New plastic compositions, made from a uniform mixture of thermoplastic resin
and a naturally occurring aluminosilicate glass (NOAG) produce articles of manufacture
by a variety of molding processes that have a more uniform and smoother surface
with significantly reduced sink marks, and exhibit an improved dispersion of additives
and pigments. The molding machines making articles from these compositions of thermoplastic
resin and NOAG exhibit an increase in throughput, lower operating temperatures,
less power consumption, reduced injection pressure, and increased injection speed.
Running these synthetic plastic compositions through injection, extrusion and blow
molding machines also tends to clean and lubricate the screw and the injector nozzles,
increasing the life of the machine parts. The NOAG is preferably present in amounts
ranging from 0.1% to 3.0% by weight of the composition. The NOAG is added to the
thermoplastic resin in a manner that uniformly disperses it throughout the resulting
thermoplastic resin-NOAG composition. The NOAG may be added as a dry powder directly
to the plastic resin preferably in a particle size smaller than 325 mesh. The NOAG
also may be added to the plastic resin in pellet form of various sizes, encapsulated
by a carrier such as LLDPE, or may be directly compounded into the thermoplastic resin.
