Wacker to showcase three new additive masterbatches for biodegradable polyesters at K 2022 trade fair; VINNEX LA 2540, LA 2640 and LA 8040 products are pelletized polymer blends consisting of vinyl acetate-based polymer resins and polylactic acid

MUNICH, Germany , October 13, 2022 (press release) –

International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber

WACKER will be showcasing three new additive masterbatches for modifying biodegradable polyesters at the 22nd International Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber. Available as VINNEX® LA 2540, VINNEX® LA 2640 and VINNEX® LA 8040, these products are pelletized polymer blends consisting of vinyl acetate-based polymer resins and polylactic acid. They have the same effect as pure vinyl acetate-based resins, but are easier to handle and therefore particularly easy to process. This year’s K show will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 19 to 26.

The product launch rounds out WACKER’s tried and tested VINNEX® additive system. The novel free-flowing dry blends are optimized for further processing: solid mixers can now be used to directly stir the blends into the raw polymer that is to be modified. In this way, plastic processors can eliminate complicated compounding steps.

The masterbatch carrier is a polylactic acid produced from renewable raw materials. The actual active component is a vinyl acetate-based polymer resin. WACKER offers three products for this purpose, namely VINNEX® LA 2540, VINNEX® LA 2640 and VINNEX® LA 8040. The ready-to-process additive masterbatches have an active ingredient content of 40 percent, while the polylactic acid content is 60 percent. The grain size is around three millimeters, allowing the dry blend to be smoothly dosed.

The new additive masterbatches are compatible with all biodegradable polyesters. Unlike non-compounded vinyl acetate-based polymer resins, they can generally be transported and stored without cooling, even in summer ambient temperatures. Temperatures up to 30 degrees Celsius do not cause clumping.

The three product types differ in terms of the polymer resins used and therefore achieve different effects:

• VINNEX® LA 2540 and VINNEX® LA 2640 are ideal for the pro-duction of highly transparent, biodegradable films. Both grades increase the melt strength, thereby allowing optimized extrusion. With their higher melt strength, these two grades reduce the necking, i.e., constriction of the extrudate, observed in numerous biodegradable polyesters. In blown film extrusion, they stabilize the extruded polymer bubble, which makes high process speeds possible.
• VINNEX® LA 8040 lowers the melt viscosity at both low and high shear rates. This grade is therefore the additive masterbatch of choice, if the polymer melt has to be particularly flowable, as is the case, for example, in the production of complex, finely structured plastic articles by injection molding or 3D printing.

About VINNEX®
The VINNEX® additive system includes polyvinyl acetate homo-, co- and terpolymers. WACKER has developed the product range specifically for use in biodegradable polyesters. Such biopolyesters often fail to deliver the property profile that compounders, plastics converters and end users have come to expect from conventional thermoplastics. VINNEX® brand additives improve the dispersion of fillers, enhance the physical and technical properties of plastics and make different biopolyesters compatible with one another. In this way, VINNEX® enables the formulation of a new generation of bioplastics.

Visit WACKER at K 2022 at Booth A10 in Hall 6.

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.