cost. 

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Polytrimethylene Ether Glycol (PO3G): 100% Bio-Based Polyol

Gantrade’s poly(trimethylene ether) glycols (PO3G) are 100% bio-based, linear high-performance liquid polyether polyols. This series of 100% sustainable content polyether polyols was commercialized by SK Chemicals in a newly completed production facility in Ulsan, South Korea. Introduced under the trade name ECOTRION, PO3G is derived from bio-based 1,3-propanediol, obtained through fermentation of industrial (non-food) corn. A ISO 14000 compliant life cycle analysis found that PO3G offers a lower environmental footprint including a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

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Novel Aromatic Polyether Polyols for Polyurethane Applications

Aromatic polyether polyols offer significant potential product improvements to formulators in the coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers (CASE) arena. These polyols have many attributes, as they improve flammability resistance, thermal performance, hydrolytic stability, and mechanical properties of polyurethanes and polyureas. 

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5 Key Facts about HQEE

HQEE is the premier diol chain extender for MDI-based polyurethane elastomers. Compared to 1,4-butanediol, the workhorse of the industry, HQEE-MDI based polyurethanes exhibit a higher hard-block melt temperature, superior tensile properties, split-tear resistance, hardness and rigidity, resiliency, low hysteresis, and enhanced thermal aging performance. 

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