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Washington, Dec 10 : In an effort to combine the properties of plastics and metals, scientists have developed a composite material, which not only conducts electricity like metals but is also light and inexpensive like plastics. The plastic-metal hybrids will be used in the very places where plastic components are equipped with printed circuit boards, for instance in cars or aircraft.

"China has become the world's largest producer and consumer of plastic pipes. In 2013, China's plastic pipe output and demand reached 12.1 million tons and 11.117 million tons respectively, representing the respective year-on-year increase of 10.0% and 7.1%. The output of PVC pipes is higher than that of other plastic pipe varieties in China, followed by the output of PE pipes and PP pipes. In 2013, China's PVC pipe output hit 6.59 million tons, accounting for 54.5% of China's total plastic pipe output, while the output of PE pipes and PP pipes shared 40.5% together. "

That plastic pipe systems continue to gain market share through supplanting competing pipe materials such as copper, concrete and steel due to easy and low cost installation as well as long term performance, Stephen Boros who is also VP Engineering for Pipelines Plastics, LLC explained. "In North America, these inherent advantages are now further supported by the development of the shale oil and gas industry. This development not only benefits the energy market but also represents a more secure long‐term supply and cost advantage from a power costs to raw materials stand point. Technology transfer will undoubtedly propel the growth of demand for plastic pipe systems in other world markets."

"Efforts to produce lighter vehicles necessarily include engine parts, such as the cylinder casing, which could shed up to 20 percent of its weight if it were made of fiber-reinforced plastic rather than aluminum - without added costs. Such injection-molded parts are even suitable for mass production."

We are way over our heads trying to catch up to all the wonderful new plastics on the market to find out which ones might be toxic to marine and other organisms.

OTTAWA - Nalgene, the brand that popularized water bottles made from hard, clear and nearly unbreakable polycarbonate, will stop using the plastic because of growing concern over one of its ingredients.

Three plastic pipe system manufacturers, Pipelife Hungaria, Wavin Hungary and BTH Fitting (Tessenderlo Group), two of them leading European players, are suspected of being part of a price fixing cartel operating in Hungary

"The team has developed a way to integrate fiber optics - glass or plastic components that can transmit data using light waves - into computer chips, replacing copper wires that rely on electricity."

Growing a mixed "lawn" of two kinds of nanowires can make a new kind of light-sensing array that could be made in metre-scale sheets. The researchers behind the prototype say such cheap, high-quality image sensors would allow uses not conceivable using today's more expensive technology. Current sensors, such as those found in digital cameras, are made like any other silicon chip - they are carved out from a block of material. The new nanowire sensors are instead built from the bottom up, using chemically-grown nano-sized components. A research team led by Ali Javey, at the University of California, Berkeley, developed the process. They start by growing an unruly "lawn" of nanowires on a surface. The crop is then printed onto another surface, a step that simultaneously tidies them up. "At the first stage, the nanowires are more-or-less standing up, like a bad hair day. But during the printing process, they effectively get combed," says Javey. The nanowires, which are a few tenths of a millimetre long and a few tens of nanometres wide, can be printed onto anything from silicon to plastic or paper. Whatever the surface, it must be prepared with a pattern that guides the nanowires to predetermined locations. To make the functioning sensor, two different "crops" of nanotubes are printed onto the same surface. Cadmium selenide nanowires produce electric charge when hit by light, while those made from silicon-coated germanium act as transistors to amplify that charge.

this first-of-a-kind motor converts light directly into mechanical energy,

These are heady times for the thin-film solar industry. The sector's dominant player, First Solar, has been on a tear of late, recently announcing it would build a second 10 megawatt power plant in Nevada, while Miasole, once thought to be ailing, has staged an impressive comeback, raking in an eye-popping $220 million. Nanosolar has developed a new ultra-fast solar cell printer, and even giants like IBM and Applied Materials have gotten in on the game. In the face of such intense competition, how will HelioVolt, a well-funded outpost of CIGS manufacturing in Texas, fare? The company hopes a new hybrid, super fast CIGS process it has developed in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which combines its patented FASST process and NREL's non-vacuum deposition technique, will help even the odds. The Austin, Texas-based company licensed NREL's non-vacuum deposition process, which allows for the quick application of liquid precursors onto a printing plate and substrate, to manufacture its solar cells with a 12.2 percent conversion efficiency at a fraction of the regular cost and in record time - under 6 minutes. Another advantage is that the substrate can be made from a variety of building materials, including glass, metals, plastics and roofing materials.

Crane Group, an Australian non-ferrous metals and plastic products manufacturer and distributor, announced revenue for the year ended 30th June 2008 of AUD$2,352m, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. Net profit after tax before significant items rose to AUD$63.8m, an improvement of 18.2% on last year, thanks to strong results from the firm's plastic piping and distribution arms, Pipelines and Tradelink. Crane Copper Tube, the Group's non-ferrous metals division, reported EBIT of AUD$4.0m compared with a loss of AUD$2.5m last year. Revenue was up 2% to AUD$142m as stronger export sales helped offset subdued demand from the domestic plumbing market, according to Crane Group. "The lean manufacturing programme progressively introduced at CCT over the past two years continues to provide benefits in both productivity and working capital efficiency," said the company.

Meanwhile, it provides the latest market information for scrap metal, plastic scrap and waste paper every day; and updates on supply and demand including daily waste rubber, waste electronic/electric equipment, waste glass and waste leather.

MUMBAI: Bogged down by rising costs of key inputs like steel and plastics, makers of consumer appliances have begun hiking prices, with some companies even eyeing a 5-10% increase.

Entrepreneurs were queuing up to scour rubbish for anything that could be recycled. There was even talk of mining old landfills to extract steel and aluminium cans. And waste that could not be recycled should at least be used to generate energy, the evangelists argued. A brave new wasteless world seemed nigh. But since then plummeting prices for virgin paper, plastic and fuels, and hence also for the waste that substitutes for them, have put an end to such visions. Many of the recycling firms that had argued rubbish was on the way out now say that unless they are given financial help, they themselves will disappear.

While older municipalities across Canada are busy replacing lead distribution water supply pipes that have been in the ground since the last century, others are having to replace pipes made of polybutylene (PB) that were installed as recently as 25 years ago. The polybutylene plastic service pipes were installed in the 1970s and 1980s to connect street mains to the home as a cheaper alternative to copper piping. However, the polybutylene pipes were subject to collapse, and over time have become brittle, are cracking and leaking water.