plastics - The customer magazine from BASF 2/2007

www.plastics-magazine.com
Beauty that is skin-deep
Tactile secrets of product design
BASF Plastics
key to your success
A launch pad for innovations
BASF’s stand at the K 2007
A fleeting moment in time
Introducing a new biodegradable foam

Energy efficiency is one of BASF’s focal points for K 2007. In numerous applications, plastics account for lower energy consumption and thus
contribute to preserving resources. The thermograph of this house shows where there is still room for insulation – foams can considerably
reduce heating costs. (Picture: Verband privater Bauherren)

Editorial
“Plastics are
energy-efficient materials
par excellence”
Dear Readers,
October 24 marks the start of the world’s
largest international plastics trade fair, the
“K 2007”, in Düsseldorf, Germany. At its fair
stand, BASF will demonstrate that the use
of plastics accounts for numerous energyefficient
solutions. Plastics are energy-efficient
materials par excellence and, for
this reason alone, they will continue to be
in great demand. Examples of this can be
found in the automotive, packaging and
construction industries, where plastics are
instrumental in reducing energy consumption
and thus in lowering emissions. Today,
plastics are a permanent fixture in cars and
their share in the overall weight of vehicles
is on the rise, a trend we will actively pursue
even further. Used in cars, plastics help to
lower the weight and contribute to reducing
fuel consumption as well as emissions. In
packaging and containers, plastics also cut
back the weight and reduce transportation
costs.
Insulating materials based on plastics allow
the design of residential buildings that
are much more energy efficient. You are
probably familiar with the example of the
3-liter house in our model neighborhood in
Ludwigshafen, where we have managed to
save up to 90% in heating energy, thus lowering
emissions accordingly. Using plastic
can save far more raw material than its production
and processing would consume. In
fact, already in the very first heating season,
Styropor ® and Neopor ® insulating foams
save more energy and thus raw material
than went into their production. The high
energy efficiency of plastics is a convincing
argument in favor of their use. A study
conducted by the Corporation for Comprehensive
Analyses (Austria) concluded that
completely refraining from using plastics
in Western Europe would increase energy
consumption by 26%. At the K 2007, we
will be glad to inform you about BASF’s
energy-efficient innovations.
We will be looking forward to your visit.
John Feldmann
Member of the Executive Board
Responsible for plastics as well as oil & gas

Contents
10
Touch: a key topic in
product design.
Pure sound – Carlos
Santana plays hits like
“Black Magic Woman”
on BASF’s Catamold.
A launch pad for innovations:
the BASF
20
stand at the K 08 2007.
Cover story: Design
Markets and products
Beauty that is skin-deep 10
Tactile properties in the design factory
The pinnacle in design 13
The debut of the MYTO design chair
Hold your fire! 16
Upholstered furniture using Basotect
News & dates
Insulating materials made of Neopor
with a thermal conductivity of 0.032 6
Award from Bosch 6
Seven millions tons of adipic acid 7
New compounding facility in Shanghai 7
One seat has it all 38
A launch pad for innovations 9
BASF at the K 2007
The whole is more than the sum
of its parts 18
The new PlasticsPortal
Riding high 19
Stirrup inserts made of Terblend N
Pure sound 20
Ultraform in Santana’s guitar
A fleeting moment in time 22
New biodegradable foam
Material Award 2007 23
BASF bioplastics receive award
Putting an end to breakdowns 24
Injection-molding solution for
electronic components
Soft touch 27
BMW door handles made of TPU

Contents
Shrink films create
attractive design for
beverages
28
22
New biodegradable
foam for packaging
22
Expansion cushions
made of Neopolen E
being tested under
tough desert conditions.
32
Markets and products
Soft drinks dressed up in designer fashion 28
Styrolux HS 70 for shrink films
Laser technology eliminates
cable “spaghetti” 30
New electronic components
made of Ultramid
A graduate from the school of hard knocks 31
New BASF high-performance plastic
for special applications
Tucked into a BASF bed 32
Expansion cushions made of Neopolen E
These elements keep things snug
as a bug in a rug 34
Sandwich elements made by PURHOLZ
Black yet cool – a new blend 36
Ultrason for headlights
Dates
38
Sweepstakes
39
Miscellaneous / Responsible
New banana carrier made of Styrolux 39
Cartoon 39
Responsible 39
Response postcard 40
On the fast track through
the coating line 37
Plastic for auto parts that
can be coated online

News
Making even better use of foam
Insulating materials made of
Neopor with a thermal conductivity
of 0.032
Thermal insulation panels made of
Neopor ® have recently been launched
that meet the stringent heat protection
requirements of the new quality type 032
stipulated for composite thermal insulation
systems in Germany. These expandable
polystyrene (EPS) panels have a thermal
conductivity of 0.032 W/(m*K), which can
already be attained at a material density of
17 kg/m³. In comparison to conventional
EPS, foams made of Neopor display a considerably
higher thermal insulating capacity
while requiring less material, thus making
a real contribution to energy efficiency and
climate protection. The insulating materials
of quality rating 032 are the perfect
choice for exterior insulation employing a
composite thermal insulation system: the
insulating panels are fastened to the building
wall and covered with a special stucco
Small beads, big effect: the innovative Neopor granules.
together with glass fabric, which serves
to prevent crack formation, and finally
the topcoat is applied. Over the course
of the past 40 years, industry and
research have continuously improved
composite thermal insulation systems
so that today, this insulation technique
can be employed for any building: old
or new, single-family house or housing
complex. Other new fields of application
for Neopor now include panels having a
thermal conductivity of 0.031 W/(m*K)
(quality rating 031). They are available
starting at a density of about 25 kg/m³,
and so they can withstand greater compressive
loads of the type encountered,
for example, in the insulation of floors or
flat roofs.
Reliable quality
Award from Bosch
BASF receiving the Bosch Supplier Award.
Outstanding quality and excellent services
as a supplier in 2005 and 2006 – this is why
BASF has now received the Bosch Supplier
Award. BASF supplies Bosch primarily with
engineering plastics that go into automotive
construction. Every two years since
1987, the Bosch Group has given recognition
to very good products or services by
its suppliers. BASF has already received
this award a total of four times and, in fact,
three times in a row. Criteria such as reliability,
quality and pricing are evaluated, but
also communication and cooperation as
well as the unrelenting pursuit of improvement.
The award ceremony at the state gallery
in Stuttgart was attended by (from left
to right): Dr. Karl Nowak and Alfons Lesch
of Bosch, Dr. Willy Hoven-Nievelstein and
Thomas Kämmerling of BASF Engineering
Plastics.
6

News
Setting a new record
Seven million tons of adipic acid
Seven million tons of adipic acid – this
record has now been set by BASF. The
product, which has been in production
at BASF since 1939, leaves the factory
either as a solution or in solid form. This
classic product continues to sell as briskly
as ever, “The demand for adipic acid is
very high at the moment, so we have
been producing well above average in recent
months,” explains Thomas Jaworek,
deputy operating manager.
When large-scale production of adipic
acid began in 1947, a mere two to three
tons were being produced per day. In the
decades that followed, BASF increased
the capacity of the facility to meet the rising
demand, up to today’s production of
270,000 tons annually.
Adipic acid is one of the two components
that make up hexamethylene diamine adipate,
a precursor of polyamide 6.6. The
major buyers are the clothing, footwear
and automotive industries. One of the
best-known final products made of this
material is nylon stockings. Moreover, it is
an intermediate in the production of polyurethane
systems. This substance can
Sports shoes made of polyurethane, a secondary
product of adipic acid.
be found in nature in sugar beets and red
beets and it is used in the food industry
as an acidifier in soft drinks.
New compounding facility in Shanghai
Expansion of production and development service
for engineering plastics in Asia
Opening ceremony of the new
compounding facility in Shanghai.
BASF has inaugurated one of the world’s
most modern compounding facilities
for engineering
plastics at its
Pudong site in
Shanghai, China.
This new worldscale
installation
with an annual
capacity of 45,000
tons has been
operating successfully
since March.
It stands out for its
efficient production
process and very
high environmental
standards. This
new installation
boosts BASF’s compounding capacity
in Asia to over 100,000 tons per year.
Moreover, BASF has set up a development
center for engineering plastics
in Shanghai, where engineers cooperate
closely with customers to create
and optimize new applications. This
collaboration ranges from computeraided
design in the initial phase all
the way to component testing during
the experimental and market-ready
stages. BASF’s state-of-the-art injection-molding
technical laboratory also
offers its customers services in process
technology. The technical center
is part of a worldwide integrated
research network that also encompasses
centers in Japan and Korea, in
Europe and in the United States.
7

