The specialty chemicals value chain has risen to the challenge of retooling to fill large supply gaps for sanitation products, packaging containers and inks, and other essential products to meet spikes in demand as an outgrowth of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the beginning of the year, and even as recently as March, the extent of our shared health crisis could not have possibly been imagined. Very quickly, however, following updates from national and international health organizations and the federal government, everyone, including all of us at the Pressure Sensitive Tape Council (PSTC), began to make strategic decisions regarding how to not only navigate the perilous situation, but how to move forward.
Designs for consumer electronics continue to evolve, and pressure-sensitive tape manufacturers are addressing those changing needs with products that go beyond simple bonding.
As the marketplace for consumer electronics devices becomes more sophisticated, the adhesive products that hold them together have to be just as versatile and multifunctional. Consumers have demanded their devices get sleeker, more powerful, and lighter, putting demands on manufacturers.
The Pressure Sensitive Tape Council defines a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) as requiring two things: aggressive and permanent tack, and adhesion with finger pressure. This simple definition makes the concept of a PSA easy for anyone to understand.
Working cooperatively with Origin, Henkel supplied knowledge and technology to help design a nasopharyngeal swab that could be 3D printed at scale.
June 22, 2020
In collaboration with Origin, Henkel recently announced that it has leveraged its ability to carry out biocompatibility and mechanical testing at its facility in Concord, Calif., and provided a range of 3D-printable medical photopolymers designed for use on Origin’s material development systems.
Vacuum potting is mainly aimed at electronic components with small openings and complex internal structures.
June 10, 2020
The potting of electronic components involves filling the assembly with a compound such as liquid resin (e.g., epoxy, silicone, polyurethane) to protect it from environmental or use conditions like moisture, humidity, and vibration. Any air entrapment in the potting compound can result in air bubbles that may cause performance problems in the finished component.
Masten Space Systems will deliver science and technology to the Moon ahead of human missions.
June 10, 2020
NASA has selected Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif., to deliver and operate eight payloads—with nine science and technology instruments—to the Moon’s South Pole in 2022 to help lay the foundation for human expeditions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024.
The companies are calling for policies that will build resilience against future shocks by supporting efforts to hold global temperature rise to within 1.5°C (34.7°F) above pre-industrial levels.
June 3, 2020
Henkel is among 155 major global companies from 34 sectors that have signed a statement urging governments around the world to align their COVID-19 economic aid and recovery efforts with the latest climate science.
Bonding in automotive, aerospace, and other assembly operations can be improved through effective surface pretreatment technologies such as carbonic cleaning.
Cleaning and surface pretreatment are directly related in many industries. Traditional pretreatment methods such as alcohol wiping or air nozzles are used to clean off contaminants and prepare surfaces for adhesion.