How will additives shape the future of plastics?

Additives are essential components of plastic formulations providing maintenance and/or modification of polymer properties, performance and long-term use. The extension of polymer properties by additives has played a substantial role in the growth of plastics. At the beginning of the plastics age additives were used mainly to maintain polymer properties and to help plastics to survive heat treatment during transforming processes. The next generation of additives provided extension of service life as well as modification of mechanical and physical properties. These well-established additives - antioxidants, heat stabilizers, light stabilizers and others - cover the requirements of standard plastics and today's mass applications. The more recent developments of high-performance additives address more stringent or new requirements, more severe processing and use conditions and/or environmental concerns, but still with the main target of maintaining plastic properties. The future will introduce more and more new effects and functionalities through additives in plastic applications tailoring the properties of polymers and offering a vast potential of innovation in the plastics area. Recent examples of emerging technologies show that additives will not only modify the polymer itself and add new properties, but can also, when incorporated into the plastic, beneficially impact properties, which are of high value for the user. The paper shows the role of additives used in plastics from the past to the present with the focus on stabilization and performance of additives incorporated during melt processing, and outlines future trends. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.