German high-tech polymers company Covestro (Leverkusen; www.covestro.com) has signed an agreement with Japan’s Nanodax (Tokyo; www.nanodax.jp) to develop new PC composites reinforced with glass wool.

Nanodax has introduced a new technology that uses the wool as a reinforcing filler for thermoplastics. To date, the glass fibres used to reinforce thermoplastics have had a diameter of 9-15 µm. The single glass fibre threads have a diameter of only 3-4 µm and are thus significantly thinner and more flexible. Apart from that, Nanodax has also started work on hybrid reinforcements, consisting of glass wool and glass fibres, and marked under the "G-Mag" brand name.

Michael Schmidt, Covestro’s head of business development for polycarbonates Asia-Pacific, said: “Our development co-operation is targeting diverse application areas for polycarbonates reinforced with glass wool, and will open up new prospects for both companies. In particular, we are aiming at advantages in surface appearance and material processing. Cost reductions for customers are expected through an optimised injection moulding manufacturing process.”

Joint development work will be performed mainly at Covestro’s Polymer Research & Development Centre in Shanghai / China. Both companies see good prospects for using reinforced plastics in automotive, IT and electronics products.