Jeff Dimmit, Vice President Technology at Jayhawk Fine Chemicals, speaks to AZoM about their recent collaborations in support of polyimide and epoxy customers.
What are dianhydrides and what can they be used for?
Dianhydrides are a carboxylic acid derivative that can be considered building blocks for use in the synthesis of polyimides and as thermal curatives for epoxy resins.
What industries does Jayhawk supply?
We are active in advanced composites and insulating foams for aerospace; electrical components and flexible circuitry for consumer electronics including smartphones and tablets; and protective coatings for oil and gas pipelines.
What are the benefits of the chemicals that Jayhawk supply and how are they unique?
Jayhawk’s dianhydrides add value to our customer’s products due to their consistent quality, high-purity and robust supply, either directly from Jayhawk or through our global sales channels.
Tell us about your new collaborations.
Well, Jayhawk, as the hub of EJayhawk’s custom manufacturing business for customers in agrochemical and industrial materials, has been a leader in dianhydride technology since the early 1970s via Gulf Chemical, a previous owner of the Jayhawk site.
Our expertise lies in custom-manufacturing, and we’ve served our customers well over the years with consistent product quality, competitive pricing and logistics services.
However, for customers seeking a more comprehensive technical support with either epoxy thermal curatives or polyimide manufacturers looking to balance process-property relationships, Jayhawk realized that additional resources were necessary.
We decided to seek out and engage peer companies in a collaborative effort to better serve these customer requirements.
Which companies have you collaborated with?
Our first partnership is with Dixie Chemical Company, Inc. Dixie is a well-known supplier of monoanhydrides and sundry products for epoxy chemistry.
For those well-versed in epoxy formulating, the use of fine or micronized powder dianhydrides in dry mixes, for example in electrostatic spray or fluidized bed processes, is well-known. However, in liquid preparations, blends of solid dianhydrides with liquid monoanhydrides have been used to improve ease of incorporation while enhancing performance.
This is where Dixie’s expertise in formulating curative packages shines. Dixie will begin offering a line of thermal curatives that combine the best attributes of dianhydride and monoanhydride chemistry.
This will not only simplify the customer’s work, but also enhance the properties of epoxy coatings, molding compounds and composite materials, especially those relating to sustained mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties in adverse conditions over longer periods of time.
Dixie’s applied technology support is well-respected in the industry, and this becomes an additional service offering.
What made Dixie Chemical Company, Inc. stand out as a collaborator?
Dixie Chemical is a reliable partner with a strong management team that is fully committed to the thermoset epoxy market. In our mind, Jayhawk’s strength in manufacturing excellence dovetailed nicely with Dixie Chemical’s formulating expertise and sales and technical service teams.
Who else is Jayhawk working with?
Our second partnership is with Nexam Chemical AB. Nexam produces novel crosslinkers that are ideally suited to modify and improve polyimide processing, while offering physical and mechanical property enhancements.
Together with Jayhawk’s dianhydride offerings, customers can benefit by consultation in product selection, pairing and optimal dosing to achieve desired properties of their polyimide coatings, films, fibres, foams and resins.
Nexam’s expertise in formulating and processing is available to the customer via this new collaboration with Jayhawk. We intend to jointly market our products and services to the growing polyimide market sector.
Our first promotion was this past June’s webinar, produced by HIS Engineering360, entitled “Empowering Polyimides.” The participation and lively Q&A period frankly overwhelmed us, so we now have positive proof that the industry is thirsty for knowledge on how to use our products together. We intend to roll out more promotional programs in the coming months.
How will you jointly market your products and services?
Customers will benefit from our joint presence at industry events and an increase in our online content. Our own products will continue to be available from our respective companies, but we will feature both portfolios when working to solve customer challenges.
Why are these collaborations important to the growth of Jayhawk?
We believe that these partnerships will provide Jayhawk with an improved visibility and access to markets that we have previously been unable to penetrate.
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Do you have future plans to collaborate with others?
Absolutely. We find such collaborations vital to ensuring that customers receive both product and value-added support in order to let them focus on what they do best, which is to supply the market with innovative down-stream technology. Wherever we can provide customers with a competitive edge, we are pleased to engage in these partnerships.
About Jeff Dimmit
Jeff Dimmit serves as VP Technology for Jayhawk Fine Chemicals. He has 35 years of experience with specialty chemicals in multiple applications.
Dimmit holds BA (chemistry) from Grinnell College and PhD (organometallic chemistry) from the University of New Hampshire.
About CABB Group GmbH
CABB Group GmbH is a leading custom manufacturer of starting materials, active ingredients and advanced intermediates; a major producer of high-purity monochloroacetic acid; and a supplier of premium fine chemicals. We are small enough to focus on attentive customer partnerships, yet large enough to master complex chemical synthesis. Customers benefit from CABB’s manufacturing excellence, product quality, security of supply, and collaborative approach to sourcing solutions. Custom manufacturing services are offered from three complementary multi-purpose production sites: Kokkola, Finland; Pratteln,Switzerland; and Galena, Kansas USA ("Jayhawk")."
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