PV Fast - Colorants - Clariant International Ltd

Plastics Technology, 2004-03-31, Disposable Packaging Goes "Natural"
...king analogs of extruded polystyrene foam bowls, plates, and hinged containers. Now, with its rigid fast-food containers taking off, the company"s focus has broadened into food-service film (repl...

Plastics Technology, 2004-03-31, Disposable Packaging Goes 'Natural'
...king analogs of extruded polystyrene foam bowls, plates, and hinged containers. Now, with its rigid fast-food containers taking off, the company's focus has broadened into food-service film (replacing...

Plastics Technology, 2006-09-14, New Materials on a Fast Track for Molded Auto Glazing
Injection molding of polycarbonate automotive window and roof glazing is an emerging market that offers weight savings up to 50%, greater styling freedom and potential for parts integration (ribs or b...

Plastics Technology, 2007-09-10, What"s New at the Show in EXTRUSION
...ilm, and tube. You"ll see lots of (small) long, thin extruders designed to turn astronomically fast-some up to 1500 rpm instead of the 100 to 240 rpm of conventional extruders. They can more than...

Kunststoffe international, 3D Printing with Pellet Extruded Plastics on Metal
...tic part. Due to the excellent mechanical and rheological properties as well as the high thermal conductivity, which contributes to the dissipation of heat during layer composition, carbon fiber-reinforced materials are highly suitable for a fast additive manufacturing process. A carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide 6 (grade: Akromid B3 ICF 30 9 AM black (7451); manufacturer: Akro-Plastic GmbH, Niederzissen, Germany) is used in the following investigations. By adapting the processing, the anisotrop...

Kunststoffe international, Drivers of Electromobility
...rope is also being expanded to accommodate such high voltages. Ionity GmbH, Munich, Germany, a joint venture of BMW, Daimler, Ford, VW, Audi and Porsche, is currently developing a pan-European network of ultra-fast high-voltage chargers (for up to 800 V), with the new Porsche Taycan being one of the first vehicles in the market to utilize this HV technology. In addition, various industry players are actively working to move to even higher voltages in the range of 1000 V and above. A high-voltage...

Kunststoffe international, Fast and Effective Start of Production
...ific hot runner systems, control technology, and process control. The Strategic Approach of ‧Standardized Quality Guidelines Global Hybrid Qualification is based on two underlying principles. On one hand, customers can receive faster and more qualified support if an entire global network is utilized for the project. On the other hand, many customers are globally positioned and want to use production molds at different locations, according to defined quality standards. “The toolmaking industry m...

Kunststoffe international, Flexible Guiding Systems for Cooling Air
...embrane in order, on the one hand, to make the best possible use of the Venturi effect and, on the other, to be able to adjust the flow gap during extrusion. Six iris diaphragms staggered one above the other are used for fast and radially symmetrical adjustment of the membrane. Plant Engineering and Design of Experiments The tests described below were carried out on a blown film extrusion line at the IKV pilot plant. The extrusion line consists of two single-screw extruders (type: KFB 45/600 (...

Kunststoffe international, From the Sea to Electronics
... well as the Glow Wire Ignition Tests (GWIT) and the Glow Wire Flammability Test (GWFI). Compared to PET, PBT has a lower strength, rigidity, and glass transition temperature. However, it exhibits better impact resistance, faster crystallization, and better aesthetic properties. Moreover, it processes at a lower temperature profile, which makes it more advantageous for injection molding applications than PET. Flame retarded PBT compounds with halogen-free flame retardants show also excellent el...

Kunststoffe international, Functional Prototypes for Car Components
...especially where new technologies are concerned. 3D-printed functional prototypes offer an advanced way to accomplish this: not only can components be produced quickly, inexpensively and without tools, but also optimization cycles become much faster and mold costs are slashed. For this, the following three boundary conditions must be met: The 3D-printed prototypes must meet the thermal and mechanical requirements. The NVH properties must match those of the equivalent injection molded component...

Kunststoffe international, Half a Million More Parts
...ince it is now carried out directly in the plastic production, the staff of the tool maintenance department has more time for other tasks. The short manual brush cleaning per shift is completely omitted. Fast Amortization “We actually bought the device only for the application at the turntable machine and it paid off due to the increased personnel capacity in the tool maintenance. The time saving is roughly 400 hours per year, resulting in a payback period of about 1.5 years,” reports Hofmann. I...

Kunststoffe international, Medical Applications of Additive ‧Manufacturing
... But what really stops the show for seasoned medical practitioners is the design at the points where the implant meets the cranium. Thanks to that design, the component can be implanted faster and the surgical risk reduced. Quicker healing is a benefit for the patient, but so is increased quality of life. Both is a major mission of medical AM technology. The Synergy of Hardware and Software AM plants and machinery make full use of the potential of design, digital process chains, and the synergy...

Kunststoffe international, Plastic in the Service of Medicine
...elopmental experience of Celon Pharma. Because of the foreseeable enormous increase in demand of the order of 400 million units per year, Celon Pharma now plans to use further high-cavity tools for very fast cycles. Torsten Glittenberg is confident that “in this case we will be able to meet all the requirements of the medical technology industry. Even though that is sometimes very complex.”

Kunststoffe international, Reactive Extrusion of TPU
... for the steadily increasing viscosity of the polymerizing material up to the fully reacted product. A uniform flow in the initial zones of the extruder is of crucial importance in maintaining the homogeneity of the fast-reacting mixture. The temperature was adjusted to the viscosity of the premixed raw components, which is determined by the polyol. This allows an efficient transport of the reactants and the advancement of the PU reaction. The increasing temperature gradient in the subsequent se...

Kunststoffe international, Sanitary Prototypes with High Requirements
...d ‧Conventional Methods That SLS systems like the Sintratec S1 create competitive advantages is also confirmed by Roger Baggenstos, who had only little development time available for this project: “We appreciate the fast implementation possibilities of test components. With the printed prototype in hand, we can immediately evaluate its function together with our production partner.” With the durable Sintratec PA12, Geberit prints objects such as water housings, distributors or test specimens tha...

Kunststoffe international, Semi-Crystalline, and yet Thermoformable
...vity (or over a tool) using vacuum, air pressure or mechanical means. Amorphous polymers are very suitable for such a forming process. Commodity plastics such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS) or poly‧vinyl chloride (PVC) are routinely used for packaging and thin gauge applications, while engineering plastics – such as polycarbonate (PC) – and specialties polymers – such as polyetherimide (PEI) or polyarylethersulfone (PAES) can also be processed this way for more demand...

Kunststoffe international, Sophisticated Geometry – and Hermetically Tight
...yer of the biochip system. The required tightness could not be achieved using glue. Eventually, the developing engineers encountered a more promising joining technology for this type of application: ultrasonic welding. Ultrasonic welding is not only fast and clean but, in contrast to solvent-containing glues, it does not impair the biological components of the test equipment, such as enzymes.However, the road to success was not easy with this method, either: the feasibility tests revealed that t...

Kunststoffe international, Sustainable Growth
...well as equipment manufacturing more sustainable and energy efficient. Better productivity, for instance, is facilitated by Covestro’s fast-demold system. It can be used to demold cooling devices up to 20 % faster with normal wall thicknesses. Demolding Cooling Devices up to 20 % Faster In addition to ongoing challenges to make insulation systems for thermal and cold insulation even more efficient and long-lasting, the current focus is on the circular economy, sustainability, and end-of-life sol...

Kunststoffe international, Turning Old into New
...ds to a higher glass transition temperature for ‧titanium dioxide. One possible reason is that the reaction products of depolymerization cannot be removed fast enough via the vacuum system and the reaction is inhibited. Figure 3 shows the dependence of the condensate yield for the test materials as a function of the screw speed. The yield is generally in the range of 47.4 to 66 wt. %. The maximum yield of 66 wt. % is achieved by polystyrene with a carbon black content of 5 wt. % at a screw speed...

