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2006-11-02 News Release
Plastics bad rap
Plastics used to have a bad image as cheap, inferior materials, but innovative
polymers are changing all that today with their increased efficiency and
functionality.
What's more, they are breathing new life into ordinary products thanks
to remarkable visual properties. As a leader in polyurethane and polycarbonate
technology, Bayer MaterialScience was among the first to identify consumer
demand for more aesthetic design. In keeping with its VisionWorks** concept,
the company is pursuing innovative solutions for its customers in the
entertainment field.
Find
Information and Suppliers of polycarbonates.
At the Bayer’s Perspective on Innovation event, the Bayer MaterialScience
workshop devoted to Infotainment will focus on polymer applications in
entertainment electronics. Apart from key issues such as safety and storage
capacity, it will above all address the idea that new products on the
market must have the "right look".
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Plastics from Bayer MaterialScience
are used not only inside flat panel screen TVs but also
for the cabinets. Bayblend* FR, for example, ensures a
long-lasting, attractive appearance combined with integrated,
environmentally friendly flame retardance.. Click
Go forHigh resolution image. photo: Bayer MaterialScience
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More and more flat-screen TVs are moving into our living rooms as even
the large screens take up little space or can be mounted on the wall.
-> ->
Diffuser sheets for LCD flat-screens
For example, an improved grade of Makrolon*, Bayer MaterialScience's successful
polycarbonate product, is being used to manufacture diffuser sheets for
large LCD flat-screens. Installed in the backlight unit, which illuminates
the image-generating LC display, the Makrolon sheet transforms light from
the fluorescent tubes or LEDs into uniform illumination across the entire
surface of the screen. The results are well worth seeing, because animated
images with optimum illumination make watching TV more enjoyable. Compared
to competitor products, the innovative polycarbonate grade offers a number
of advantages: optimized mechanical and thermal properties lend it significantly
greater heat resistance and dimensional stability, which ensures uniform
illumination of the TV image over a long period of time; its exemplary
flame-retardance also guarantees a high level of safety. The trend toward
home entertainment centers promises very good market opportunities for
LCD
flat screen televisions. Global sales
of these large sets are expected to hit the 30 million mark in 2006. Bayer
MaterialScience will be handling production of the high-tech diffuser
sheets.
Custom TV cabinets with superior flame retardance
High-end plastics from Bayer MaterialScience help to customize more attractive
and durable TV cabinets: while Sony and Philips, for example, prefer advanced
grades from the Bayblend FR product family (PC/ABS blends), the Italian
company SIM 2 Multimedia uses Baydur* 66 FR polyurethane integral skin
foam for its rear-projection monitors. Bayer MaterialScience has worked
to improve its products in terms of flame retardance and material properties.
Bayblend FR, for instance, boasts environmentally compatible flame retardants
based on phosphate and nanoparticles in the plastic matrix that extend
product service life. Moreover, the materials support a wide range of
potential applications. Even complex shapes can be produced rapidly and
economically with millimeter accuracy. In other words, viewers can enjoy
not only improved picture quality, but also elegant, futuristic and flame
retardant cabinet designs thanks to polyurethane, polycarbonate and other
engineering thermoplastics.
Makrolon - The VW Beetle of data storage technology
The history of data carriers reads like a high-speed technology chase:
from the first floppy disk introduced in the early seventies, to the development
of the CD ten years later, to the advent of DVDs and today's "memory
giants." Be it the CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc, Bayer
MaterialScience played a major part in all phases of this success story
with its flagship polycarbonate brand Makrolon. Annual global production
will rise to 58 billion discs by the end of 2006, or 1,800 new data carriers
every second.
Dizzying storage capacity in prospect
The rising demand for storage capacity, fast data transfer rates and low-cost
recordable media constantly poses new challenges for material developers.
The start-up company InPhase Technology Inc., and its partner Bayer MaterialScience,
have now taken the first step into a new dimension with innovative holographic
data storage. The data is no longer recorded in two dimensions, but rather
right into the core of the medium: poised for market launch by the end
of 2006 under the name Tapestry™, the new data carrier with its
300 gigabyte capacity "swallows" more than 60 conventional DVDs
and offers an archival life of 50 years. What makes it all possible is
a polymer matrix from Bayer MaterialScience that is just 1.5 millimeters
"thick". Embedded in it is a photo-active substance that undergoes
a chemical transformation when exposed to the laser beam of the data recorder,
and then stores information absolutely securely. Bayer MaterialScience
and InPhase are also planning much more powerful data carriers with a
capacity of 1.6 terabytes (1,600 gigabytes). Government agencies, for
example, could use capacities of this magnitude to get their overflowing
archives under control.
A glimpse of the not-all-too-distant future
However, holography offers other fascinating possibilities beyond the
field of data storage. In the "zaZen"
concept car, developed by Rinspeed and Bayer MaterialScience, and designed
by the Swiss automotive visionary Frank M. Rinderknecht in cooperation
with Bayer MaterialScience, this technology is used to turn the transparent
rear window into a luminous holographic surface. Holography is also paving
the way for future applications in other sectors as well. For example,
innovative holograms or "holographic shadow pictures" could
be integrated in identity cards, documents and banknotes to prevent forgery;
and holographic mirrors could enable more powerful projection systems.
Bayer MaterialScience is actively researching all of these applications
today, in order to have innovative raw material solutions on hand the
very moment the market begins to demand them.
** VisionWorks - Linking Material and Science
Science: The knowledge on which our work is based. Our intuitive feeling
for research with perspective has developed over several decades. Together
with a global network of interdisciplinary thinking, it provides the driving
force for leading-edge, innovative and sustainable solutions. Visions
that work.
Material: The materials we develop. For new products and new markets.
With our expertise as innovator in polymer materials, we know how to turn
innovations into real-world applications for our customers. Focused on
function. Material for visions.
* Makrolon and Baydur family of products are registered trademarks of
Bayer.
Find information about Bayer
MaterialScience AG.
Read a recent press release about - Innovative soft
touch polyurethane coatings constitute a huge advance over earlier
generations of polymers, and a considerable boost to the image of plastics.
Polymer
Engineering Jobs - Post Employment Opportunity!
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