MPG unveils final programme for upcoming rubber sustainability seminar
Manchester Polymer Group (MPG) has unveiled the full and final details of its 2017 rubber seminar to be held in May.
The event, entitled ‘Rubber and Elastomers – Sustainably Meeting Tomorrow’s Challenges’, is taking place on Monday 15th May at the Lancashire Country Cricket Club, Manchester, and is set to cover a broad spectrum of papers relating to subjects including fillers, material developments, recycling and testing.
Confirmed papers so far include ‘Sustainable fillers for future elastomers’, from ARTIS, which will talk about the pyrolysis process and discuss benchmarking data it has collected. The paper will also discuss the other approaches being taken in the industry with some novel technologies currently being developed by ARTIS also being featured.
A session entitled ‘Product Development’ will cover ‘Slurry process EP(D)M: New Grades obtained with an Innovative New Ziegler Natta Catalyst System’ from Versalis, with the new grades satisfying highly demanding applications such as Automotive Sponge Profiles, Building Solid Profiles and TPV. The automotive sector will also feature in Dupont Performance Elastomers’ paper ‘New Vamac (AEM) Ethylene Acrylate Polymer Developments to respond to Trends in the Automotive Industry’, which will focus on the contribution from AEM polymers in meeting fuel efficiency requirements without losing engine performance.
In a ‘Testing and Evaluation’ session, Elastocon and OCSiAl will respectively cover ‘Stress Relaxation and Lifetime Estimation of Rubber Materials’ and ‘Use less, Do more and Perform better’ featuring the role of carbon nanotubes.
The ‘Recycling’ session will be discussing ‘Developments in recycling and re-use of waste rubber’ from Smithers RAPRA, with Polymer Recyclers posing the question ‘Tyres back to Tyres – opportunity or pipe dream?’ In this session, ‘Alternative uses of Devulcanised Rubber’ by Phenix Technology will also be proposed.
Finally, delegates will hear about the various drivers that are contributing to the increase in interest and activity in recycling as well as considering how these might evolve and change in the future.
The large number of ways in which rubber has been recycled into a wide range of new products, covering various industry sectors, will be covered as will the potential for these re-use streams in the future. With particular reference to tyres, there will be an update since the original presentation at the IRC meeting in Manchester in 2014.
The seminar is free-to-attend for students and apprentices, with organisers also covering travel expenses for those attending.
For more information and to register, click here.