CHEMICALS
Sylflex, Silicone Tanned Leather Silicone product, tanned-in, gives permanent w a t e r resistance to leather — doesn't interfere with porosity Q EVERAL FOOTWEAR
MANUFACTURERS
^ will have shoes on the market this spring m a d e of leather which is permanently water resistant and which excludes water under flexing conditions. This new concept in leather is the result of a Dow Corning silicone product, Sylflex, which is tanned-in to make shoe upper leather exclude water, stay soft and flexible, and yet breathe. Charles. A. Eaton, golf shoe manufacturer, and Endicott Johnson will offer shoes m a d e of Sylflex. Almost simultaneously with this, Montgomery Ward will introduce a work and sportsman's boot m a d e from Sylflex leather produced by Endicott Johnson. Sylflex is the result of years of research b y D o w Corning. W . T. Rossiter, manager of Sylflex sales, says Sylflex "has m u c h t h e same effect on leather as another n e w silicone product called Sylmer has on upholstery fabric or the earlier D o w Corning Silicone finishes have on apparel fabric." Although there are so-called waterproof leathers on the market today a n d good shoe polishes m a k e t h e surface of shoes temporarily water repellent, Rossiter says the most important questions are how permanent is t h e water resistance a n d h o w long will the leather exclude water when flexed, as in walking. Rossiter says that Sylflex is per-
manently water resistant a n d excludes water under flexing conditions h u n d r e d s of times as long as conventional Chrome tanned leather. Sylflex is applied in the tannery so that every fiber is
it takes miles of "walking in the rain to p u m p water through Sylflex leather. Unlike previous water-resistant leathers which have b e e n heavily stuffed leathers, Sylflex t a n n e d leathers are light, with a weight equivalent t o dress shoe leathers. A new and larger leather testing a n d research laboratory o p e n e d b y D o w Corning in Midland will permit more intensive developments of silicones for t h e leather industry and more extensive cooperation with tanneries and shoe manufacturers. T a n n e r s who use the Sylflex t r a d e n a m e must adhere to quality control standards which D o w Corning has set u p . CS 1 Becco Chemical O f f e r i n g Perlaurîc A c i d Salts
Exposing the vamps of a pair of shoes to a 10% calcium chloride solution for one hour is equivalent to three or four months' wear in contact with ice-removal salts on city sidewalks. Shoe at right shows typical shrinking and curling up at toe; Sylflex shoe (left) is soft and as good as new surrounded with a permanently water repellent silicone film. T h e pores are left open so that the leather breathes. Water does not soak into the fibers and
Leather is made up of millions of pores surrounded by fiber bundles. They act like tiny leather bellows worked by flexing of leather as you walk. In rain or snow these bellows work like tiny pumps, sucking water in and pumping it through the leather. Demonstration unit, below, was filled with water and flexed by pushing the hands together. Sylflex tanned portion, right, stays dry after thousands of flexes, while water is pumped through the conventionally tanned portion at left
Perlauric acid has b e e n prepared in Becco Chemical labs by the reaction of 9 0 % hydrogen peroxide with molten lauric acid in the presence of a strong acid catalyst. T h e product is a white waxy solid possessing good stability in t h e pure state after crystallization. It is water-insoluble b u t soluble i n ethanol, acetone, hexane, benzene, a n d chloroform. On solution in alkali, the acid forms a germicidal soap which, company says, has considerably e n h a n c e d bactericidalfungicidai activity over the comparable sodium laurate. CS 2
• Advance
Solvents
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Chemical
is
offering Advawet X-212, developed specifically for vinyl plastisol formulations to reduce viscosity of plastisols having a low plasticizer resin ratio a n d particularly for plastisols containing large amounts of filler or pigment. Advawet X-212 is also said to reduce viscosity a n d remove air bubbles in plastisols prepared w i t h high viscosity or polymeric plasticizers. CS 3 ^ Industrial corrosion-resistant f i n ishes a d d e d to D e n n i s Chemical's l i n e are: Per ma-Skin epoxy coatings