K 2007

K 2007
A launch pad for innovations
BASF has a cornucopia of ideas in store for the K 2007
When the gates open to the K
2007 in Düsseldorf, Germany
from October 24 to 31, one
question will be cropping up time and
time again: “What’s new?” One of the
main attractions for visitors will certainly
be the BASF stand in Hall 5, Stand B21.
This is where BASF will be showcasing
many innovations from the fields of
styrenics, foams, engineering plastics
and polyurethanes. But the product line
doesn’t stop there; finishing chemicals
and plasticizers will also be on display at
the stand. The numerous novelties are
living proof that the potential of polymeric
materials is far from being exhausted.
To see new things, to experience new things
– people’s appetite for novelty seems to be
unquenchable. And companies are aware
of this: the cycles of concept, development,
market preparation and market introduction
are getting shorter and shorter. There is no
question about it, anyone who wants to be
a contender has to be one step ahead. But
all this fuss about innovation; is it simply old
wine in new bottles? No, certainly not, and
BASF can prove it: its three plastic divisions
will show up with many smart ideas – a launch
pad for innovations.
Ingenious
product ideas
A launch pad for innovations – which forum
would be better suited for such an ambitious
undertaking than the by-far largest
plastics trade fair in the world? This is where
BASF can show a broad audience the latest
flashes of inspiration from its researchers
and developers. The pride and joy of the
company: the numerous solutions for greater
energy efficiency. These include foam raw
materials like the novel granules for Neopor ®
insulating products and clever polyurethanebased
applications such as the Elastopor ®
rigid-foam system or Elastocool ® , the solution
for refrigerators. Plastic contributes to climate
protection and, at the same time, is more
cost-effective, since new plastic applications
in the automotive sector make cars lighter and
thus more fuel efficient, while in the packaging
sector, their light weight helps to save fuel
during the transportation of goods.
Another strength of BASF manifests itself in
the topic of plastics and design. After all, designs
are quite frequently the decisive factor in
the sale of products and experts are now talking
about design-driven innovations. Reason
enough for BASF, with its designfabrik, to
offer product developers an innovative service
where they can test the material properties of
plastics and take their inspiration from them.
Moreover, BASF will stage the world premiere
of the new design chair, MYTO, made of Ultradur
High Speed.
To develop innovations in cooperation with
customers – this notion is alive and well at
BASF. Visitors to the stand can get information
about PermaSkin, a complete system
for finishing three-dimensional construction
elements, or about Dolphin, a joint project of
four companies for processing plastics used
for automotive interior parts.
There are many more novelties for the automotive
sector, for instance, the new Ultramid ®
TOP 3000, a plastic specialty for parts that
can be coated online, or polyamides that have
been optimized specifically for crash applications
and that are offered along with a comprehensive
collection of material data relating
to the crash simulation of car parts.
But there is also a lot going on in the realm of
bioplastics: researchers at BASF are the first
to have succeeded in creating a novel foam
based on renewable raw materials. In the
future, this newcomer could play an important
role in the packaging market; a prototype will
be shown at the K 2007. Likewise making an
appearance is the new Lupranol ® BALANCE
50, a polyol based on castor oil, a renewable
raw material. It offers the advantage that it can
replace conventional polyols as a so-called
drop-in, in other words, it can be used directly
without a change in the formulation.
When it comes to the engineering plastics,
BASF will be presenting the bio-based polyamide
6.10 Ultramid ® Balance. This material
can be employed especially in cases where
low moisture absorption and the associated
high dimensional stability are crucial such as,
for example, in automotive construction, in
the electronics sector as well as in precision
engineering and machine construction.
Clear strategic
orientation
Innovations are indeed the focal point of
BASF’s strategy. John Feldmann, responsible
for the plastics division on the Executive
Board, explains the expansion strategy
being pursued in the plastics business,
“When it comes to plastics, by 2010, we
intend to have raised the sales percentage
of innovative products and specialties for
individual sectors and customers from the
2006 level of about 25% to over 40%.” He
prescribes the following strategic guidelines
to achieve this goal:
• concentration in fields that have sufficient
potential for differentiation on the market;
• continuous improvement in the efficiency,
effectiveness and innovative strength of
all businesses;
• unrelenting pursuit of the growth potentials
of new applications and of new
customer groups;
• fully utilizing the product and service
portfolios, and
• positioning plastics as energy-efficient
materials.
In October, visitors to BASF’s stand will
get a glimpse of the future of plastics and
will have a chance to be part of it. Be it
laypersons, plastic experts or specialists
in other fields, anyone can challenge the
chemical giant with a technical problem,
precisely in cases where plastic has not
yet been used as a solution. Who knows,
perhaps the next innovation will result from
this cooperation?
Further information:
www.k-online.de

Design
Beauty that is skin-deep
BASF’s design factory is where customers experience
first-hand the significance of the tactile properties of plastics
We use all kinds of adjectives
to describe things that we
can feel: soft, hard, elastic,
rough, smooth, matt, silky, velvety,
leathery, woody, metallic, dry, warm,
cold, damp, greasy. Product development
also requires the optimization of
the tactile properties but it is not an
easy task to unlock the fine secrets of
the skin. BASF’s designfabrik helps
development engineers to optimally
fine-tune the surfaces of plastics to
suit their products.
More and more often, designers are incorporating
the tactile properties of the future
product into their considerations. Take, for
instance, the automotive industry: whether
you are firmly gripping the steering wheel
or gently touching the interior trim, the
surfaces not only have to look beautiful but
they also have to feel good to the touch.
Many manufacturers have long since recognized
this and do not leave the topic of
touch to chance. For example, Daimler has
its customers test its new soft-touch coating
for dashboards. Audi is striving to make
the closing of an ashtray into the perfect
sensory experience. The first tactile design
laboratories have sprung up. Plastics are
jacks-of-all-trades whose property profiles
can be combined in almost any desired
way and these variants are exhaustively
tried out. Opel is using the specialty plastic
Terblend ® N from BASF’s PlasticsPlus
product line in the roof console of a limited
edition of its Zafira model. This particularly
easy-flowing material replicates surface
structures down to the last detail, attaining
the desired matt and soft-touch effect for
this application.
Our senses
help us decide
When people buy products, their senses
play a role in the decision: the first impression
customers have is usually visual. But
after that, they will want to touch the product
to confirm the expectations that have
been created by what they have seen.
Does the ob-
ject they
are touch-
ing
have
the
properties they had anticipated from
looking at it? Customers perceive any
differences as jarring. And this does not
apply only to cars. Customers also gather
tactile experiences when shopping. They
walk through the stores touching everything
in sight, they take things down from
the shelves, hold them in their hands. To
the chagrin of shopkeepers, who have
to put everything back in the right place.
Even though the sense of touch usually
plays a subconscious role, it always has a
considerable influence on our subjective
perception. Often, this is only noticed when
something is not the way it should be: the
leather-like surface is cold, or the metallic
surface is elastic. The perception has to
match what is expected and typical of the
product in question. In fact, the objective
assessment of a sensorial experience
depends on the material. Cold is not by
definition something negative. A metal has
to be cold and hard. It has to feel “authen-
10

Design
tic” as designers like to say. This translates
into a positive perception of quality.
Cognitive differences
A problematic aspect in communicating
about tactile qualities lies in the fact that the
significance and assessment of the expressions
we have for emotional states are
dependent on one’s culture and language.
Evaluations of the perceived properties of
surfaces often do not match in terms of how
subjective perception.
In order to solve this dilemma, personnel of
the designfabrik came up with a clever
idea: using over 50 defined surfaces, they
offer customers the possibility to precisely
pinpoint the requirements that need to
be met for their application. Whether it is
structured to be leathery or smooth, technically
uniform or naturally random, numerous
properties can be described and tested.
Of course, BASF’s plastics are on hand so
that customers can compare them with an
eye towards their envisaged applications.
Samples are already available for many
combinations of materials and surfaces,
while others can quickly be created in the
that are likewise on display in the design
factory, a total of more than one million
plastic impressions can be created – a
veritable treasure trove for product designers.
This service has been well received by
customers. Daniel Knies, project manager
at the LSG Sky Chefs Group, a subsidiary of
Lufthansa, says, “BASF’s designfabrik helps
us meet the growing demand to situate
they are described. Moreover, the subjective
perception of an objective state can vary
from one individual to another. One person
is shivering and perceives something as
cold while another is still feeling quite comfortable
in a T-shirt. This makes communication
among researchers and developers,
designers and product managers extremely
difficult. What is needed is an objective parameter
by means of which the description
of a sensation can be uncoupled from the
technical laboratory. The feel influences
the optical properties of the product: for
instance, special surface structures yield
different matt characteristics and levels of
gloss. In combination with the 20,000 colors
products closer and closer to the Corporate
Design in a quest to position the company’s
own brand in the market, thus enhancing
its visibility.” In the meantime, this service is
available not only for styrenics but also for
the engineering plastics and polyurethanes.
Significance shows up
in daily routine
Gripping, stroking, touching: the significance
of the sense of touch shows up in
11

