Companies that are starting up, moving or expanding may be able to tap into state and local economic development incentives to save significant money and improve profitability. With 12.1 million people unemployed nationally, states, in particular, are bidding against one another to attract and retain business.

Whether you are into social networking or not, its popularity cannot be denied. In October 2012, Facebook hit one billion active users. Twitter has more than 200 million active users who send a billion tweets a week. Clearly, more and more companies are turning to social networking sites to advertise their products and services, deliver messages, and improve customer service.

If anything bothers University of Virginia physicist Lou Bloomfield, it’s a wobbly table. So much so that he actually invented a material to eliminate the problem. The material, a type of silicone rubber that is both rigid and fluid—a “viscoelastic” solid—can be placed under a table leg where it conforms to the shape of the leg bottom and the floor surface, perfectly filling the gap.

The photo curing extent of styrenic block copolymer (SBC)-based adhesive formulations applied as a uniform layer on a Mylar film can be readily determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).

Road markings ensure traffic safety, but there are differences among them, both in terms of quality and eco-friendliness. Evonik Industries has conducted an independent lifecycle assessment (LCA) and found that DEGAROUTE-based road markings protect not only road users but also the climate.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanometer-scale tubular structures consisting entirely of carbon atoms. They represent a newly discovered elemental form of carbon and have remarkable properties in terms of mechanical strength, thermal conductance and electrical conductivity.

Almost two-thirds of adhesives produced each year in the U.S. are from non-renewable petroleum resources. However, each year brings added pressure to search for alternatives to petroleum-based adhesives, as oil prices rise and concerns over pollution released during the manufacture of these products grow.

Mussels can be a delicious meal, but the chemistry that lets mussels stick to underwater surfaces may also provide a highly adhesive wound closure and more effective healing from surgery.

Today’s hot-melt formulators face many challenges, including variations in the availability of raw material supply and the pressure to reduce formulation costs. High-efficiency polymers can help formulators by reducing formulation viscosity or increasing formulation flexibility, which allows for the exchange of resin or oil for polymers.

Acrylic polymers are widely used in pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) applications in the form of emulsion, solvent or radiation-cured systems. They combine good UV resistance, transparency, tailored tack, and stiffness due to a large choice of acrylic and methacrylic comonomers.