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High Performance Engineering Resins Using Specialty Minerals Talcs, Ground Calcium Carbonates, and Barytes

Engineering resins such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and nylon are the base resins for high-performance composites used in transportation, consumer, and building products.

Mineral additives including talc, ground calcium carbonate (GCC), and barytes improve strength, dimensional stability, and nucleation, and act as a cost-effective fillers in engineering resin composites. Fine talc products provide nucleation and reinforcement, while ground carbonate products are cost-effective resin extenders. Barite products enhance the weight of the composite and dampen noise and vibration, absorbing both sound and radiation. 


Specialty Minerals Talc Products for Engineering Resins
Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) talcs are suitable for performance improvements or cost reduction of opaque engineering resin composites. Grades with particle sizes ranging from 0.8 to about 2.5 microns give the best improvement in flexural modulus. SMI talc products for engineering resins include:

  • FlexTalc® talc series – consist of three fine talcs with the highest brightness made from Chinese talc. They range in median particle size from 1.0 to 2.2 microns and provide a good balance of impact and stiffness. The finest talc, FlexTalc® 610, is chosen for nucleation. All are available in densified and undensified grades from SMI’s Mt. Vernon, Indiana plant.
  • MicroTuff® AG and AGD talcs –the MicroTuff® AG talc series and its densified versions, MicroTuff® AGD talc series, are used for slightly better economy in less demanding color or brightness applications. AG/AGD talcs range from 0.8 to 1.8 microns and are coated, which aids dispersion in the composites and improves color. They have slightly lower brightness than the FlexTalc® talcs. The finest member of this family, MicroTuff® AG 609, is recommended for nucleation. Like the FlexTalc® talcs, these MicroTuff® talcs provide additional stiffness to composites. They are manufactured in Barretts, Montana.
  • UltraTalc® 609 – is the uncoated counterpart to MicroTuff® AG 609, a 0.8 micron Montana talc. It is the finest grade of general-purpose, lower-brightness talc and is ideally suited for  applications that require high performance but where bright or white color is not critical.
  • MicroTuff® 100 series –are the uncoated counterparts to the 1.1 and 1.8 micron MicroTuff® AG series talcs. These general-purpose fine ground Montana talcs economically add stiffness to low brightness composites.

Click on a product’s name to download the technical data sheet for that product. Click here to read more about SMI’s talc products for plastics.


Specialty Minerals Ground Calcium Carbonates for Engineering Resins
For the best economy through resin extension, SMI manufactures three families of ground calcium carbonates (GCCs):

  • Vicron®-East GCCs — are high-brightness GCCs with median particle sizes ranging from 3.5 to 10 microns. These products are produced in Adams, Massachusetts.
  • Vicron®–West GCCs  — are high-brightness GCCs  with median particle sizes ranging from 2 to 10 microns. They are produced in Lucerne Valley, California.
  • Rivercal™ GCCs  — are a family of bright GCCs for resin extension ranging in median particle size from 3.3 to 5.0 microns. The Rivercal™ GCCs are produced in Mount Vernon, Indiana, and Wellsville, Ohio, from imported calcium carbonate ore.


Click on a product’s name to download the technical data sheet for that product. To read more about SMI GCCs for plastics, click here.


Specialty Minerals Barytes for Engineering Resins
Baricron™ barytes/barites are produced in SMI’s Mount Vernon, Indiana, and Wellsville, Ohio, plant using high-quality, bright white ores from China. The Baricron™ barite family includes four products with median particle sizes ranging from 1.5 to 8.0 microns. Top size is carefully controlled and the products disperse easily for excellent surface finish.  

Click here to download the Baricron™ barites data sheet and click here to read more about SMI barytes for plastics.

All SMI plants manufacturing talcs, GCCs and barytes for plastics uses are ISO 9001 certified and use tight process and quality controls to ensure that our high-performance minerals are consistently delivered.

 

 

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