Extrusion equipment manufacturers are pushing the envelope for performance, quality and reliability. New products include machinery to tackle difficult materials such as plastic/wood fiber mixtures and nanocomposites and the growing array of new polymers.
Allied Dies Inc. (Booth N8318): New Duraflex line of flat film and sheet dies. The die remanufacturer is entering the new-die market through this NPE launch.
American Extrusion Services Inc. (Booth N6055): Will discuss its aftermarket extruder parts services. It claims its high-volume purchasing ensures low prices for extruder parts.
American Leistritz Extruder Corp. (Booth S230): First showing of its 40-inch wide thermoplastic polyolefin sheet extrusion system. The line includes the new TSCS control system, a high-speed ZSE-40 twin screw extruder and a three-roll stack.
On display for the first time in North America, Leistritz's new, high-performance HP twin-screw compounding extruders. The HP series enables screw speeds up to 1,200 rpm with a 30 percent increase in transmitted torque. Plus, a new laboratory, three-roll sheet take-off, the AL-08-14, with AC Vector drives for wide speed range. Controls are self-contained for a single power connection.
A.R. Engineering Machine Inc. (Booth N5066): A back-to-back surface winder.
Berstorff Corp. (Booth S2944): ZE Ultra Torque twin-screw extruder, a high-output compounder the company says is easy to maintain and operate.
New to North America, Berstorff's ZE Ultra Glide series of laboratory and high-rate, small-lot machines. These extruders allow quick changeover, especially important in production of color masterbatches. Also new, Compex MPC extruders for low-torque compounding of heat- and shear-sensitive materials.
Black Clawson Converting Machinery LLC (Booth N6462): QFP series of modular, flexible packaging lines, which can reach widths of 72 inches and speeds of 1,500 feet per minute. The drives are fully integrated AC vector types. Pre-engineered modules shorten delivery time, lower costs and allow easy installation and start-up.
Brampton Engineering Inc. (Booth N5609): Six-layer ISO-therm steamlined coextrusion die for extruding blown film from sensitive polymers. ISO-therm allows coextrusion of materials such as polyvinylidene dichloride with nylon or a rubberized polymer with a low-temperature adhesive. Melt temperature of one material is not affected by the temperature of another material because die mantains temperature differences of as much as 302° F between adjoining layers.
Eliminator air ring, which Brampton claims provides exceptional bubble stability to enable film extruders to handle a wider range of materials with different melt strengths. Air ring has calibrated settings to allow reproducible results.
Breyer GmbH (Booth E10352): Extrusion technology for transparent sheet, thermoforming sheet, flat film and cosmetic tubes.
Buss America Inc. (Booth N7504): Modular kneader systems expanded to include all sizes of its kneaders, from 55-200 millimeters. Three length-to-diameter-ratio barrel modules in four basic designs ensure modular capability for its MKS series of kneading compounding machines to allow them to handle a range of engineering plastics.
Canterbury Engineering Co. Inc. (Booth E13408): Total encapsulation of extrusion and injection screws to provide increased wear resistance.
CDS Inc.-Custom Downstream Systems (Booth E10354): Will discuss its downstream equipment for profiles and pipe, including wet and dry sizing and haul-offs.
Century Specialties (Booth N6374): New CS back-vented combi barrel that allows a higher percentage of fill to be added to the melt stream in a compounder via a side feeder. Vent is upstream in the barrel, and the side feeder is downstream, allowing air to escape from the vent but preventing materials from escaping out the vent port.
Self-cleaning vent stack with a shallow design to eliminate contaminants from collecting on the stack wall and spilling into the melt stream. Century, in partnership with Blach Verfahrenstechnik GmbH, to introduce an extruder with a ring of screws corotating around a static core. The extruder has high throughput; the screws have a self-cleaning feature.
Colonial Saw Co. Inc. (Booth E10040): Striebig compact vertical panel saw for plastic sheet. The saw cuts vertically and horizontally, and can cut several sheets at once with little dust.
Comerio Ercole SpA (Booth E14607): Several improvements in its PVC calendering lines.
Corelco (Booth E14512): Corrugated tubing production technology that includes blowing, vacuum and a combination of the techniques. The firm has been expanding into plastic mesh production machinery.
