Components No Longer Need to Be Black

Colorable Alcryn® MPR Can Produce Clear, Bright, Translucent, and Metallic Parts

WILMINGTON, DE (PRWEB) September 5, 2004 -- Advanced Polymer Alloys (APA), a division of Ferro Corporation (NYSE: FOE), announces that its Alcryn® Melt-Processible Rubber (MPR) product line can be easily colored to help meet the growing demand for eye-catching, cost-efficient and durable parts in appliances, hand tools, garden tools, automobiles, and other consumer applications where aesthetics are important.

Alcryn MPR is sold in natural, translucent, and clear grades, which can be easily colored with high performance color concentrates such as those manufactured by Ferros Stryker Plastic Colorants Division. Combined with the colorants, Alcryn MPR -- particularly the translucent and clear grades -- produces brightly colored, clear, pearlescent, thermochromic, or metallic components.

"The new coloring capabilities of the translucent and clear grades of Alcryn MPR create a whole new world of vibrant and eye-catching color combinations in both consumer and non-consumer products," said Jeff Senich, business development manager for APA.

Alcryn MPR provides unmatched durability, performance, and feel of vulcanized rubber, but is easily processed on standard thermoplastic equipment. In addition, Alcryn MPR is resistant to heat, sunlight, and UV light, exhibiting dimensional stability and chemical resistance in harsh environments and extreme weather conditions. Accelerated aging tests of Alcryn MPR demonstrate a long product life without deterioration or color change despite environmental and chemical exposure. Independent tests reveal that Alcryn MPR colors more vibrantly and with less pigment than many TPEs.

Because Alcryn MPR offers high resistance to sunlight, UV light, and other severe weather conditions, it is an ideal material for use in architectural components, such as window and door seals, automotive applications such as color matched trim and body molding, and industrial applications such as coated fabrics, soft grips for hand tools, and appliances. The color ability of Alcryn MPR translucent and clear grades also make it ideal for unique consumer products used in challenging environments.

For a list of approved color concentrate suppliers familiar with Alcryn, call APA at 1-888-663-6005 or visit their web site at www.APAinfo.com.

About Ferro Stryker Plastic Colorants
Ferros Stryker Plastic Colorants Division produces concentrates that can be used with a variety of thermoplastic compounds. Ferros color designers constantly follow new consumer color trends, and have developed a range of specific effects colors including metallic, interference, pearlescent, transparent, translucent, sparkle and fiber, fluorescent, photochromic, and thermochromic.

About Alcryn MPR
Alcryn MPR delivers the durable performance characteristics of rubber and easily processes on conventional plastics equipment, which provides cost savings. Alcryn MPR does not require compounding or pre-drying before processing. Since parts made from Alcryn require no vulcanization, scrap can be recycled repeatedly with no detrimental effect on performance or appearance. When compared to soft TPEs and many vulcanized rubbers, Alcryn MPR outperforms in durability, coefficient of friction, and resistance to abrasion, chemicals, oils, fuels, and long-term exposure to sunlight and other aspects of weathering. Every grade in the product line can be made flame-retardant using a concentrate supplied by APA.

About APA
Advanced Polymer Alloys is a division of Ferro Corporation and the world's only manufacturer of Melt-Processible Rubber, sold under the brand name Alcryn. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, APA is dedicated to helping product manufacturers and part fabricators gain a marketing advantage by improving the customers product quality and simplifying their manufacturing processes.

Ferro Corporation is a major international producer of performance materials for industry, including coatings and performance chemicals. The company has operations in 20 countries and recorded sales of $1.6 billion in 2003.

For more information on the companys product line, visit APA on the Web at www.APAinfo.com or call 1-888-663-6005.

Alcryn® and Melt-Processible Rubber (MPR) are trademarks or registered trademarks of Ferro Corporation. APA is a division of Ferro Corporation.
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