News Release Details

Cabot’s new innovative material significantly increases efficiency and performance for windmill blades and wind turbine generators

Sag resistance improved by 25 to 30 percent compared to similar products on market

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 2012-- Cabot Corp. (NYSE: CBT) today announces the launch of a new technical solution for the bonding paste market that sets new industry benchmarks for performance, ease of use and manufacturing efficiency.

The new particle, CAB-O-SIL® ULTRABOND™ 4740, is a high-performance treated fumed silica for bonding paste applications. The most common use is the production of windmill blades for wind turbine generators.

Typically, a windmill blade consists of two pieces that are bonded together. Today’s blades are up to 80 meters long and can weigh as much as 15 tons. These two pieces are integrated together with bonding paste.

A critical challenge in maximizing the potential of wind energy is a windmill blade’s length. As blades get longer, they deliver more efficient and more powerful performance. A strong bonding paste can help prolong the life of a blade, and ultimately enable the manufacturing of even longer blades through more sag-resistant composites.

Cabot’s CAB-O-SIL ULTRABOND 4740 fumed silica delivers 25 to 30 percent higher sag resistance (initial and aged), compared to current industry solutions. This improved performance eliminates the need for bonding paste customers to over-design current solutions to achieve stable sag resistance over time.

For bonding paste customers, the new product also reduces the fumed silica content in the bonding paste formulation by 10-15 percent, providing important benefits of lower viscosity and easier applications over the blades.

Finally, CAB-O-SIL ULTRABOND 4740 fumed silica reduces fumed silica processing time by up to 50 percent during the manufacturing stage, compared to competitive products in the market. This feature substantially reduces the total cycle time and creates the added benefit of improved asset productivity.

“We have created a product that will help windmill blade producers meet the toughest requirements and deliver the highest performance,” said Valdemir Prodocimo, Cabot global segment manager, adhesives and composites. “We have developed this product with extensive input from our customers, industry bodies, institutes, and blade manufacturers across the world.”

CAB-O-SIL® ULTRABOND™ 4740 fumed silica, specifically developed for sag resistance and viscosity management of bonding pastes, is available globally and immediately in 10 kg bags and 150 kg big bags.

The global annual installed new wind energy capacity is growing at a fast pace, having increased from a capacity of less than 10 gigawatts in 2002 to reach an anticipated 55 gigawatts a year by 2014. (Source: FIAT LUX Engineering and Consultancy).

ABOUT CABOT CORPORATION

Cabot Corporation, headquartered in Boston, Mass, USA, is a global specialty chemical and performance materials company. Cabot’s major products are carbon black, fumed silica, inkjet colorants, aerogel and cesium formate drilling fluids. The company’s website is: http://www.cabot-corp.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in the press release regarding Cabot's business that are not historical facts are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Source: Cabot Corporation

Cabot Corporation
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