Wacker shows new innovations at K 2016 Plastics trade fair

October 20, 2016 - Germany

Wacker, Germany’s leading chemical company, is presenting more than a dozen new products and two technology innovations for key industries in the automotive, electronics, lighting and healthcare sectors, at K 2016, international trade fair for plastics and rubber , in hall 6, booth A10, in Düsseldorf , Germany, from October 19 to 26, 2016.

Highlights at the expo include textile sensors made from thin silicone films, high-modulus silicone rubber grades, and crystal clear silicone encapsulants for LEDs and optical lenses as well as additives for manufacturing wood-plastic composites. Wacker is also presenting the first industrial-scale 3D printer for silicones. The hightech device will be producing silicone parts during the trade show.

The company is showcasing solid and liquid silicone rubber grades, silicone encapsulants, additives for manufacturing wood-plastic composites, adhesion promoters, electrically conductive silicone rubber dispersions, and pigment pastes designed for the fluorescent marking of addition curing silicone rubber. The company will also present new Vinnex additives for bioplastic compounds from its Wacker Polymers business division. Trailblazing textile sensors and 3D printing with Silicones Wacker’s offering of 20 product novelties is complemented by the presentation of two trailblazing technologies: textile sensors based on extremely thin silicone films, enabling a virtual reality display of body movements, as well as the first industrial-scale 3D printer for silicones. Both technologies is presented live at the Wacker booth.

The first Industrial-Scale 3D-Technology for silicones printing device represents the first industrial-scale printer generation. It is based on a drop-on-demand method developed by Wacker. The printer head deposits tiny silicone droplets on a substrate. In this way, the workpiece is built up layer by layer.

ELASTOSIL film is made under cleanroom conditions without the use of solvents. The silicone film enables the development and realisation of innovative sensors and actuators for segments such as robotics, medical technology, and lifestyle products. The range of applications extends from pumps, switches, electrical relays and membranes through to movement sensors in textiles. The innovative sensor technology is presented at the expo.

Wacker is showing silicone additives for wood-plastic composites with GENIOPLAST additive for Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC), a new thermoplastic silicone additive for the more efficient manufacture of this kind of composites.

At K 2016, Wacker is presenting several new liquid silicone rubber (LSR) grades: ELASTOSIL LR 3003/90, ELASTOSIL LR 3020/60, ELASTOSIL LR 3072/50, and ELASTOSIL LR 3016/65 as well as ELASTOSIL LR 5040, a new LSR which contains significantly less volatile components. (GK)