Design
paying ever greater attention to design and
to the emotional aspects of value-added
products. Companies that want to prevail
against the competition have to differentiate
themselves precisely in the premium sector.
Especially in consumer-oriented sectors
such as the cosmetics packaging and automotive
industries, it is important to optimize
the tactile properties of a product since the
products change so quickly.
Further information:
www.basf.de/designfabrik
12
our daily activities. The sensory cells
needed for tactile perception are already
developed in the eighth week of pregnancy.
The skin, our largest sensory organ, allows
us to perceive touch, pressure, pain,
temperature and vibration via the skin’s
receptors and nerve endings. The sensory
receptors at the tip of the tongue and at the
tip of the fingers are particularly close to
each other, a mere 1 mm to 5 mm
apart, so that fine structures can
be distinguished. Even though
the perception of tactile stimuli
is often more subconscious
than the awareness of visual
properties, this does not
mean by a long shot that it
is unimportant in terms of
how a product is experienced.
More and more manufacturers
do not leave the topic of touch
to chance. Sandra Hermanns,
a staff member of the design
factory, describes the project of a
customer, “Plastic can be selected
in such a way that it conveys an overwhelmingly
positive sensation when
touched.” She holds up a Christian Dior
lipstick tube made of Terlux ® , the MABS
manufactured by BASF. “When Terlux is
touched, it can impart a softer feel than
traditional polystyrene, and this sensation
also enhances the visual value of the product,”
explains Hermanns. “Customers are
Research
The age of plastics
The demands made by customers when
it comes to sensorial experiences are becoming
increasingly more palpable. The
product or packaging should feel velvety,
smooth, leathery, luxurious or even precious.
Technical engineers and product
designers are faced with the problem of
the actual implementation: how can a
sensation like “velvety” be converted into
a mechanical property? A study to find
this out was headed by Dr. Alexandre Terrenoire,
an expert in polymer research at
BASF, and carried out in cooperation with
86 students in Bayreuth, Germany. The
correlation between tactile and mechanical
properties was measured. The test
subjects were each instructed to feel
between eight and twelve test specimens
that were varied in terms of their mechanical
properties and to assess their tactile
properties. The findings showed that the
same mechanical properties prompt the
same tactile perceptions. Consequently,
conversion of tactile properties into
mechanical properties is indeed possible.
Product developers can make use of
these findings in a variety of ways: since it
is now known which tactile properties feel
good, there is nothing standing in the way
of creating a product design with optimal
tactile characteristics. The important
aspect here is to fulfill the expectations
triggered by the visual perception. If the
wishes associated with touch are known,
this can be easily converted into mechanical
properties and the right product
can be designed. The tactile properties
of existing products can be ascertained
and optimized. But even new products
can be systematically designed with
an eye towards generating the desired
tactile sensation. Designers simply have
to indicate how their product is supposed
to feel. This gives BASF what it needs
to incorporate the science of touch into
product design. Plastics are well-suited
for such modifications since their properties
can be varied without any problem.
“Anything is possible with plastics. We
have entered the age of polymers. They
are the only materials with which we can
vary and optimize properties relating to
touch, sight and sound in so many ways,”
explains Terrenoire, “For instance, we can
fulfill a wide array of wishes and adapt a
given product to individual preferences
and requirements.
Further information:
alexandre.terrenoire@basf.com

Design
The birth of a design chair: industrial designer Konstantin Grcic (on the right) with Italian furniture manufacturer Martin Plank.
The pinnacle in design
The debut of the MYTO design chair
Miles and miles of pipelines,
asphalt, metal containers,
workers wearing hard hats: a
chemical production site is no place
for people whose job is to ponder the
beautiful things in life – well, that’s
what one thinks. But at least at BASF,
this notion does not apply: in fact, this
has become a place where designers
meet.
Let’s take, for instance, the summer of
2006 and, for example, Konstantin Grcic,
freelance industrial designer from Munich,
Germany, who has already treated the
world to all sorts of exquisite creations.
Stools, chairs, lamps, sofas, certainly
useful products but always with a slight
touch of the unconventional. What is such
a designer doing in such a place? “Even
though I was aware of BASF, it seemed
to me that such a corporation would be
almost unapproachable,” he explains.
“Too big for us to really be able to work
together with the people there.”
But such a collaboration was exactly the
goal of the so-called “Universal Days”,
back when BASF invited four renowned
industrial designers to a get-together. “We
intentionally sought contact with designers,”
explains one of the people who sat
across the desk from the designers last
year and who was determined to overcome
such barriers, namely, Anja Bakker,
of BASF’s Applications Development
for Engineering Plastics. “We wanted to
show the designers all that can be done
with modern plastics. “In this endeavor,
we chose to steer clear of tables and
complex graphics. Instead, we gave them
concrete, hands-on examples of what it
was all about.”
Engineering plastics
open doors
A year later, Grcic comments with amazement
how he embraced the whole thing
back then with the wide-eyed enthusiasm
of a child, “This invitation really opened
doors!” And it should not be overlooked
that this award-winning designer already
had many years of experience working
with plastics. But BASF was showcasing
its high-end materials such as Ultradur ®
High Speed (PBT). “These mechanically
remarkable plastics were something quite
new to us; these Ultras impressed me
especially because of their engineering
properties!” A few weeks later, there was
no doubt whatsoever: let’s make something
terrific with this material. A chair. A
free-swinging chair.
Why a chair? “To create a chair, that is
the pinnacle in design,” states Konstantin
Grcic. “A veritable icon that, in a manner
of speaking, ushered in the era of modern
furniture design in the first place, is Marcel
Breuer’s chair ‘Cesca’, created in 1928.”
This free-swinging chair, a chair practically
without back legs, has appeared in many
variants since then but in essence has remained
virtually unchanged: always made
of bent tubular steel and a seat cushion.”
Although Danish designer Verner Panton
created a plastic variant of the free-swinging
chair in the 1960s, the famous Panton
13

Design
First impressions of the new “MYTO” chair.
14
Chair, it had a large surface and a sculpted
shape, without legs, without a frame.
So why not use a modern plastic like
Ultradur ® High Speed to build upon the
great model from the past and take it into
the future? Perhaps create something that
Panton could not do because he didn’t
have the right material? Grcic elaborates,
“I was fascinated by the temptation to use
this highly mechanical plastic to tackle the
challenge of the free-swinging chair. That
was the key to our project.”
Creative
“Big Bang”
The right team for this endeavor was
quickly assembled: the renowned furniture
manufacturer Plank, from Bolzano, Italy,
was now on board and he brought along
a mold producer and an injection-molding
machine manufacturer. After just a
few weeks, the first Styropor models and
CAD data were ready. BASF contributed
its know-how about plastics. “We found
the ideal mold design as well as optimal
injection points and figured out the ribs,
the curvatures and the profile thicknesses
with an eye towards properly dissipating
the forces that build up,” explains Bakker.
After all, the chair had been conceived
right from the start as a monoblock – as
an integrated whole, without steel reinforcement.
This does not mean that the
object has to actually look bulky. Grcic
states, “Ultradur High Speed is particularly
free-flowing. We can create cross sections
with very thick walls and, at the same
time, make the transition from a frame
construction into a network with very fine
structures.” So, this new piece of design
furniture – which has been given the name
MYTO – does indeed transport Marcel
Breuer’s idea into the future, evolving into
a free-swinging chair made of plastic.
However, it does not have a large surface
like the Panton chair, but rather, it has
legs like the Cesca. The filigree openings
in the backrest make the link to historical
predecessors since they are reminiscent
of wickerwork and impart the chair with a
timeless lightness. The technical data is
likewise very convincing: the glass fibers
provide the requisite stability without interfering
with the elasticity of the chair; Ultradur
High Speed’s low moisture absorption
and high resistance to UV and weathering
turn this chair into a piece of furniture for
the whole world, which will surely stand
the test of time, even in hot and humid
climates. Thanks to the nanotechnology
employed by BASF in the development
of this material, this plastic not only flows
very well into the complex mold but it also
helps the chair to shine in bright colors
with less dye than is needed for standard
PBT.
Dimensions for the design of
the future
But these are all things that are only of
fleeting interest to artists. Much more
exciting is “the idea that one can actually
design material,” says Grcic. “When I
design a wooden chair, I don’t go to the
sawmill to talk to the manager about the
wood that he is cutting for me there. But
I do think that the design of the future
needs precisely this new dimension.”
And Bakker? For her, this work is actually
nothing out of the ordinary. “For BASF, it
has become a matter of course to lend a
hand to customers with our know-how,
all the way from the seed of an idea to
the final product. In the meantime, we
have even expanded our interfaces to
designers. Anyone who wants to know
how to implement ideas with plastic is
welcome to the designfabrik, our design
factory created for this very purpose.
And it was intentional that we put the
design factory right in the middle of the
BASF works in Ludwigshafen, Germany,
in the building of a former paint factory,
where designers now meet.
Further information:
www.ultradur.de
www.basf-designfabrik.com

Design
15

Design
Hold your fire!
First non-flammable upholstered furniture, with a core made of Basotect
Dealing with the bureaucracy
isn’t much fun. And it is even
more unpleasant when you
have to wait for a long time while
uncomfortable chairs made of steel
put your patience to a hard test – literally.
And these metal benches and
chairs are not exactly a pretty sight
either. But in public places, comfort
and esthetics only stand a chance if
they comply with the safety requirements.
Strict fire-protection stipulations
apply in public buildings such as
government offices, movie theaters,
hotel lobbies, retirement homes and
hospitals, which is why uncomfortable
steel chairs are often found in
such places.
This is about to change since Walter Knoll,
a manufacturer of upholstered furniture
located in Herrenberg, Germany, will soon
launch the first non-combustible upholstered
furniture, with a core made of a
specialty foam. This novelty owes its existence
to Basotect ® , BASF’s flame-resistant
melamine resin foam. The upholstery
furniture series KITE 560, designed with a
16