Kunststoffe international, Ultrafast 3D Printing
3D printing is a fast-growing market, opening up completely new product and manufacturing options for ‧customers and industry. The newly developed SEAM process significantly extends the options for the efficient manufacture of printed components. An impression of this is conveyed by the example of a fiber-reinforced clamping fixture. The SEAM process (screw extrusion additive manufacturing) takes a new approach to high-speed additive manufacturing of plastic components. With printing speeds of u...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, A Comparison of Hybrid Machines
...raulic machine. Only 7.4 kW is removed from the oil cooler. The remaining 2.7 kW is dissipated from the two servo motors and the frequency-converter plate. Shorter Machine Times and Cycle Times The Ergotech EL-EXIS S operates more economically and faster than hydraulic models by permitting shorter machine times. This is supported by the high dynamics of the electromechanical toggle drive, close to the moving axis, the parallel movement of all axes as a result of the independent drive systems, ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, A Home Game for the Italian Plastics Industry: Rendezvous in Milan
...er at high speeds. Two valves installed on the mixer and the melt pump allow the mixing and melting process as well as the dwell time in the mixing chamber to be controlled. Win Dosing System software from Piovan, Maria di Sala, offers fast and simple recipe formulation, recording of all data from installed feed systems, real time display and statistical analysis of consumption by various units. The system improves the interplay of gravimetric feed systems with the computer, thereby facilitatin...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, A New Pilot Plant: Customer Trials Required
...rret winder. If required, either automatic reel-handling units can integrated as well as grinders for edge trimmings and punch waste. Special winders for hand stretching are also planned. The machine manufacturer SMS places special value on easy and fast commissioning of its cast lines: standardisation greatly shortens the project duration. At the same time, the “plug and socket” principle permits rapid production start and therefore immediate efficient utilisation of a new plant. The first Cast...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, A Short Time-To-Market Process
...e high-quality plastic parts as quickly as possible in each phase of the product development chain. The more intensive the competition in a market, the more clearly two trends stand out. On the one hand product life cycles are shortened in favour of faster model change. On the other hand the number of the product variants is increased to correspond to customers' non-standard conceptions as much as possible. Both trends make great demands on research and development in the enterprises, above ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Acute Need for Handling
Acute Need for Handling Example Applications of System Integration of Robots in Injection Moulding Production Hansjörg Zahnd and Simon Bienz, Schwarzenburg/Switzerland The fast development of the plastics processing industry requires a high measure of innovation and competence. Only interaction of the requirements on injection moulding machines, mould requirements and quality and logistics requirements can make requirement oriented automated solutions possible. The increasing complexity ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Air Ducts under the Bonnet
...ant decline in processability. Neither are the mechanical properties of the finished part noticeably diminished by the regrind content. This applies even to glass-fibre-reinforced products. Last but not least, Grilon sequential coextrusion owes its fast-growing market share to its enormous cost-saving potential. For example, with the turbocharger pipe for the Saab 93 and Saab 95, the replacement of an aluminium/rubber design by a hard-soft combination comprising Grilon RVZ-15H.1 and Grilon ELX 4...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, All-round Talent: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Trend Report: Commodity Plastics Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) All-round Talent. With global consumption exceeding 29 million t in 2004, PVC is one of the most important plastics. While the clear focus is on the construction sector, other industrial sectors benefit from tailor-made products. Robert Hohenadel Torsten Rehm Oliver Mieden From 2001 to 2004, European consumption of PVC rose from 6.4 million t to around 6.8 million t. Due to more dynamic market growth in Asia, Europe’s share of consump...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Anniversary: Independence is Trumps
...ial to the publishing house, he stated, and continued with a promise: “you as an author are regarded as an individual person by our company, and we also look after you as such”. What counts for Hanser Publishers is not fast profits but a durable strategy on a firm foundation. In his speech, Professor Günter Spur, who was born the year the company was founded, praised its cultural achievement in a highly specific area. With its specialist books, Hanser Publishers has made the language of computer...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Automating Tape Production
...obbins lead to tangling and overthrown ends at the bobbin edges, which must be laboriously eliminated by drawing off the topmost filament lengths before the bobbins are used. This causes additional waste and more work for the personnel. With modern, fast-running tape lines, the personnel have even more physical work. Where staff has more work to do they inevitably have less opportunity to monitor the tape production lines, unless extra people are taken on. Filament breaks cannot be directly elim...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Automobile Supplier Industry: Positioning and Partnerships
...hmid-Ring 10 D-45665 Recklinghausen Germany Phone +49(0)234/384-9731 Fax +49 (0)234/384-9732 www.fh-gelsenkirchen.de Fig.1. The number of modular body structures: Modular body structures are developing equally as fast as platform strategies Anteil modularer Karosseriestrukturen an Fahrzeugproduktion = Number of modular body structures in automobile production; Nischenmodelle = Niche models; Volumen-Modelle Europäer = European volume models Fig.2. For an estimated growth of the automobile mark...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Automotive Engineering: Fully-automated Press Line
... one that Dieffenbacher has ever supplied for the production of automotive parts. The production line incorporates the generation of the glass-fibre-reinforced plastic compound on a Dieffenbacher extrusion unit, the manufacture of the parts on a fast-stroke press with a parallel-running control system and a gross pressing force of 30000kN, the finishing of the parts, e.g. stamping out the attachment holes on a 1000kN stamping press and the fully automatic application of hole reinforcements in a ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Automotive Industry Revives Business: Thermosets
...ical know-how. More slowly reacting systems offer a long processing phase, while avoiding severe exothermy, which is a particular requirement for infusion processes and thick laminates. More reactive mixtures permit rapid demoulding or fast bonding (Table1) [5]. The importance of high-performance resins for the new processing methods is shown by an RTM system that is comparable with conventional prepreg high-performance materials in terms of properties (Tg > 200°C). It can be processed at around...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Babylonian Confusion?
... very few calculations to compile offers, since manufacturing data and operational procedures, linked to corresponding costs, are called up from within the program. Trend towards Internet Communication Development processes are growing faster and more complex. It is no secret that complex CAD systems are difficult to learn and use. They can turn out to be major impediments to creativity, especially when simple tasks require studying the operating handbook for half a day. Last but not least fo...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Biodegradable Products: Nature-Compounds
Biodegradable Products: Nature-Compounds Biodegradable plastics can replace conventional plastic products in short-lived applications such as fast-food packaging. Novel materials that have been optimised for extrusion and injection moulding meet practical requirements for ease of processing and functionality. Biodegradable plastics that are made from renewable raw materials and can be thrown into organic-waste bins are a “natural” way of conserving resources and cutting costs. They are parti...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Bond Reliably: The Right Adhesive
...h as those used in the engine compartment, to flexible grades that find application in the vehicle interior or for electrical uses, for instance, the available range of plastics seems almost limitless. Common plastic types include, among others, PP, PVC, PE, ABS, PBT and PA. Thanks to these, cost-effective, high-quality components can be employed. In addition to the above, new high-performance plastics such as LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) with exceptional properties that are especially well-su...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Brilliant Surfaces: A Large Order Secures Technical Leadership
Brilliant Surfaces: A Large Order Secures Technical Leadership Decorative parts for the automotive industry must have their surface sealed with a lightfast and scratchproof coating. CCM technology offers a very high quality, economic alternative to conventional methods. The company Novem Car Interior GmbH of Vorbach/Germany is continuing to extend its PU activities with CCM (clear coat moulding) technology. Following its purchase of a PU line from Krauss-Maffei of Munich in Spring 2002, the ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Carbon Nanotubes
...efficiency and the service life of the LEDs [18]. Nanotubes have also been successfully employed for so-called field-emission displays. A prototype was unveiled last year by the company Samsung. Nanotubes may also be used as transistors: extremely fast switching rates in conjunction with much smaller dimensions are expected here. Summary Nanotechnology is regarded as a key technology for the 21st century and constitutes an exponentially growing market that imposes new demands on materials, pro...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cards are Trumps – Chip Card Bodies for the World Market
...nineties with phone cards, followed by GSM and bank cards. A chip card consists of the card body with a cavity for the chip and module. Originally, the card bodies were generally punched from PVC (48-fold), printed and laminated (transparent laminate). In subsequent processes, the chip cavities are cut out, the module with the chip is inserted, and the chip then programmed. According to CSC’s estimates, 60% of all chip cards are still produced from laminated PVC film, including all bank cards. H...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Close Cooperation Ensures Success
... close cooperation that is needed for these innovative technological leaps, together with utilisation of the resultant resources, make it possible to optimise the entire value chain and to design it for greater effectiveness (Fig .1). It is less the fast, short-term business which governs such cooperation than the long-term trust in the expertise and fairness of the partner. This pleasing tendency has not yet spread to all customer industries to an equal extent. The automotive industry is exempl...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Coinjection of Thermoplastics and Elastomers
...lows similarly economical production, but investment in a second plant is necessary even for small order sizes. It is also restricted to simple parts. The much shorter cycle times with rapid production (cf. Table 1) can be achieved - by the use of a fast-curing silicone, which reduces the heating time to 24 s or less, and - by an optimised geometry of the PA cover, so that a cooling time of 24 s and less is feasible. In addition, the high complexity of modern seals often entails much higher asse...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Colour Variation: Two Components, Four Colours, Five Units
...in this example is unusual. It is an Allrounder 630S 2500-350/100/100/100/100 with a distance between the tie-bars of 630x630mm, a maximum clamping force of 2500kN and stage two hydraulic technology with servo control and accumulator for performing fast and simultaneous movements. In this constellation, the 350 injection unit with a screw diameter of 40mm and a maximum shot weight of 166g PS injects horizontally through the fixed platen into the mould. The other four units – Euromaps 100 with 2...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Colours in Light
Colours in Light Aliphatic TPU for Lightfast Car Parts Jürgen Hättig, Wolfgang Drube, Leverkusen/Germany, and Wolfgang Kaufhold, Dormagen/Germany A new thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU) based on aliphatic isocyanates is more lightfast than conventional aromatic TPUs and allows the production of light-coloured parts. It opens up possibilities for high-quality, aesthetic automotive design. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) has been used in automotive engineering for many years for ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Commercially Highly Attractive
...ace from a high output level. Technical plastics are used here increasingly in applications that contribute to preservation of the high standard of living with ever lower purchase costs and which increasingly serve the preservation of resources. The fast development of fuel cells is a current example. E-Commerce The topic E-commerce, that is electronic purchasing and sales in the comprehensive sense including all transaction processes like sales promotion and marketing measures, was one of the...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Compact and Reliable
...ontour welding utilises rotary/linear axes or industrial robots to provide the necessary relative movement between part and laser beam, whereas quasi-simultaneous welding employs a galvanometer scanner. If the parts are rotationally symmetrical, a fast rotary axis may be used instead of the scanner. In both these variants, the weld contour is adapted to the part via the program. For simultaneous welding, however, beam control and shape have to be set up specially to suit the specific welding con...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Composite Constructions: Industrial Production of Structural Components Made from Fibre/Plastic Composites
...P [4, 5]. Impregnation of the fibre preform with the matrix is carried out from a distribution medium placed on the preform in the thickness direction. In this way, short flow paths are obtained in the laminate, which results in fast impregnation of large components. A characteristic feature of using a distribution medium is a slanting flow front in the laminate. This occurs because the preform is impregnated in the thickness direction from the distribution medium and the flow rate in the lamina...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Compounds and Masterbatches
...wth market, several manufacturers offer solutions for the PET colouration. Micropellets compete with liquid colours. Microgranules with a diameter of about 0.5 mm offer better distribution statistics for metering than the conventional pellets, melt faster and can therefore contain higher concentrations of colorants or additives. This reduces the specific colouration costs. Different manufacturers give different recommendations for the smallest amounts to add, varying between 0.01 % (Holland Colo...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Conduits for Fibre-optic Cables
...nes must be available to satisfy the rising demand. High-speed communication networks have become indispensable in both the private and public sectors. According to Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications market is growing about four times faster than the rest of the economy and is therefore one of the strongest-growing markets. To ensure that as many users as possible can transfer data at the same time, high transmission rates are required. Since the early 1980s, fibre-optic cables ha...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Continue to Improve Productivity and Quality
