No shock: TPU innovation is far from static

BASF Polyurethanes has developed a new antistatic additive for the plastics industry designed to combat the problem of electrostatic charging that can cause the failure of electronic components and computer chips and potentially ignite combustible gases, vapours and dusts.

“On the surface of a polymer, which is at first electrically neutral, charge may be generated by contact with another surface and subsequent rapid separation. Without suitable dissipation, this charge can neutralise in an uncontrolled and abrupt fashion,” said Anja Oltmanns, Head of Sales and Technical Service Compounds for Antistatics and Nonwovens at BASF Polyurethanes GmbH.

To address this problem, BASF has launched ‘Elastostat’, an antistatic TPU granulate, as part of its Elastollan product range.

BASF says Elastostat is a highly specialised, easy-to-process product with an excellent price/performance ratio. The company says beneficial properties of Elastostat are its permanent antistatic effect, mechanical properties like improved impact resistance, and compatibility with non-polar polymers. In extensive tests, BASF says its experts have demonstrated both its antistatic effect and compatibility. The homogeneous polymer matrix is also said to show no tendency to delaminate.

BASF says the new TPU masterbatch opens up large fields of application, particularly for industrial packaging made of polyolefins, anti-dust applications in the automotive industry as well as protection from electromagnetic interference in electronics packaging.