CPM GmbH (Booth N8962): Pro-Cut system, a chipless, quiet profile cut-off system. It can handle multi- and single-walled profiles.
Davis-Standard Corp. (Booth N6107): New and upgraded extruders that give better performance and reduce maintenance. New enhancements for Mark and Thermatic machines include an adjustable, two-bolt pivot-designed motor base, individually mounted air blowers and optional one-zone back barrel support.
New high-output tandem foam-sheet extrusion system with 4.7-inch and 6.5-inch extruders. Debut of the Woodtruder, a new plastic/wood fiber processing machine set up in a tandem extrusion arrangement with a 28-1 length-to-diameter parallel twin-screw extruder and a mounted single-screw, side-injection extruder.
New D-S blown film equipment and technology, such as controls, dies and winders. A 75-millimeter g-MAC extruder featuring a grooved feed section. New feed-screw designs for smooth and groove feeders.
Draiswerke Inc. (Booth E14503): Improved Gelimat compounding system, a high-speed machine for efficient dispersion. For difficult to compound materials, the Gelimat compounder G-HVA, an extra-fast processor for polymer/wood fiber composites and other materials. Also on display, the Turbutherm fluid bed dryer for problem materials.
Extruder Technologies Inc. (Booth E13017): Fast-lock die assembly for twin-screw extruders and hydraulic clamp for twin-screw machines' split-barrel section.
Extrusion Dies Inc. (Booth N5670): Accuflow flat-die coextrusion feedblock for multilayer cast film, sheet and coated products. The unit is fully adjustable, allows real-time control of quality and consistency, and combines highly streamlined flow surfaces with better control.
Also from EDI, a new, streamlined manifold for flat dies. The Multiflow VII eliminates some of the small radii and dead corners that can cause polymer degradation in conventional systems. It boosts productivity and quality in monolayer extrusion.
Extrusion Services Inc. (Booth N5786): Vacuum calibration sizing tank for wood composite extrusion. Also, a dual-servo fly-cutter/puller with touch-screen operator control display.
Farrel Corp. (Booth N6007): Prototype Ultima Compounder, a two-stage machine with high dispersive mixing capability. Applications include nanocomposites, high filler levels, polymer alloying and plastic/wood fiber compounding.
Future Design Inc. (Booth S4203): Demonstrating its new bubble management systems on a blown film line, and its new Saturn escort conveyor collapsing system in conjunction with its latest Bubble Glide guiding system. Included in the display are new air rings, air distribution manifolds and calibration baskets.
Genca Corp. (Booth N6391): In-line spiral and spider extrusion heads that minimize weld lines in medical and industrial tubing and pipe. ConStak multilayer head for tubing and pipe can accommodate thermal layer insulators for incompatible polymer processing.
Ghioldi srl (Booth N8954): New winders especially suited to stretch film.
Haake (Booth S1314): Microcompounder designed to measure processability and rheological properties of very small samples.
Hegler Plastik GmbH (Booth N8143): HP 1200 high-performance corrugated pipe extrusion technology. Patented corrugator can produce twin-wall, ribbed pipe with an integral socket.
Hosokawa Alpine American (Booth N6040): First U.S. showing of its low-stalk blown film line. A complete system will make trash bags from linear low density polyethylene.
The line will include the recently debuted 120-millimeter grooved feed extruder, profile measurement and control, lay-flat measurement control and servo-driven bag machine. The system's Alpine winder is suited to critical applications such as lamination-grade sheeting, which requires precise tension control.
HPM Corp. (Booth S3349): A 3½-inch Prodex III compounding extruder. A 50mm APV Baker Perkins twin-screw extrusion line marks HPM's launch into twin-screw machine markets. Also running a 2-inch Prodex I extruder to make medical tubing.
Industrial Extrusion Belting (Booth E14725): A new belt for pulling large profile extrusions. The new belt is totally mandrel-made and can handle difficult profiles.
D.R. Joseph Inc. (Booth E11720): Enhanced IS-IBCI internal bubble cooling systems for blown film. Featuring smart sensors with integrated microprocessors, temperature compensation, on-board diagnostics and high-speed pneumatics. Also, a new auto gauge controller and lay-flat controller for better operator and bubble control.
