CLAY ADDITIVE
Like other thermoplastics, nanocomposites are made by introducing a solid material into a plastic resin to give it added strength and other positive properties. What's significant about these new plastics is that the particles being added are extremely small, only one-millionth of a millimeter thick. In comparison, the filler in conventional thermoplastic olefins, on average, is one thousand times thicker.
The process of adding inorganic fillers to polymers is actually an old idea, like making bricks with straw in them. The fibrous straw additive makes the brick more resistant to forces that would otherwise crack it.
"In the case of these materials, the additive is tiny flakes of a clay material which are only a nanometer (one-millionth of a millimeter) thick," Taub explained. "They have huge surface areas relative to the other additives we use, like talc, and the result is exceptional improvements in the properties of the plastics with only a fraction of the inorganic filler."
A TPO with as little as 2.5 percent inorganic nano filler is as stiff and much lighter than parts with 10 times the amount of conventional talc filler. The weight savings can reach 20 percent depending on the part and the material that is being replaced by the TPO nanocomposite.