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BREAKTHROUGH PROMISES PLASTICS REVOLUTION
The research may even benefit the recycling industry as it will allow combinations of plastics that are not possible with today's methods. The new process is called RAFT polymerisation and comes from research done by CSIRO and funded by international science-based industrial supplier, DuPont. "This work has drawn intense industrial and scientific interest from around the world and will lead to a multitude of opportunities," says Dr Greg Simpson, Deputy Chief of CSIRO Molecular Science. "Already this technology has led to the development of environmentally benign paints that are about to revolutionise the automotive paints industry in the United States, within two or three years a significant proportion of US made cars will be coated with paints based on this world-leading Australian research." The discovery has overcome a major problem in plastics manufacture. As CSIRO scientist Dr Ezio Rizzardo explains, plastics are made by linking together large numbers of small molecules to form large molecular chains in a process known as polymerisation. The length of the chains determines the properties of the plastic, with shorter chains being quite different to longer ones. "When plastics are made using conventional methods their molecular chains form a great variety of different lengths, some are shorter and some are longer, even when the same ingredients are used. In most cases the final product ends up being an average between properties for long chains and short chains," Dr Rizzardo says. Up until now there has been no generally applicable way to control the variation of chain lengths during the polymerisation process. There were ways used commercially to reduce the average chain length but these did nothing to reduce the spread of chain lengths produced. There were also methods used to control the distribution of chain lengths but the drawbacks were that these were expensive and would only work with a restricted range of plastics. Dr Rizzardo and his team overcame this problem when they developed special ingredients that allow manufacturers to control the lengths of the polymer chains as they are formed. This gives them the ability to precision engineer the final product so that materials can be tailored to match their end use. "This will lead not only to better plastics for uses we already have but to new materials we've not even dreamt of," Dr Rizzardo says. DuPont scientists are collaborating closely with CSIRO in the development of the process and new products from it. Some of the products that will benefit are: Pigment dispersants for high performance inks. The CSIRO technology will mean that current dispersants can be made more economically and it will allow the development of improved versions "Another major benefit of this process is that it needs no special plant or operating conditions - this means that existing plant and equipment can be used. This is very important as it makes it more commercially viable," Simpson says. "All that manufacturers will need to do is to add some of the low cost reagent with their standard polymerisations mixtures." CSIRO are exhibiting the RAFT process and other polymer technology at the Hannover International Trade Fair, in Germany. The CSIRO/Australian Industry Exhibit at Hannover Fair is proudly supported by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources through the Technology Diffusion Program.
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