Flexible Plastic
Making plastic flexible is often referred to as “plasticizing.” Traditional plasticizers function by being partially or entirely soluble in the polymer, allowing space between the chemical bonds of the plastic allowing movement on the molecular level – which enables the plastic to become more flexible.
Traditional plasticizers include liquids such as water, phthalates, caprolactum, BBSA, mineral oils and other chemicals. Many of these liquids migrate or leach out of the plastic and become brittle over time. For this reason these traditional plasticizers cannot be used in critical application or in extreme environments. With Flexil™ technology, a system is plasticized by creating a network of gels that allow the system to remain flexible well beyond the original transition temperature of the polymer.
Flexil™ is a technology based on a reactively modified polysiloxane that behaves as both a solid and a liquid with the ability to reduce the flex modulus of a plastic without being soluble in the polymer. Using this unique technology in a plastic compound enables the material to be used in temperatures below -60°C providing improved impact resistance and reduction in modulus with no effect on heat deformation temperature.
Benefits of Flexil™
Excellent thermal stability (400oC+)- Thermal stability beyond 380°C
- Reduced flex modulus
- Reduced moisture absorption
- Increased elongation
- Elimination of low temperature brittleness
- Improved impact resistance
- Approved for food content
- No effect on HDT
- Not reliant on moisture for plasticity
- Available in many polymers
What are you making? Let us help. Need a sample or more information? Email or call us at 908.668.0300.
