No Dust Blends - New Physical Form of Additives, 1999 Hot Melt Symposium Proceedings

Olga I. Kuvshinnikova & Robert E. Lee

Great Lakes Chemical Corporation

The proper use of additives is very important for product quality. Antioxidants, light stabilizers, antiblock, and antacids improve product stability, durability and processing speed. Unfortunately, accurate additions of small amounts of each stabilizer to large scale commercial processes are difficult. Difficulty arises from large ratio imbalances, dust nuisances and safety hazards of additive powders, inventory, and quality control. This paper discusses the manufacture and use of No Dust Blends (NDB) of additives for polymers stabilization. Taking advantage of low melting points and amorphous characteristics of some stabilizers, this technology uses precisely controlled extrusion to produce a neat pastille, platelet or pellet. Neat refers to the fact that they are 100% additive with no carrier resin. Since additives also degrade, the lower temperature of this process produces less predegradation.