11/16/2017 | Product News

KURARAY POVAL ™ - Ceramic Binder: Low ash polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) grades are now available directly from the manufacturer, Kuraray Europe GmbH

Ceramic materials require a high quality binder during the production process. KURARAY POVAL ™ is a low-ash polyvinyl alcohol grade binder that provides high green strength, low viscosity and very low ash levels. As from January 2018, Kuraray will distribute the temporary ceramic binder KURARAY POVAL ™ directly to end customers.

In the production of technical ceramics, the binder plays a decisive role: it must ensure the appropriate viscosity of the liquid ceramic slip and exhibit a high green strength in the cold-pressed mold. In addition, the binder should burn without residue during the firing process. Kuraray, one of the world's leading specialty chemicals companies based in Hattersheim am Main, offers polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) as a temporary ceramic binder with the KURARAY POVAL ™ grades - including low-ash variants. "As of January 2018, Kuraray will be distributing the various KURARAY POVAL grades directly to the ceramics industry," explains Heiko Mack, Head of Poval Business at Kuraray.

Higher green strength and reduced energy consumption
KURARAY POVAL ™ serves as a temporary binder and softener for ceramic compounds. Thanks to its special properties, KURARAY POVAL ™ is particularly suitable for technical ceramics. They are used in a number of areas within the ceramics industry for example, automotive, mechanical engineering and medical technology. They find use in spark plugs, filters, electronic components and in computer chip capacitors. KURARAY POVAL ™ has several advantages in use, the required quantity is lower than with common binders and demonstrates very high green strength: The special ceramics retain their shape when not fired, even during shaking and transport between the processing steps. In the sintering process, the binder shows minimal shrinkage and decomposes at the end into the constituents water and carbon dioxide. In addition, KURARAY POVAL ™ ensures a liquid ceramic slurry with very low
 
viscosity, which makes processing more efficient. Due to this low viscosity significantly less water must be evaporated later during firing. This significantly reduces energy consumption.

KURARAY POVAL ™ for use as a ceramic binder is now sold directly by Kuraray and has the following advantages:

• Available in different viscosities, each with different properties - including particularly low-ash LA types
• Areas of application: automotive industry, mechanical engineering, medical technology, etc.
• Low binder content
• Very low ash content
• Reusable and therefore less waste due to breakage Smooth burnout profile
• Low shrinkage during sintering.

About Kuraray
Established in 1991, Kuraray Europe GmbH is based in Hattersheim, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 2016 the company generated annual sales of over EUR 600 million. It has 660 employees in Germany at its sites in Hattersheim, Frankfurt and Troisdorf. Kuraray is a global speciality chemicals company and one of the largest suppliers of polymers and synthetic
microfibres for many sectors of industry. Examples are KURARAY POVAL™, Mowital^®, Trosifol^® and CLEARFIL™. Kuraray Europe also has 180 employees at six other European sites. They are also working on the development and application of innovative high-performance materials for a wide range of sectors, including the automotive, paper, glass and packaging industries, as well as for architects and dentists.

Kuraray Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of the publicly listed Kuraray Group, which is based in Tokyo, Japan, and has around 10,000 employees worldwide and sales of over EUR 4 billion.

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