...tion of 33 600 bottles per hour with 24 cavities and a cycle time of 2,57 s. Under the designation Bestpet, Krones offers an external coating process that can improve the barrier characteristics of PET bottles. The procedure is based on the PVD process (Physical Vapour Deposition). Using it up to 20 000 bottles per hour can be coated with silicon oxide (SiOx) in high vacuum under plasma conditions. At the NPE in Chicago (19 to 23 June 2000) Krupp Kautex in co-operation with Krupp Corpoplast, Ham...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Control Functions with Artificial Intelligence
...jection moulding machines of the Robotshot series (manufacturer: Fanuc) are equipped with the same CNC control and drive components and the latest generation of digital AC servo motors as used in precision machine tools. The control systems are very fast and precise thanks to high-resolution measurement of position and time for the individual axial movements of closing, ejection, plastication and injection with the 64 bit controller achieving evaluation and direction within a few milliseconds. T...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Conveying, Dosing and Mixing
...sing, centralised batchwise heating and cooling mixers are also to be found, particularly in compounding or in extrusion. They can be fed automatically by means of appropriate automation technology, such as the Componenter from AZO GmbH. PVC, for example, is conveyed from the store to a weigher by means of a suction weighing system. Then, the necessary additives are conveyed via two small-component weighers into the heating/cooling mixer. Liquid additives, too, can be metered by means of pumps a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cost Accounting Software: For Users with a Sure Touch
...und Formtechnik GmbH Limbergstraße 9 D-35649 Bischoffen Germany Phone +49 (0) 64 44/92 17 80 E-mail: Schmale.GMBH@t-online.de Fig. 1. Accurate cost predictions: Tool maker and mould maker Schmale has developed a software program for fast, accurate costing of injection moulds. Inputting parameters for adjusting a hot runner (photos 1-3: Schmale) Fig. 2. The worksheet summarises the current state of the costing operation Fig. 3. This overview shows all the data relevant to production Fig. ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cost Consciousness: Modern Technology is More Economical than Low-spec
...An analysis of the manufacturing costs for various injection moulded parts showed: it is not the purchase price of the machine, but rather its availability and performance that are decisive regarding efficiency. Gerd Liebig Christoph Mehler For fast-cycling packaging applications, material costs alone account for up to 90% of manufacturing costs, while for complex technical parts these represent about 60%. As a fraction of overall manufacturing costs, machine costs are quite low for most inject...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cross-linked Polyethylene: The Right Pipe System
...can thereby become leaky. That brings us to plastic, i.e. polymer, pipe systems. However, we must proceed with care. Hardly any material has such a variety of forms and properties as plastics. The best known plastics, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyethylene (PE) soften at relatively low temperatures of 40°C and lose their compressive strength. Experts speak of the creep strength, which for PVC and PE decreases rapidly with increasing temperature. It is even forbidden to use PVC for compressed a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Customer-oriented Globalisation: Process Technology as Strategic Instrument for Developing New Markets
...t sound provocative, it has a basis in reality. First of all: process, machine and mould must match one another (Fig. 1); “to shoot at sparrows with cannons“ is just as uneconomical as using a standard machine to produce fast-cycling precision parts. Machines that are always operating at their performance limit are subject to greater wear. Their availability decreases accordingly, because the downtime required for repairs increases significantly. Secondly: The more demanding that product design ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cutting Foams: Foam-Splitting-Machine with Network Capability
...then further savings are achieved in terms of service and commissioning costs. A New Standard for the Future One of the first machines to be equipped with the operator panel described is the BST 140 (Fig.2), a machine for splitting PU/PVC and composite foams in stacked form and incorporating a conveyor belt that can be reversed automatically. It comprises a stationary cutting unit with a conveyor belt installed underneath it, which can be supplied with a vacuum suction attachment as an option. ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cycloolefin Copolymer (COC): Appearance Counts
...rmit a large number of state-of-the-art system and appliance solutions in the development of active substances, diagnostics, analytics, biosensor technology and environmental monitoring. To ensure that the results can be documented in a colour-fast manner, the polymer has also become established in a completely different field, namely as a binder for toner. The amorphous and colourless structure of COC guarantees a high colour fidelity and printing speed, as well as a uniform quality and low ope...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Defect-Free Microstructures
...es with lateral dimensions of 0.4 µm and depths of 0.1 µm carry digital information. Many applications from the medical and diagnostic sectors are either already known or being planned. Development of the "lab on a chip" promises fast and efficient analysis. This mini-laboratory integrates all the steps of an analysis on a chip: sample extraction, mixing of liquids, the reaction and analysis. The production of ferrules (connectors for fibre optic cable) can be mentioned here ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Demanding in Profile
...ement of the market continues to be more cost efficient production of moulded parts at no cost to quality. A further goal is to reduce the costs of the process. Improved mould filling through the use of free-flowing polyamides of high toughness and fast freezing time also offers the possibility of further savings potentials. Fig. 1. TEM micrograph of the PA 66 product A3 S3 15 (source: FB Ingenieurwissenschaften, Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg) Fig. 2. AFM micrograph of the PA 66 ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Design of Radial Spiral Dies
...is required for the computation because only the most important design, process and material data have to be entered; and the computational speed is very high, a fact which enables a great many variants to be computed in succession. This means that fast iterative development is possible. This computational method can answer the most important questions that arise during rheological design to a very close approximation: - How great is the pressure drop? - What does the volumetric flow distributio...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Details of Economic Development: High-density Polyethylene (PE-HD)
... will fall significantly to around 16%. Although new plants will continue to go on stream in Western Europe, manufacturers will also be closing down a comparable volume of older PE-HD capacities. Capital expenditures are increasingly shifting to the fast-growing markets of Eastern Europe. From 2004 to the end of 2007, capacities in that region will increase from 0.7 million t to 2.0 million t. This represents a 5.5% share of the world market. Production capacities in the Near and Middle East wil...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Detecting Contaminants: Product Safety in the PET Loop
... the QMB sensor is mass-selective. By virtue of the fact that its long-term stability has been experimentally proven, and when it is carefully calibrated, the QMB sensor meets requirements for an inexpensive quality assurance method that is fast, simple and robust. Accordingly, the system has made it possible for the first time to continuously monitor migratable interferences in the recyclate product on an industrial scale. A sensor of this kind has been integrated into the PET recycling plant ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Development History of Plastics: Growth through Changing Times
...trade in plastics” (1911). And there certainly was a great deal to report. From Substitute Material to Mass Product – 1910 to 1950 In 1912, Fritz Klatte succeeded in explaining the process of PVC polymerisation first discovered way back in 1838. The First World War ushered in the era of the “Golden Twenties”, which saw a flowering of operetta, revue and cabaret. The film and popular music industries developed and boosted the growth of plastics with their demand for film and sound recording medi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Development Partnerships – Innovations Guaranteed
... of very close and loyal partnerships between car manufacturers, system suppliers, raw material producers, machine manufacturers and mould makers will ensure the production of highly flexible plastics components at a high standard to meet the fast-changing requirements of the market with due flexibility. Dr. Rudolf Stauber Chairperson of VDI-K and head of the department for operational strength and materials at BMW Group of Munich/ Germany » The only way to promote successful innovation is ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Development Trends: Composites for Aircraft
...of a semi-permeable membrane under the vacuum film. With this so-called VAP process (Vacuum Assisted Process), resin distribution and the amount of resin can be controlled very accurately. Additional development objective is generally a fast and autoclave-free curing for which new curing methods such as microwave technology are favoured. For sandwich construction, which provides very high stiffness at a low weight, honeycomb cores have been used for the most part. While these offer very high she...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Die Cutting Equipment for Plastics Processing
...highest possible flexibility is maintained and appropriate response to any order opportunity is possible. While it is advisable for every company that examines tooling alternatives to keep its options open, this is particularly important for the fast changing target groups in the plastics processing field. For instance, in the late 70s no one could have imagined the plastic card industry that manufactured roughly 9 thousand million cards in the year 2001. One should thus count on the fact that t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Diode Lasers in Mass Production
...ng the contour is complex. This strategy is not flexible and limited to relatively simple geometries. A promising alternative is quasi-simultaneous welding. Also here the contour is traced out with a focused laser beam. However, this is done using a fast mirror deflection system without having to move the laser or the work piece. The goal is to trace the contour several times so fast that the cooling process is relatively slow and the contour is melted practically evenly. This procedure is very ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Direct Colouring: Producing Colour Masterbatches Economically
...y have a simpler structure than twin-screw extruders (Fig.5). They are not only more favourable to acquire than twin-screw extruders, they also have further advantages: simpler cleaning, lower production losses, simpler handling and a cleaner, faster mixing of the pelletised, dust free raw materials. These advantages must compensate for the extruding costs and the added value of the pelletised raw materials, the mono-components. For processing colour masterbatches with relatively small batch siz...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Driving the Automotive Industry: Engineering Elastomers
... At another site, at Sarnia/Canada, parallel products to the French NBR grades are producd for many sectors for the North American market. Sidiac, Touvre/France, produces mechanical NBR/PVC blends based on NBR from Zeon and Lanxess. In addition, Sidiac makes its own speciality products using proprietary blend technology. Nantex Ind.Co.Ltd., Kaoshiung/Taiwan, (capacity: 15kt/a) also supplies some unusual speciality grades, e.g. Nancar NBR Dryblend 1203HD and Nancar NBR Dryblend 1204 D. Genuinely ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, E-mail from an Injection Moulding Machine
...zation to maintenance and repair and spare part management. This benefits both the manufacturers and plant operators in the following ways: - expert assistance and remote diagnosis help fault elimination, - reduction in personnel and travel costs, - fast response times irrespective of location, - continual plant monitoring to assess the production process (plant utilization, product quality and stoppages), - permanent monitoring for preventive maintenance (condition monitoring, maintenance inter...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Easy-opening Concepts: Easy-opening Sterile Packaging
...s based either on ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) or ethylene methacrylate (EMA) are suitable here. These can be used on a universal basis for substrates such as trays made of polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and PVC, as well as for spun-flashed fabrics based on high-density polyethylene (PE-HD, e.g. Tyvek from DuPont) (see Fig.2). The main factors influencing peel strength (and hence the required tear-open strength) are the composition of the compound and the ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Economic Compounding: Nanocomposites
... materials. Finally, trials are also necessary to determine whether layer silicates or other minerals could be used as nanofillers without chemical pretreatment in a yet to be developed processing technology. This would certainly require very fast-reacting compatibilisers and also melt filtration after compounding. On this point, experience has shown that nanocomposites pass completely unhindered through filters with a mesh size of 50µm, because of the extremely small filler size, but these filt...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Economical Production of PU Parts
... 110 "one-shot" systems to the Bayflex 180 prepolymer system (Fig. 4). When Bayflex 110 was used, two reactions had to take place in the mould virtually simultaneously. The long-chain, relatively slowreacting polyethers and the short-chain, fast-reacting crosslinker had to react with the isocyanate in a particular sequence to form an ordered polymer structure. This is controlled by means of catalysts and makes the production process sensitive to process fluctuations. With Bayflex 180, th...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Editorial: A New Service: Business Success Consulting
...stitute of the German Economy) of Cologne/Germany recently pointed out that employees are far more likely to change companies in good economic times in order to improve their professional prospects. In a recession, on the other hand, many hold fast to their old job so as not to increase the risk of unemployment. Since our industry is also seeing a flood of reports about job cuts, we can assume that personal career prospects are not too good at present. The same applies at a company level. In eco...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Editorial: The Countdown Is On
The Countdown Is On The big date is approaching fast: on 20th October 2004, the Messe Düsseldorf will again open its gates to an expected 220000 visitors from more than 100 nations. With 2800 exhibitors from 55 countries and a yet again extended exhibition floor space of 160000m2, the specialist exhibition for plastics and rubber is the industry’s undisputed number one event in terms of size and importance. The exhibition has several important functions: the largest contact forum in the world n...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Electrifying: Emphatic Confidence
