This agreement allows SpecialChem's global community of 130,000 material specifiers, compounders, formulators and OEMs free access to Dow Corning's expertise and knowledge in the fields of silanes and siloxanes.

SpecialChem's role is to help introduce Dow Corning products and technologies to technical decision-makers in plastics markets who may not be aware of the new applications they can develop.

"This collaboration will also complement the recent investment made by Dow Corning in the new Surface and Interface Solutions Center to provide, among other things, dedicated resources and expertise to this key market segment," says Ken Kaufman, Dow Corning global product line manager.

Engineers are able to log onto SpecialChem's platform and explore the versatile solutions that silanes can bring to their plastics and rubber applications. Among the various services which are now available are a Crosslinking TechCenter, a Coupling Agents TechCenter and a Dispersing TechCenter. Additional service upgrades are expected throughout the year.