Strictly-Extrusion

For processors involved in extruding medical tubing, film or drug delivery systems, PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY is holding its first Medical / Pharmaceutical Extrusion Conference in Las Vegas on Dec. 5-7, 2001 at the Alexis Park Hotel. If you would like to give a presentation, please contact Plastics Technology publisher Jim Callari at (646) 827-4848, ext. 7101 or fax him at (513) 527-8801. Deadline to submit abstracts is June 30.

Equistar Chemicals has developed a new Petrothene Select hexene LLDPE resin for blown film. It is said to produce films with better processability and tear strength than mLLDPE. It also boast higher melt strength and dart impact than competitive “super-hexenes” having comparable modulus and tear strength. With a density of 0.916 g/cc, the two initial grades have MIs of 0.7 and 1.0. Each is offered with or without slip/antiblock additives.

Solvay has developed a new process for the production of coloured PVC profiles. “Rainbow”, the UV-resistant and coloured compound will be co-extruded on the standard PVC profile. Due to the low level of infrared absortion a overheating will be avoided. The standard PVC profile must also not be UV-stabilised. Weatherig tests in France, Germany and Brazil has been succsessfull since 1993. The product progamme includes green, blue,yellow, red and orange

ENTEK Extruders is a division of ENTEK Manufacturing Inc., which has its worldwide headquarters in Oregon, USA has now set up an office in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire in the UK to service the key markets that utilise Twin-Screw Extruders and their associated ancillaries throughout the UK and Europe. ENTEK Extruders is committed to supporting the Twin Screw Extruder requirements for markets worldwide and is intent on providing the highest level of quality products and services available in the market today.
ENTEK has employed Stephen Jones G.PRI. to set up and manage the UK operation. Stephen Jones has over 16 years experience in the Twin-Screw compounding and extrusion industry, with expertise in process engineering, product development, technical compounding, masterbatch and more recently in the twin screw extruder machinery and replacement screw parts business sector. Opening the office in the UK is part of ENTEK’s key strategy to supply Twin-Screw Extruders and replacement screw elements to the UK market and throughout Europe.

There is much more to extrusion than just using a twin screw extruder. The visitors of the Leistritz stand will have an impressive look into the world of extrusion. Twice a day Leistritz will offer mini workshops with interesting topics, guests, entertainment and a peek into the Leistritz lab in Nuremberg showing extrusion lines in operation. Some of the topics are: masterbatch; compounding; inline compounding; extrusion of elastomeres; pharmaceutical applications; new service concepts.

ZSE 110 HP
The ZSE 110 HP co-rotating twin screw extruder is the first extruder of its size with heating cartridge technology and has all state-of-the-art features of a modern twin screw extruder, says the company.
The technical data are impressive: screw diameter 110 mm, screw speed up to 1200 rpm and torque of 16800 Nm are values which enable throughputs of more than 5 t/h. With their ZSE HP machine range of high performance extruders (27, 40, 50, 60, 75, 87 und 110 mm) Leistritz offer a throughput range of a few 100 grams / h to > 5 t/h.
The well researched system of modular processing units and a multitude drive units for each machine facilitate convenient and safe scale up with machines from lab size to large production scale from one supplier.

Valmet Converting, USA, will launch and present both new and established products from its comprehensive range of equipment at K.
The new Valmet ‘Film Master’ sheeter will make its debut at K, representing an important new technology for the company and diversifying its already wide range of sheeters into the plastic film sector.
The ‘Film Master’ converts multiple reels of plastic film to sheets, with no edge welding, completely eliminating the need for guillotine trimming.
The Valmet sheeter range also comprises the cost-effective TSK and CTS sheeters, which are ideal solutions for sheet-fed printers of paper, board and laminates. With press-ready stacking, high-speed/high-precision operation, the machine provides the most economic and versatile sheeting solutions.
Atlas, the world leader in slitter rewinders for plastic film, will demonstrate its CW-800 film slitter, introduced less than two years ago.
With fifteen machines already sold, the company says, the CW-800 is a very cost-effective and competitive new design and has been well received by film manufacturers worldwide.
The Atlas CW-800 slitter rewinder is particularly well adapted to slitting high quality rolls of metallized film for the flexible packaging industry.
Valmet Converting will also have details at K of the latest developments in vacuum web coating and metallizing of plastic films, from its range of General vacuum metallizers.
Titan will demonstrate the Titan SR7 slitter rewinder launched a little over twelve months ago, with more than 50 machines already installed worldwide. The SR7 is a secondary slitter and world leader in its class for slitting plastic packaging films up to 1800mm wide, at speeds up to 600mpm. The machine includes the Titan ‘Quickshaft’ differential rewind system and easily outperforms its successful predecessor, the SR6 with AC drives as standard and full computer control system, says the company representatives.
The company will also have information available on its range of Rotomec gravure and flexo printing presses, winders and coating and laminating equipment.

Leistritz, USA, has expanded its production capacity for twin-screw compounding extruders. The firm acquired a 20,000-sq-ft plant adjacent to its process laboratory. The additional space for manufacturing and assembly will enable Leistritz to expand into machine refurbishing and gearbox rebuilding services.

Davis-Standard, USA, will boost its production capacity for single- and twin-screw extruder screws up to 90-mm diam. by 40% with the addition of a new Weingaertner computerized “whirler.” This remarkable machine is capable of milling, whirling, and thread cutting in a single operation. Its software reportedly permits quick and accurate programming of machining instructions for screws with constant or variable flight width, pitch changes and flank angles.

Marshall and Williams Plastics announced that a Sherman Treater for in-line corona treatment has recently been commissioned at the new Marshall and Williams plastics lab/pilot facility in Providence, Rhode Island, USA, and is now available for customer use.
The new pilot facility is equipped with a uniquely engineered two-sided treater station, which is powered by Sherman’s GX range of generators and is capable of single sided, double sided, as well as “dual pass” single sided treatment. The “dual pass” system allows difficult-to-treat substrates to be treated twice in a single pass, while using the maximum output capability delivered by the Sherman GX generator.
In addition to the flexible treating scenarios, the treater station design includes an adjustable electrode, permitting variable width treating. The treater station is also equipped with pneumatic electrode control for ease during threading and maintenance procedures.

As global player with innovative filtration technology products and systems the KREYENBORG GROUP is well known by the leading international plastics producers world-wide. The products and systems of the group meet the requirements of even the highest regulations in terms of process safety and functionality.
In a recent project the high-performance plastics PA 12 and PBT are processed. PA 12 is used in the automobile industry among other things for motor fuel-, compressed air brake-, hydraulic- and pneumatic piping. PBT is used among other things in the cable industry and in the electrical engineering for beam waveguide covers, relays and ignition housings.The supplier’s product quality demanded by the automobile industry are regarded to be the highest standards requested in the industry. In this project the plastics are extruded, filtered and fed into a strand pelletizer. These high performance plastics demand a filtration system that meets the following requirements:
Extrusion output 600 kg/h
Degree of filtration 25 µm
Screen life 20,000 kg
Minimised personnel costs
No breakages of the strands during change of the contaminated screens
The company’s Backflush Screen Changer are stated to have exceeded the customer’s expectations when processing these high-performance plastics PA 12 and PBT. The filtration system works very precisely and in an extremely effective way. Even after several backflush cycles the target differential pressure is reliably achieved. Essential in this sensitive process is the fully-automatic venting of the system, the pelletizing can be continued during backflush intervals and screen changes without breaking of the strands.
The Backflush Screen Changer with their new Profibus connection will be on show at K´2001.