German engineering plastics producer Covestro, the former Bayer MaterialScience has signed an agreement with Japan’s Nanodax to develop glass wool-reinforced polycarbonate composites.

Glass wool has a small diameter and is more flexible than the glass fibers conventionally used to reinforce composites with polymers such as PC, and Covestro said Nanodax has developed new technology using the wool as a reinforcing filler.

Both companies said they see good prospects for using reinforced plastics in automotive, IT and electronics applications. They are particularly aiming at application areas in surface appearance and material processing.

Michael Schmidt, Covestro’s head of business development for polycarbonates Asia-Pacific, said cost reduction for customers is expected through an optimized injection molding process.

Joint development work will be performed mainly at Covestro’s Polymer Research & Development Center in Shanghai, China.

Separately, under the trade name Makrolon TC8030, Covestro has launched a thermally conductive grade of its PC specially designed for use in light emitting diode (LED) applications.

The German polymer producer said the material has been shown to effectively dissipate the heat generated by LEDs and has potential in a new generation of cooling elements.