(Pawcatuck, Conn.)–A sophisticated lab line at Davis-Standard’s Technical Center in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, is engineered to support new applications in medical tubing technology including higher rates for commodity products and catheters with tighter tolerances. The line, installed in September 2007, is equipped for research and development processes ranging from screw design to the extrusion capability of specific polymers, materials such as FPVC, PEEK, PEBAX, fluoropolymers and other medical grade resins.

“There is a lot of growth potential in the medical tubing industry. We wanted to provide a means of demonstrating these capabilities while enabling our customers to run trials,” said Wendell Whipple, Vice President of Davis-Standard’s Pipe, Profile and Tubing Systems. “We held a seminar last September with almost 60 customers and all comments about the line were very positive. We are currently working with two of those customers on similar lines for their medical tubing applications.”

The line features ¾-inch (19mm) and 1-inch (25mm) Davis-Standard HPE extruders, two melt pumps, a high-tech vacuum tank, servo puller/cutter, conveyor/blow-off table and an OD/ID/Wall gauge system, all controlled via the Davis-Standard EPIC III Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System. The EPIC III control system also has FDA 21.11 technology. The extruders are ported with pressure transducers for screw design development on smaller extruders. To date, the line has been used for applications such as single-lumen micro tubes, multi-lumen tubes, micro-catheter trials, new material development and coextrusion die development. Typically the line is running one week per month for development for screw design, process controls and other technology. Currently there are 1-2 customer trials scheduled per month. The line is also being used for development of tooling for new system orders. This includes tuning of die and tooling packages while equipment is being built in order to streamline the wet test approval process.

Customers interested in scheduling lab time can contact the following people: Bill Lee at blee@davis-standard.com in the Technical Center; Kevin Dipollino at kdipollino@davis-standard.com; or Wendell Whipple at wwhipple@davis-standard.com.

– Malaysian thermoformer SCGM Bhd plans to build a factory in Thailand and expand its extrusion capacity in Malaysia, using some of the nearly 12.9 million Malaysian ringgits (28.5 million yuan) it raised

Scientists from Singapores (IMRE) have developed a barrier film that enables a significantly longer lifetime for plastic electronic devices such as low-cost solar cells, flexible displays and organic

Davis-Standard, a leading global supplier of extrusion and converting systems, including winders for cast and blown film as well as of blow moulders, will present a wide range of its products and services at DRUPA in hall 12, stand C69. Visitors will also see examples of semi-finished packaging products that Davis-Standard’s systems can produce.

In addition, Davis-Standard will offer a shuttle service (20 km = 20 minutes) for interested customers and prospects to its nearby manufacturing plant in Erkrath, Mettmanner Str. 51, where they will see large state of the art extrusion coating lines.

Customers are the focus

During DRUPA Davis-Standard will welcome visitors to its 120 square metre information booth. According to Chris Barton, Director of Sales and Marketing at ER-WE-PA Davis-Standard GmbH “The demand for our lines continues to be high”. The exhibition focuses on liquid extrusion coating products and technologies and will include exhibits of nearly finished products. As Chris Barton explained “If, for example, a customer wants to make food packaging, Davis-Standard offers cast film lines to produce high quality flexible packaging materials like boxes or potato chip packages, yoghurt cups and carrier bags”. Davis-Standard’s lines can also produce film for labels, hygienic films or medical packaging and blister packaging for pills. The exhibitor will highlight this technology by showcasing a large number of product samples at the exhibition booth.

Shuttle service to Erkrath

Coating lines will not be displayed on the DRUPA stand due to their size. Therefore Davis-Standard will offer their prospective customers a shuttle service from Düsseldorf to Erkrath, which takes only 20 minutes. “Here in Erkrath we have the space and the means to present our lines in a realistic industrial environment, just as the customers will experience it in their own factories,” Chris Barton said.

In Erkrath, visitors will see extrusion coating lines that can reach a speed of 600 metres per minute and are therefore among the fastest lines in the world. Visitors will also see medium speed machines as well as modern winders for rolls with diameters of up to two metres and web widths of five metres and more. They will also see modern high-capacity 150 mm extruders designed for medium screw speeds of 300 rpm and fully automatic dies with special surface coatings for low flow resistance and prolonged operation between purging intervals.

A particular highlight in ER-WE-PA Davis-Standard’s programme is a newly designed liquid coating production line. With its width of 1.60 metres, 26 metre length and height of 6.70 metres, the line is among the largest machines of its kind. With a full roll diameter of up to one metre and a total weight of two tons, the machine reaches a coating speed of 400 metres per minute. In addition to the automatic winding and unwinding facilities, the line is equipped with a floating dryer to enable roll-less guiding and is also capable of coating film to a precision of six thousandth of a millimetre. This extremely exacting machine can also produce labelling material suitable for use in the food industry such as for packaging of sweets or potato chips. The cast film goes through a process of coatings using adhesives or primers (base coat). Even self-adhesive labels can thus be produced.

Davis-Standard ER-WE-PA’s expertise is not limited to the size and production speed of its machines, but also includes its experience, processing knowledge, and technical know-how in extrusion and liquid coating. “We build machines suitable for small as well as large batches and offer application lines equipped with flexibly insertable exchange cars to enable customers to do a wide variety of coating”, Chris Barton explained.