A weekly look at new products, innovations

Editor's Note: Editor's Note: Each week, Rubber & Plastics News will take a look at some of the rubber industry's new products and innovations on www.rubbernews.com. Does your company have a new product or new innovation? To be considered for inclusion in this recurring feature, email [email protected].

Stepan Co. introduced Steposol Met-10U, a novel surfactant derived from natural oils targeted to displace solvents.

Stepan said this cleaning solution is the first commercial product it launched as part of its joint development agreement with Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc., which was established to develop and commercialize new surfactants and other products by combining Elevance's novel Inherent building blocks with Stepan's derivatization and application capabilities.

According to Stepan, Steposol Met-10U features include:

• As a household cleaner, delivers better and faster cleaning performance at half the solvent loading with neutral pH in comparison to alkaline degreasers (pH 11-13);

• As an adhesive remover, provides equivalent removal of various adhesives at 5 percent concentration in aqueous phase compared with 100 percent N-methyl pyrrolidone;

• As a paint remover, achieves safe and efficient removal of latex paint at 5 percent concentration in aqueous phase compared with 100 percent solvent systems with methylene chloride.

Stepan said Steposol Met-10U specific product attributes include its Kauri-butanol value greater than 1,000; boiling point of 297°C; Biorenewable Carbon Index of 75 percent; and formulating pH range of 3-12. These parameters create a high-strength and non-volatile surfactant, which provides faster and more effective cleaning by fulfilling the role of both a low HLB surfactant and a strong solvent.

For more information, visit www.stepan.com or www.stepan.com/steposolmet.

Bayer MaterialScience L.L.C. has developed solutions for polyurethane and polyurea coatings based on its raw materials known for their high-performance parameters, including for architectural and corrosion applications.

Contractors using appropriate engineering controls and proper personal protective equipment are applying these coatings in a broad variety of site applications to obtain advantages such as faster return to service, enhanced aesthetics and long-term protection, according to Bayer.

For more information, go to www.materialscience.bayer.com

Phynix GmbH & Co. K.G., a German specialist for thickness measurements, developed a type of combination probe that enables measurement of the thickness of a tire's tread up to 30mm while also measuring the under-tread thickness for a depth of approximately 2mm to 10mm in the tread grooves.

Phynix said after positioning the probe on the rubber surface, the thickness of the rubber is instantly displayed accurately to within one tenth of a millimeter on the coating thickness gauge.

Following research measuring different types of tires made by German and Asian manufacturers, Phynix said it designed the device with sturdy measurement probes, which are suitable for thickness measurements over a single layer steel cord of the sidewall, over a multi-layer steel cord inside under the tread as well as on the bead.

After performing calibration on a reference tire of the same type, it is possible to carry out measurement on the original tire using the probe, Phynix said. There is no need to cut or process the tire. The measurement reading is stored in the gauge and can be printed or transferred to a PC for evaluation. The calibration values can be stored and reactivated at a later date without having to repeat the calibration procedure on the corresponding reference tire.

More details can be found at www.phynix.com.