How Do You Take Your Filler?

Baristas mix coffee beans from different regions to produce blends with unique characteristics. A variety of factors affect flavor and aroma, including how long the beans are roasted and how finely they’re ground.
 
Likewise, companies that supply fillers and additives to composites manufacturers work with different materials to produce blends with a variety of performance characteristics. Alumina trihydrate (ATH) and calcium carbonate are two of the most common materials used by manufacturers to add bulk to parts, extend the resin and improve fire resistance.

Adjusting proportions of materials affects the filler’s characteristics and cost. Suppliers also modify the materials themselves by processing them in different ways: “You can modify surface areas, particle size distribution or modify the energy of the particle itself in order to lower the viscosity and lower the amount of resin used,” says Don Mills, ATH director of sales for Huber Engineered Materials, Atlanta.

Huber Engineered Materials is introducing three new fillers at its COMPOSITES+POLYCON booth based on these concepts. “The MoldX product line has been formulated to reduce the amount of resin demand,” Mills says.

The MoldX A series is a proprietary blend that Mills says is meant to improve products’ fire ratings.The MoldX C series is meant to help lower the cost of manufacturing parts. “It is blended calcium carbonate and ATH, and the intention is to allow you to get higher filler loadings in your current systems, maintain your current physical properties, and get more filler into the part and reduce the cost of the part,” he says. The MoldX W series utilizes a special grade of white ATH, used primarily in cast polymer applications and other products that require a translucent appearance.

For more information about Huber Engineered Materials and MoldX products, visit Booth 617 at the COMPOSITES+POLYCON Conference in Tampa, Jan. 15-17.