September 24, 2007 -- Albemarle Corp. announced that it has developed a new generation of its Martinal finely precipitated aluminum trihydrate (ATH) flame retardants to meet customer demand for improved processability in compounding operations.

According to the company, the newly developed product will be called Martinal LEO flame retardant and will benefit wire and cable compounders and other plastics manufacturers through its improved thermal stability, better electrical properties, lower compound viscosity and higher bulk density. Combined with improved flow after conveying, the company says the new product yields better performance than previous ATH flame retardants.

"As a leader in providing value-added solutions to our clients, we continually seek ways to enhance the technical performance of our products. We are pleased to continue this tradition of excellence by introducing the next generation optimization of Martinal fine precipitated ATH, which will help increase the throughput of wire and cable manufacturing operations worldwide," comments Wolfgang Hardtke, Albemarle's global business manager for wire and cable.