Viton® News 1 - Article 11

DuPont Dow Elastomers Features Viton® Made With APA, Nordel® Metallocene EPDM At ACS Rubber Expo Oct. 7-11

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News Release from Dupont Dow Elastomers

10/7/2002

Viton made with APA DuPont Dow Elastomers will feature Viton® fluoroelastomers made with Advanced Polymer Architecture (APA) and new Nordel® EPDM products made via metallocene technology at its booth (#515) at the American Chemical Society Rubber Division fall technical meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 7 to 11.

In addition, the company will present six papers at the technical meeting and rubber mini exposition.

DuPont Dow's new generation of Viton® made with APA are now available in commercial quantities. The new Viton® specialty types deliver improvements in part and processing performance, and meet rigorous new sealing requirements in the automotive, chemical processing, aerospace and semiconductor industries.

To produce the new Viton® products, DuPont Dow has invested $50 million in proprietary new polymerization and curing technology at its Dordrecht, The Netherlands, facility. DuPont Dow is applying Advanced Polymer Architecture to the current range of specialty Viton® types and it will also be applied to innovative new types of specialty fluoroelastomers. The first new types being offered by DuPont Dow are peroxide cured, including Viton® GF-S, GBL-S, GLT-S, GBLT-S and GFLT-S types. These will be followed closely by the base resistant types, Viton® TBR-S, IBR-S and ETP-S. Visitors to the booth will be able to view first-hand the advantages of the new APA polymers.

Also featured will be new Nordel® EPDM products. Earlier this year, DuPont Dow announced new Nordel® MG EPDM products to be made via breakthrough new gas phase metallocene technology. The new grades will complement the current Nordel® IP products. The Nordel® MG grades will deliver as much as 20 percent improvement in mixing cycle times due to their granular form, as well as 5 to 10 percent increased mixer fill factor and reduced power consumption, based on internal DuPont Dow tests.

An introduction to the DuPont Dow development of new high molecular weight Nordel® MG will also be featured. Grades with Mooney viscosities ranging from 100 to 140 will also be discussed.

The technical papers being presented by DuPont Dow include:

"Development of Metallocene Catalyst Technology for the Manufacture of Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Rubber via the Gas Phase Process." Authored by Sarah L. Martin, Larry D. Cady, David P. Denton and David L. Ramage, the paper reviews the development of technology necessary for commercial manufacture of a new Nordel® MG product line. Earlier this year, DuPont Dow acquired rights to operate the Dow (former Union Carbide) gas phase EPDM manufacturing facility located in Seadrift, Tex. Implementation of INSITE™ Technology metallocene catalyst into this novel process technology has opened the window for a new and unique EPDM product family.
"Properties and Performance of EPDM Produced Via Gas Phase Process Using Constrained Geometry Catalyst Technology." Written by Christopher Grant, Rajan Vara and Solomon H. Tang, the paper confirms that the significant advantages in mixing performance are retained in the new CGC produced granular gas-phase EPDMs (GP-CGC). The paper also reviews the physical property performance of one of the first commercial grades produced by this new process.
"Long Term Heat Aging of Various Fluoroelastomers." Written by Ronald D. Stevens, this paper reports the heat aging performance of five fluoroelastomer compounds (66-68% fluorine) with stress-strain properties being documented. Fluoroelastomers, the premium automotive fuel system elastomer, have long been known to have outstanding heat aging characteristics, yet most of the long term published data to date has been on one type of FKM, the 66% fluorine dipolymer.
"A Simple Model for Predicting Heat Aging of EPDM Rubber." Written by Arnis U. Paeglis, the paper presents an empirical model that provides a basis to predict physical property changes of EPDM rubber over a wide range of temperatures and times. Retention of physical properties after accelerated heat aging is a typical specification for such long-term use. The paper examines the utility of such tests in predicting results over a range of temperatures and in some cases for as long as a year.
"Enhancing Metallocene TPE's Performance for Extruded Applications." Authors Laura B. Weaver, Henry G. Heck and Dan Moldovan explore a variety of polymer, compounding, and processing options available for extruded applications. Today, soft olefin compounds containing between 65-80% by weight ethylene/1-octene elastomers are increasingly being introduced as flexible-PVC replacement in automotive interior applications. Such compounds show between 50-70°C improvement in upper service temperature performance, and enhanced melt strength, over the elastomers when used alone. The benefits of these elastomeric compounds seen in sheet extrusion processes extend to extruded profiles for improved shape retention and embossibility.
"Long-Term Performance of New, Improved Specialty Fluorelastomers in Various Aggressive Fluids." Written by John G. Bauerle and Theresa M. Dobel, this paper introduces a new polymer that exhibits excellent processing characteristics, including mold release. This new polymer provides improved resistance to hydrocarbon fluids, compared to currently available TFE/Propylene copolymers, and in addition, the new polymer also exhibits excellent resistance to base attack, equivalent to that provided for by TFE/P dipolymers.

About DuPont Dow Elastomers

DuPont Dow Elastomers, a global supplier of specialty elastomers with global headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, is a joint venture between the DuPont Company and The Dow Chemical Company, with more than US $1 billion in sales. The company is the industry leader in chloroelastomers, ethylene elastomers and fluorinated elastomers, serving the automotive, chemical, construction, general rubber and wire and cable industries.

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