which, based upon u s e of catalysts, provide properties previously obtainable only with high temperature baking. These permit coating of items too large or otherwise impractical to bake— chemical process equipment, water towers, and tanks. Coatings a r e said t o have excellent adhesion, abrasion resistance, toughness, flexibility, acid, alkali, and solvent resistance. Denflex plastisol m e t a l c o a t i n g s , when used with a one-coat primer, form a tight bond to steel, copper, brass, aluminum, 1132
CHEMICAL
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ENGINEERING
NEWS
or galvanized iron. Finish may b e a p plied by spray or dip m e t h o d a n d p r o duces a soft, resilient, decorative coat ing or a hard, tough finish of substantial thickness. Coating resists weathering, abrasion a n d corrosion, and provides electrical insulation. CS 4 • Sequestering a g e n t developed b y Hart Products is specific for heavy metal ions such a s ferric, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, a n d manganese. Called Kalex G, it is said to display the highest sequestering power for heavy metal ions of any chelating agent examined. It is not recommended for sequestration of alkaline earth ions. CS 5 • Peelable a d h e s i v e for polyethylene, Rubbatex, is offered b y Rubba, I n c . Rubbatex makes it possible to a d h e r e any p a p e r label to polyethylene items; label peels off easily as adhesive ad heres only to label a n d strips clean from polyethylene. CS 6 • Industrial reodorants for the manu facture of varnish inks are offered by Rhodia. Designated as Alamask EK or E K M , the reodorants, w h e n a d d e d to such inks, assure t h e abatement of malodorous exhaust fumes when var nishes are employed in high-speed printing operations. Company also says the reodorants are not destroyed in normal gas-fired dryers or incinera tion a n d do not leave a residual odor.
cellent protein-inherent protective and dispersing properties w i t h soap-in herent d e t e r g e n t capacities. Procol P W is s t a b l e to bleaching powder, hypochlorite and peroxide solutions, and is used in such solutions to give controlled bleaching action. It is also suited for vat, naphthol, and ace tate d y e i n g . CS 8 • DDT in a n e w physical form is offered by M o n t r o s e Chemical. N e w form, Krisp Chips, is described as between the l u m p a n d flake D D T ; it is recom mended for either dust or liquid solu tions. CS 9 ^ A n t i o x i d a n t , Voidox, developed by Cuardian Chemical after several years of research, is a white waxy-looking product, tasteless and odorless. Com pany says it is free of toxicity in all use concentrations and retards rancidity, darkening, a n d loss of potency in con centrations as low as 1 lb. per ton. Guardian says product will find use in pharmaceutical preparations, edible and industrial oils, soaps, paints, latex and sizes, a n d a host of other materials.
FOAM'S a FUGITIVE
from DOW CORNING ANTIFOARA AF EMULSION M&&
CSTO
• Phthaloeycsriine blue pigment offered to vinyl extruders a n d manufacturers of vinyl film by Claremont Pigment Dispersion is said to exhibit excellent resistance to eqlor change both in mass-
CS7
• Surfactant, Procol P W , is a conden sation product of degraded protein a n d fatty acid. Developed by H a r t Prod ucts, compound is said to combine ex
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For f u r t h e r information on any
item mentioned here, see coupon on page 1138
QS>o
Given α chance, a Dow Corning silicone defoamer almost a l w a y s gets its man . . . restores productive capacity previously wasted on f o a m . . . reduces processing time . . . eliminates hazardous boil-overs . . . and at v e r y low cost, For e x a m p l e : •
12 ppm defoam cottonseed
oil
•
4 ppm defoam Fermenting
wheat
•
4 ppm defoam Jieoprene
latex
Veneer Does t h e T r i c k
®
4 ppm defoam paper
The new 15-story Carlton Hotel in Tyler, Tex., is the first major building ever designed to make use of sprayed-on liquid plastics as a veneer enclosing an entire building. The vinyl plastic skin, Plastispray, completely weatherproof and noncombustible, was ap plied by two licensed applicators of Liquid Plastics—Progressive Industries and Lawrence Service. Plastispray veneer is 0.O30 to 0.O35 in. thick; Liquid Plastics says it may be considered as a permanent material with three to four maintenance treatments required during normal life span of building CS 11
Φ .07 ppm defoam ^ a f dies
sizing
The more easily dispersed A n t i f o a m AF Emulsion a n d its parent p r o d u c t , Antifoam A Compound, a r e physiologically harmless. Effective at low concentra tions against the widest variety of foamers, they p a y for themselves many times over.
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