ExxonMobil Chemical, Houston, has introduced the first U.S.-made transparent TPO for grip applications in kitchenware, consumer electronics, tools, small appliances, and stationary markets. (As we reported in February, another clear TPO, called Notio, was introduced by Mitsui Chemicals of Japan last year.) ExxonMobil’s TPE F471-60 offers 82% light transmittance, haze of 11%, and yellowness index of 7.5.

The top of the thermoplastic performance pyramid is growing more crowded and more finely differentiated due to heightened demand for lighter, tougher alternatives to metals, ceramics, and thermosets.

Fewer thermoplastic materials suppliers will make the trip to Chicago this year.

New packaging opportunities are opening up for PP, thanks to a new crop of additives that boost clarity, stiffness, HDT, and processing rates.

Expect to see numerous entries in automotive engineering thermoplastics at NPE, including a totally new amorphous thermoplastic that is said to provide a breakthrough in color and gloss retention outdoors without painting. Besides exterior body panels, new automotive materials for under-hood, interior, structural, and mechanical parts like gears will also be plentiful.

Expect to see numerous entries in automotive engineering thermoplastics at NPE, including a totally new amorphous thermoplastic that is said to provide a breakthrough in color and gloss retention outdoors without painting. Besides exterior body panels, new automotive materials for under-hood, interior, structural, and mechanical parts like gears will also be plentiful.

Cyclic olefin homopolymers and copolymers are engineering thermoplastics derived from the ring-shaped norbornene molecule, which is made from dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) and ethylene.