Document 1ywZk3oveapKGL8oREm48QGb5

MM NTER-OmCE MEMO tenneco CHEMICALS, INC To C.B. Johnson from W.C.' Champion Subject MCA Records Technical Service Call July 17, 1975 at Piscataway at Burlington date juiy 30, 1975 copy to H.B. Carr J.R. Gregor H.R. Horton D. Johnson D.J. Krzywicki R. A. Loj ews'k i R.R. Merkel G.X. Rozand. P.R. Scarito A.C. Siegel JA. Sweeney D. Johnson, J.C. Anglum and 1 visited MCA Records, Gloversville, New York, to discuss various complaints of ,Thard particles" which are causing stam per damage in the MCA plant. Three specific complaint areas were discussed with Ray Glithero, Plant Manager: 1. Large Contamination Particles in Flemington Bulk Resin (see Customer Complaint 13F) Mr, Glithero was advised that these large, fused resin particles are consistent with what may be produced in a rotary valve. In our plant operation, the rotary valves are upstream of our 20 mesh scalping screen', and all subsequent conveying is by air. We suggested that the large, fused particles may be coming from their rotary valve system, and stressed the need for a scalping screen downstream of that valve. Mr. Glithero stated that they did not find particles like this in their valv ing system but admitted that their rotary valve is occasionally plugged up by resin fusing in the bearings, with no evidence of degradation. We dismantled one of their rotary valves and found no evidence of degraded particles. Mr. Glithero will arrange to screen a large quantity (ca, 4M pounds) from the next bulk shipment to assure himself that these large, fused particles are not entering with the incoming resin. It was proposed, and agreed to by Mr. Glithero, that these large particles were probably not the source of his stamper damage problems. 2. Burned Particles in Bagged Burlington Resin (see Customer Complaint 25B) These particles were apparently an isolated case of a broken screen in the Burlington bagging operation. This was explained in this way to Mr. Glithero and we told him that we were attempting to put a coarser scalp screen in Burlington to preclude particles of this size in bag or bulk resin. 3, Analysis of Hard Particles Found in MCA Record Samples We showed Mr. Glithero the results of analyses performed by Structure Probe on samples of contaminants which had caused damaged stampers in COIiORXTE 009998 Page 2 Burlington resins (see memo W.C. Champion to C.B. Johnson, June 25, 1975, "MCA Records: Hard Particle Problem"). These analyses showed that the majority of the particles which caused damaged stampers at MCA were foreign contaminants not generally related to the resin production or record manufacturing processes. Of the ninteen particles analyzed by Structure Probe, only one appeared to be burned compound while the remainder were metallic aluminum (six particles), ground min eral or stone (nine), rust or iron (two), and stainless steel shaving (one). In this study, no partially-degraded resin or reactor glass was found. We explained our efforts to determine where such particles may be introduced in our manufacturing process, and told Mr. Glithero that we have not yet found a source. We told him that the Flemington Plant would be thoroughly examined for contamination sources during the sched uled August shutdown period. Mr. Glithero advised us that he was continuing to have severe problems with ` scratched stampers, and he is now processing Burlington bagged resin. He has obtained an LTL quantity of Borden resin to see if processing of this results in a lower incidence of stamper damage. He provided us with sample records showing the presence of fo'reign particles and agreed to send identi fying resin lot numbers. Since MCA has only recently been cleaning resin bags as a matter of policy, we suggested that contaminants from the outside of the bag may be a source of his problem. Upon inspection of his warehouse storage, we found considerable dirt and foreign matter on the resin bags, and especially on the bottom slats of the pallets. In restacking, any contamination on the pallets could easily be filtering down to the surfaces of bags. Many hard particles were found dur ing this inspection, including particles of sand, stone and metal. The Burl ington pallets were in much poorer condition than the Flemington pallets, Mr. Glithero stated that the bags would be vacuumed off during subsequent mixing op erations, but asked that we make extra efforts to assure that the shipments are clean when they arrive in his plant. During this inspection, Mr. Anglum estimated that MCA had approximately 3M pounds of bagged Tenneco resin in inventory, A check of lot numbers showed that this contained 1974-produced material, as well as early 1975 material. Mr. Glithero agreed that his contamination problems were not associated with Flemington resin exclusively and agreed to take in another bulk truckload for evaluation. He will screen approximately 4M pounds of this truck, as prev iously stated, through a 28 mesh window screen to check for the presence of large contaminants. We agreed to screen approximately 1M pounds from the same truck through a screen of the same size as our plant process screen to deter mine the presence of hard particle contaminants. We also agreed to examine the contaminants in the record samples submitted, as soon as MCA provides us with lot identification. WCC/jst // W.C. Champ ion^^ r- COLORITE 009999