The Japan Steel Works and Marubeni America Corp. (Booth S1576) alliance is showing extrusion features new to the North American market as part of its renewed marketing push, officials said at NPE.
William Beleck, an associate with Marubeni, said JSW-built twin-screw extruders are offered with its patented NIC special kneading cylinder. It includes a grooved barrel to help ensure no dead zones in the section and to improve dispersion. Also new to North America is JSW's twist kneading rotor forward, a hybrid between a kneading segment and a rotor segment, Beleck said. The patent-pending configuration provides high output and less energy consumption at lower temperatures, he said.
A degassing cylinder for fine powders is another new feature in its North American offerings, said Seiji Umamoto, manager of plastics machinery sales for JSW. The cylinder, inserted into the feeder barrel, removes air from powders through a fine mesh.
JSW was not very active in North American markets for compounding extruders after Davis-Standard Corp. stopped making them for JSW in 2000. In April, JSW and Marubeni stepped up their North American presence when they set up an extruder sales and service center in Edinburgh, Ind., to handle the machines made in Hiroshima, Japan.
JSW makes twin-screw compounding extruders from 30-400 millimeters in size. JSW is the biggest supplier in Asia, claimed Beleck, and the biggest globally in sizes of 140mm and up. JSW boasts that it makes all components of the machines. The company's research and development laboratory in Hiroshima runs 14 extrusion lines. One service offered is simulation analysis to design screw configurations.
JSW and Marubeni are showing at their booth a 44mm I-Tex extruder equipped with brass sections for high-temperature applications and a variety of kneading and mixing elements.