...uality, expansion of all services and the claim to be a trendsetting innovator in the market. The current and future core expertise of Netstal would consist in the development, production and marketing of injection moulding machines and systems for fast-moving thin-wall parts as well as high precision technical parts. Positive Balance Sheet for Fiscal 2003 In fiscal 2003 (end: 30.9.), the Netstal Group exceeded its results from the prior year. The number of machines sold increased from 642 to 6...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Electronic Markets for Plastics
...profile itself by applying technological know-how if it wants to help with the conversion of processing plants successfully. In which directions might electronic markets for plastics develop? A conceivable scenario would be a market positioned as a fast, low-priced source of supply for standard products. With such products the consulting requirement is usually not very high. Together with its customers and suppliers the market profits from the large quantities that it can handle quickly. It is a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Engineering Plastics as a Growth Market
...ollows: To recognise the customer's problems and help him to solve them. "Marketing excellence" and "Supply chain excellence" are the new buzzwords. They cover everything from optimum material supply (time and quality factor) and fast, effective technical support (know-how and specialist expertise) to minimising component costs (system solutions). Setting up a global knowledge management system is therefore one of the tasks which the company has set itself for the future. All...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Enhancing Performance: Fast-Cycle Injection Moulding Machines with Tandem Moulds
Enhancing Performance: Fast-Cycle Injection Moulding Machines with Tandem Moulds The implementation of a new mould concept drastically reduces the “dead times” with injection moulding systems. A precise analysis of these dead times shows that shortening them not only results in an increase in output, it also brings an improvement in part quality due to the additional cooling time. Christoph Jaroschek In March 2002, the Fachhochschule Bielefeld presented its tandem mould development concept...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Enterprise Transparency: Success Factor Business Process Management
...es, structures and supervises its processes. Peter Felber Due to the strong demand for IML technology (see box "In Profile") in the telecommunications industry toward the end of the nineties Schuster Kunststofftechnik GmbH (SKT) experienced fast growth in several locations. The enterprise had to compensate for the decrease in demand in this business area beginning in 2001 with rapid expansion of the automobile business. This presupposed two substantial decisions. Reasons for Building u...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Everything Revolves Around the Disc
...hing Revolves Around the Disc Storage Medium of the Future? Patrik Gallati, Näfels/Switzerland In the field of optical discs, innovations follow each other very quickly. Consumer electronics excepted, hardly any other market changes at such a fast pace these days. No sooner had we all accepted the CD and afterwards the CD-R as the measure of all things than the DVD format came on the market. The latest product of the DVD family is the recordable DVD, the so-called DVD-R. The competition ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Evolution, Not Revolution
...e techniques themselves. Upwardly spiralling demands for accuracy and short production times are the criteria that prototyping techniques must satisfy. 3D Printers for Rapid Prototype Design The euphoria triggered in recent years by the advent of fast, quiet, low-odour 3D printing has now yielded to more sober analysis. Most 3D printers are used in design offices and often even by OEMs because they offer a fast way of getting a hold of and evaluating a prototype. The strengths of 3D printers i...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Exhibition Preview: North American and Canadian Products at K 2004
...t drives using multiple motors will be a novel attraction at the show. A compact, four-motor CMG drive built by K. & A. Knoedler GmbH, Ostfildern/Germany, reportedly allows a 90-mm-diam. extruder to process 25% more kg/hr of polyolefins PVC than the same size extruder with a conventional drive. The CMG drive consists of four three-phase AC motors that transmit power via a pinion shaft to a central gear with a hollow shaft and thrust bearing. The hollow shaft connects directly to the screw. It sa...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Expansion Injection Moulding: Amazingly Thin
... during the filling time – is governed by the preloaded pressure, the accumulator volume and the flow resistances. From this it is possible to derive an effective venting profile for the cavities, which is an important prerequirement for a fast cavity-filling process. Equally important for a thin-walled project is what filling time will be necessary from a process engineering point of view to fill the planned thin-wall part in the first place. This "optimum filling time" can be approxima...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Experimental Testing: Ring-shaped Reinforcements Made of Fibre-reinforced Composites
... for the ELIP test stand (Fig. 10): The displacement mandrel is machined from steel, threaded into the base plate and thus replaceable. All surfaces of steel components are given a chrome nitride plating by means of a PVD process to provide low friction and wear. In the new configuration of annular pressure plunger, displacement mandrel and servohydraulic test cylinder with a maximum force of 10kN, a maximum pressure of 2600bar can be attained. With regard to diameter, care was taken to accommod...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Expert Knowledge is Requested
...el of 100°C. These “hot areas” are confirmed in the thermal photographs of the mould. In order to obtain as homogeneous a temperature development as possible, corresponding “cooling risers” were used in the hot areas of the mould for fast energy removal. Sampling the mould showed that above all the factors holding pressure level and time as well as the mould temperature are crucial for the distortion. The mould temperature was increased from 90 to 100°C at the beginning, so that the moulded part...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Exterior Vehicle Body Parts: Films instead of Painting?
...tion, such as carbon fibre design. However, the cast fluoropolymer-coated films used for these applications have not been and are still not able to compete with conventional paints in the automotive exterior sector. Film Technologies Suitable for Fast Model Replacement Cycles With the shorter production runs and faster model replacement cycles resulting from the trend to increasing market segmentation, modularisation and flexibilisation concepts have acquired increasing importance in automotiv...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Extremely Fast
Extremely Fast Tailor-made Polyurea Systems Matthias Sikorski and Holger Cordelair, Hamburg/Germany By using newly developed isocyanate prepolymers and modified diamines, the reaction profile and physical properties of polyurea products can be adjusted in a systematic way. Users can therefore tailor the system to suit their specific requirements. Polyurea systems are used in the construction industry and automotive engineering because of their useful combination of properties. Their feat...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Extrusion Technology of the Future
...tions. They include standardized centralized connections (Fig. 1), rapid-action die exchange, adjustable calibration sleeves in pipe extrusion, and exchangeable die parts and pad exchange aids for profiles. Twin spider-type mandrel dies (Fig. 2) for PVC pipe extrusion offer more flexibility together with improved quality, since they cover a wider diameter range. In profile extrusion, swarf generated during sawing is laborious to dispose of. Vacuum extraction equipment and water jet or laser cutt...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fast and Reliable
Fast and Reliable Welding Three-dimensional Parts by Laser Edmund Haberstroh, Reiner Lützeler and Jan Schulte zur Heide, Aachen/Germany Contour welding can be used to weld complex part geometries without contact. The welded parts have very low leakage and high bursting pressure. In addition to the frequently used welding processes such as ultrasonic welding, hot tool butt welding and vibration welding, various laser welding techniques have succeeded over the last few years in becoming es...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fast Product Development
Fast Product Development Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling - Using Existing Technologies Kurt Heitel and Gunter Fischer, Karlsruhe/Germany A large number of mainly computer-aided techniques have been developed in the past few years in a bid to shorten the development time for plastic parts. The "Club RP" project was set up by the EU in order to make it easier for small and medium-sized companies to embark on rapid prototyping and rapid tooling. Rapid Prototyping (RP) and Rapid ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fibre Composites: Bonding Automotive Bodies
Fibre Composites: Bonding Automotive Bodies In small to medium-sized series vehicle, fibre composites are increasingly used materials for exterior body panels. Adhesive bonding is raising in importance as it often is the only suitable joining technology. Jochem Sauer Plastics currently make up 13 to 18% of a motor car. This is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 4.7% in the West European automotive industry. Plastics applications are distributed between the car interior – by far the gre...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Film Extrusion: PET Extrusion without Pre-drying?
... The degassing technology is a real alternative to pre-drying or at least a sensible addition to it. We must distinguish in this context above all between the hopper degassing method commonly used in the processing of polyvinylchloride powder (PVC) [5, 6] and the melt degassing that is widely used in many fields of application and is an established method for removing volatile substances from a polymer melt during a process [7-9]. Both concepts were realised in the IKV pilot plant unit. Hoppe...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Flexible and Precise
...ods gaining in attractiveness also for other reasons. The development targets of the manufacturers of thermoforming machines are varied. They include adaptation of machine sizes to market requirements and improvement of reproducibility as well as faster cycles and longer machine run times. Lately interesting technical innovations have been presented for almost all types of thermoforming machines. Compressed Air Forming Machines The tendency to revise existing system concepts within the field...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Flexible Production of Moulded Parts
...troke of 1500 mm makes automatic removal and automated insertion of films and other parts from three sides very easy (Fig. 1). If this opening stroke should prove inadequate in an extreme situation, both guides can be readily extended. High Force - Fast Stroke Up until now, clamping forces had been directed over the complete machine frame and the guide pins. This meant that the hydraulic cylinders acting as clamping elements were all thermally isolated and arranged to one side behind the mould...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Foaming: Automatic Gasketing in a Five-second Cycle
...95, and Ferma Polymerservice GmbH, Cologne, founded in 1997. The individual companies complement one another strategically. Sonderhoff develops one and two-part gaskets, encapsulants and adhesive systems based on polyurethane, silicone and PVC systems. EDF produces application lines for processing these materials. Ferma is a contractor for foaming, casting and bonding industrial parts, as well as producing samples in zero or small series. Some stages in the company’s history that originated in t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, From the Skeleton Model to the Part
...years. However, the quality of the instruments had deteriorated, and the standard of technical progress had not kept pace with the industry. The company decided to develop and produce the instruments itself in future. The main aims were faster electronics and better ergonomy and design. “Exacon calls in a designer for many projects”, says Wilfried Renkel, “since he often provides new ideas. The close cooperation also ensures that the design is implemented as the designer intends.” Development wo...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Functionality is the Key Factor
...ful if they mean lower costs or potential savings. Nowadays, 45 % of all the medical products manufactured world-wide are made of plastic of some kind or other. With a total annual plastics production of nearly 3.0 million t, the commodity plastics, PVC, PS, PP and PE, account for over 80 % or 2.4 million t. Engineering plastics such as PC, TPE, polyester, ABS and others make up the other 18 % or 540,000 t (Fig. 1) [1, 2]. Nearly 43 % of plastics applications in medical technology involve packag...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Gravimetric Precision Metering
...the throughput rate of the processing machines, the system can cope with between two and eight different materials. Four standard models cover the range between 5 and 1500 kg/h. Quick-lock closures, as well as sliding and swivelling devices make for fast setting up and conversion without the need for tools. All the basic settings such as formulation and batch size can be entered via the microprocessor control unit. Other presettings are not needed. The Graviko's management system can handle ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Headlamp Bonding: Warm Reactive Bonding
... made at higher temperature. A great advantage is that a leakage test can be implemented immediately after application thus achieving 100% quality control. Market Requirements and Wishes Series production of automobile headlamps is a very fast process. From it important requirements on an adhesive plastic compound system result: - no displacement of the body and the cover shield with respect to each other; - touchable, so that there is no danger of contamination; - the leakage test must be in...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Heat Management
...e between - 30 and + 90°C. PU rigid foam can thus withstand the high temperatures occurring when the sun has been beating down on the dark surface of the flat-roof sealing for long periods. To avoid thermal expansion, the slabs must be properly fastened to the substrate, e. g. by adhesive bonding. In addition to thermal stability, PU rigid foams also feature long-term endurance. Investigations have shown that the heat conductivity of PU insulation layers on flat roofs still had thermal condu...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High Fitting Accuracy
...ls are used to make the model. Placing and draping structural prepregs on the elastomeric-faced positive model and allowing autoclave pressure to be efficiently distributed over the whole area of the component part during curing opens the way to a fast, cost-effective manufacturing process. The aim of this project is to further develop manufacturing and production technologies so that the component can be cured not necessarily in an autoclave but in an air-circulating oven by applying pressure t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High Growth Rates: Polycarbonate (PC)
... the years to come – at a level of 8–9% per year still (Fig. 3). Estimates put worldwide demand for PC in 2005 at more than 2.6m t. Growth is being driven by the Asia/Pacific region and especially by China. According to the forecasts, demand for PVC is set to rise by 18% per year over the next three years. At present, there are only three small, local producers in China who, together, have a capacity of around 5000t/a. Investments are thus being concentrated primarily on the Asia/Pacific region....

