BERGAMID® polyamide and BERGAFLEX® TPE from PolyOne make an impact

Hockey is a fast, tough sport, whether it's played on grass or ice, so the equipment needs to be rugged enough to survive. Like many sports, Hockey is developing fast and a new indoor game played with a ball is becoming increasingly popular. Habo Plast AB was involved in developing a new stick or 'blade' specifically for this sport. The design called for the innovative use of materials to produce a better, more durable product. The key requirement for the blade was impact resistance, but there was also the need for a soft, flexible material in certain areas of the blade to provide improved ball control.

Engineers based at the PolyOne Engineered Materials Europe facility in Gaggenau, Germany, (PolyOne Th. Bergmann GmbH) worked with their local representative Interplast AB and Habo Plast to find the best combination of materials from PolyOne's wide portfolio.

For the blade's main structure they selected BERGAMID polyamide, specially modified to improve impact resistance. This had to be carefully judged as impact modification can reduce the stiffness of the part thereby having a detrimental effect on its performance in use. The balance of impact modification and stiffness was critical not only to give the blade design the necessary stiffness, but also to be tough enough to survive the rigors of the sport. Small areas of 10% glass-filled polyamide were incorporated into the blade to improve the overall stiffness.

Refined ball control was made possible by incorporating small amounts of BERGAFLEX TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) to create softer areas to the blade, thereby offering improved grip. The broad range of grades and wide choice of Shore hardness allowed the engineers to achieve the optimum design. In addition, the range of BERGAFLEX grades and their excellent bond strengths to polyamide solved the problems often encountered when trying to over-mold with TPE. PolyOne developed solutions to these problems with polar substrates molded into materials as diverse as ABS, PS, PMMA and PA.

This hockey blade design is yet another excellent demonstration of PolyOne’s ability to provide a wide range of polymer and technology solutions to combine successfully with a designer's product concept to meet, and exceed, customer needs.

PolyOne will exhibit in the new hall 6 stand 6C40 at the ‘K’ show, the industry’s largest international triennial exhibition staged in Düsseldorf, Germany, from October 25 to November 1, 2001.

PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) is a $3.5 billion international polymer services company with customer-focused operations in thermoplastic compounds, specialty resins, specialty polymer formulations, engineered films, color and additive systems, rubber compounding and thermoplastic resin distribution.

With headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., PolyOne has more than 9,000 employees at 80 manufacturing sites in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and joint ventures in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. More information can be found on our web-site: www.polyone.com

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