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At K 2016, WACKER is presenting an innovative technology for additive manufacturing of silicones. The novel 3D technology even allows printing complex geometries such as internal lattices. The Munich-based company is offering its 3D-services under the ACEO® brand

WACKER Presents Product and Technology Innovations for Key Industries

MUNICH, GERMANY – At K 2016, the Munich-based chemical company WACKER is presenting itself as an innovation driver for the plastics and rubber processing industry. In Hall 6, Booth A10, the company is showcasing more than a dozen new products and two technology innovations for key industries in the automotive, electronics, lighting and healthcare sectors. Highlights include textile sensors made from thin silicone films, highmodulus silicone rubber grades, crystal clear silicone encapsulants for LEDs and optical lenses as well as additives for manufacturing woodplastic composites. WACKER is also presenting a world’s first: the first industrialscale 3D printer for silicones. The hightech device will be producing silicone parts during the trade show. K 2016 takes place from October 19 through 26 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

“At this year’s K, we will once again be able to demonstrate our leading position as one of the most innovative silicone and polymer suppliers in the world“, says Robert Gnann, head of WACKER’s silicones business division, with regard to the trade fair. With € 5.3 billion in sales and R&D expenditures of € 175 million, WACKER is among the most research intensive companies in the chemical industry. Last year, the group generated € 1.9 billion, i.e. 37 percent of its sales with silicones.

“Silicones are increasingly being used in several sectors such as the automotive, healthcare, lighting and electronics industries. There are two reasons for this: on the one hand, material requirements are rising steadily. On the other, standard materials are reaching their limits. In order to develop and produce innovative products, the industry needs highperformance materials such as silicones“, emphasizes Gnann. „Due to their unique physical and chemical properties which can be combined in several ways, and their excellent processability, silicones have become indispensable in many industries.“

At its booth, WACKER showcasing solid and liquid silicone rubber grades, silicone encapsulants, additives for manufacturing woodplastic composites, adhesion promoters, electrically conductive silicone rubber dispersions, and pigment pastes designed for the fluorescent marking of additioncuring 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 will be presented live at the WACKER booth.

“So far, it is not possible to print silicone parts with existing industrial 3D technologies“, says Gnann. The 3D process developed by WACKER and marketed under the ACEO® brand since this year, is therefore considered a milestone in additive manufacturing. „With our ACEO® technology, it is possible for the first time to manufacture silicone parts and assemblies with complex geometries.“

First IndustrialScale 3DTechnology for Silicones
The 3D printing device that will debut at the K tradeshow 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. The silicone is formulated so that the droplets flow together before the curing process begins, which is activated by UV light. The droplets and layers thus produce a homogeneous workpiece, which does not differ much from injection molded parts. With the aid of water-soluble support materials, it is also possible to create overhang materials and internal lattices.

At the moment, additive manufacturing is growing rapidly in medical applications. Biomodeling and customized geometries are particularly promising. In these types of applications, silicones can display their favorable properties particularly well. Silicones are heat resistant, flexible at low temperatures, transparent and biocompatible. They can furthermore be pigmented in any color and have good damping properties.

Textile Sensors Made from Ultrathin Silicone Films

Three years ago, at the last K show, WACKER introduced ELASTOSIL® Film for the first time. This year, the company is presenting specific applications with a particular focus on novel textile sensors. This application exploits the electroactive properties of silicone. The ultra-thin high-precision film is embedded between two conductive electrodes made of carbon-black filled silicones. Together, the layers form a flexible capacitor that can store electric charge. If the silicone capacitor is mechanically deformed – for example due to a tensile or compressive movement – its capacitance also changes. The subtle nuances of these changes can be measured and thus used for sensory purposes, for example to make body movements visible.

ELASTOSIL® Film is made under cleanroom conditions without the use of solvents. WACKER’s patented production process creates extremely thin and faultless silicone films in thicknesses of between 20 and 400 micrometers. The film thickness across the entire width and length of the film web deviates from specification by ±5 percent at most. The silicone film enables the development and realization 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 will be presented live in Hall 6, Booth A10.

WACKER is also offering a new self-adhesive LSR grade called ELASTOSIL® LR 3072/50. Self-adhesive means that the silicone rubber bonds to a number of thermoplastics, such as polyamide (PA) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) without pre-treatment. The new self-adhesive liquid silicone rubber cures within a very short time to form an oil-bleeding elastomer with high elastic recovery. ELASTOSIL® LR 3072/50 is particularly suitable as a sealing in two-component molded parts. Typical areas of application include automotive electronics and electrical systems, where the product is used in single-wire seals and connector housings with radial seals applied by injection molding.

The new liquid silicone rubber ELASTOSIL® LR 3016/65 is especially designed for use in automotive engineering applications. In addition to its excellent mechanical properties, the grade features enhanced media resistance. Even when in contact with hot motor oil for long periods of time, molded parts made of ELASTOSIL® LR 3016/65 retain important material properties – a feature that helps them meet the specifications of leading automakers.

WACKER will also present ELASTOSIL® LR 5040, a brandnew non postcure low volatile LSR. The product contains significantly less volatile components compared to existing products which means that they provide good transparency and excellent mechanical properties even without postcuring. In many cases, e.g. baby care, medical and foodcontact applications, processors can skip postcuring which saves money and time. As all liquid silicone rubber grades, ELASTOSIL® LR 5040 is well suited for injection molding.

New Silicone Encapsulants for the Lighting Industry
WACKER is presenting the following new encapsulants for LEDs (primary optics) and for optical lenses and coupling elements (secondary optics): LUMISIL® 590 & 591, LUMISIL® 740 & 770, and LUMISIL® 7601.

LUMISIL® 590 and LUMISIL® 591 are highly transparent, additioncuring silicone encapsulants. They form elastomers with a refractive index of 1.53, which ranks them among the highrefractiveindex (HRI) encapsulants. This enables optimum light efficiency. The silicones are almost completely transparent for light in the visible spectral range (approx. 400 to 700 nm). Also, they do not yellow, even when radiation is extremely intense. LUMISIL® 590 and LUMISIL® 591 protect the LED chip reliably against environmental influences and thus prolong its service life. The silicone compounds can be processed in industrial metering processes such as dispensing.

LUMISIL® 740 and LUMISIL® 770 belong to the group of normalrefractiveindex (NRI) encapsulants. The cured rubber grades have a refractive index of 1.41, which is typical of polydimethylsiloxanes. They effectively protect the sensitive LED semiconductor chip against environmental influences. Additionally, they can serve as carriers for luminescent dyes, which can selectively influence the color of the light emitted by the LED. A special feature of LUMISIL® 740 and LUMISIL® 770 is their extremely high heat, light and thermalshock resistance. Due to their stability, the new silicones are particularly suitable for encapsulating LED chips with strong heat generation and intense light emission.

For manufacturers of optical lenses and coupling elements, socalled secondary optics, WACKER has developed LUMISIL® LR 7601. The product is predominantly characterized by a significantly lower volatiles content compared to the former grade. This especially benefits processors. The vulcanizates only need to be thermally postcured for sensitive applications. Due to the low volatiles content the postcuring time can be reduced for these applications. LUMISIL® LR 7601 is suitable for lenses, sensors and optical coupling elements in lighting technologies and can be processed costeffectively in largescale injection molding processes.

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