Dec 23, 2011Simson and 25 years of MS Polymer: a look back

Simson and 25 years of MS Polymer: a look back

 

This year, Simson MS Polymer exists for 25 years, but how did it all start? Let’s go back in time to 1986.

 

October 1986, K-86 in Düsseldorf

At K-86, a three-yearly plastics trade show, C.J. Keyzer, head of R&D at Ind. Mij. Simson BV, came in contact with the company Kanegafuchi Chemical Industry Co. Ltd for the first time. This is the Japanese producer of the Kaneka MS Polymers. Kaneka only had a tiny space available on the stand of Mitsui & Co. Benelux to promote a few products.  But it was enough to solve some of the ‘mystery’ of what the binding agent was in the new construction sealant, called Gomastit 2001, from the Merz & Benteli company. The MS Polymers themselves, MS-20A and MS-300, were also displayed in glass jars, with the associated product information.

 

Previous research by Simson BV had revealed that a product, derived from Gomastit 2001, had already been put on the market by the company Den Braven. This glazing sealant, Hybriseal, was based on a modified silicones system, from which the abbreviation MS is derived. Hybriseal was seen by Simson as a possible replacement for the 1C-Thiokol sealant (Simsonpol), providing it was sufficiently overpaintable. So, immediately after the trade show was finished, Kaneka in Brussels was contacted, and Simson obtained certain privileges to make MS Polymers applicable within the Benelux. Simson obtained the opportunity to have a head start for two years in the development of sealants based on MS Polymers, such as the MS-20A and MS-300.

 

The research into these sealant systems failed to yield any stable compositions; it did become clear that the moisture equilibrium in the MS sealants could not be controlled easily, with premature gelling of the sealant in the cartridge as a result. Follow-up research, in which a drying agent from silane chemistry that was very reactive with moisture was used, soon proved to be successful.

 

Right up to the present, this chemical reaction step is widely employed, so that it is clear how great the potential of the MS Polymers has always been for the development of a series of sealant systems, varying from low-modulus joint sealants to high modulus construction and mounting sealants, which could all be made very stable in storage.

 

Simson Hybrid & Simson Hybrid Plus

The first trial charge in Simson’s factory did not keep us waiting for long and it was produced in late 1987 under code VOO-711, provisionally with the name Simson Mono-Elastoseal. This small production charge was used to fill aluminium cartridges, which was the only way to store 1C-Polyurethane sealants stably for at least a year. In fact, Simson was already using these cartridges for two PU sealants: mounting sealant Simson Multiflex and Simsonflex, a construction sealant for connection and expansion joints. Even in 2001, fourteen years later, the VOO-711 sealant material could still be dispensed fairly well, and the setting with air humidity into an elastic, rubber-like material still processed amazingly well. After the production charge, this low-modulus MS construction sealant was sold under the name Simson Hybrid in an attractively-printed aluminium cartridge (see Fig. 1).

 

 

Fig. 1: flashy photo of Simson Hybrid aluminium cartridges

Then the Simson Hybrid Plus (Simson H+) was developed as a construction sealant, more or less as successor to Simsonflex-PU, in which a third type of MS Polymer from Kaneka was used.

 

Some time later, a first MS mounting sealant was developed and tested specifically for bonding mirrors. The Simson Mirrocol proved to be extremely compatible with the mirror coating, i.e. the back of the mirror. What proved revolutionary was the use of Simson H+ as basis for bonding outer wall panel elements. After extensive lifetime testing in their own lab, the company Hoechst approved the adhesive for bonding Trespa panels on a wooden framework or a substrate of aluminium sections. In order to allow the sealant to be applied evenly and controlled, J. Jongen developed a V-shaped nozzle with which the wall panels could be pressed into the adhesive film without forming air bubbles (see Fig. 3).

 

 

Fig. 3: model of the wall panel gluing or possibly application

photo with illustration of V-nozzle

 

 

 

Tell A Friend