Design
body made of steel, impregnated Basotect
and Bonnell innersprings, is particularly
well-suited for furnishing public spaces.
Prize-winning
design
The non-combustible KITE 560 offers a
unique combination of safety, comfort and
design. It was the brainchild of the British
design team of PearsonLloyd, which has
received a number of awards for this creation.
The success of this innovation was
due in part to the fact that the independent
and accredited fire testing facility “Brandhaus
Hoechst” in Frankfurt am Main,
Germany, developed a special fire testing
program for upholstered furniture. After
undergoing this new testing regime, the
KITE 560 with its impregnated Basotect
core received the unparalleled test rating
of “non-combustible”. Moreover, Walter
Knoll also performed static and dynamic
tests on the body with its BASF foam in
order to assess the sitting comfort, elastic
properties and plastic deformation. The
decisive aspects for the use of Basotect in
upholstered furniture are two of its properties,
namely, fire resistance and elasticity.
This foam is flame resistant without the
addition of flame retardants. It does not
melt or drip upon exposure to flames. Instead,
it becomes charred with only slight
smoke formation and does not exhibit any
afterglow. The filigree three-dimensional
network structure consisting of easily
deformable webs accounts for the high
flexibility of this material, which is by nature
hard and brittle. The greater elasticity of
this material also goes hand in hand with
greater processing and design freedom, so
that this BASF foam lends itself very well
for durable and comfortable upholstered
furniture.
Further information:
www.basotect.de
A unique combination
of safety,
comfort and design:
KITE 560, the first
non-combustible
upholstered furniture,
with a core
made of Basotect.
Background
Basotect, the jack-of-all-trades
Originally used in the acoustic insulation
of buildings because of its outstanding
sound-absorption capacity, there are
now several versions of Basotect ® for
various applications. In particular, mention
should be made of the aeronautics
and aerospace industries, which greatly
benefit from the fire-protection provided
by this material. For instance, this BASF
foam protects the sensitive satellites
that the Ariane 5 launch system delivers
into space. The lightweight Basotect UL
meets the strict fire-protection standards
stipulated for the insulation of cabins in
large-bodied aircraft. Since 2004, this
versatile melamine resin foam has also
been employed for aircraft seats. In the
meantime, there are now flame-resistant
mattresses made of Basotect UF in the
United States that are in compliance with
the stringent safety regulations in force
there.
17

Miscellaneous
The whole is more
than the sum of its parts
The new PlasticsPortal Europe will become home to BASF’s Internet
pages and to its plastics sold through e-commerce
18
To combine the Internet pages of
BASF plastics with the current
PlasticsPortal, the e-commerce
site for engineering plastics and styrenics
– this was the task that BASF
has taken on in Europe with its newly
designed PlasticsPortal Europe.
A portal is a kind of visual gate that leads
users from a central port of call to the desired
contents as quickly as possible. Precisely
with this in mind, specific navigation
links are now available on the new pages
to take users to their destination with just
a few clicks. In contrast to the two earlier,
separate Internet sites, users will now find
all of the information about BASF plastics
and foams in a single place. The information
relating to individual market segments
has been expanded, so that all of the
products used in a given sector as well
as all pertinent information are combined
in web pages of their own. Furthermore,
the table titled “Overview of Products &
Sectors” provides a complete overview of
all areas of application for the company’s
polymeric materials.
Top-notch
interface
The portal also offers new services. These
include comprehensive case studies that
are now available for almost all areas of
application and product lines as well as
expanded download options, including
additional product brochures and calculation
programs for engineers. The Plastics-
Portal provides technicians and engineers
with information about the properties and
processing of BASF plastics, a help function
to assist in solving processing problems
as well as a tool for targeted product
selection on the basis of the product
properties or the envisaged application.
e-Commerce plays an important role in
the PlasticsPortal – from any web page,
registered users can access the transaction
area, where they can order plastics
and foams online, track the current status
of orders and view the invoicing history.
Moreover, registered customers can request
additional product information. With
A better overview: the new PlasticsPortal.
its new site, BASF is further expanding the
information it offers online. This will give
BASF customers a true portal that grants
them access to BASF’s plastic products.
Further information:
www.plasticsportal.eu

Markets and products
Riding high
Happiness is sitting pretty on the back of a horse – and that is where
a rider should stay. Terblend N lends a helping hand here.
I
t made the Hyer Boot Company
world famous: the cowboy boot. Too
uncomfortable to walk around in but
perfect for riding horses – thanks to
the trademark slanted heel that ensures
a secure hold in the stirrup. Now
this Western classic made of leather is
getting some competition: new stirrup
inserts made of Terblend ® N, BASF’s
ABS/PA blend, provide the necessary
grip as equestrians ride over hill and
dale.
Charles H. Hyer invented the now-familiar
cowboy boot in 1875. It was in the
town of Olathe, Kansas that he founded
a small cobbling shop together with his
brother Edward. One day, according to
the company’s history, a cowboy who
remains unknown to this day entered the
shop and complained about his old boots,
explaining that he wanted a new pair
the likes of which had never been seen
before: a pointed toe that he could slide
more quickly and easily into a stirrup. This
order revolutionized the world of footwear.
Demand grew briskly and that is how the
brothers came to found the Hyer Boot
Company.
Galloping
made easy
Not to slip out of the stirrups, especially at a
full gallop, this remains a challenge even for
today’s horseback riders. But uncomfortable
shoes are no longer necessary since
this task is now mastered by stirrup inserts
made of Terblend N, BASF’s ABS/PA blend.
As of recently, they are being produced and
sold under the name Compositi by the Bel-
gian injection-molding company Polymar.
“We aim to use as much plastic as possible
for horseback riding equipment, not
only because of its durability and freedom
of design, but also because of its cost-efficiency,”
explains Polymar’s Jacques Guily.
The advantage: the parts are lightweight
and simple to install. Thanks to Terblend N,
a plastic that is being used for the first time
in this function, the product is much easier
to maintain, cheaper and dimensionally
stable. Terblend N combines a high-quality
surface with a pleasant feel. It is easy
to process, without any need for pre-treatment
or after-treatment, and it is also very
sturdy. It especially helps children learn not
to put their feet too far into the stirrups.
Terblend ® N can be easily colored, so that
children can choose small stirrup inserts in
all the colors of the rainbow. Celebrities like
Madonna have made cowboy boots into a
fashion accessory but they are no longer
needed for horseback riding.
Weitere Informationen:
www.terblend-n.de
Background
Terblend N
Material:
Blend on the basis of ABS and polyamide
Applications:
automotive interiors, motorcycle fairing
Properties:
(impact-)resistance, ease of processing,
chemical resistance, good dimensional
stability under heat, high surface
quality, pleasant feel
Stirrup inserts made of Terblend N.
19

Markets and products
Latin rock musician
Carlos Santana at
the North Sea Jazz
Festival 2004.
Pure sound for
Carlos Santana’s
electric guitar
With the plastic Ultraform, metal parts for guitars
can be processed by means of conventional injection
molding
When guitarist Carlos Santana
plucks the strings of
his electric guitar to launch
into hits like “Black Magic Woman”,
BASF products contribute to the good
sound. After all, Santana buys his
guitars at one of the leading guitar
manufacturers in the world, PRS
Guitars in Stevensville, Maryland. This
company uses metal parts made of
Catamold ® – granules of metal powder
and a binder system containing
the plastic Ultraform ® – so that those
special sounds can be coaxed out of
the strings.
But how did this cooperation come into
being? “Catamold is the ideal material
for making small, complex metal elements,
in other words, precisely for the
kind of parts that are needed for guitars,”
explains business manager Arnd Thom.
“This is why we have introduced Catamold
to several manufacturers of guitar
mechanisms.” Thom found a warm welcome
at the German company Schaller
20

Markets and products
electronics: its customer, Paul Reed
Smith – CEO of PRS Guitars – had been
looking far and wide for a new material
for the bridge, which is where the strings
are located. The envisaged material had
to be hard, in any case harder than the
commonly employed brass. It had to be
easy and inexpensive to make. And last
but not least, it had to impart a special
sound to the guitar. “Of course, sound is
not exactly one of the material properties
that we have specified for our products,”
explains Thom. “But preliminary testing
already showed that the sound was absolutely
pure. The customer was enthusiastic
– and we were in business!”
Material with
a special sound
And so a new electric guitar made by PRS
Guitars was launched onto the market:
the Hollowbody I sporting a bridge made
of Catamold. This BASF product has a
decisive advantage since its hardness, its
acoustics and its low-cost production allow
the integration of so-called piezoelectric
pickups. As a result, the tone can be picked
up by the individual strings directly at the
bridge, and this enhances the acoustics of
the instrument. This is a system that PRS
Guitars has now patented. And who knows,
when Latin rock musician Carlos Santana
plays a fantastic virtuoso solo on his guitar
at his next concert, this might even be in
small measure thanks to products that
came from Ludwigshafen …
Further information:
www.plasticsportal.eu/ultraform
www.catamold.com
Background
Powder injection molding with
Ultraform
Catamold ® consists of granules of
metal powder and a binder system
with the plastic Ultraform ® (polyoxymethylene)
as the main component.
The plastic ensures that the metal
powder remains pliable and retains its
shape. In this manner, it can then be
easily processed by powder injection
molding into complex components in
large quantities. Afterwards, a catalyst
is employed to remove the Ultraform,
leaving a residue of just a few percent.
The metal skeleton that is left behind
is then sintered at about 1300°C
[2372°F]. This gives it the quality of a
forged component but it is simpler and
less expensive to produce. Some of the
uses of Catamold include auto parts,
consumer goods such as watches and
jewelry or electronic equipment.
21

