Dow Plastics Additives, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), has introduced Surecel 445 foam cell promoter as its newest addition to the award-winning Surecel family of additives for foam PVC applications.Developed to address the particular requirements of foam PVC applications in the European region, Surecel 445 foam cell promoter is a high-efficiency acrylic processing aid designed to offer excellent surface finish in products such as point-of-sale materials, advertising boards and exhibition stands where supporting premium quality laser printing is key.
Surecel 445 foam cell promoter can also be used in the manufacture of profiles where, thanks to its ability to deliver a fine, consistent cell structure, it can help minimise faults and voids within cross-sections.
“Compounders and extruders producing increasingly popular cellular PVC foams are looking to create materials with a well-controlled cell structure and excellent cell uniformity in order to offer specific advantages to their customers,” explained Robin Madgwick, European Marketing Manager for Dow Plastic Additives.
“For those operating in high-end display material, Surecel 445 helps create a fine cell structure resulting in a very smooth and even surface which enhances the quality of laser jet printing techniques. The ability to offer a consistent foam also offers advantages to producers of profiles using the Celuka process, for whom avoiding unnecessary voids is important in terms of product quality and performance”, said Madgwick.
Surecel 445 foam cell promoter has been designed to offer cost-effectiveness in balance with enhanced performance compared to some conventional process aids. The product is formulated to deliver excellent performance at an optimized loading, meaning less material needs to be used to gain desired results. It can also resist cell coalescence across a variety of extrusion dies, meaning it is particularly useful for those manufacturing materials of varying sizes and for different end uses.
Surecel foam cell promoters received the silver award from the SolVin Innovations in PVC competition at the K Show in October 2010. The technology was chosen out of over 140 submissions and 11 finalists and is the only additive technology to have ever received this prestigious recognition.
The SolVin Award for PVC Innovation promotes the use of PVC as an innovative, versatile, cost-effective and safe product that contributes to the well-being of society.
