Wacker - The Fascination Of Chemistry

Crude oil is a finite resource. This is one of the reasons why the chemical industry is looking for new raw materials. Plastics can also be manufactured from plants, for example. However, these only become attractive when additives from WACKER’s VINNEX® product range are added. Only then are the properties of bioplastics as good as [...]

They actually don’t like each other: wood is polar, while polymers such as polypropylene are non-polar. In order to process them into a homogeneous composite, they need a matchmaker: GENIOPLAST® from WACKER. Wood plastic composites are used to make interior trim for cars, for example. And Pinuform uses them to produce durable, easy-care decking boards, [...]

Sand, cement and water: for a long time, that was all that a mortar needed. But expectations are rising. As a result, polymeric binders are now added to the dry-mix mortar blends used in many applications. These binders include VINNAPAS®, a dispersible polymer powder from WACKER. VINNAPAS® makes mortar more pliable yet stronger, so that [...]

When you step out of the shower in the morning, you want to wrap yourself in a towel that is comfortably soft and that dries you off quickly. Treating the fabric with a new WACKER auxiliary is what makes that possible. When developing this product, researchers had to combine two conflicting requirements in a single [...]

Cream fillings without unhealthy solid fats? Or baked goods with a reduced egg content? That’s possible. Thanks to cyclodextrins from WACKER. They have excellent emulsifying properties, stabilize sugar foam and creams, and can replace hardened fats. This makes them beneficial for a slim figure and cholesterol levels – and all that entirely without animal constituents, [...]

Aluminum composite panels can increasingly be found on building exteriors. In order to keep the thermoplastics used here from compromising the fire safety, manufacturers incorporate fire-retardant fillers. Developed by WACKER, GENIOPLAST Pellet S is a silicone additive that is suitable for a diverse range of thermoplastic polymer blends. It makes such flame-resistant blends easier to [...]

Everywhere, people want to be beautiful, but Brazil, in particular, is the third-largest market for beauty products worldwide. WACKER presented a new ingredient for the cosmetics and personal-care industries there – nature-identical hydroxytyrosol, or HTEssence. This is a highly effective antioxidant that can help to maintain the beauty of skin and hair for longer.

Everybody is familiar with functional clothing for sports nowadays. However, future clothing will be able to do much more: smart textiles will be able to notify us if we’re moving the wrong way or point out how we can exercise even more efficiently. Sensors that are designed with the aid of WACKER’s ELASTOSIL Film make [...]

Whether jam jars or fabric-softener bottles – countless everyday products bear labels. They are not applied by hand, of course, but with labeling machines. These can manage up to 18,000 labels in an hour. For this to work at such rapid speeds, WACKER has developed DEHESIVE SFX silicone coatings. They ensure that the label reliably [...]

Wood is one of the oldest building materials known to humans – and remains very popular to this day. A coating is used to provide wood with long-term protection against weathering. With SILRES WH, WACKER has developed a wood preservative which is perfectly suited to this role. SILRES WH is a silicone resin which covers [...]

Bonding has several advantages over clamping, riveting, and screwing. Whether in a car or on a patio: bonds need to be flexible, but at the same time resistant to tearing or shearing. Geniosil XT – a new product range which does not require organotin catalysts or the addition of solvents – helps to meet these [...]

Gypsum construction elements and materials have many advantages: they are environmentally friendly to manufacture and can be rapidly and inexpensively processed. But, when used in damp locations, gypsum must be made water repellent. In SILRES BS Powder S, WACKER now has an active substance which achieves this water repellency more efficiently and reliably than those [...]

Fabric softeners not only make laundry super soft but also make ironing easier.Fabric softeners are designed to make textiles more comfortable and give them a fresh smell. Modern silicone fluid emulsions from WACKER can do much more.

Automotive interiors are expected to have an attractive, high-quality finish. The interiors of lower-priced and smaller car models often feature talc-filled polypropylene rather than high-end foamed plastics. WACKER has developed GENIOPLAST Pellet S, an additive that stops plastic surfaces from looking scratched and worn even after years of use.

Hydroxytyrosol is an olive-based active ingredient intended to prevent a great many diseases, boost the immune system and inhibit inflammatory processes. It is therefore used in skin creams and functional foods. WACKER has now found a way to make this active ingredient synthetically. Manufacturers are thus less dependent on the availability of olives and can [...]

A combination of high resolution and bright colors is an essential feature of state-of-the art displays. But these displays have a weakness: they are almost completely unreadable in sunlight. In collaboration with VIA optronics – a supplier of enhanced displays – WACKER has developed a silicone gel which, when combined with a special production technology, [...]

The “Smart Grid” is the power network of the future. Each part of this grid always knows exactly what the other parts are doing. Silicone composite hollow-core insulators fitted with integrated measuring instruments are one possible component of this grid. As a result, you get lower installation and maintenance costs, fewer malfunctions and, consequently, a [...]

The Ironman is one of the greatest sporting challenges in the world: contestants swim 4 kilometers, cycle 180 kilometers and then run 42 kilometers (i.e. a marathon). This event puts an athlete’s entire body under enormous strain. Irritated or damaged skin is unavoidable, but help is on hand with WACKER’s wafer-thin SILPURAN brand silicone film.

Wave power plants might be able to produce more energy than people currently consume. One of the biggest problems facing such wave parks is that they must be made of materials that can withstand huge forces during storms – and only a very few materials can do so. WACKER’s ultrathin ELASTOSIL silicone film is an [...]

Everyone is familiar with the smell of new carpeting. That might soon change, thanks to a new process based on VINNAPAS brand VAE dispersions. This process is more stable than previous ones and produces higher quality. What is more: carpets made with these dispersions release hardly any volatile substances – which means the carpeting is [...]