Markets and products
A fleeting moment in time
Introducing the new biodegradable Ecovio L Foam
22
At K 2007 BASF will be introducing
a new development in the field of
bio-plastics. The new Ecovio ® L
Foam is a refinement of Ecovio, the first
plastic made on the basis of renewable
raw materials. In early 2006, BASF
launched Ecovio onto the market as the
umbrella brand for all future biodegradable
compounds based on renewable
raw materials.
The history of biodegradable plastics at
BASF dates back to the mid-1990s, when
BASF embarked on the development of
a polyester that is based on petrochemicals
but that is completely biodegradable
under industrial composting conditions
in accordance with DIN EN 13432. The
outcome of this development work, Ecoflex,
was introduced onto the market in 1998.
When BASF refined Ecoflex to form Ecovio,
the company switched its biodegradable
plastic over to renewable raw materials by
incorporating polylactic acid (PLA), which
is extracted from corn. This is how the
biodegradable plastic Ecoflex evolved into
the biodegradable and bio-based plastic
Ecovio. Today, BASF is already among the
leading suppliers of biodegradable plastics.
The development of Ecovio L Foam reflects
BASF’s intention to expand its position in
this market, which is growing by more than
20 percent annually worldwide.
Ready-to-use
This is why BASF is now working on its first
plastic made of renewable raw materials
for the production of biodegradable foams.
This product will go by the name Ecovio L
Foam and – like the base product Ecovio
– it consists of Ecoflex and polylactic acid
(PLA); in fact, Ecovio L Foam is made up of
more than 75% bio-based carbon atoms
(here: PLA). Ecovio LBX 8145 for film applications,
in contrast, consists of almost
equal amounts of Ecoflex and PLA.
A study to find this out was headed by Dr.
Alexandre Terrenoire, an expert in polymer
research at BASF, and carried out in cooperation
with BASF’s department of polymer
physics and 86 students of the University
of Bayreuth, Germany.
The biodegradable plastic Ecovio L Foam
was created for the packaging industry.
Fast-food boxes and food-product trays
will be made of this new product in the
future since the demand is sharply increasing
nowadays for food packaging made
of biodegradable materials that stem from
renewable raw materials.
BASF will be offering the new plastic as a
ready-to-use product. Ecovio L Foam is
going to be marketed in the form of granules
that, without any other admixtures,
can be directly expanded using an XPS
expanding installation (XPS: extruded polystyrene
rigid foam) and then processed by
thermomolding in a subsequent step into
a finished fast-food box or food-product
tray. Packaging made of this new foam – if
national regulations permit this – can be
disposed of together with organic waste:
microorganisms attack the packaging
and break it down into water and carbon
dioxide.

Markets and products
Debut at the
K 2007
This new Ecovio type is currently undergoing
its experimental phase at the
premises of select test customers. In developing
Ecovio L foam, BASF is working
together with a leading American company
in the packaging industry. Especially in
the United States, there is an avid interest
in biodegradable food-product packaging
for the food service sector. The experiments
so far are very promising, and
BASF will be presenting first laboratoryproduced
quantities of this new material
at the K 2007 plastics trade fair.
Further information:
www.ecovio.de
Bioplastics receive award
Material award 2007 goes to BASF’s bio-plastics
Two BASF plastics, Ecoflex ® and
Ecovio, have received this year’s iF
material award. The jury gave recognition
to the innovative and creative
application potential of these materials.
Dietmar Heufel of Global Business
Management for Ecoflex and
Ecovio remarked upon receiving this
prize, “The biodegradable plastics
Ecoflex and Ecovio open up a wide
array of options for designers. These
materials can be used, for example,
for packaging, they can be printed in
eight different colors and they display
high mechanical strength. Ecovio can
also be modified in such a way that it
is suitable for injection-molding and
deep-drawing applications.” One of
the reasons why the jury bestowed
the iF material award on these BASF
plastics was because Ecoflex lends
itself to a variety of uses in the realm
of packaging since it is waterproof,
tear-resistant, elastic, and it can be
printed on and welded. The iF awards,
which annually receive more than 5000
entries from almost 50 countries, are
among the most prestigious design
awards worldwide. The prize went to
two plastics in the category of material
& material applications. In this segment,
jurors look at the intelligent
utilization of a material and at the
resulting innovative results for products
and product parts. The winners are
chosen on the basis of the evaluation
criteria of innovation, creativity, form of
presentation, development potential
and feasibility. This was the third time
that the International Forum Design
(iF) in Hannover, Germany, presented
this award for innovative materials and
material ideas. The iF material award
gives manufacturers, designers and
design engineers a platform for their
design ideas in the four categories
of material & material applications,
products, ideas and processes. The
jury evaluated a total of 120 entries
that were submitted to the competition
this year.
Further information:
www.ifdesign.de
23

Markets and products
Putting an end to breakdowns
Injection-molding solution for tightly sealing automotive electronic components
24
A
country road late at night: it’s
raining, it’s cold, it’s dark – and
suddenly nothing works anymore.
For many drivers, it is the ultimate
nightmare: the total shutdown
of the on-board electronic system.
The culprit is usually quite trivial:
moisture that gradually creeps along
the electric printed-board conductors
and finds its way into the sensitive
circuitry of the vehicle. Nowadays,
a short-circuit affects far more than
just the dashboard lighting, radio
and turn signals; it paralyzes the
entire vehicle. “Today, the electronic
system is much more important than
in the past,” explains Michael Gall, a
polyamide specialist at BASF. “That is
why it is all the more important to effectively
protect the sensitive circuitry
against water and other invaders
like dust and oil.” In the future, the
new plastic specialty Ultramid ® Seal-
Fit will provide this protection.
Today, printed circuit boards are usually
encased in their high-strength housings
through the modality of high-tech injectionmolding.
But generally speaking, plastics
do not bond well to metal surfaces. In
fact, even right after being manufactured,
printed-board conductors sometimes exhibit
diminutive gaps at the sites where the
metal and the polymer touch each other.
And besides, metal and plastic expand
at different rates when exposed to heat
– temperatures as high as 160°C [320°F]
are at times measured in the engine
compartment. This gives rise to stresses
that can cause minuscule cracks over the
course of years.
Printed-board conductor should
conduct electricity, not water
This is why our customers have been long
searching for ways to effectively protect
circuits against the penetration of harmful
substances,” explains Marius Fedler, who
heads process development at the renowned
Lüdenscheid Plastics Institute. His customers
are not only car makers but also suppliers
and plastic manufacturers like BASF. Every
two years, they tackle a particularly pressing
problem affecting this sector, with the aim of
jointly developing solutions. The current project
is called “Metal-to-plastic bonds that are media-tight”.
In an endeavor to keep water at bay
for good, these resourceful engineers at the
Plastics Institute tried a whole range of things.
Sandblasting the printed-board conductors in
order to improve the plastic adhesion, applying
primers, coatings; the metal surfaces were
even treated with ultra-hot plasma. Time and
again the team experienced setbacks: the
adhesion was worse than before, the coating
was too soft or not durable enough. Or else
the approach did not lend itself to injection
molding or was simply too awkward. The
plastic experts in Lüdenscheid conducted
more than 500 experiments before the solution
finally surfaced: a polyamide made by BASF.

