Innovative materials and technologies have always characterised the presentations at K in Düsseldorf, the world's most important premiere platform for the plastics and rubber industry. On this page, you can find out which current topics at K 2019, from 16 to 23 October, will not only be the focus of interest but also the outstanding drivers of further developments!
More than 35 international groups and companies have come together under the umbrella of the non-proft organisation (NGO) “Alliance to End Plastic Waste” to work on new ways and effcient solutions for minimising plastic waste in the environment.
Further development is an innate human urge. There will a lot of great successes and pioneering achievements to talk about when the international plastics and rubber industry gathers in Düsseldorf for K 2019 from 16 to 23 October.
The beginning of the history of modern plastics involved a well-known ecological problem: the demand for ivory, which was used to make billiard balls, had almost caused the Ceylon elephant to die out in the second half of the 19th century.
It sounds diffcult to produce a recyclate that does not differ from a new raw material, given the unbelievably large number of different types of plastics and plastic mixtures, don’t you think? Times are changing: we present two approaches with trendsetting potential.
In engines and machines, it makes an important contribution to the transmission of forces. It protects people from pollutants and pathogens and it is the substance that makes mobility possible in the first place. To put it very clearly: without rubber there would be no progress.
Tighter rules and regulations, marine litter, progressive digitalisation of complex workflows, production and raw material security, job security in geopolitically changing markets – the plastics and rubber industry has Herculean challenges ahead of it.
The thought that we can map our environment and display it on a smartphone might still seem a little futuristic to sceptics, but for visionaries this development opens the door to tomorrow’s world and beyond.
A fraction of the things that these powerful, versatile, transformable and resource-conserving materials can do. Their secret is that their composition can be tweaked to adapt them perfectly to the intended application.
The fact that plastic residues are accumulating in the world’s oceans and massively polluting our environment has caused a change of attitude in society. Driven by heightened environmental consciousness, countermeasures firmly rooted in sustainability have been initiated.
To achieve the major goal of emission-free mobility and power generation, technical innovation has to be matched by materials with special characteristics. Plastics play a decisive role here as they can practically be modified and functionalised at will.
Humankind is facing serious global challenges, from climate change to digitisation, and these are the result of human activities. It is our responsibility to control this development with sustainable, pioneering solutions in order to ensure that our planet will remain a hospitable and habitable place for generations to come.
Researchers all over the world are working on the development of artifcial organs and prosthetics that will improve the patients’ quality of life. Their development relies on high-performance functional materials that are not rejected by the human organism. Many polymer materials have the perfect properties for medical purposes.
When it comes to protection from head impact or shock injuries, as well as protecting car passengers from impact injuries during accidents or even to safely seal off liquid-based systems hence preventing leaks, plastic and rubber materials have the best protective properties.
Despite the rising proportion of regenerative resources in polymer material, it is still predominantly made from crude oil. Thermal recovery of PET after its life cycle is a tried-and-tested approach, but it releases emissions that are harmful to the environment – as is the case with combustion processes.
Modern logistics and international trading have become relatively easy thanks to our globalised world, that turns even faraway countries into neighbouring markets. The success of global businesses however, does not depend on bridging long distances, but on good contact and interaction with customers – it is important to stay in touch and to remain present in the market.
Messe Düsseldorf and the K trade show’s Global Gate is a perfect communication platform for interested companies.
