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An ear to the market
When Dr. Peter Schwarz talks about Makrolon®, he can get very enthusiastic. As Technical Product Manager for Makrolon® Extrusion Applications at Bayer MaterialScience, he sees Makrolon® as a "highly interesting and versatile plastic with an exceptional property profile." Bayer's world-renowned branded plastic is utilized in all sorts of highly demanding applications. It is the material of choice for optical data carriers like CDs and DVDs. Manufacturers exploit its toughness to produce sports helmets and visors, while its transparency and good resistance to weathering also make Makrolon® an attractive proposition for roofing, roller shutters, advertising boards and protective glazing. Schwarz, who studied chemistry and has been at Bayer for three and a half years now, is committed to improving the material's properties. "We always keep an ear to the market and try to find out what's actually needed."
Recent development topics include surfaces that clean themselves, surfaces with increased resistance to chemicals, and glazing that also offers thermal insulation. Then there's the question of how the processing of Makrolon® can be further improved? Answers to such questions are also at the top of the agenda at BMS. On the one hand, developments to the processing machines used by customers mean that material adaptations are necessary. On the other, materials that are easier to process give customers competitive advantages.
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| The technical service center in Leverkusen where trials on new developments are conducted under realistic production conditions. |
Bayer MaterialScience's expertise in products and processes ensures that new developments can also be readily implemented in practice. At the Technical Service Center in Leverkusen, Bayer developers work with the same machines used in the manufacturing industry. "You don’t often find technical centers that are so well equipped," observes Schwarz. "The processing expertise this affords is highly rated by our extrusion customers. And of course the Technical Service Center facilities are also available to customers to use for their own development activities."
The characteristics of the high-tech polycarbonate Makrolon® can be observed under real production conditions in the Technical Service Center. This is important because it's normally quite difficult to transfer the results gained from the processing machines usually encountered in labs to the processing plants actually used by customers. Through trials in the Technical Service Center, Bayer ensures that the new developments are suitable for application in large-scale production.
The company is determined not to rest on its laurels, meaning that over recent years Makrolon® has undergone continual improvement. "It is a living product," says Schwarz. And it will stay that way in the future – the researchers and developers at Bayer MaterialScience will make sure of that.
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