Markets and products
New plastic specialty protects
circuits against moisture.
Same method,
better bond
“Our broad product line certainly contains
plastics that bond well to metals. Our task
was merely to further optimize this important
property,” explains Gall. The breakthrough
came with the new Ultramid Seal-Fit, which
flows so easily that it actually fills every nook
and cranny of the microscopic structures
of the metal surface. “The special feature
of these granules is that they can still be
processed in conventional injection-molding
machines like almost any other thermoplastic.
This means that processors do not
have to deal with a new process,” says Gall.
And what is even more, there is no longer a
need for complex pre-treatments involving
materials that are not suitable for injection
molding but that had been used up until now
to affix the printed-board conductors so that
they would not get all tangled up during the
subsequent injection molding of the housing.
“This bond is now simply created by Ultramid
Seal-Fit,” is how Gall describes the
advantage of the new solution. Fedler adds,
“That’s
the beauty
of it: you simply
use the existing injection-molding
method but with
a new material.” Okay. But are the printedboard
conductors that are overmolded this
way really tightly sealed? The engineers
are all fired up that this is indeed the case
and to prove it, they even put the material
specimens into the oven. “We subjected
the specimens one after the other to all of
the usual climatic cycling tests as well as
to harsh temperature-shock experiments,”
says Fedler, describing the rigorous testing
they conducted in-house. “Here, the parts
had to withstand temperature fluctuations
from -40°C [-40°F] to +50°C [122°F] within
less than 10 seconds.” And they still had to
be tightly sealed after this. Ultramid Seal-Fit
firmly clings not only to the metal but also to
the polyamide housing. “Polyamides adhere
extremely well to each other, creating a tight
seal here as well,”
according to Gall.
Besides, Ultramid Seal-Fit
is somewhat softer then the
fiberglass-reinforced material of the
housing, so that it can also absorb the
stresses that occur between the metal and
the housing upon exposure to heat. “The
combination of our material know-how with
the extraordinary technical testing competence
of the Lüdenscheid Plastics Institute
allowed us to come up with an innovation
that benefits everyone,” summarizes BASF
expert Gall. “Manufacturers of electronic
components can now make much better
products without having to expend more effort
and the OEMs can put safer cars on the
market – with the result that the nightmare of
electronic system failure is becoming a thing
of the past.
Further information:
www.ultramid.com
www.kunststoff-institut.de
25

26
Markets and products

Markets and products
BMW X5 with polyurethane
from
Elastogran GmbH.
Soft touch
Interior door handles made of TPU for the BMW 3 Series and the X5
Thermoplastic polyurethane
with soft-touch surfaces are
definitely up and coming in
automotive interiors. These highquality
surfaces combine extremely
pleasant tactile properties with
high functionality and an appealing
design. No wonder that they are becoming
more and more the benchmark
for the modern styling of
vehicle interiors. After all, they are
not only unbeatable when it comes
to quality but, thanks to their flexibility,
they also offer an incredible
plethora of options to automotive
designers.
For many years now, Elastogran GmbH, a
subsidiary of BASF, has been providing a
myriad of applications for car interiors. In
addition to PUR systems for dashboards
or steering wheels, there is also a high
demand for thermoplastic polyurethane
elastomers. The TPU Elastollan ® augments
the multifaceted application possibilities.
One of the latest developments is the particularly
soft, aliphatic Elastollan for interior
door handles in the BMW 3 Series and in
the X5. These interior door handles are
made of a clever combination of the materials
ABS and PC covered with TPU, giving
a very pleasant surface. It stands out for
its agreeable tactile properties – in other
words, for its soft touch. At the same time,
TPU ensures light-fastness and UV- resistance.
Subsequent coating of the surface
is no longer needed and even light colors
can be achieved without coating.
BMW X5, with polyurethanes of Elastogran GmbH.
Versatility
Elastogran has always had great ideas
when it comes to details in automotive interiors.
Be it the slush skin for the surface
of the dashboard, the rolltop cover for the
center console or the gearshift lever, the
handbrake or as film for the backfoaming
of seats and floor mats as well as many
other ingenious solutions – flexible TPU is
a material that has proven its superiority
time and time again. The cup holders of
the Audi A6 as well as the gearshift lever,
handbrake and control buttons in the
Saab 9.3 are all made of that jack-of-alltrades,
TPU.
Further information:
www.elastogran.com
Background
TPU
Material:
Elastollan ® - thermoplastic polyurethane
elastomers
Application:
interior door handles for cars
Properties:
pleasant feel, soft-touch surface,
combines well with other materials,
light-fast, UV-resistant, no subsequent
surface coating needed
27

Markets and products
Shrink films provide
great freedom of
design.
Soft drinks dressed up
in designer fashion
Styrolux HS 70 for shrink films
Typical scenery in a German drinks
store: shelves as far as the eye
can see, an abundance of drinks
on display, so that making a selection
is quite a tall order. Most of the
decisions are made here at the point
of sale. The challenge for the bottles
is to find someone who will take them
home, so they have to stand out in the
crowd. But how? Not an easy task, the
competition is fierce! Perhaps with a
really exotic flavor? This is no longer
enough in such a hotly contested
market. As the saying goes, it is all a
matter of taste, but in this respect, the
items on the shelves are all top-notch.
The only sure way to be noticed is to
be eye-catching. But this does not
mean being conspicuous at any cost.
Instead, the idea is to stand out in a
positive way, for instance, by looking
good. BASF has now developed
Styrolux ® HS 70, a material for really
stylish designs, to give the bottles a
fashion makeover and improve their
chances of finding a new home.
Styrolux HS 70 is the brand name under
which BASF is now offering a product novelty
to the worldwide packaging market.
It is a new, optimized styrene-butadiene
block copolymer (SBC) to make highgrade
shrink films for packaging. Shrink
films, the designer fashion for all kinds of
drinks, can be used to dress up bottles
in style and to give them emotional
appeal. Already last year,
BASF launched the highly transparent
Styrolux ® 3G 46 for applications calling for
a very sophisticated look. At the current
global market volume of approximately 2.4
million square meters of film and estimated
growth rates of well over 10 percent in the
years to come, shrink films are an attractive
segment of the packaging market
for consumer goods. Today, more than
80 percent of the shrink films go into the
upscale “fashion industry” for food products
such as dairy items, soft drinks and
alcoholic beverages. Moreover, household
articles, cosmetics and pharmaceutical
packaging are all making increasing use of
shrink films.
Optimized shrinking
behavior
The driving force behind this dynamic trend
is the rising demand for product differentiation
and brand image as well as the wish for
an ever-more upscale presentation of finalconsumer
products on the shelves. But consumer
information regulations, which vary
regionally, are also driving the expectations
regarding print quality and the appearance
of sleeve-packaging made of shrink films.
Consequently, if the bottles are completely
shrink-wrapped, they are not only “in style”
but also protected against tampering such
28

Markets and products
as unauthorized opening. As a very cost-effective
alternative to directly printed bottles,
the sleeve films also allow the appearance
to be varied in multifaceted ways, even with
standardized containers. There is no dress
code and so manufacturers can let their fantasy
run wild. The new product stands out
especially for its optimized shrinking behavior.
Up until now, only films having a mean
final shrinkage of about 50 percent could
be made with SBC/PS blends. Thanks to a
novel product design, it has now become
possible to markedly raise especially the
final shrinkage values. Styrolux HS 70 can
now achieve shrinkage values of up to 80
percent. Only this high final shrinkage allows
bottles having all sorts of out-of-the-ordinary
shapes and sizes to be tightly wrapped.
Besides, Styrolux HS 70 is even more
transparent than its predecessors, it exhibits
improved stiffness and is easy to print on.
Another advantage is its high efficiency
since, owing to its lower density, about 30
percent more film per kilogram of plastic
can be produced in comparison to PVC or
PET-G. Manufacturers benefit from the fact
that the product is very easy to process and
from its broad processing
spectrum. Final customers
appreciate especially the soft and
pleasant feel of the sleeve, a typical property
of styrene-butadiene block copolymers.
Further information:
www.styrolux.de
Background
Styrolux HS 70
Material: Optimized styrene-butadiene
block copolymer
Application:
Shrink film for upscale presentation of
consumer goods
Properties:
Maximum shrinkage of up to 80%,
up to 30% higher yield than PET-G
or PVC, good control of the shrinking
behavior, outstanding visual and
tactile properties, ease of process and
recycling
29

Markets and products
Laser technology eliminates cable “spaghetti”
Automotive electronic components made by Kromberg & Schubert with new Ultramid ®
The electronic landscape of a car
can be a fascinating sight: colorful
cables wind their way from switch
to switch with a logic of their own, dive
into the depths and seem to end up
nowhere.
But this sight might soon become a thing
of the past now that Kromberg & Schubert,
an automotive supplier from Renningen,
Germany, has developed the first electronic
component made of a new Ultramid ® that
can be directly laser-structured efficiently,
quickly and flexibly. In this process, the
printed-board conductors are practically
engraved into the three-dimensional surface
so that wires can be completely dispensed
with. Such mechatronic components (MID:
molded interconnected devices) themselves
consolidate the entire contacting step, making
this a very efficient technique with a huge
potential in automotive electronics, where
parts are getting smaller and smaller. “3D
interconnected devices are often soldered
lead-free. Since the component has to withstand
a temperature of 245°C [473°F] in this
process, there is a need for a plastic with sufficient
heat resistance,” explains Erik Rega,
MID manager at Kromberg & Schubert.
Particularly well-suited for the
new method
And this is precisely where the new material
comes in: Ultramid T 4381 LDS has
been optimized specifically with an eye
towards the up-and-coming method of
laser direct structuring (LPKF-LDS ® ) for
MIDs. In comparison to other methods for
the production of electrical & electronic
components, the new method entails several
advantages: greater design freedom, shorter
process chains, need for fewer materials and
possibility of flexible changes to the circuitry
layout. So a glance into the electronics of a
car will continue to be fascinating, but now
without a labyrinth of cables and wires.
Further information:
www.ultramid.com
www.kromberg-schubert.com
Prototype of a three-dimensional interconnected
device made of Ultramid
– laser-structured and thus without cable
“spaghetti”.
30

