May 20, 2019 Updated 5/20/2019
Frank Esposito Robert Tocci of Aaron Industries Corp. and Emily Blair of Milliken.
Cleveland — Aaron Industries Corp. has partnered with Milliken to improve compounds based on recycled polypropylene.
Aaron launched Jet-Flo-brand recycled PP compounds. The high melt flow materials use Milliken’s DeltaMax-brand performance modifier.
At the Compounding World Expo, held May 8-9 in Cleveland, officials with both firms said that Jet-Flo promotes sustainability and cost savings by adding value to recycled PP. The new materials also allow for production of thinner, lighter parts that require less material and energy.
“Molders are under pressure to make lower-cost items and to use less plastic in their finished parts,” Aaron Vice President Robert Tocci said. “It had been hard to make thinner products with recycled polypropylene without making them brittle.
“Milliken came through with this material,” he added. “We’ve received a great response from some of our current customers.”
Jet-Flo is regionally available in eastern parts of the U.S. and Canada and is available as black and gray pellets. It’s aimed at housewares and similar applications such as DVD cases and caps and closures.
Aaron and Milliken worked together on the material for seven months before starting commercial production in April.
“We’re excited about working with Aaron,” said Emily Blair, business development manager with Milliken in Spartanburg, S.C. “We hope to make this the start of branded products with good environmental performance.”
Officials added that Jet-Flo is among the first recycled PP materials to combine two properties that are normally mutually exclusive: extremely high melt flow index and good impact performance.
Those attributes make Jet-Flo an excellent choice for economical, highly durable thin-wall parts, they added. By adding value to recycled PP, officials said, Aaron is helping to encourage broader use of sustainable alternatives to virgin PP resin.
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