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High Requirements - Low Investment Costs
...vidually controlled air nozzles let the ray oscillate at a rate of approximately 20 changes per second. The oscillations can be steered during the entry process according to exactly which mould part is to be covered with the PU glass fibre-mixture. Fast application of the right quantity and the right distribution of the material is very important because only a limited time is available before the mixture reacts. Leftover bits of foam must be removed from the outside surface of the exit tube and...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-output Compounding
...to the family of Buss Kneaders exhibited for the first time at K2001, is another milestone in this ongoing development. The quantec (Fig.1) is specially designed for compounding shear- and temperature-sensitive products such as rigid and plasticised PVC and powder coatings. The aim in developing quantec was to significantly increase the profitability of the plant operation by at least doubling specific output and cutting installation costs at site. In developing the quantec, it was important to ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-performance Applications: Trends in Packaging Technology
...e, hydraulic clamping units offer fundamentally better and much more sensitive mould safety than toggles. Specialty linear roller bearings (Fig. 4) safeguard maximum dynamics and lifetime, even when moulds are very heavy and traversing movements are fast. The thickness of the mould platens and the type and dimensions of the die centring hole can be adjusted accordingly. For example, in a one-cavity mould for a thin-wall bucket that has to be injected very rapidly, the greatest loads occur in the...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-performance Machines for Short Cycle Times: New "High-Speed" for Thin-Wall Part
Injection Moulding New "High-Speed" for Thin-Wall Parts High-performance Machines for Short Cycle Times. A highly dynamic toggle clamp system plus a fast high-performance injection unit make for an injection moulding machine with very short cycle times. The six new high-speed machines from the "Engel Speed" series cover the clamping force range of 1250 to 6500 kN. They will mostly benefit manufacturers of thin-wall parts. Gerhard Dimmler Georg Steinbichler Hans Wobbe Time is ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-purity Pigments: Pigment Finish Makes All the Difference
... Finish Makes All the Difference High-purity Pigments. An innovative finishing treatment is used to produce a new range of high-purity pigments with an excellent property profile. One of the specially finished pigments in this new product range – PV Fast Yellow H9G – is the greenest yellow pigment for plastics coloration currently available on the market. Philippe Lazerme Polymer materials have rapidly penetrated every aspect of our day-to-day lives. The continually rising demand for plastics...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-speed Helpers
High-speed Helpers Fast-removal Robots as a Standard System Solution Jürgen Bergedieck, Wiehe/Germany Linear robots are frequently “overdesigned” for simple removal tasks. An automation solution based on the swivel-arm principle can save space and, thanks to the higher removal speed, shorten cycle time. In conjunction with injection moulding machine and conveyor belt, this system opens up productivity benefits to the plastic fabricator. In the production of plastics mouldings on small an...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Highly Filled, Well Dispersed
...size. The basic formulation is given in Table 1. In the first series of tests the wax content was 30 %. In later tests the effect of wax content was investigated and it was reduced to 20 %. The pigment was phthalocyanine green pigment green 7 (e. g. PV Fast Green GNX produced by Clariant) and this was used at a concentration of 40 %. The amount of carrier depended on the amounts of wax and pigment. The investigations were carried out in a counter-rotating twin-screw extruder, a type that is stil...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Hoffmann Mineral 100 Years: Farsighted in Matters of Innovation
...lso constitutes the uniqueness of this Neuburg filler in the world. Advantages of the material tested in its own development laboratory and at customers in the whole world are its good ability to mix in basic elastomer materials. Thus fast and problem-free rubber parts with highest surface quality can be manufactured. A further increase in the quality of the final products and expansion of the application type was obtained by development of surface-treated Aktisil fillers. Applications of the ex...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, House Shows: Show of Expertise at Coperion
...perion Group chose the month of October to present their range of innovations and services to the international trade public. At the beginning of the month, Coperion Buss AG in Pratteln/Switzerland organised a trade show that focused on the field of PVC compounding, and on October 30, Coperion Waeschle GmbH & Co. KG, Weingarten/Germany, staged an event that highlighted the pneumatic conveying of various bulk goods. Gerhard Gotzmann The two-day event at Coperion Buss focused on practical expe...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Hybrid Moulding: Getting the Combination Right
Getting the Combination Right Hybrid Moulding. Production of injection moulds needs to be fast, flexible, inexpensive and durable. Problem is, however, that none of the standard mould making techniques actually combines all of these requirements. A way out of this conundrum is to combine the various standard processes with novel ones. Hybrid moulding is one such solution. Thorsten Hickmann Eric Klemp Injection moulds are used to produce plastic parts made from elastomers, thermoplastics and t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, In-line Plasma Treatment for 3D Plastics Parts
...imes. iplas GmbH has utilised these advantages to develop a new concept which represents an ideal combination between user needs and the real efficiency of the processes. In an in-line unit (Fig. 4), three-dimensional plastic parts were subjected to fast plasma activation in the medium pressure range. By synchronizing the plasma treatment with the material feed process, it was possible to optimise the production so that several million parts a year could be treated without problem. The fact that...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Increased Performance: Micromaster Powers up Extruders
...e seventh digital input. Thus the function of the digital inputs can be changed in an uncomplicated manner. This enhances the variability of the extruder when connected to additional equipment or if the extruder is integrated in complete systems. A fast response of the digital inputs, reproducible with a high level of consistency, means that the extrusion process can be precisely preselected. There are also three freely programmable relay outputs to display different operation signals. For comp...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding (2): Increasing Productivity and Cost Efficiency
...et segments, which means that a correspondingly higher price can be commanded by machine innovations that permit greater productivity or even reduced material consumption. As a result of this, there were many machine innovations to be seen on fast-running machines for packaging articles at K. These were naturally to be found at the standard companies specialising in fast-running machines. Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., for instance, presented what were primarily system solutions and impr...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Simulation: Support for Component Development
...1). Material properties. For computation of the filling behaviour the guidelines for the flow behaviour of the plastic (the viscosity as a function of temperature and shearing) are necessary as well as the compressibility of the melt in the form of PVT data and guidelines for the thermal behaviour of the plastic, such as the heat conductivity or the specific thermal capacity. For further computations data concerning the mechanical characteristics of the plastic or the thermal characteristics o...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Technology for the Packaging Industry (1): Pace Setters Reduce Costs
...00 to 10000kN, combines the energy efficiency of an electric screw drive with the speed and precision of hydraulic injection. This saves energy without any drop in performance. Accumulators provide the pressures required for injection as well as for fast mould opening and closing, even under peak load conditions. Today this machine builder employs pumps and motors that are 20 to 50% smaller without jeopardizing the suitability of the Hylectric for demanding applications. This yields a benefit n...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding under Clean Room Conditions: Machine and Process Technology for Medical Products
...the clamping and injection units are - steel instead of cast platens, - electroless nickel-plated steel surfaces, and thus oxidation-free, - antistatic high-gloss paint in a light colour, - good grounding of insulated components, - hoses fitted with PVC jackets, - short and the least amount of hydraulic tubing and hoses, - GMP-compliant lubricants for linear bearings, - good accessibility to all components, - smooth surfaces, few corners and steps. The last two points are important in order to p...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Without Gate Marks
...r situation The Counter-valve System Cost advantages - Simple construction - Easy to control from the moving mould half by a control plate for all the valves - Low wear due to straightforward operation (also applies to cutting edges) - Easy, fast replacement of the inexpensive shut-off cones (valves) - Inexpensive to manufacture Processing advantages - Precisely controlled cavity filling - Low pressure drop in the runners - Very precise external control of holding-pressure possible, independ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulds Direct by Laser
Injection Moulds Direct by Laser New Material for Shortening the Laser-Sintering Process Chain Elke Fritz, Michael Shellabear, Planegg/Germany New products must reach the market faster and faster. Often, the mould construction stage is the stumbling block to market release. Laser-sintered prototype moulds are already shortening development phases considerably. Now, there is a new material available that makes it possible to use laser-sintered moulds for all phases of the product life cycle...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Innovations in Flame Retardants
... area and a new life cycle assessment. With a consumption corresponding to more than 2.4 billionUS$ in 1999 flame retardants (FRs) are the by far largest group of additives in the plastics industry (Fig. 1) while ensuring improved fire safety. The fast development of plastics applications in the electronics (title photo), construction and automotive industries puts high requirements on plastics and costs. Because of their generally outstanding property profile, brominated flame retardants have...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Integrated Automation: Manufacture Economically – Exploit Resources
...nction with the short mould open time. The robot executes all handling operations during the only 6s long injection moulding process and is thus not a time-determining factor. In addition, the flexible articulating arm robot permits fast, uncomplicated conversion to alternative products and types of packaging. Reliable Production Even with Complex Sequences The Neureder robots are employed for highly complex insert loading operations at Eckerle GmbH in Ottersweier/Germany. Utilising a 4-cavity ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Interview: “Ensuring Sustainable Development”
...are aligned with changed customer and market requirements. These new structures will enable us to reliably supply and support our global customers with products of the quality they have come to expect, and to grow profitably at a faster rate than the market. Kunststoffe: Polyurethanes in particular have always required a great deal of support because they are tailor-made products. What form will the collaboration between BASF and its customers in this area take in the future? Feldmann: We want t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Interview: “Faith-healing is not Enough”
...differ enormously. Kunststoffe: How do you see the development prospects of the SMS Group’s two divisions, injection moulding and extrusion? Which segment is likely to grow faster? Schröder: I really don’t care which one grows faster. Each segment must grow as fast and as profitably as possible. When talking about market opportunities, we must differentiate. The economic conditions in the film business are completely different from those in pipe extrusion. But even in a weak market there are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, It’s the Benefit Alone that Counts
... axis” – this is the principle that Demag Ergotech has implemented in its Ergotech El-Exis machine series, as the first injection moulding machine manufacturer to do so. The machine concept of the Ergotech El-Exis series with its fast-running S version and precision E version is available in a wide range of clamping forces from 600 to 4200kN and 600 to 2000kN, respectively. Customer benefit and efficiency for the application in question are more important than is a drive philosophy. Success has ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Joint Technology
...ter-aided engineering can help with analysis and the search for the appropriate joining method. It can be seen even from examples involving simple joining elements, such as screws, plastic clips, forces applied to fibre-reinforced plastics and other fastening elements, that a systematically compiled database would represent a technically as well as economically useful tool for modern design practice. On the other hand, the amount of work necessary to create one of these desirable databases is ob...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Marking of Plastic Products
... introduces the mark onto the product by means of light. The maximum marking rate is only limited by the maximum applicable pulse frequency of the laser. 25 markings per second (90 000 per hour) are the standard of modern mask systems. In addition, fast-moving objects can also be marked with sharp edges. Line speeds of 50 m/s and more do not represent a problem. The size of the mark field is usually limited to about 10 x 20 mm2 by virtue of the energy density required for marking. In the case of...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Sintering: Complete Freedom of Design