Markets and products
A graduate from the school of hard knocks
New BASF high-performance plastic for versatile special applications
The best thing about one’s own
bathroom is still the hot water
that keeps flowing out of the
faucet. Over its long voyage from
the water-treatment plant all the way
to the tub, this water will soon also
have to pass by BASF or, to put it
more precisely, through pipe connectors
and valves made of Ultrason P,
that hold the maze of pipes together
behind the bathroom walls.
Plumbing fixtures made of this new highperformance
plastic, BASF’s first polyphenyl
sulfone (PPSU), are not only resistant
to high temperatures and algae but they
also resist breaking at notched or defective
places, even when they are hit with a
great deal of force. And they have to be
able to withstand such an attack since
plumbers like to test the quality of flanges,
connecting pieces and pipe junctions
by screwing such parts into a vice and
then giving them a couple of hard knocks
with a hammer. This is the unofficial test
to check the fundamental suitability of
plumbing fixtures made of plastic, for
which 40-year warranties are not usual.
Impervious to
hot steam
However, it is not only in the realm of
plumbing fixtures that Ultrason P has stood
up to such onslaughts. Owing to its high
heat resistance, it can be sterilized with
hot steam considerably better than other
plastics of this class. Even the combination
of stringent cleansers or disinfectants and
high heat does not bother Ultrason P. This
material can easily withstand up to 2000
hot-steam cycles. Moreover, fire-resistance
is also among its plus points. In aircraft
construction, special value is ascribed to
fire safety, and Ultrason P offers optimal
conditions here since it generates little heat
and releases hardly any harmful substances
in case of fire. Seat and lamp covers, ventilation
valves and overhead bins for carry-on
baggage as well as in-flight food containers
are potential applications.
Transparent parts
for milking machines
And what is good for people in the air is
also good for the cows back on earth. In
the realm of milk production in the agricultural
sector, particularly high requirements
are made in terms of sterilization
and resistance to cleansers, so that this
new specialty plastic comes in quite handy
here, also for the transparent parts of
milking systems. The approval procedures
for contact with food products and
drinking water are currently under way.
Further information:
www.ultrason.de
31

Markets and products
Tucked into a BASF bed
Neopolen E working around-the-clock
in the hot desert sand
Abu Dhabi from the
air (Photo: NASA).
32

Markets and products
Endless sandy beaches and
turquoise blue water before
the backdrop of some of the
most extravagant architecture in the
world: the Abu Dhabi Emirate is visibly
funneling its oil riches into futuristic
projects. Right in the middle of
the hot desert, the Isoplus company
is laying new pipelines for the black
gold and is padding the pipes with
expansion cushions made of Neopolen
® E (EPE) from BASF’s PlasticsPlus
product line.
Abu Dhabi 50 years ago: hardly a thing in
sight except for a small hamlet where most
of the locals lived in simple houses. There
was no trace of the luxury that we now associate
with this metropolis. But luck was
on the side of the island inhabitants and
neighbors on Saadiyat Island (“Island of
Happiness”) – in 1958, they struck oil. Since
then, revenues have been gushing out of
the ground and changes have occurred at a
breakneck pace. Today, numerous futuristic
high-rises, most of them with glass façades,
dominate the skyline of the city of Abu
Dhabi. Oil governs the fate of this country,
so an efficient infrastructure to transport it
is of paramount importance. This is where
the Isoplus company comes in: this market
leader in Germany in the realm of pipe
systems is currently building a 234 kilometer-long
pipeline. This company, whose
customers include large energy corporations
like E.On as well as numerous municipal
utility companies in Germany, has been
developing and producing pipe systems for
more than 30 years. Such systems serve to
transport, among other things, hot liquids
such as oil and water or even chemicals. The
heat inside the pipes causes the pipeline to
expand, which calls for some leeway so that
the pipes can shift. This is also the case in
Abu Dhabi: the oil is heated up so as to flow
through the pipelines faster – in its normal
state, the oil would be too viscous and slow.
The heat generated by the hot oil, however,
causes the pipeline to expand and that is
why foam cushions have to pad it. Isoplus
manufactures such cushions with BASF’s
Neopolen E panels. Contour cutting machines
are employed to cut the panels into
shaped sections that are then used in this
function without any further treatment. However,
in order to prevent heat accumulation
in the crown of the pipes, they are not completely
enclosed by the cushions. The panels
are glued to the outer circumference only at
the 3-o’clock and 9-o’clock positions. As is
normally done with such partial jacketing, the
lines – together with the expansion cushions
– are wrapped with laminate. This prevents
sand from penetrating between the lines and
the cushions. Altogether, the project in Abu
Dhabi required 21,381 meters of Neopolen E
expansion cushions, which were transported
in 30 shipping containers.
Neopolen E and
PUR in action
Neopolen E panels consist of a closed-cell,
physically cross-linked particle-foam made
of polyethylene. Particularly in view of the
physical cross-linking, this material has
several properties that make it the material
of choice for expansion cushions. For instance,
Neopolen E has excellent resilience
since this polyethylene foam deforms under
load, giving the pipe with the necessary
leeway to expand. When the load is eliminated,
the material returns to its original
state and can deform again the next time a
load is exerted. Expansion cushions made
of Neopolen E help to prevent damage to
the pipelines. Neopolen E also stands out
for having high temperature resistance,
for being highly and permanently elastic
as well as for being rot-proof. It does not
pose a burden to the environment since it
is rated in water-hazard class 0 and does
not contain any water-soluble substances.
It is free of chlorofluorocarbons, halogenated
chlorofluorocarbons and compounds
containing lead, cadmium, mercury or
chromium. BASF is also to be found in
oil pipelines, where the pipes are made
of steel with a plastic jacket consisting of
a layer of polyurethane (PUR) and a layer
of poly-ethylene (PE) on top of it, hence
the designation plastic-jacketed pipe. The
steel pipe itself serves to actually transport
the oil. The special PUR foam Elastopor ®
H made by BASF subsidiary Elastogran is
applied as thermal insulation onto the steel
for many pipes made by Isoplus. Thanks to
its outstanding insulating properties, it holds
the heat inside the pipe and keeps the oil
flowing smoothly. For exterior protection,
the PUR foam is wrapped in a PE sheathing
that not only absorbs mechanical stresses
but also provides protection against the elements
while the pipeline is being laid.
Further information:
www.neopolen.de
www.elastogran.com
www.isoplus.de
Background
Neopolen ® E
Material:
EPE - foam consisting of cross-linked
polyethylene
Application examples:
packaging, expansion cushions
Properties:
high resilience, high energy absorption,
flexibility, chemical resistance
Laying oil pipelines using expansion cushions made of Neopolen E.
33

Markets and products
These elements keep things
snug as a bug in a rug
The stroke of genius from the Earl of Sandwich finds a new use:
sandwich elements made by PURHOLZ
34

Markets and products
Building in record
time with
PURHOLZ.
Xx xx xxxx xxx xxxx
xxxxxx
Since the 1970s, PURHOLZ, a
German company from Mittweida
near Dresden, has been
producing sandwich elements with a
PUR core. These elements are used
in construction – for do-it-yourselfers,
for home improvers or for contractors,
and even for turn-key projects. This is
a clever idea that is generating interest
– and even quite a few converts
– among proponents of conventional
construction techniques.
Money is in short supply, building is expensive
and environmentally sound houses are
by no means a given. So, why not look for
intelligent and cost-efficient ways to get
out of this bind? This is why PURHOLZ’s
approach from the very start has been to
offer something for every taste, for every
size, for every budget and without long
waiting times. The result: many satisfied
homeowners and a successful company
that is the only one to offer such a trendsetting
and environmentally friendly product.
And more and more house builders
are wondering why they should continue to
build with brick upon brick when the alternative
– sandwich upon sandwich – entails
such convincing advantages.
Sandwiches ensure
a pleasant climate
The sandwich element PHONOPUR plus
is, so to speak, the core of the PURHOLZ
product line. It has a 60 mm-thick filling
of polyurethane rigid foam as well as two
covering layers made of oriented strandboard
(OSB). The PUR system Elastopor
ensures a high thermal-insulation rating.
Sound insulation is provided by a mineralwool
board on the OSB panel and the
final Fermacell top layer offers protection
against moisture. This translates into ideal
thermal-insulation values in the winter and
into a pleasantly cool atmosphere in the
summer. The PHONOPUR plus panels are
employed as self-supporting core elements.
Consequently, there is no longer a need
for additional supports and girders. This
mode of construction can be completed
in record time for houses having up to two
stories and an attic. All of the sandwich
wall elements are manufactured according
to individual specifications. They can have
load-bearing supports as well as openings
for doors and windows, empty conduits for
the electrical and plumbing installations and
much more. Moreover, owing to the framed
construction technique, it is possible, for
example, to replace walls with windows,
as desired. And that makes room for one’s
own ideas. Considering the fact that the
annual heating costs (including heating for
hot water) for an approximately 160-m 2
single-family house that is occupied all year
round lie well below 1000 euros, even builders
who swear by brick houses might start
to have second thoughts. And now a small
consolation to wrap things up: PHONO-
PUR ® plus elements are, of course, also
available for renovation work on conventional
buildings.
Further information:
www.elastogran.de
Background
PUR sandwiches
Material:
Elastopor ® H rigid-foam systems
Application:
Prefabricated sandwich panels made of
wood with a PUR core for houses
Properties:
high insulation rating, fire and acoustic
protection, flexible and economical
construction technique, short construction
times, meets high architectural
design requirements
35