Karlville Development USA Inc. (Booth N9038): Extrusion equipment made in Taiwan, including Chi Chang's cast coextrusion and extrusion laminating lines and polystyrene foam extrusion systems. A new aluminum/plastic composite pipe extrusion system and breathable film cast extrusion line.
Kobelco Stewart Bolling Inc. (Booth N6070): New Hyper KTX twin-screw compounder with high torque and deep-groove screws. Also new, the Nex-T continuous-compounding mixer/extruder offering a wide operating range and high productivity.
Krauss-Maffei Corp. (Booth S2932): The company's largest parallel, counter-rotating, twin-screw extruder. Two other machines—a single-screw model and a twin-screw extruder—for doing coextrusion of profiles and pipe.
Krupp Werner & Pfleiderer Corp. (Booth N6140): All high-speed, high-torque twin-screw extruders. The ZSK 58 Megacompounder will highlight new technology, including a single-screw pump, that eliminates the need for pre-drying wood-fiber composites.
KW&P's ZSK 50 Megacompounder will be dedicated to coloring masterbatches using a split feed process. It includes a new tie-rod barrel to simplify barrel assembly. Also, the ZSK 25 World lab extruder, a versatile compounder for product development and short production runs.
List Inc. (Booth S217): Processing systems that can handle viscous, sticky and even solid polyers. The systems combine intensive mixing and kneading with large heat-transfer surfaces and large working volumes.
Lung Meng Machinery (USA/Taiwan) Inc. (Booth E11528): A zipper profile extruder that makes both male and female zippers, complete with mating jig and autowinder. A complete zipper bag-making machine that attaches zippers to film and makes bags. And, Lung Meng's new four-up, servo-driven bag-making machine, which makes autobags and includes accessories for special punches and attachments.
Madison Group (Booth E13609): New mixing breaker plate for tubing and profile extrusion that can be retrofitted in an extruder to create dispersive and distributive mixing, helping eliminate gel problems.
Menges Roller Co. (Booth N9245): A variety of converting rollers.
Merritt Davis Corp. (Booth N6162): A profile and tubing system and H-frame extruder among its extrusion lineup.
The profile/tubing line includes a 3-inch Vanguard extruder with 30-1 length-to-diameter ratio, die and adapter, vacuum tank, belt haul-off and guillotine saw. The H-frame system will have a 1½-inch, 24-1 extruder that offers mobility and room to insert a die cart underneath. Merritt says the system is particularly well-suited to coextrusion, and provides stability previously unavailable in satellite extruders.
Also showing a reclaim system with a 6-inch MX extruder that can consistently process 3,500 pounds per hour. Information available on Merritt's large, 10-inch MX extruder and complete reclaim system.
Meweka Engineering GmbH (Booth N8963) will introduce its PVC profile extrusion tooling and equipment. Machinery includes a split bath calibration and vacuum bath system that provides intensive cooling.
Milacron Inc. (Booths S2949, S2968): ExtrusionTek Milacron press for running woodflour/plastic composites, an Atlas parallel twin-screw extruder; a Pinnacle E86 conical twin-screw extruder.
New Castle Industries Inc. (Booth E10922): New mixing screw for extrusion and injection molding. The Super Stratablend screw has changes in the flow-channel dimensions and profile variations to increase dispersive and distributive mixing. It promises lower color-concentrate loading and higher output without degradation.
Nextrom SA (Booth E10157): Latest-generation fully automatic dual-coiler with strapping and S7 PLC control.
NFM/Welding Engineers (Booth N6501): TEM series of corotating, intermeshing, twin-screw extruders for compounding. The firm makes the TEM machines, which it says have high screw speeds and reduced maintenance, under licence from Toshiba Machine Co.
Nitech Polysystems Inc. (Booth N6183): Polaris series of blown film air rings, and Nitech die oscillator, both with improved technology.
Nuaa Xinli Plastics Machinery Factory (Booth N8970): Highlighting its extruder technology.
Peco Inc. (Booth E11952): Its new model 251 film and bag winder that handles widths of up to 60 inches and speeds of up to 500 feet per minute.
