• North American suppliers report shortages of polyethylene and ABS March 12, 2010
• A123 signs auto battery deal March 15, 2010
• Superb vision brings Ohio molder success despite the recession March 12, 2010
• Resin suppliers decry biodegradables March 17, 2010
• Growing volume of mislabeled bottles causing problems for PET recyclers March 15, 2010

• North American suppliers report shortages of polyethylene and ABS March 12, 2010
• More increases reported for polyethylene and polypropylene prices March 19, 2010
• Superb vision brings Ohio molder success despite the recession March 12, 2010
• Danafilms doubling Ky. plant size, adding W&H extruder March 12, 2010
• Resin suppliers decry biodegradables March 17, 2010

D. Weisman designs new infrared heater

The heaters have superior temperature uniformity across the heater faces, according to the Stamford, Conn., company. They can be outfitted with a composite, neo-ceramic face of a special glass or a metal face.

Heaters may be used as stand-alones or as part of a sheet-fed or indexing system.

Tel. 203-322-9978, fax 909-498-9406, e-mail info@daveweisman.com.

Bunting’s ValueMag adds more options

The line will include magnetic cartridges, plate magnets, grate magnets, liquid line traps, two-drawer grate-in-housing magnets and sight-glass magnets. These products join the existing magnetic holding assemblies under the ValueMag line.

Tel. 800-835-2526 or 316-284-2020, e-mail bmc@buntingmagnetics.com.

Polyfil’s Ecocell reduces resin use

Ecocell also can lessen a material’s carbon footprint by as much as 45 percent, according to officials with Rockaway, N.J.-based Polyfil. The Ecocell process infuses small particles of gas-generating additives into the polymer melt during processing.

After a chemical reaction, the particles release a small volume of gas that produces a cellular structure at a size that can’t be achieved with current chemical foaming agent technology, officials said. This process will expand a polymer by as much as twice its volume, with little or no penalty to energy consumption.

The Ecocell process can be used in a number of resins including polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene; and with applications like thermoforming, sheet and structural foam molding. To date, top uses for Ecocell have been in PS and thermoforming, a company spokesperson said.

Polyfil operates out of a 60,000-square-foot plant in Rockaway.

Tel. 866-765-9345, fax 973-627-7344, info@polyfilcorp.com.

Profile extruder adds R&D, prototype line

The line has two extruders: a Davis-Standard with a 1½-inch screw diameter and 1¼-inch Thermoplast unit. It can be run in coextrusion or regular single extrusion. The line also has drying equipment and haul-off units.

Manchester, N.H.-based Keller Products moved existing extruders to create the R&D line.

Keller is gaining a reputation for quick-turnaround prototyping, said James Decknick, vice president of sales and marketing. The firm has helped customers — and some resin suppliers — to run trials of extruded profiles from polylactic acid and other bioresins, conductive plastics and wood-plastic composites.

“It’s almost like we’re inventing the product with them,” he said.

Customers also can do small production runs, then switch to one of Keller’s 2½-inch and 3½-inch extruders for larger runs.

President John Hudson said the R&D line helps Keller get closer to customers. “Our customers like the convenience of being able to come in to either run different materials or change the designs all in one day,” he said.

Tel. 877-209-9359, e-mail jimd@kellerproducts.com.

Bioadditive based on ethanol residuals

DDS Bio Composite can act as a chemical foaming agent and as a compatibilizer for blending different polymers, according to the Payson, Ariz., firm.

Cana BioProducts claims that when used in injection molding the new additive lowers part cost, cuts cycle time, provides lightweighting and adds an environmentally friendly aspect to a product. The biocomposite is a blend of a biopolymer, microfiber filler and fatty acids in a polar polymer carrier.

The additive generates carbon dioxide in the molding process to create a microcellular composite structure through an environmentally friendly foaming process. Resultant bubbles are only 1-50 microns in size and they surround individual particles. The nucleating action can reduce cycle time between 10 percent and 50 percent, Cana BioProducts claims.

An added benefit is the product’s ability to eliminate the pack and hold phase of the molding cycle.

Tel. 888-461-3529, fax 941-637-8183, e-mail jrehkopf@pulsedry.com.

