MOSCOW (MRC) -- Akron Polymer Systems Inc. has installed a solvent film casting in a new 800-square-foot clean room at the specialty polymer development company, said Plasticsnews.
The machine from Frontier Industrial Technology Inc., which can make cast film up to 18 inches wide, will go into production in October. APS is installing a new laminator on the line. Before starting up the clean room and film line, Akron Polymer Systems had to outsource that production to toll film makers, according to President and CEO Frank Harris. The cast film floats on a blanket of air during the process, he said.
Film is a key part of several Akron Polymer Systems projects, including substrates for flat panel displays and polymers for membranes used in gas separation, water purification and fuel cells.
But Akron Polymer Systems is involved in other product developments as well, such as biodegradable, high-strength polymers, nanotechnology, thermally stable composite resins for missile nose cones, and biomedical innovations such as a plastic implant that enhances bone growth in cancer patients. APS is making the polymer used in research at Methodist Research Hospital in Houston.
The company makes batch sizes of the new polymers, working on joint product and process development, does custom synthesis of new polymers and monomers for large corporations, and imports high-performance polymers and additives.
As MRC wrote before, the University of Akron's department of polymer engineering received a donation valued at $1 million of Moldex3D injection simulation software from CoreTech System. The software allows manufacturers to simulate the flow of polymers into a variety of mold shapes. It also reduces errors, product development costs and expedites time-to-market. The university will use the software to educate polymer engineering students about mold-making for plastic products.
Akron Polymer Systems also worked on technology called in-plane switching films, winning a grant from Ohio's Third Frontier program. Film made by in-plane switching lines up the liquid crystals to give a vivid, clear picture, improving off-angle viewability, such as looking at the screen from a side angle.
Akron Polymer Systems uses a long list of advanced materials, including polyimides, polysulfone, composites and biodegradable polymers for medical. The company's income sources are royalty payments on research and development, government funding, custom synthesis of pilot-plant quantities, sales of imported specialty chemicals and consulting services.