On June 26, silicone specialists from Dow will present a webinar on the company’s new silicone feel modifier technology, writes ILM.

Dow has developed new silicone feel modifier technology designed to address the growing demand for a more sustainable footprint in natural and synthetic leather finishing, maintaining enhanced haptics, matting, abrasion resistance and durability. This new generation silicone technology is free from benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX)*.

The speakers for this webinar are:
Bertrand Lenoble, Principal Scientist for Coating and Leather, for Dow’s coatings and leather business, based in Seneffe, Belgium. He is responsible for customer technical support and new product development in the field of silicone additives for coating and leather.

Lenoble joined Dow Corning in 1992, working as a development chemist and, over the course of his 28-year career, has served in several new product and application developments, including foam control in the laundry market, textiles and more recently in coatings applications. He is the author or co-author of many patents related to foam control, coatings and textile applications. Bertrand holds a master’s degree in chemical industrial engineering from Meurice Institute in Brussels.

Myron Hooks is a Scientist for Dow’s leather business. Based in Collegeville, Philadelphia, he is responsible for technical support to customers and new product developments. Hooks entered the automotive leather industry in 2009, beginning his career studying under world-renowned leather leaders at the Lear Corporation (Eagle Ottawa) for 13 years in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Through membership activities within the American Leather Chemists Association (ALCA) and the D31 block of the ASTM committee, Hooks has collaborated on industry standards that are over 100 years old. In addition, he has accrued skills through the analysis of testing systems and manufactured products. His work with automotive leather, wet-end and finishing applications, combined with his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wayne State University, Michigan, has granted him a wide range of experience across the leather manufacturing industry.
Isabelle Riff, Global Strategic Marketing Leader – Leather & Textiles, is a global marketing leader in leather and textiles and a regional marketing manager for industrial coatings. After starting with Dow 25 years ago in a technical role, she has gained experience in various sales, business development and marketing management roles across Europe and Asia.

Her technical, business and marketing experience spans several industries, including industrial, metal working and textile cleaning, oil and gas, water treatment and various regulated market value chains for polyglycols and surfactants. Riff holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland.

This webinar will take place on June 26 at 3pm CET (2pm BST) and will last for around an hour. The presentations will be followed by a live Q&A.

Register for free today to secure your place.

*“(BTEX)”: “Free from BTEX means below 1ppm of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes. Product is free from BTEX, being manufactured without added BTEX chemicals.”