.... Laser sintering is still a young process that is rooted in rapid prototyping. However, it is being used ever more frequently in production, so-called “rapid manufacturing”. Laser sintering is the key technology for “e-Manufacturing”, the fast, flexible and cost-effective production of any articles directly from CAD data at any phase of the product lifecycle. This term introduced by EOS GmbH includes rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing. In recent years, several manufacturer...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Sintering: Rapid Prototyping on its Way to Series Production
Rapid Prototyping Rapid Prototyping on its Way to Series Production Jochen Weidinger Martina Methner Laser Sintering. The term “e-manufacturing” introduced by EOS means fast, flexible and cost-effective production directly from electronic data. Applying this method, parts from each stage of the product lifecycle, from the prototype in product development to individual parts, series parts or even spare parts may be manufactured quickly and economically. Laser sintering has been known as a ra...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Welding: Laser-adapted Construction for Plastic Welding
... For this reason, small parts with small gaps can be welded better by laser than large parts. With larger parts, it is often difficult to keep to this gap. In such cases, use can be made of quasi-simultaneous welding with scanner heads for fast beam deflection. Since, with this technology, the entire weld area is melted at the same time, the two components can be pressed into one another during the welding process by means of pressure applied from the outside. As a result, peaks in the surface c...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Let’s Ask the Experts!
...n the worst scenario, with low-viscosity materials, a plug of cold melt with water-induced voids is formed that is then forced out by the water and “gets stuck” in curved areas of the part. Voids caused by shrinkage occur with fast-solidifying materials and excessive RWT. They can usually be avoided by higher holding of pressure of the water, higher water volume flow and higher melt viscosity. Through suitable material selection and part design, excessive accumulations of material in bends can ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP)
... in this sector, as compared with electronic applications, this field will continue to remain under-represented in terms of quantities. Apart from extrusion applications, the next growth spurt can be expected from the automotive sector. Fast-growing demand not only for electronics for measurement and control circuitry, sensors, comfort, and telecommunications, but also the exploitation of leak-proof properties in, for example, tanks and fuel lines, as well as future applications of fuel cell te...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Location Decision: Centralisation and/or Relocation?
...st for logistic reasons packaging material production (Fig.5) is traditionally decentralised. It needs highly qualified personnel and must guarantee just in time supply of its customers that package all kinds of goods. It therefore needs fast machines and efficient logistics as near the customer as possible. Only with very large lot sizes and favourable circumstances for logistics is it possible to consider relocation to low wage countries. Rather, one should expect that packaging material produ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Low Manufacturing Costs: Plastics Encapsulation for Solar Modules
...d at the same time additional functions can be integrated into the module. Plastic encapsulants will therefore reduce the manufacturing costs for solar modules in future. Almost all modern solar modules have an identical construction (a glass-EVA-PVF-laminate; PVF = polyvinyl fluoride, trade name Tedlar) intended to ensure a long lifetime of at least 25 years. About half of all modules are equipped with an aluminium frame. The manufacturing processes and materials that are currently used make...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Low-Pressure Mixing Technology in PUR Processing
...chwarz SA - 08424/9192, from: ISL-Chemie, Kürten) and is added to the polyol in an amount of 1 % before processing. According to the manufacturers, the particle size lies between 5 µm and 15 µm. The white pigment paste (Isocolor white PV - 07690/1221, manufactured by: ISL-Chemie, Kürten), which is added to the isocyanate in an amount of 3 %, consists of TiO2 and a plasticizer. The pigments have the same particle size distribution as the carbon black particles. Preliminary tests showe...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Machine Maintenance 2003: State of the Art and Future Trends
...ems. The remaining 60% carry out a machine calibration (usually at intervals of 6000 operating hours) for the two parameters that are of particular significance for plastics processing machines, namely temperature and pressure. To ensure fast availability of spare parts, more than 80% have their own stock of typical wear parts (heating bands, sensors, etc.) and components that constitute a high risk of a plant stoppage (screws, cylinders, barrels, etc.). This also makes strategic sense. Around 2...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Market Adjustment: Streamlined and Repositioned
...y, which so far has been successful, we will now be more rigorous in setting ourselves up on a process and product footing. We have seen that cost-optimised alignment with autonomous product segments ensures greater customer proximity and a fast response to changes in individual sub-markets." Autonomous Product Groups, Fusion of Production Reifenhäuser’s response is to continue to implement its group strategy and so it is dividing the company into autonomous, flexible product units with cl...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Marking Plastic Products
...ions like in the location where the marking system is installed (dust, water, chemicals etc.)? - How good must the marking quality be (resolution, contrast etc.)? - How flexible should the marking be (variable texts, logos, barcodes etc.)? - How fast should the marking process be? - Is a moving or stationary product being marked? - Are other materials required for the marking system (inks, chemicals etc.)? - How high are the unit marking costs? - How high is the initial capital investment requir...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Materials in Competition
...s are [19]: - energy savings by only heating the welding zone (about a factor of 3 more favourable than sintering using superheated steam), - transfer of energy through free space, - volumetric heating, - selective heating using special equipment, - faster heating, - composite materials producible any way, - thick-walled components producible, - components producible in a single process step, - pressure-free and continuous processing possible. A further important step is the continuous bonding o...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Materials with Multiple Functions
...tially flatter than liquid crystal displays illuminated from behind. Organic LEDs, particularly the polymer LEDs, consist of multilevel structures in which light emitting polymers such as polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) from Covion Organic Semiconducters or polyfluorene from Dow are embedded between an inorganic electrode (anode) and a metal alloy as cathode. A small DC voltage on the electrodes causes the organic emitter to shine in the colours green, red and blue. The system can be manufactured r...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Measurement by Ultrasound: Temperature Fluctuations in the Processing Unit
...y a short needle pulse that is generated on a PC plug-in card (Matec SR-9000). The ultrasonic waves penetrate the melt and are attenuated and delayed. The second ultrasonic transducer receives the signal, which is amplified and then digitised by a fast AD converter (Matec SR-9010). In order to be able to record the signals from the four measuring channels over the length of the extruder screw, measuring-point change-over switches are connected up between the sensors (ultrasound, pressure and tem...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Micro-Injection Moulding: Microfluidic Systems with Integrated Semiconductor Chips
...cally computed volume. Results of the Main Tests The injection velocity has a significant effect on the quality. The diesel effect occurred from an injection velocity of 240mm/s (Fig.6). The air contained in the cavity probably could not escape fast enough via the parting line and vent bore during the injection phase. The air was compressed and heated strongly. As a result, there were characteristic burns to the part. Moreover, residues of the burned polymer remained in the cavity. At injection...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Microsystems: MID Housing for a Flow Sensor System
...ermal process. It consists of a heating element and two temperature sensors (Fig.1) placed on a very thin silicon nitride membrane. This arrangement permits good thermal insulation and low heat capacity of the sensor, making for high sensitivity and fast response times. Without flow, the temperature profile of the heater is symmetrical and both temperature sensors measure the same temperature. A flow shifts the temperature profile, and a temperature difference is measured in relation to the mass...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Mixing Technology for Hot Runner Systems: Improved Melt Homogeneity
...ity is often the main cause of quality variations in shaped parts. A patented system steers the melt in the hot runner into several spiral channels and thus mixes it further. The result is improved part quality, more balanced material properties and faster colour changes. Abdeslam Bouti A determining factor of part quality during plastics processing is the homogeneity of the melt supplied to the mould. In injection moulding there is typically a single thrust screw for plastication. The melt ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Modified Polyphenylene Ether (PPE)
...ce for food transport applications. Material properties such as low-temperature toughness and high heat resistance, durability, cleanliness, and peel performance can help reduce costs in a large number of areas. The increased life of food trays in fast-food restaurants is one example here. Alongside this, there are a large number of other potential fields of use, such as power tools and fluid-technology applications. The combination of good heat resistance, high chemical resistance and almost no...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Modular Drive Technology
Modular Drive Technology Part 1: Practical Advantages for the Manufacture of Fast Cycle Products Ansgar Jaeger, Andreas Kübel and Frank Schuster, Schwaig/Germany Thin-walled, high-precision mouldings require not only a high plasticising capacity, but also dynamic injection characteristics and accurate reproducibility. A high-speed machine equipped with electric drive systems for plasticising and mould movement plus a hydraulic high-speed injection system demonstrates the advantages of modu...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Modular Drive Technology for Injection Moulding Machines
...for the ancillary movements shows the advantages of modular drive technology for the injection moulding of technical components. At K '98, Demag Ergotech GmbH introduced its Ergotech EL-Exis S injection moulding machine for the manufacture of fast cycle and thin wall packaging products [1, 2]. The engineers have now taken up the idea of providing every single axis of a high-speed injection moulding machine with the most suitable drive system, and applied it to the production of technical p...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Modular Systems for Hydraulic Drives: Tailor-made “off the Peg”
...g plastication, since it is more efficient (has lower energy consumption) than a hydraulic motor. To improve the economy of injection moulding, the cycle times have become every shorter in recent years. Outstanding examples of this are the fast-cycle machines used for packaging applications. This has only been made technically possible by executing the above-described movements in parallel, telescoped one inside the other, instead of sequentially. In hydraulically driven machines, this can be ac...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Mould Design: Advances in Injection Mould Design
Trade Fair Report Advances in Injection Mould Design Mould Design. The trends apparent at the K-Show can be summarised as: combined and optimised technologies, easy to service, compact moulds, and “Fast-to-Market" product strategies. The results of a worthwhile visit. As the individuals who ultimately convert advances in processing into reality, designers of injection moulds are currently in the process of extracting even further benefits for their customers from the technical ideas of t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Mould-making 2000
...channels to be improved. Contour-following channel systems in the mould plates have superseded the formerly practized zonal cooling. Cores are generally equipped with cooling spirals. This increases productivity: with two-impression moulds for rigid PVC bends of a nominal 110 mm diameter, the cycle time used to be about 60 s ten years ago. It is only 50 s these days. The general use of spreading cores in mass-production has replaced the formerly employed groove-blowing system or forming by memor...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Moulds: Strategic Partnership
...hnical and medical-technical parts through to large parts with over 5 kg shot weight for the automotive industry. The manifolds may be optionally balanced naturally or rheologically and are designed for low loss of pressure and fast colour change. The melt channels have been made so robust (from design, choice of material and production aspects) that the hot runner system has a high life expectancy and yields cosmetically perfect gates in the long run, even with glass-fibre-reinforced polymers. ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Multi-Material Mould with Rotary Mechanism