Pipe Coil Technology Ltd. (Booth E13936): North American debut of pipe coiling machines aimed at pipe from one-quarter to 8 inches in diameter. Its automatic and semiautomatic machines are especially suited to polyethylene pipe.
Plastimac (Booth S1188): Debut of DB/Plastimac 80 G SH servo-drive bag-making machine for lateral-gusseted bags, and the Tecom/Plastimac Monoblock MB 35 single-layer blown film extrusion line. Also a servo-drive, multipurpose bag-making machine for bottom-gusseted bags.
Processing Technologies Inc. (Booth N8018): In-line sheet extrusion systems to direct-feed sheet into a thermoformer. The machines can run as much as 6,000 pounds an hour for mono and coextruded structures. The compact take-off system delivers sheet at an elevated temperature to the thermoformer, saving energy.
Progressive Machine Co. Inc. (Booth S4115): Traverse winding machines.
Rai Hsing Plastics Machinery Works Co. Ltd. (Booth E11960): Featuring its fiber, sheet and pipe production machinery.
Randcastle Extrusion Systems Inc. (Booth N5121): A compounding extruder with high-speed transmissions for 10 times the work input of a conventional single-screw machine. It has adapted some twin-screw technology to the design, for 50-1 length-to-diameter screws and longer.
Also new, a production coextruder with a very small footprint and screw diameters from five-eighths inch to 1½ inches. Plus, a laminator station with roll widths of eight to 20 inches, available with single- or double-shell spiral baffle rolls. The unit is floor mounted with tracks for extra mobility.
Reel Neat Systems Inc., dba Reel-O-Matic (Booth E13621): High-capacity in-line coil take-up equipment with tension control.
Reifenhauser Inc. (Booth N6507): North American debut of its BF3000 blown film line, equipped with its latest winder. The line includes a three-layer stationary internal bubble-cooled die, a 12-stage bubble stabilization cage and the firm's newest winder, the UFA III. UFA can reverse-wind and operate in surface, enter and gap winding modes.
Also from Reifenhauser, a new configuration Mirex-W polypropylene sheet extrusion system it built for Milliken Chemical. It includes a grooved feed extruder and other features to produce high-quality, thin-gauge PP sheet.
Sino-Alloy Machinery Inc. (Booth E13745): A corotating twin-screw extruder. The 72mm machine runs at 600 rpm, has a length-to-diameter ratio of 40-1 and a production rate of about 880-2,600 pounds an hour.
SML Maschinengesellschaft mbH (Booth N5278): Will discuss its coextrusion lines for cast film. The lines have integrated, monoaxial stretching units for the production of breathable films, the company's specialty. Applications include medical and sanitary products, packaging and agricultural uses.
Specialty Extrusion Equipment Inc. (Booth S1107): A new puller/cutter with top-cut technology and a new, small-diameter coiler.
Technoplast International Inc. (Booth E14118): Slim Line calibration tables and dual puller/saw combinations.
Vulcan Machinery Corp. (Booth E10818): Redesigned SPC series servo puller/cutter and an SLC series coiler.
Wayne Machine & Die Co. (Booth N5450): New line of Yellow Jacket extruders with AC vector drives to provide full torque at a wide range of speeds. The machines, with barrels from one-quarter inch to 6 inches in diameter, feature a new double-reduction, helical gearbox that allows high horsepower drives to be used.
Also, new Yellow Jacket cast film systems featuring constant torque extruders, Flex-Lip push-pull plate dies and a new takeoff. The new lines are designed for laboratory and small-production applications and are said to be cost-competitive.
Welex Inc. (Booth N6001): A high-performance polypropylene packaging line. The 5-inch Mark III exruder can process 1,750 pounds per hour. Other features include Gneuss continuous back-flush screen changer, anti-static bath and indexing centerless disk turret winder with load cell tension control. Welex will deliver the system to Kama Corp. after NPE.
Also from Welex, a World Standard economical PET sheet extrusion line for delivery to a customer in Brazil.
Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. (Booth S268): In its U.S. debut, a three-layer Varex blown film extrusion line, which includes Optifil P-2 automatic die control with capacitive thickness gauge and gravimetric control. The line will run everyday at NPE before W&H delivers it to Charter Films of Superior, Wis.
