Friday, February 26, 2010
In Performance Polymers, Eleni Karayianni focused on changing the
R&D process to increase the speed of developing new products.
Her project set a paradigm-breaking precedent for seeking
alternative approaches instead of continuing to do what has always
been done. This approach resulted in 17 new patent filings in 2009.
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| Eleni Karayianni (center) with DuPont leaders
Jocelyn Scott, Diane Gulyas, Ellen Kullman and Jeff Keefer at the
2009 Excellence Awards ceremony. |
Developing new products is critical to DuPont Performance
Polymers' business growth. However, the development process had
not changed in 50 years. Traditionally, a few kilograms of a new
formulation are produced on an R&D extruder and the granules
are molded into test bars for lab analysis. Several formulations
are produced per day, but scheduling conflicts in molding and test
labs may delay results for weeks. The cycle of formulation and
testing is repeated until the desired properties are attained.
Looking to accelerate the process, Eleni investigated ways to
eliminate injection-molded test bars in developing new
formulations, the slowest step. Believing it should be possible to
produce test pieces directly from the R&D compounding extruder,
she developed a Rapid Formulation Scouting System that extrudes a
ribbon rather than pellets and then stamps out test bars from the
ribbon.
Equipment improvements include micro-feeders that accurately
measure different additive mixtures, making it possible to change
additive levels in a dynamic manner and to predict the position of
the changes in the extruded ribbon. This advance further
accelerates formulation scouting - with continuous changes in
additive level, every meter of ribbon effectively represents
another experiment.
For low-smoke, halogen-free Hytrel flame-retardant resins (wire
and cable coating), Eleni's system led to 35 new additive
combinations in two days and test data in less than a month. Three
iterations tested over 100 new additive combinations in less than
three months, resulting in the development of at least two options
that meet or exceed the target customer's performance criteria. A
conventional process would have taken 18-24 months and would not
allow as many additive combinations to be explored, resulting in
less chance of being first to market with the best solution.
The potential business for low-smoke, halogen-free Hytrel is
forecast to reach $80 million. Eleni's Rapid Formulation Scouting
System has been successfully extended to Crastin and to other
Performance Polymers' resins. In 2010, the system will be extended
to the Shanghai lab.
SOURCE