Quarzwerke
Péter Sebö, Quarzwerke presented developments with kaolin (a mined aluminium silicate mineral) and wollastonite (a calcium silicate). Kaolin can be optimised by specification of grain size, coating or calcination. It offers advantages of white colour, low abrasion and improvement of impact strength. Tests showed that use of amine-coated kaolin with phosphinate in polyamide enabled reduction in loadings of flame retardants needed to achieve UL94-V0 (0.8 mm). Wollastonite with a chain/needle structure can possibly replace glass fibre, to provide both flame retardant and mechanical properties.