Gammaflux gears controllers to SVG

SVGC systems provide speed, accuracy and repeatability to control the process better.

Gammaflux offers the product with both hot-runner temperature control and sequential valve-gate control in one enclosure, with one interface and one menu for the hot runner and sequence.

The integrated systems can open or close eight, 16 or 32 valve gates. Stand-alone systems are available for just sequential valve-gate control.

Gammaflux is based in Sterling, Va.

Tel. 800-284-4477 or 703-471-5050, fax 703-689-2131, e-mail info@gammaflux.com.

PTI, Italy’s Bandera team up on dryerless sheet equipment

PTI officials said dryerless PET and PLA sheet extrusion is widely accepted in Europe but relatively uncommon in North America.

The companies announced the 10-year agreement Feb. 23. Bandera and PTI will supply extrusion equipment to create the sheet lines. PTI also will provide its Titan control system, as well as electrical components approved by Underwriters Laboratories, for delivery in North America.

PTI plans to install a production-scale demonstration line later this year at its headquarters in Aurora, Ill.

Bandera is based in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

“We feel it’s important to have the ability to demonstrate this technology to potential customers under real-world conditions,” PTI President Dana Hanson said. “Our plan is to have customers send in their own material, or we will have material available to them to trial.”

PTI will supply turnkey systems.

Bandera’s high-vacuum twin-screw extruder technology is linked to a PTI single-screw sheet line and other PTI downstream equipment. HVTSE allows PET to be processed without the need for drying and crystallizing the material, the company said. Using a vacuum, the Bandera extruder de-volatizes and de-moisturizes the material, as part of the extrusion process.

The Bandera technology uses a co-rotating twin-screw extruder with a 52-1 length-to-diameter ratio, according to John Chalmers, PTI’s vice president of sales and marketing.

PTI does not make twin-screw extruders. Bandera wants to expand its sales in North America.

Chalmers said that energy savings is a big draw for the dryerless sheet extrusion technology. “People are looking at overall production costs a lot more than they used to because margins are so low,” he said.

Chalmers said that a dryerless system gives about a 30 percent savings on drying costs over a conventional single-screw extrusion system.

Under the 10-year exclusive agreement, PTI will promote the Bandera technology, and incorporate it into PTI sheet extrusion lines, according to Andrea Rigliano, Bandera’s vice president of sales and marketing. The lines will be manufactured in Aurora, and PTI will handle service and support.

Bandera makes single-screw and co-rotating and counter-rotating twin-screw extrusion lines for blown film, sheet and pipe production. Luigi Bandera founded the company in 1947. Today the company is managed by his sons, Piero and Franco Bandera.

Tel. 630-585-5800, fax 630-585-5855.

Erema upgrades vented line

“We have put more distance between the screen changer and the vent section of the extruder and added a mixing section,” said Tim Hanrahan, president and CEO of Erema North America Inc. in Ipswich, Mass. “Because the plastics will be blended better, that means more plastics will be exposed to the vent system, and the vent system will be able to pull out more gasses.”

There will be no additional price premium for TVEplus, which will now be standard on any product in the TVE line, said Hanrahan. Erema North America is the U.S.-based distributor for Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH in Ansfelden, Austria.

Erema said tests of TVEplus with heavily printed packaging film showed an increase of about three times the efficiency at removing gases from ink, binding agents and other additives, as well as incidental contaminating materials.

“This is for people who have difficult materials to reprocess — such as film houses and companies that process materials with a heavy print content,” Hanrahan said in a Feb. 25 phone interview. “With TVEplus, the pellet will be more solid and contain less volatile compounds.”

Erema said its TVEplus series can handle throughputs that range from 250 kilograms/hour to 2,500kg/h.

In the basic Erema recycling system, scrap material is fed into a large vertical cutter/compactor that uses friction to compress, size, reduce and pre-warm the plastic material, with the resulting scrap blended to produce a steady, predictable melt before it is fed to the extruder screw.

In the Erema TVE series, melt filters are placed ahead of the venting or degassing system.

Tel. 978-356-3771, fax 978-356-9003.

Evonik opens center for in-mold coating

Evonik worked with KraussMaffei AG to develop CoverForm, which the company already has introduced in Europe and plans to launch in the United States and Asia in 2010.

