In a not surprising sign of the times, Dow Chemical announced last week that it would be raising the prices of all its products by 20% in response to rising energy costs. This action affects prices and margins across the consumer good value chain. Bloomberg News reports that many other large companies, including Monsanto, Hershey, General Mills and Avery Dennison, may follow suit.
New process technologies can change the paradigm, utilizing innovative solutions to reduce material costs. As has been discussed previously in this blog, electron beams can reduce the amount of energy, water, and chemicals used in the manufacturing process. However, electron beams also have the ability to enhance materials and, offering a strategy for doing more with less.
High energy crosslinking of polymers is a known and valuable application for manufacturing companies, having been researched and applied in practice for decades. While it has been a common technology in the wire and cable and tire manufacturing industries, its adoption was limited by the high-energy nature of traditional electron beams. Traditional techniques included utilizing a contract electron beam processors, such as Sterigenics, to provide bulk resin processing services.
As companies innovate, and costs rise, there is a growing interest in using low-voltage EB technology for in line treatment of polymer films, fibers, nonwoven materials and even raw resins. While the effects of EB on materials vary widely depending on the material's specific chemistry, there is ample literature on the beneficial effects of EB on common polymers.
Manufacturers of wide ranging products are finding that low-voltage electron beams can deliver an improvement in mechanical and chemical properties, including tensile strength, creep resistance, and thermal resistance. This provides a cost effective approach to obtaining equivalent or superior product performance while at the same time using less resin in the current material or with a less expensive material altogether.
AEB plans to increase the amount of research on the effects of low voltage electron beam technology on materials through programs such as our research collaboration with UMass Lowell. Over time, we hope to see more focus on low voltage electron beam in established industry groups, such as the Society of Plastic Engineers' radiation processing group and at the International Meeting on Radiation Processing.
The fastest way to begin exploring the possibilities of low voltage electron beam treatment for materials enhancement is to have a conversation with AEB's Application Services Group. For more information, please contact us.