jeudi 3 septembre 2009

Bioplastic News : Eyeglasses and Plasma-coated PLA

Teijin Develops World's First Bioplastic Eyeglasses

Teijin Limited and Teijin Chemicals Limited announced the development of eyeglass frames made from plant-based, heat-resistant bioplastic BIOFRONT, the world's first bioplastic to be used for all plastic parts of eyeglass frames, including the temples. The frames were developed in collaboration with Tanaka Foresight Inc., which manufactures and sells approximately 60% of all plastic eyeglass parts in Japan.
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BIOFRONT is an advanced polylactide that offers heat resistance comparable to that of oil-based plastics. Its melting point of 210 degrees, some 40 degrees higher than that of conventional polylactides, puts it on par with PBT, a leading engineering plastic. BIOFRONT also is highly resistant to bleaching and bacteria, making it ideal for the plastic parts of eyeglasses.
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Plasma-coated PLA could challenge PET

The IKV plastics processing institute in Aachen, Germany, believes that plasma coating - a technique already used commercially to enhanced shelf-life performance of PET bottles – could enable polypropylene and polylactic acid containers to meet demanding barrier performance requirements.
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According to the IKV, the market potential of PP and PLA is restricted in the beverage packaging sector due to high oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability. So the institute has initiated a research project to investigate transfer of existing plasma barrier coating technologies used for PET to these alternative materials.
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