Dec 1 2010
Dow Brazil, global giant in the chemical and plastics sectors with operations in Brazil since 1956, announced at FEIPLAR COMPOSITES & FEIPUR – International Trade Show and Congresses of Composites, Polyurethanes and Engineering Plastics – the Technology and Market Development Center for Polyurethanes and Formulated Systems in the city of Jundiaí, countryside of São Paulo.
With investments of US$ 2 million and official opening scheduled for January 2011, the lab extends over a 1,200 square meter area and will provide a number of services, including chemical and physical chemical analyses; equipment to simulate production of a wide range of PU applications; characterization of physical properties and preparation of samples to customers.
“The new Technology Center will be focused on the development of customized polyurethane solutions and formulations for our customers. In addition to state-of-the-art machinery, the center will count on a technical team of skilled professionals engaged in market and technological trends,” states Marco Fay, director of Formulated Systems for Dow Brazil. “It is important to highlight that the center will be able to simulate the production of foams, a process to be followed up by Dow’s customers with a view to expediting the development of new solutions,” Fay adds.
Dow has Technology Centers for Polyurethanes and Formulated Systems in other geographies, such as the United States, Europe and Asia. The integration of these centers will be a major distinguishing feature since it allows Dow to promptly access new technologies and trends and make them available in the market. Such global alignment, coupled with the vast knowledge of Dow’s customers and technical team, will be the major driving force for the development of innovative solutions for the Brazilian and Latin American markets.
The new lab will utilize all knowledge acquired in the Company’s global Technology Centers, which is what provides the facility the title of one of the most modern and well-equipped Latin American labs. “The meeting of our customers’ needs was the main reason that led us to create and develop our lab,” concludes Marcelo Fiszner, leader of Research & Development of Performance Products for Dow Latin America.
Some of the distinguishing features offered by the Technology and Market Development Center are:
- preparing of prepolymers;
- formulation line for the manufacturing of flexible foams;
- development and preparing of prototypes;
- assessment and characterization of physical properties.
Dow launches new polyurethane foam at Feipur
Also at Feipur, Dow Brazil launched the Fresh Comfort, a latex polyurethane foam that provides high comfort, freshness and a higher durability compared to conventional latex foams.
The foam was launched during the technical lecture delivered by Rogério Baixo, research & development technician for the Polyurethane Business in Brazil. Under the topic “Innovation, comfort and freshness in high resilience flexible foams,” Rogério presented the new specialty for flexible foams, with properties similar to those of conventional latex foams and that offer the same velvet touch and excellent air circulation.
Paulo Altoé and André Fernandes, product technology manager and commercial technical representative for Dow Brazil, respectively, talked about the “New generation of foams for thermal insulation with environmentally friendly expanders.” They introduced the new generation of polyurethane systems combined with expanders that do not affect the ozone layer and that cause no direct impact on global warming.
Finally, Rodnei Abe, technical sales representative specialist in insulation products for energy efficiency market in South America, presented a study about “Enhanced polyisocyanurate foams for metal-faced panels.” The lecture addressed some resources involved in the structure-property relation that is a characteristic of the polyisocyanurate sandwich technology, including its fire resistance, in addition to introducing a family of polyisocyanurate foam systems commercialized under the VORATHERM(TM) brand, a line of products that meets customers’ specific needs in terms of foam’s physical properties, processability and flame retardancy by working with diverse expanders.