
Plastics
One of our most important areas of focus is the plastics industy, as it has broad array of possibilities for our products. Oleochemical additives improve the flowability and processability of components and plastic compounds.
Metallic Stearates are among the best stabilizers and are characterized by their excellent stabilizing and lubricating properties. Metallic soaps are also good acid scavengers and mold release agents.
Ester lubricants, as well as metallic stearates, are indispensable additives for the plastics industry. Their impact and characteristics are based on the extent of the functional groups and non-polar parts as well as their ratio.
Our Brands
COAD, NORAC XL, NORAC EL, NORSTAB, LIGASTAR®, LIGASTAB® and LIGALUB®
Applications

PVC
PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is one of the most popular plastics even though it is comparatively hard to process. Due to these processing challenges, different types of additives are required during PVC processing, most notably stabilizers and lubricants.
Metallic stearates are particularly suitable as PVC stabilizers while offering good lubrication properties at the same time. Our broad product portfolio, mainly consisting of calcium and zinc stearates, covers a wide range of possible applications. In addition to our metallic stearate portfolio, we offer metallic stearate/lubricant one-packs which can be customized to the respective requirements.
Esters are often needed as additional lubricants, even though metallic stearates already offer a lubricating effect. With our comprehensive ester product range, we offer different solutions for internal and external lubrication.

Polyolefins
The polyolefins product category includes polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE). Together with PVC, they are among the best known and most commonly used plastics, while also being much easier to process than PVC.
Metallic stearates are important additives for polyolefins, particularly calcium and zinc stearate. They primarily serve as acid scavengers, preventing the acids generated during the manufacturing process from causing corrosion to the processing tools. Similar to their use in PVC, they offer an additional lubricating effect. With our product portfolio, we are able to meet application-specific requirements, for example excellent filter test results.
Esters are not necessarily required as lubricants in this application but they can be used in polyolefins to provide additional advantages.

SMC / BMC
SMC (sheet molding compound) and BMC (bulk molding compound) are fiber-reinforced plastics. Due to the reinforcing component, their resilience is much higher than that of PVC or polyolefins.
Metallic stearates are needed as mold release agents during the processing of SMC / BMC, allowing an easy release of plastic mass and mold without damaging or otherwise negatively impacting the surface quality. Although calcium and zinc stearates are the most used metallic stearates, zinc stearate might sometimes be preferred due to its lower melting point.

Engineering Plastics
In general, engineering plastics differ from standard plastics in terms of mechanical or thermal characteristics or their chemical stability. The engineering plastics range covers various plastic types.
Our metallic stearates and ester lubricants are also used during production of engineering plastics. Our products can be used in a wide variety of plastic types, including:
- ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer)
- PA (polyamide)
- PC (polycarbonate)
- PET / PBT (polyethylene terephthalate / polybutylene terephthalate)
- PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate)
PS / EPS (polystyrene / expanded polystyrene)