KM used its experience in injection molding and reaction injection technology.

Evonik developed a product combination of a specialty Plexiglas molding compound and a solvent-free acrylic reactive system for the coating.

CoverForm works by applying a liquid acrylic coating into the mold right after injection molding. Then, a final compression molding step spreads the coating over the part. The technology substantially cuts fabrication costs for scratch-resistant and chemical-resistant plastic parts, since it eliminates the need for a separate coating step.

At the 2009 Materialica trade show in Germany, CoverForm won the Design and Technology Award and took top honors in the category of surface and technology.

Sven Schröbel, CoverForm project manager, said Evonik will work on CoverForm applications for anti-reflective and electrically conductive coatings.

Tel. 49-6151-18-4079, fax 49-6151-18-3177, e-mail doris.hirsch@evonik.com.

Synventive Molding debuts design tool

Synventive added the downloadable CAD models on its redesigned Web site. The site is available in English, German and Mandarin Chinese.

The service makes it easier for a mold designer to “drop-in” the Synventive hot-runner manifold and nozzle drawings into their mold-design drawings.

Tel. 978-646-3482, e-mail dcrow ley@synventive.com.

Wabash MPI offering Triton series press

A touch-screen programmable logic controller can store up to 10 programs.

Guards on the Triton are designed with a manual hinged front with a magnetic safety switch interlock, sheet-metal wrap for easy maintenance, and expanded windows.

Tel. 260-563-1184, fax 260-563-1396, e-mail wabashmpi@corpemail.com.

GN’s heater platen boasts faster cycles

GN is pitching it as a first for contact-heat, cut-in-place thermoforming machines. The platen is designed to match a specific tool by pre-engineering the heater and air channel locations within the platen. Each dedicated platen has a specific cut plate that matches the design of the tool cutting die. An air channel is located in the platen within 1 millimeter of where the cutting die touches the cutting plate, so a high volume of forming air can reach each cavity.

Depending on the thermoformed product, the dedicated heater platen can cut cycle time by 20-30 percent, the company said. Because of the quicker forming times, the parts have greater clarity and more-consistent material distribution.

The tool-specific heater platen adds $12,000 to $18,000 per tool set, but GN said the investment can easily be recouped from higher production rates.

GN said the thermoforming heater platen is being used in North American for food-packaging applications.

Tel. 902-275-3571, fax 902-275-3100, e-mail gn@gnplastics.com.

Sidel claims lightest hot-fillable bottles

Sidel has introduced the Skyward and Curvy designs.

Skyward is a long silhouette with cylindrical and square shapes and just four panels. Curvy sports curves, spirals and a twisted back that is a support beam. The Curvy bottle does not have panels.

The new geometric structure of the body compensates for deformation during cooling.

Sidel said the bottles, which weigh just 18.9 grams each, can be blow molded at the rate of 1,800 bottles per hour, per mold, using standard Sidel equipment, thanks to heating optimization with the company’s SBO Universal range of machines.

The machinery maker’s U.S. operation, Sidel Inc., is in Norcross, Ga.

Tel. 678-221-3200, fax 678-221-3027, e-mail marketing.atlanta@sidel.com.

Plastic Flow updates simulation software

The company has developed a completely new algorithm to simulate multilayer flow during polymer coextrusion. The algorithm now allows polyXtrue to predict the interface shape between adjacent polymer layers, even for highly complex die geometries.

Other new features include:

* The software now determines the shape of the streamlines along the interface between adjacent polymer layers, so the user can pinpoint the location in the feed block that needs to be modified to get the desired interface shape at the die exit.

* The new version has many options to generate three-dimensional finite element mesh. In particular, the new software now allows boundary layer meshes as well as extruded meshes.

The software also allows users to plot more variables, including residence time distribution for each polymer layer, velocity deviation across the die exit, shape of the interface between adjacent polymer layers at the die exit, shear-rate distribution and shear-stress distribution.

Tel. 906-483-0691, fax 906-483-2644.

Redwood acquires board-turning system

The Shark Fin system is a patented board-turning system for grading tables in sawmills and planer mills.

Redwood had licensed the Shark Fin technology for more than 13 years from SGM.

Tel. 604-607-6015, e-mail arodenburgh@redwoodplastics.com.