AKRON (March 5, 2012)—A forecast of the silicone industry, advances in mixing and extrusion and a look at fillers and silicone are among the presentations scheduled for the International Silicone Conference, May 1-2 at the Hilton Inn in the Akron suburb of Fairlawn.
The conference is a Rubber & Plastics News event, organized jointly by Wacker Silicones and Shin Etsu.
Among the papers scheduled will be:
* An overview and forecast of the U.S. silicones market by Kent Furst, industry analyst for Freedonia Group.
Furst said U.S. demand for silicones will grow at an average annual rate of 5 percent to $3.6 billion in 2014. Medical products will remain a fast-growing market for silicones, as will advanced electrical and electronic applications such as LEDs and photovoltaics.
He will review how silicones, as they become an increasingly mature product, and competition with other materials intensifies, technological advancements and product innovation will become essential to grow the application base.
* A discussion on advances in silicone mixing and extrusion by Martin Yonnone, managing director at Colmec USA, and Ubaldo Colombo, general manager for the company.
Their overview of the latest technical advances in the mixing and extrusion of silicone compounds will include a review of a new system for mixing silicone rubber compounds that permits the end user to simplify compounding work by making it more thorough, faster and automatic.
* A presentation by Jim Miller of MED/Limtech on the identification, testing, and installation of a dynamic closed loop silicone extrusion process.
Miller said he will identify the weakness of a static closed loop extrusion process and examine a number of experiments that proved his company's dynamic closed loop system is a superior method for processing tubing by silicone extrusion; and
* An investigation of polymer-filler interaction using low strain dynamic characterization as well as high strain tensile hysteresis testing, by Mary A. Krenceski of Momentive Performance Materials.
Krenceski will review polymer-filler interaction using low strain dynamic characterization as well as high strain tensile hysteresis testing. This exercise is an effort to more fully understand and optimize the contribution of filler reinforcement in mechanical performance of silicone elastomers.
For more information, visit www.rubbernews.com/conferences/2012/silicone.