...°C. Rotary Indexing Mechanism The rotary indexing mechanism has dimensions of 1046 x 1396 mm with a stack height of 200 mm (without rotary shaft). The rotary plate has a diameter of 1000 mm and is driven by an hydraulic motor. The time-tested fast/slow control assures short indexing times with minimal loading on the system. The indexing time with the mould is 1.3 s (as measured at Braun Formenbau GmbH on the customer's machine). The rotary plate is located in the end position by an hyd...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Natural Fibres in Plastic: Compression Moulding of Natural-fibre-reinforced Thermoset Prepregs
...fibre-reinforced Thermoset Prepregs Natural Fibres in Plastic. The use of natural-fibre-reinforced plastics continues to increase, particularly in the automotive industry. Natural-fibre-reinforced thermoset prepregs can be compression moulded with fast cycles to produce components with low density and good acoustic properties. Natural-fibre-reinforced composite materials have become established in the automotive industry because of their good mechanical properties and low production costs (Fig...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, New Era in Recycling Packaging Waste
... as a compact sludge. The treated water is recirculated back to the pulping process. The remaining material, mainly plastic and aluminum packaging, is shredded and fed through an eddy current separator that removes the aluminum parts. In this unit, fast-rotating magnets generate a current in the aluminum parts. This in turn creates a magnetic field in the opposite direction to the magnetic field of the eddy current separator. In this way aluminum parts, that do not normally react to magnets, are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, New Generation of Machines: Reaching the Goal in a Distinctive Way
...04, the Elion, with all-electric drive of all axes. This machine type with patented gearing is primarily aimed at the technical applications sector, e.g. automotive, electrical or medical parts, but also, thanks to its high injection performance and fast cycles, at the packaging market. Gerhard Pötsch Thomas Robers The new Elion all-electric injection moulding machine series (Fig.1) is available in a clamping force range from 500 to 1750kN. Netstal Maschinen AG will add them to its portfolio as...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, New Larger-size Injection Moulding Machines
...d on the basis of Netstal's proven toggle technology. Because of its solid construction, the mould clamping unit's bending angle corresponds to that of the conventional Synergy range. This stable construction is also a basic requirement for fast cycles. The dry cycle time of the mould movement is 2.1 seconds. The opening stroke of the mould unit is 950 mm and the distance between the tie bars 1020 mm. In addition, the low level of the machine base permits convenient access to the mould a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, News
...ke room at its production site in Tielt/Belgium and step up its capacities for the two-component injection moulding range in Tielt and Budapest. As a consequence, Quadrant CMS will be able to provide better freight management and faster distribution of materials and services for its customers. Dow und BASF PO Plant in Antwerp HPPO technology, which was developed by BASF and Dow Chemical Company for the production of propylene oxide (PO) from propylene and hydrogen peroxide (HP), is now availabl...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, One Hundred Per Cent Control of Material Webs
...Processes for Quality Monitoring Gernot Keil, Gerhard Gärtner and Christian Feige, Dresden/Germany Radiometric determination of material thickness or weight per unit area has become an indispensable technique in production. A new process allows fast non-contact thickness determination while production is running. To remain profitable in the face of global competition, plants must nowadays be fitted with technically sophisticated monitoring systems so that, along with increasing output rate...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Online Process Control: Ultrasonic Measurements on Thermoset Moulding Compounds
...ding pressure and longer it is exerted, the higher the modulus will be on the cured part. Discontinuation of the holding pressure. For these experiments (Fig.6), the moulding compound UP 3415 is selected in two settings – as “fast” (curve group 1) or “slow” reacting compound (curve group 2). It can be easily seen that, with the faster compound, when the holding pressure was discontinued, the degree of curing was sufficiently high for no further drop in the sound velocity to occur. Fig.7 shows ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Optimisation of Screws with Small L/D Ratio: Custom-made Screws
...en into account, as is shown by an example. For processing PA6-V0 with very small short weights (80mm) (Fig.9). The pellet sizes differ depending on the polymer used (Fig.10). To bring small pellets into contact with the hot cylinder wall as fast as possible, the new screw has a smaller flight depth in the feed zone compared with the standard screw. The first melting point occurs after just a short screw length. The compression zone was also extended and the feed zone correspondingly shortened. ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Optimised in 60 Seconds
... involving 17 industrial companies that has been running over the last six years, a program is being developed at the University of Paderborn for simulating processes on co-rotating twin-screw extruders [5]. The aim of the development is to obtain a fast, unambiguous assessment of how the machine will behave so as to allow accurate optimisation of the barrel and screw configuration and of the process parameters. This goal is being achieved through the use of predominantly analytical and closed e...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Package Solution: Production System for Screw Caps in China
... are jointly marketing a new production system for screw caps in China. The package solution, consisting of high-speed injection moulding machines and multi-cavity moulds, not only saves material and energy, it also brings shorter cycle times and a fast return on investment. The "Schöttli Cap" is a screw cap made of PE-HD for one-way PET bottles. Weighing 2.45 to 2.65g, it is up to 20 percent lighter than conventional screw caps due to its special geometry. Because its thread is designe...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Packaging Surgical Instruments: Easy and Safe to Open
...s and equipment is however tightly sealed and often difficult to open without some type of aid. With this problem in mind, EK-Pack Folien GmbH, Ermengerst/Germany, decided to develop a film for its customers in the medical sector that would permit fast, controlled, angel hair free opening of packaging, even with gloves on – as is required in operations. Successfully Proven for Food Packaging For many years now, EK-Pack has been producing co-extruded peel films for easy-opening food packaging (...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Packaging: Injection Moulded Design
...asis of the current trend for eye-catching packaging (Fig.1). Netstal-Maschinen AG provides tried and tested solutions in this area. The company has long-standing experience with single-component packaging and its injection moulding machines are fast-cycling with good system connectivity. By offering flexible arrangement of different injection units as required and simple attachment of parts-removal robots, Netstal makes changeover to a two- or multi-component product as easy as possible (Fig.2...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Packaging: The Compostable Water Bottle
... sustainability.“ Husky supplied Biota with the preform production equipment – a 24-cavity HyPET 120 system that is currently producing preforms for 12 oz., ½ litre and 1 litre water bottles. According to Husky, the machine offers fast cycles, good repeatability, low mould wear, and only slight acetaldehyde generation, leading to higher output-per-capital and high-quality preforms. Husky’s preform development centre was also involved throughout the preform and bottle design phase, working closel...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Part Testing: Long Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastics
...nctional integration. Current examples of applications in the automotive segment include instrument panel supports (IPS), technical front ends, door modules, seat shells, bumper supports, sound-absorbing shells, spare wheel pans and – one of the fastest-growing applications – complete underbody systems. Unambiguous Classification Needed The pioneering influence and driving force behind the new developments in LFT and the introduction of large-volume applications have been the glass mat-reinfor...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PBT Compounds
... partially crystalline thermoplastic materials. The world-wide consumption of these two thermoplastic materials in technical applications amounted to approximately 600,000 t in the year 2000. In contrast to polyethylene terephtalate, PBT has a very fast crystallisation period which is perfect for injection moulding applications. Its short cycle times and relatively low processing temperatures allow a cost-efficient mass production and a suitability for a wide range of application areas. With its...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Performance Show and Interview: Round About Pipe
...emonstrated production of the following: - Alu-PEX composite pipe with a diameter of 16mm and TIG welding, - PEX pipe produced via the Monosil process with EVOH as oxygen barrier layer, - corrugated PP sewer pipe in the size 400sn8, - highly filled PVC sewer pipe with OBS stabilisation in the size 315sn8, - PE 100 pressure pipe 160pn6 with a PP protective jacket. A new system with the name IntelliChange was premiered for changing size quickly and economically. The system is very simple to ope...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PET Packaging: Growth Market with a Future
...e leading to constant market growth. The possibility of participating in this market growth has for many years been a strong temptation for machine and packaging manufacturers and bottling companies. As a result, the PET market is changing faster than ever and with a dynamism that simply did not exist in the past. These changes are accompanied by constantly rising competitive pressure for machine and packaging producers. Bottling companies have the added problem that there is an excess supply i...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Pipe Design: Optimised Static Design – Fast Cycles
Pipe Design: Optimised Static Design – Fast Cycles In injection moulded pressure containers with inlet and outlet openings, the maximum component stresses usually occur in areas weakened by weld lines. Changing the circular connecting cross sections to oval sections makes it possible to reduce the component stresses in these highly stressed areas considerably. Thomas Jeltsch Housings for water meters, filters, pressure reducers, etc. but also pipe manifolds, pipe elbows and tees can be prod...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plant Construction: The World's Biggest PBT Polymer Plant Goes into Production
...anufactured with low consumption and low costs and seven different PBT granulate qualities. They are used as compounds for a broad pallet of motor vehicle, electrical, electronics and household articles. The flexibility of this compact unit includes fast and simple adjustment to market requirements. The joint venture decided in favour of the new two-reactor technology (2R) that was developed only recently for the production of all polyesters (PET, PBT, PTT, PEN) and their copolymers (Fig.1). The...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastic Spare-Wheel Well
... oven or plastification of PP and glass fibres in the extruder (GLF/LFT); - Insertion of the material, which has been heated to 200°C, into a compression mould at 60°C; - Filling of the mould cavity by flow moulding on a position-controlled fast-stroke press with a compression force of over 20 000 kN; - Removal from the mould; - Air cooling; - Post-finishing in a semi-automatic drill-punch device; - Deflashing; - Semi-automatic process-monitored flame treatment with a round-jet burner; -...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastic Welding: Turning Power into Productivity
...ze As an alternative to traditional plastic joining processes, such as ultrasonic welding, vibration welding or heated-tool welding, plastic welding with diode lasers has become established for joining almost any thermoplastics. This process allows fast and reliable joining of thermoplastics largely irrespective of the dimensions of the workpiece to be welded and the design of the joining interface. This can avoid damage to electronic parts or, for example, contact pins. Unlike ultrasonic weldi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastic, the All-purpose Material: Function in Form
...ck” floats on the water and makes any conventional swimming pool into a fun experience. This trend can be seen in ever more swimming pools. The extremely robust and tear-resistant PVC material naturally meets the strict safety standards of the German technical inspection agency. There are no corners or edges to be found at all [11]. Those who prefer to swim in the water can choose the “Big Sharky” toy (Fig.11) from BIG-Spielwarenfabrik, Burghaslach/ Germany. The soft, elastic children’s swimming...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plasticising in Critical Areas
...nal thing about this process is that it requires temperatures of around 540 to 650°C, resulting in extremely high stresses on the plasticising system. Alternating loads exert a stress on the plasticising unit in that, with very fast running products such as packaging articles with very fast cycle times, load cycles of ≤1Hz can arise. Also of relevance here are the sliding speeds (circumferential velocity of the screw) in the plasticising system, where values of up to 1.5m/s are reached. F...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyarylsulphones (PSU, PPSU, PES)
...ations are characterised by high growth, but put very high requirements on the purity and molecular weight constancy of the polymer materials. For the applications mentioned the processing is generally done from solution. This requires fast, complete solubility of the polymer and good storage stability of the formulations. Low-molecular weight components and gel particles can lead to problems because of decreased solubility. Therefore, both at Solvay and at the BASF Aktiengesellschaft developmen...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polymer Electronics: From Polymer Transistor to Printed Electronics
