UniteChem Group, the world’s leading supplier of light stabilizers for plastics in a broad range of high-end industrial applications, has announced major investments to further expand the availability of its technical support capabilities for customers in Europe and worldwide. As part of the company’s commitment to invest 5 percent of its total revenue in R&D, UniteChem has recently opened a second R&D and Innovation Center in Shanghai, complete with state-of-the-art testing, analyzing and process evaluation equipment.
“Backed by over two decades of market experience with light stabilizers and other performance additives, we are determined to take our expertise beyond China and meet the growing demands of global customers at all levels”, says Junyi Lin, CEO of UniteChem Group. “The investment in our new second Shanghai R&D Center confirms this strategy and is a logical complementation of recent sales expansions, including our European warehouse in Antwerp, Belgium, and the recently opened sales office in Düsseldorf, Germany.”
The new Shanghai Center provides extensive testing, analyzing and process evaluation support for global polymer and masterbatch producers, major OEM brands as well as local plastic converters and compounders. Staffed with technical and industry specialists who combine more than 30 years of dedicated experience in plastic additives, it more than doubles UniteChem’s existing R&D and innovation capacity and has been purpose-designed to accelerate the time of dedicated sampling for customers worldwide.
Next to injection molding, film blowing and casting machines, the advanced equipment at the new R&D Center is spearheaded by a high-performance twin-screw extruder serving a wide range of compounding tasks at screw speeds of up to 1,000 rpm. A Xenon and thermal oxygen aging chamber with large water-cooled instruments and a rotating rack unit enable comprehensive accelerated weathering tests. A multi-element analyzer for intermediates facilitates product modifications and process adjustments while featuring excellent reproducibility. An array of molecular weight samplers helps in running simultaneous tests e.g. to improve the control of analyte retention, enhance mass spectral sensitivity, minimize cross-contamination and investigate various different chromatographic options. Further devices also include a torque rheometer, a plate vulcanizer and a UV/VIS spectrophotometer.
“UniteChem has a proud history of driving the development of efficient and sustainable additive solutions, including in particular hindered amino light stabilizers, for use in all major applications areas of the plastics industry”, adds Heiko Strunz, Sales Manager Europe. “While addressing important current trends and future market needs, our extended corporate R&D capacity now helps us respond even faster and brings our innovative services significantly closer to both upstream and downstream customers.”
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