Auto companies specify Santoprene rubber for parts.

Honda Motor is using an innovative glass run channel made exclusively of Santoprene rubber from Advanced Elastomer Systems, L.P. (AES), Akron, OH. This is said to mark the first time a Japanese automaker has specified a glass run channel made entirely of an engineered thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). Two grades of Santoprene rubber are co-extruded to form the glass run channel, an ultraviolet grade said to have excellent weatherability and compression set and a low-friction grade for improved slip performance. Honda is using the new glass run channels in its Logo and S-MX models in Japan. AES announced that Mercedes Benz has specified Santoprene thermoplastic rubber to encapsulate the rear quarter windows of the automaker's new "M" class SUV (sport utility vehicle). AES developed the application with Thona, Ann Arbor, MI. Thona encapsulates the glass with Santoprene rubber through injection molding and ships the completed window module to Mercedes Benz.

DSM (the Netherlands), Lambda Physik (Germany), Kurz (Germany), Philips (the Netherlands), Ciba Specialty Chemicals (Switzerland) and the Universities of Diepenbeek (Belgium) and Cardiff (U.K.) have jointly started a Brite/Euram III project. This project, under the acronym SYLADEC (system for laser decoration), aims to develop a new production system for multicolor and photographic laser decoration consisting of a wavelength-tunable, ultra-fast laser in combination with special customer-specific finishes on polymeric products.

In preparation for its June 1 product launch, UniComm Signal announced it has ordered 20,000 passenger car tire monitoring systems from its contract manufacturer, Epic Technologies.

Elf Atochem and the Chinese company Gaoyuan Organic Powder Plant (GOPP) have signed a letter of intent for the construction of a copolyamide plant in Shanghai's Pudong development zone. Elf Atochem is to have a majority share in the proposed venture. Elf Atochem and the Chinese company Changshu Jincheng Chemicals signed a letter of intent for the construction of an organic peroxide plant in Changshu in the Jiangsu Province. Elf Atochem is to have a majority share in the proposed venture. Construction of the 2,500 metric tons per year plant is expected to begin in Changshu in the third quarter of 1997, with production starting towards the end of 1998. The organic peroxides will be marketed under the trade name Luperox.

VWR Scientific Products, West Chester, PA, a distributor of laboratory chemicals, equipment and supply products, announced a distribution agreement with Alfa Aesar, a Johnson Matthey Company. Alfa Aesar, headquartered in Ward Hill, MA, manufactures and supplies inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, pure elements and other materials for research. As part of the distribution agreement, VWR Scientific Products will market and distribute more than 39,000 research chemicals, metals and materials from Alfa Aesar. VWR also recently announced an exclusive agreement with ICN Biomedicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Costa Mesa, CA-based ICN Pharmaceuticals, to sell its more than 50,000 biomedical research products to the industrial market.

Beta Instruments has joined LaserMike as a member company of Fairey Group plc. LaserMike and Beta Instruments will continue to provide existing product brands to their respective customers and markets.

Union Carbide announced that Jilin Chemical Industrial Corp. (JCIC) of China has been licensed with the Union Carbide/Kvaerner low-pressure oxo technology to expand and revamp its oxo alcohols complex at Jilin City, China. The expansion includes a new oxo synthesis plant to convert polypropylene to 140,000 metric tons per year of butyraldehydes, and a new 70,000 metric tons-per-year oxo alcohol unit in which JCIC can produce either normal butanol or 2-ethylhexanol. Output of the new butyraldehyde unit will also be used by JCIC to feed an existing 70,000 metric-ton oxo alcohol unit. Project completion is scheduled for the year 2000.

The U.S. Postal Service has equipped its fleet of 932 Mack trucks with Continental General tires. The Mack trucks will use Continental General's S380 Steer and D440 Drive tires. Continental General Tire is also the standard tire supplier for Link-Belt Construction Equipment's Model E9 cranes that are scheduled to begin production in August.

Witco and its wholly owned subsidiary Witco do Brasil Ltda. have appointed Cominco Engineering Services Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, exclusive agent in Brazil for Witco's range of mining reagents, which are widely used as mineral processing aids. Equiprom Internacional Ltda., Cominco's local agency, will represent Witco mining reagents to the mining industry in Brazil.

Marathon Oil and Epsilon Products announced the intent to develop grassroots polymer grade propylene and polypropylene facilities at Marathon's refinery in Garyville, LA. The project is subject to execution of final definitive agreements. The project involves construction of purification facilities which are expected to produce 800 million pounds-per-year of polymer grade propylene from a current refinery feedstock stream. It also includes an 800 million pounds-per-year Unipol polypropylene facility similar to that operated by Epsilon in Marcus Hook, PA. Preliminary project engineering is underway, with start-up slated in 1999.