Comprehensive test facilities
When developing new polymer additives or assisting customers in the evaluation of their polymer solutions, meticulous testing is absolutely vital to succeed. The flexible setup of our Polymer Application Centre provides the capacity and equipment needed to ensure highly precise results with attention to detail across a diverse range of performance criteria. The mission behind all our testing is to provide industry leading and sustainable polymer additive technology that makes the transition to our plant-based Einar® products as flawless as possible.
Two important properties delivered by Einar® products are anti-static and anti-fog characteristics, as required for maintaining the consumer appeal of transparent plastic packaging. In food applications, these additives prevent moisture formation in the package and dust attraction on the outside. Furthermore, good anti-static performance also facilitates film rolling and eliminates handling problems of moulded end-products on conveyors or stackers. The challenge is to achieve the desired surface modifications to give anti-static or anti-fogging performance without adversely affecting melt and mechanical properties as well as sealabillity. In addition, our specialists at the Polymer Application Centre evaluate the static decay time and surface resistivity of application samples at both ambient and low humidity. Resistance to hot and cold fogging is tested in a 60°C water bath and a 5°C cooling cabinet, respectively.
Most of the testing is targeted at optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of our plant-based additives in polyolefin (PP, PE) film, injection moulding and foam resins. Other tests involve specialised Einar® additives designed to address the mould release of injection moulded products. On a more general level, we also investigate the impact of our additive solutions on the mechanical properties and surface aspect of applications. For customers with specific, intricate anti-static or anti-fogging needs the help of the skilled scientists in Palsgaard’s surfactant R&D centre Nexus is enlisted to create a more tailored Einar® solution for subsequent testing at the Centre.
Dedicated processability evaluation
Typical processing machinery complements the materials test equipment at the Centre. On our injection moulding system, we evaluate the performance of Einar® mould release and anti-static additives mainly in PP, PE and engineering polymers, such as PC.
