GLASS FIBER:
PPG's Better Tire Cord PPG Industries has patented a process for making glass fiber tire cord that the company claims will result in tires with extended tread life and better handling characteristics in comparison with bias-belted glass fiber tires currently being marketed. A key feature of the new cordcalled Hycor—is its high adhesive content, says Robert A. McLaughlin, vice president and general manager of PPG's Fiber Glass Division. The new process increases adhesive content, or dip pickup, by facilitating virtually complete encapsulation of each glass filament with rubber, eliminating glass-glass abrasion which causes cord breakage. Mr. McLaughlin claims the new cord is a breakthrough in the tire cord field, one that could lead to Hycor being used to make radial-ply tires. Ultimately, he says, it could lead to the development of radial tires using glass fiber in both the belt and carcass. Currently, most radial tires have rayon-reinforced belts and carcasses or—in the case of foreign-made brands—steel wire reinforcing. Mr. McLaughlin says that major tire makers are enthusiastic about Hycor. Tires made with the material have withstood stringent road and laboratory testing, amounting, in some cases, to the equivalent of several years of normal driving use. During the testing, not a single cord was broken, PPG claims. The process changes that PPG has engineered deal most directly with the technique for coating the glass fibers with resorcinol formaldehyde latex, a vital step in the complex task of matching two fundamentally incompatible materials—glass and rubber. Apparently, the company has succeeded here in a major way—if it's true, as PPG says, that Hycor "makes possible a dramatic improvement in the quality of tires." It is probably reasonable to expect continuing improvement in glass fiber tire design as research at PPG, OwensCorning Fiberglas (another leading supplier of glass fiber for tires), and the major tire companies continues. Already, glass fiber tires are nearing a dominant place in the market. PPG estimates the consumption of glass cord in tires will reach 50 million pounds this year and 67 million pounds in 1971. Mr. McLaughlin predicts the glass-belted tire will capture from 30 to 40% of the replacement market next year. Such tires are standard equipment on a majority of 1970 autos and it is extremely likely that they will be used on most 1971 models.
First Holographie Movie Is Planned The first movie using laser holography, with equipment costing $400,000, is planned by Joseph Strick, who made "Ulysses" from Joyce's novel. Strick's Laser Film Corp. will use technology from Holotron Corp., a subsidiary of Batte I le Memorial Institute's Scientific Advances, Inc., and of Du Pont. E. N. Leith (left) and J. Upatnieks, University of Michigan, patented two-beam, "off-axis" holographic methods, shown above, to make sharp, realistic three-dimensional images. An object reflects primary beam light onto an emulsion-coated plate, while the secondary beam strikes the plate directly. The developed plate—with a wave-front interference pattern—gives a 3-D object image under laser illumination.
WASTE RECOVERY:
Milk Bottles to Tiles Thanks to an assist from Dow Chemical, plastic milk bottles have now joined the list of "disposable" containers being reclaimed for re-use. A San Diego dairy is collecting its high-density polyethylene (HDPE) milk bottles and selling the reclaimed HDPE to another California firm to make agricultural drainage tile. When San Diego housewives, in the wake of Earth Day activities, asked Golden Arrow Dairy's general manager Don G. Calori how best to dispose of the plastic empties, he didn't know. Mr. Calori took the problem to Dow Chemical Co., a leading producer of HDPE. Dow engineers worked out a way to grind up the used bottles, and Lidco Co., Brawley, Calif., agreed to buy the material for use in its drainage toe. Consumers can put their empty bottles in their milk delivery boxes, or return them to collection bins in supermarkets. Golden Arrow picks up the
bottles and removes extraneous material before grinding the plastic and passing it on to Lidco. About 8% of the bottles have been returned, although it pays nothing for them. Dow notes that about 50,000 tons of HDPE is used annually for milk bottles, and estimates the reclaimed material is worth between $120 and $160 per ton. The Midland, Mich., firm adds that HDPE, a thermoplastic, can be recycled and re-used many times, and it has found other uses for used plastic milk bottles. Meanwhile, the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute is boasting that its bottle redemption project in Los Angeles has reached 1 million bottles and jars per week. Since the project began last April, more than 8 million used containers have been returned in the Los Angeles area, and GCMI has paid more than $40,000 to individuals and groups bringing in the bottles. GCMI is extending the program nationwide, to salvage 11 billion glass containers a year—to be crushed, melted, and made into new bottles. AUG. 24, 1970 C&EN
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