iSmithers & Smithers Rapra are pleased to announce TPE 2010, the thirteenth international thermoplastic elastomers conference, to be held in Cologne, Germany, from 26-27 October 2010.

Last year's TPE 2009 conference inevitably covered much about recessionary, globalisation and environmental pressures on TPE materials and markets, but still included much optimism for new materials and applications.

This is backed up by research from the Freedonia Group who forecast that, despite the global recession, world demand for thermoplastic elastomers should increase by 6% to 4.2 million tonnes by 2013, with the majority of sales being in China, Japan, US and Western Europe. Although low cost styrenic block copolymers (SBCs) will still be the largest market, followed by thermoplastic polyolefins (TPOs) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) will show the strongest growth at around 10.5%. In developed markets, demand will be particularly strong for higher performance materials such as copolyesters (COPEs) and TPVs.  Automotive will be a particularly attractive application area in 2013.

We are now recruiting speakers for this prestigious event, so if you manufacture TPEs, are currently buying TPEs or have investigated starting to use TPEs, this conference is an opportunity to become associated as a leader in this fast-moving sector.  Located only 30 minutes from Düsseldorf, it is expected that TPE 2010 will attract those people who will already be in the area to attend the K Fair during the latter part of the week, making it the perfect opportunity to showcase your new materials to a captive audience. 

Furthermore, the 3^rd iSmithers Best Paper Award and €1000 cash prize will be presented at the 2010 conference to the best written paper submitted by the full paper submission deadline. The papers will be judged on; background research, technical content, conclusions drawn, degree of innovation, structure and format.

 Papers are now being invited for submission, particularly those in the following areas:  

• TPE market overview: current and future trends.
• End user requirements for TPEs for use in automotive, medical, personal care, appliances and tools, sports and leisure and other applications.
• TPE material developments, particularly TPVs, TPOs, SBCs, TPUs, COPEs and COPAs, and biopolymer TPEs
• New TPE compounds, and additives such as fillers, process improvers, stabilisers, flame retardants, and speciality chemicals.
• TPE processing technologies, for example compounding equipment and new processing techniques.
• TPEs as property improvers in blending, adhesive and bitumen applications.
• New TPE property measurements.
• General issues such as REACH, and impact on the TPE industry.

Presenting authors at TPE 2010 will be entitled to free registration on both days of the conference including lunch, refreshments and a copy of the proceedings. If you are interested in presenting a paper at this event, please send a title, short summary, speaker name (s) and company name (s) to Alix Reeves email areeves@ismithers.net or fax +44 (0) 1939 252416 by the deadline of 15 March 2010.  

 Conference Prices

Register before 20 August 2010 to take advantage of the special Early Bird Discount registration fee.

Companies sending one or two delegates
€799 per delegate before 20 August 2010
€1099 per delegate after 20 August 2010

Companies sending three or more delegates
€699 per delegate before 20 August 2010
€999 per delegate after 20 August 2010

Venue Information

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