Dow Corning: Technical seminar at Functional Fillers for Plastics
Dow Corning Corporation, a leading global supplier of silicone products and services, will offer a technical seminar about the use of silanes in filled polymers at Intertech’s conference on Functional Fillers for Plastics, in Toronto, Canada.
Dow Corning Technical Service Specialist Shawn Mealey will present on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. The paper, “Impact of the silane on the dispersion and performance of polymer filled with sub-micronic fillers,” examines:
• The dispersion mechanism
• Factors affecting filler dispersion
• The impact of silane on dispersion
According to Mealey and his co-authors, the properties of filled or reinforced polymers generally depend on the size, shape and surface characteristics of the filler particles. For a given system, one of the most important parameters impacting the mechanical, electrical or optical performance is the filler dispersion.
Several physical and chemical factors can affect the dispersion process: the structure and cohesivity of filler agglomerates, the surface activity of the filler, the chemical interactions between polymer and filler, and any infiltration of the polymer into the agglomerate. “We found that the selection of the organic functionality of the silane allows the optimization of the final processing-performance compromise,” Mealey explained.
The paper reports that silane action can be observed at different levels depending on the functionality, amount and method of introduction:
• It can accelerate or slow down the infiltration kinetic of the polymer matrix into agglomerates.
• It can decrease the agglomerate cohesivity decreasing the hydrodynamic stress needed to break the agglomerate and also limiting the re-agglomeration phenomenon.
• It generates an interface that can have a significant impact on bulk performance.
Dow Corning currently has a broad list of products commercially available as well as many other materials in development. “Dow Corning continues to lead the exploration of silane technology as we develop solutions together with our customers that help optimize the filler performance in a polymer matrix,” Mealey added.
Mealey has Bachelor of Science degrees in Biological Sciences and Chemistry from Michigan Technological University. He has been with Dow Corning for 19 years with roles in manufacturing, materials development, technical service and marketing. He has held his current role in materials reinforcement technical service for over four years. He is also a member of Dow Corning’s Surface and Interface Solutions Center, a team dedicated to developing the science and applications of organosilanes. His primary focus is on the technology and application of silanes.