Markets and products
Black yet cool – a new blend
Two Ultrason innovations for headlights
In headlights, the highest temperatures occur directly above the light bulb.
Here, the new Ultrason grade keeps things cool.
Is this a new one? A picture puzzle that excites puzzle
solvers and car fanatics alike. Trying to guess the model
of a car by its headlights. After all, one trend in the automotive
industry is undeniable: car designers are increasingly
focusing on headlights as a design element and attempting
to inte-grate new functions into them. This means that
ever-higher functional and esthetic requirements are being
made of plastic housings for headlights.
BASF has now developed two new Ultrason ® types to considerably
expand the application possibilities for PESU (polyether
sulfone) in headlights: the black Ultrason E with its improved temperature
management and a PESU blend that has been optimized
in terms of its flowability and processing properties.
New pigment
system
Housings make use of opaque materials that are usually dyed
black and that, irrespective of their color, need to have a high surface
quality. Plastics dyed black have the advantage that they can
make do with only small amounts of pigments, thus yielding a better
surface. The drawback is that black materials do not allow heat
radiation to pass through as readily. The new Ultrason E 2010 MR
black HM reduces heat build-up by providing better permeability
to heat radiation. This solution is based on a new pigment system
that absorbs visible light but allows some heat radiation to pass
through: heat management (HM) – courtesy of BASF. In comparison
to a housing dyed with classical carbon black, which reaches
a tem-perature of 190°C [374°F] during testing, housings with the
HM pigmentation reach a maximum temperature that is lower by
40°C to 60°C [72°F to 108°F].
High-quality appearance
However, headlight housings are not only supposed to stay cool
but also to stand out for their high-quality appearance. For this
reason, BASF has taken a new tack with an eye towards improving
the properties of Ultrason. Intelligent blending with other plastics
has yielded a new product, Ultrason E 2010 MR HP, that combines
quite a few plus points, ranging from processability to properties
of use. For instance, the flowability has been improved by 10 to
20 percent in comparison to pure PESU. Now, injection-molding
flaws are not only easier to spot but also easier to avoid. The new
material is considerably less light-permeable, which is very advantageous
for quality control in the production of headlights since any
flaws that might be present are already visible before the metallization,
unlike with transparent materials.
Further information:
www.ultrason.de
Hintergrund
Ultrason ®
Material:
an amorphous thermoplastic on the basis of polysulfone (PSU)
and polyether sulfone (PESU)
Application:
sophisticated technical parts and highly stressed
serial products
Properties:
Very high long-term service temperature, high stiffness and
mechanical strength, good electrical insulating capacity
36

Markets and products
On the fast track through
the coating line
New plastic specialty for auto parts that can
be coated online
Before a brand-new car zips down
the highway or crawls through
city streets for the first time, it
has already covered a few miles on
the coating line. No fuel is used in this
process but instead, plenty of gray
cells from experts who are continuously
scratching their heads trying to
figure out a way to move cars through
the coating installation even more
efficiently.
If they take a look at the later energy balance
of the vehicle, which can be markedly
improved with auto parts made of plastic,
then the pursuit of the perfect coating line
quickly becomes an expressway. After all,
when it comes to substituting plastic for
exterior metal parts in automotive construction,
the decisive criterion is always
whether injection-molded add-on parts like
fenders, tailgates or doors made of plastic
can go through the coating installations
together with the metal body in a single
process (“online”).
First-rate
surface quality
Even though plastics that can be coated
online are not something new on the market,
every new application poses a challenge
since the materials available today
do not always meet every high requirement
made by the automotive industry. With the
development of its Ultramid ® TOP 3000,
BASF now offers a plastic with better
properties than the usual products on the
market, without having to sacrifice any of
the outstanding properties of the plastic
or the first-rate surface quality of the
outer skin. Especially in comparison to the
frequently employed polymer blends based
on PPE/PA 66, considerable improvements
have been achieved with this new BASF
material. Ultramid TOP 3000 combines
several advantages for car manufacturers:
it helps to reduce the weight of the vehicle,
it underscores the trend towards personalization
and diversity of variants and also
saves costs. In the future, only the design
freedom afforded by these plastic solutions
will allow the visions of car designers
to become a reality in the first place. In
any case, the use of plastics for the outer
skin will turn fender-benders into a thing of
the past. Ultramid TOP 3000 has already
been successfully coated in several coating
installations, where first-rate coating quality
was achieved.
Further information:
www.ultramid.com
37

News and Dates
One seat has it all
New “Car Seat” competence team
BASF has founded the “Car Seat”
competence team in order to
make the entire array of BASF
products more readily accessible to
manufacturers of car seats.
The objective is to bundle BASF’s car
seat know-how and make this available to
processors and design engineers from a
single source. Close cooperation involving
all of BASF’s competence sectors will help
the new team to ensure that there are plenty
of ideas in the innovation pipeline for car
seats at all times. Already today, BASF plays
quite an instrumental role in the manufacture
of car seats since it is an
important partner in almost
all of the value-added steps
in the supplier chain. With
its new competence team,
BASF is now dedicating even
more effort towards direct
cooperation with OEMs
and tier-1 companies. As
a development partner, it
makes system solutions, new
concepts and proven simulation
methods available, so as
to create joint applications that were
inconceivable just a short time ago.
Seat prototype made almost exclusively
of BASF materials: from the
seat shell made of Ultramid ® to the
covering made of Terblend ® N, to
the foams, the leather and textile
finishing chemicals,
all the way to the
superabsorbers.
Important dates
BASF will be represented at the following trade fairs, among others:
K 2007
Düsseldorf,
Germany
October 24 to 31, 2007
Interbuild
Birmingham,
Great Britain
October 28
to November 1, 2007
Euromold
Frankfurt, Germany
December 5 to 8, 2007
Budma
Poznan, Polen
January 22 to 25, 2008
Interplastica
Moskau, Russland
January 29
to February 1, 2008
Wire
Düsseldorf,
Germany
March 13 to April 4, 2008
JEC
Paris, France
1. – 3.April 2008
Betontage
Vienna, Austria
April 24 to 25, 2008
Interpack
Düsseldorf,
Germany
April 24 to 30, 2008
Vehicle Dynamics
Stuttgart,
Germany
May 6 to 8, 2008
38

Sweepstakes
A design revolution as the prize
The iPod: more than just an MP3
player, it expresses a life stance that
puts design and function on an equal
footing. And in doing so, it has triggered a
small revolution. Anyone who talks about
design-driven innovation cannot ignore it.
Success translates into confidence. The
new iPod generation now also plays videos.
It has a 30-gigabyte memory, meaning that
it is also an external hard drive. Whether
you listen to it while jogging, riding a street
car, relaxing at home or on vacation in a
sunny locale, crystal-clear sound is a given.
Here is a chance for you to jump on the
band wagon. We will be holding a drawing
for an Apple iPod among the first 100
respondents. Simply affix a stamp onto the
enclosed post card and send it back to us
or else enter online at
www.plastics-magazine.com.
Good luck.
Employees of BASF are prohibited from
participating. All decisions are final.
New banana carrier made of Styrolux
Cartoon
Have you ever had the bad experience that the tasty banana you
took with you to the office had turned into unappetizing mush by
the time you were ready to eat it? Paul Stremple, CEO of Cultured
Containers, certainly has. Normally, he is busy creating products
for Gucci or Ralph Loren, but he was so absorbed by the problem
with the banana that he decided to look for a solution here as well.
Together with Ron Sheu, applications developer at BASF, he created
this banana protector, called the BananaBunker ® . Styrolux ® 3G46, an
SBS made by BASF, turned out to be the right material for this since
it is especially well-suited for blow-molding and short cycle times.
The BananaBunker
is currently on display
at the Museum of
Modern Art in New
York. Now Stremple
wants to turn his attention
to new tasks
– protective packaging
for other types of
snacks is to follow.
Further information:
www.styrolux.com
“Using insulating panels to make his body completely energy-efficient
was not such a good ideal after all …”
Editorial Office:
David Baumgart, KS/KC (in charge)
Dr. Ulla Biernat, KS/KC
Karen Kling, BASF Aktiengesellschaft
Tina Fries, BASF Aktiengesellschaft
Dr. Sylvia Kaufmann, Elastogran
Chris Wilson, BASF UK
Kathy Dennis, BASF North America
AiLin Tan, BASF South East Asia
Ian DeSouza, BASF South East Asia
Publisher:
BASF Aktiengesellschaft
KS/KC – E 100
67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany
Tel.: +49 621 60-46378
Fax: +49 621 60-49497
Distribution:
BASF Aktiengesellschaft
Layout:
Spektrum, Ludwigshafen
Photo credits:
Page 2: Verband privater Bauherren
Page 6-8, 13-19, 22-23, 28-30, 36-38:
BASF AG
Page 10-12: BASF AG/Spektrum
Page 31: Composing Spektrum
Page 20-21: dpa
Page 24-25: BASF AG/Getty Images
Page 26-27: BMW
Page 32-33: NASA/Isoplus
Page 34-35: Elastogran GmbH
Page 39: Apple/BASF AG