...ing of electronic circuits on to flexible plastic film. Associating plastics with attributes such as "electrically conductive" and "semi-conductive" is nowadays still relatively unusual, although polymers having such properties like PPV – poly(phenylenevinylene) – were described back at the beginning of the 1970s [1, 2]. In 2000, the Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded for achievements relating to the further development of electrically conductive plastics [3]. The electronic ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polystyrene (PS)
...ene (PS) Daniel Wagner, Ludwigshafen/Germany With a world-wide consumption of 10.5 million tonnes in 2001 polystyrene is counted amongst the quantitatively most important thermoplastics and continues to be ranked in fourth place after PE, PP and PVC. Also in recent years on the average the dynamic development of consumption was a little greater than that of the gross domestic products of the corresponding countries and it is generally expected that this development will continue. General eco...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Powder Injection Moulding: Joining Injection Moulded Sintered Parts in the Green-compact Phase
...the joining of highly filled plastics. However, the material – depending on the filler – has much higher thermal conductivity together with lower heat capacity. The consequence of this is sudden melting of the feedstock, extremely fast cooling by thermal conduction to the clamp, and reduced stability of the part is exposed to high temperature for too long. By contrast, the green compact must not be heated at too high a temperature or for too long, since the low-molecular components of the binder...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Pressure Forming Machines: Take Control of Complex Motion Sequences
...leration forces resulting from increased speed.“ By carefully reducing the masses of the moving components in a calculated manner, it was also possible to avoid an excessively high increase in power requirement and energy consumption for the faster cycle times. The result can be called truly impressive. While the Model KMD 75 and Model KMD 100 from Kiefel dry-cycle at rates of max. 50 and max. 40 cycles per minute, respectively, the new automatic thermoforming machine with the designation KMD 85...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives ...
... are environmentally friendly and that the acrylates are very resistant to ageing. However, it was nevertheless thought that dispersions with typical water contents of approx. 50% could at best be processed as fast as solvent-based polymers and that it would be impossible to produce a uniform coating on nonpolar (siliconised) films. However, continuous improvements in product properties and, more importantly, simultaneous advances in coating technology gave the dispersions the breakthrough they ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Prevention of Solid Waste: Plastic Packaging Today - A Lightweight Champion
...d different eating habits. The number of meals increases; the consumer wants prepared portions in smaller units. Many consumers prefer complete meals, self-service articles and frozen food, in addition, a strong trend toward fast food and take-out meals is apparent. The packaging industry has reacted to these modified eating habits: fresh salads in transparent containers, milk drinks in small bottles, dehydrated soups in sturdy cups, mini bars and or complete meals in multi-compartment trays are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Printing and Finishing Webs
...ividually from about 100 modules. Movable bearings permit the use of different width print rollers without using adapters. Printing unit trolleys, automatic coupling of the print rollers and changing of the doctor blades without any tools make for fast changeovers. For the pressure rollers, interchangeable sleeves are provided which can be changed easily and quickly, above all without cutting the material web. To do this, the roller bearings are opened without any tools, the pressure roller swin...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Process Simulation: Thermal Conductivity of the Polymer Melt as Basis
Measurement Technique Thermal Conductivity of the Polymer Melt as Basis Process Simulation. The thermal conductivity of the polymer melt is one of the essential parameters used in process simulation. Here fast, non-contact flash methods are applied and allow determination of the thermal diffusivity not only of the solid injection moulded part, but also in the melting range and above it. Stephan Knappe Process optimisation at the injection mould is frequently very time and cost intensive. Here ca...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Process Technology: Polyurethane Processing Systems
...ng materials can also be produced in a continuous manner. Purchasers of boards nowadays demand variable dimensions of 0.5 to 1.3m width and 20 to 240mm thickness. Production speeds range from 2 to 15m/min. High-speed systems operate as fast as 40m/min. Densities vary from 20 to 60kg/m3 . The double-conveyor section usually has a length between 12 and 45m. Complete systems for production of metal sandwich elements (Fig. 16) usually measure about 200m in length, from the profiling mechanism for th...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Process Variant for Thin-wall Injection Moulding: Injection Moulding with Precompression
...red injection pressure is more of a problem, as this rises by the cube of the wall thickness. However, the parameter that limits the thinness of the wall is the viscosity, which is directly dependent on wall thickness: The thinner the part, the faster the cooling and the quicker the increase in viscosity of the solidifying melt. As a direct result of this, the pressure rises until the higher viscosity prevents any further injection of material into the cavity. Particularly in thin-wall applicati...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Processing Technologies: Processing Fibre-reinforced Plastics
...y diverse requirements with the wider use of these processes in the areas of leisure, motor racing, aerospace engineering and the automotive industry. These requirements include: - reproduction of complex geometries, - high fibre volume contents, - fast cycles, low mould and therefore unit costs, - high quality and reproducibility, and - optimum utilisation of the fibres, i.e. optimised structural mechanics. These requirements can only be fulfilled if the individual stages in the whole process,...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Producing for Medical Engineering
...y different product life cycles. The successful products that we now have at Sulzer were developed between five and ten years ago and could have a life cycle of 20 years. While disposable products generally offer processors a chance of earning money faster, as soon as you are dealing with pharmaceutical components or biological ones such as implants and inhalers, there may be two or three years when nothing happens because registration takes that long. So, injection moulders must be willing to d...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Product Development: Rapid Analysis of Film Properties on Pilot Lines
...nd deviation of individual values. A large difference, however, is evident in the level of the two series of data. In this regard, the significantly lower specific throughput of the pilot line must be taken into account. The consequence is faster cooling with a correspondingly lower frost line. This may explain the rather clear difference. Analysis of the other data that were measured leads to statements similar to those for the two characteristics discussed above; these will not be discussed f...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Production Cell Offers Complete Solution
...an each stack individually via sensors and raise them all to exactly the same height so that the labels can be easily separated and passed quickly on to the next stage. This hand-over unit works fully automatically with very short, fast lift motions and permits a cycle time of less than 2s for four labels. At the heart of the production cell is the W 627 HSS insert and removal unit, which takes the labels from the gripper with an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre. This unit was developed many ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Project Engineering of a Manufacturing Cell: Planning with Farsightedness
...arameters. In comparison to manual part removal, the use of robots shortens the cycle times so much that the productivity of the plants can be increased by 15 to 20%. The ability to swivel the foil feed unit and relocate the laminar flow box makes fast mould change possible, so that the plants can be refitted in justifiable times. The smaller plant based on the machine with 1250kN closing force is convertible from IMD to IML; thus a manufacturing cell can run both procedures. Final Reflection I...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Project “Colorado”: Rapid Prototypes for Rapid Cars
...adlight housing produced via the SPM process (photos: Trapp) Fig. 1. Dipl.-Ing. Peter Hofmann, Managing Director of protoform, “Almost one hundred complete part sets in just under ten weeks shows how fast Space Puzzle Molding can be.“ Fig. 2. Reliable development of a complicated housing: the design for the headlight housing was tested and optimised prior to production using prototypes in the original material Fig. 3. SPM moulds are available after a short period of time and provide plastic ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Promote People, Shape Technology
...m should be individualised and differentiated thereby. Another qualification project is concerned with knowledge management as well as quality awareness in small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). Centre for Plastics The blow moulding process and fast product development are at the centre of research and service of the Dr. Reinold Hagen Foundation. The following services are organised around these product groups: - dimensioning moulds and materials, - simulation of the blow moulding process u...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PU Will Continue to Grow
...gs reinforced with fibres or platelets had been produced for the American automotive industry, e. g. for the Firebird, Camaro and Chevrolet Transport models and for the increasing number of pick-up trucks. This pick-up truck market would develop fast - at the expense of steel and SMC - provided a satisfactory process could be found for online painting of the 3.5 mm-thick wings. Besides that, according to Meiners, General Motors were using a large number of thermoplastic wings made from unreinfor...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Pulsed Cooling Versus Continuous Cooling: Search for Sense
...e-section screw with a diameter of 45mm. The engineering plastics used were UltramidB3S and UltraformN2320 (manufacturer: BASF). UltramidB3S is an unreinforced, easyflowing polyamide6 with high impact strength; UltraformN2320 is an unreinforced, fast-solidifying polyoxymethylene injection moulding grade. The mould chosen was the so-called ejection test bowl (Fig.1). The instrumentation in this mould made it possible to record the mould temperature on the moving and fixed mould halves about 5mm u...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PUR Composite Spray Moulding (PUR-CSM): Open to Many Different Applications
PUR Processing Open to Many Different Applications PUR Composite Spray Moulding (PUR-CSM). A new system variant of polyurethane spray technology involves the use of an isocyanate plus a fast- and a slow-reacting polyol. Depending on requirements, various additives, such as colour components, blowing agents or chopped reinforcing fibres, can be incorporated. For the production of moulded parts, only one mould half is required and no mould carrier. Ingo Kleba Thomas Kirsten In processing a rea...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Quality Assurance: A New Standard of Gravimetric Metering
...le. The system alarms if no additive can be refilled. The concept of the metering system makes it possible to dose up to four additives at the same time very accurately and to obtain the consumption of the main material gravimetrically (Fig.2). Fast Amortisation The operation of the equipment becomes very simple. For the injection moulding process only two values are entered in the controller of the ColorSave 1000, i.e. the shot weight and the desired metering quantity in percent. The system do...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Quality Assurance: Residence-time Measurements and Detection of Melt Heterogeneities
... by a spike pulse produced by means of a PC plug-in card (Matec SR9000) [5]. The ultrasonic waves penetrate the melt and are damped and delayed (Fig.2). The second ultrasonic transducer receives the signal, which is amplified and then digitised by a fast AD transducer (Matec SR-9010). To be able to detect the signals from the four channels along the extruder screw, measuring-point selectors are switched between the sensors (ultrasound, pressure and temperature) and the measuring electronics (swi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Quality Testing: Criteria for Optical Sheet Inspection
... involved in the trial are negligible compared with the gain in confidence in the decision. The test installation shows under realistic conditions whether the supplier can locate all the relevant material defects. The tests also show how fast and easy the mechanical and electrical installation of the system is, and whether the system is flexible enough for adaptation to customer requirements during the installation phase. This mainly concerns the possibility for visualisation of the results in a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Railroad Rolling Stock: On Track with Lightweight Construction Techniques
...e given a special comfort feel by a lining with a new translucent material based on melamine resin [7, 8]. In the future the series rolling stock Coradia Lirex resulting from the Lirex Experimental will be used in Stockholm’s regional traffic. Fast and High Speed Trains: For trains in long-distance traffic the highest requirements concerning mechanical strength and aerodynamic behaviour are made on external shrouding. Also here the high-speed trains’ numerous tunnel stops require a high level of...