Ensinger/PennFibre expands Pennite line
Ensinger/PennFibre has expanded its thermoformable nylon sheet product line with Pennite 4512, a nylon 6 with 12 percent glass-fiber reinforcement and thermal and impact modifiers.
The company claims the new sheet is a higher-performance product than Pennite 4508, introduced last year. Pennite 4512 has enhanced heat-deflection temperature, greater elongation and higher tensile and flexural strength. Other properties include high resistance to chemicals and permeability and good melt strength for thermoforming.
The Washington, Pa., firm said the sheet is a cost-effective replacement for metal and is especially well-suited for automotive applications such as ducts, shrouds, covers and structural components.
Tel. (800) 662-7366, fax (215) 702-9552, e-mail [email protected]
Guill boosts lineup of dies for extrusion
Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Inc. of West Warwick, R.I., recently introduced several new dies.
The MicroFlow is an ultralow-volume spiral crosshead for multilayer, thin-wall medical extrusion of materials such as fluoropolymers. The crosshead has FeatherTouch adjustment in the die holder, a cartridge-style ball assembly that doesn't require the loosening of retaining screws to make adjustments, and its Seal Right System, which it said eliminates leakage between the deflectors. Stainless-steel MicroFlow dies are available in single, double and triple extrusion capabilities.
Guill's MiniMicro series now is available with an outer diameter of 2¼ inches and a length of 2¼ inches - smaller than the MicroFlow, which measures 3 inches in diameter by 4 inches in overall length.
The firm's 900SPR series of in-line tubing dies is designed for close-tolerance extrusion of medical tubing, such as catheters and encapsulated stripes. Sales manager William Conley said the advanced design has been critically improved for medical equipment companies that require thinner walls and closer tolerances in a range of products.
Tel. (401) 828-7600, fax (401) 823-5310, e-mail [email protected]
Feedback software supplements PETWall
Agr*TopWave LLC of Butler, Pa., said its PETWall technology to monitor bottle-wall thickness has been integrated with Virtual Prototyping software from Plastic Technologies Inc. of Holland, Ohio.
The combined technology offers closed-loop control in real time on commercial blow molding systems.
PETWall continuously monitors every container during production to verify that material is distributed as specified, and it identifies problems. PTI's Virtual Prototyping analyzes the data generated by PETWall and provides direct feedback to the machine, making adjustments.
Agr*TopWave also introduced Twist Check, which automatically tests the torque required to remove a bottle cap. Twist Check can store data from 1,000 samples.
Tel. (724) 482-2163, e-mail [email protected]
Novapax extends size of injection blow unit
Novapax Maschinenbau GmbH is offering a new size of injection blow molding machine.
The NSB 850/400 has a maximum clamping force of 93.5 tons. Novapax said the machine can compete with much larger, three-station machines, since it can accommodate a 35.4-inch transfer head to run high-cavitation molds, but with lower capital investment and operating costs.
The machine also has what Novapax said is an industry-standard, 10-inch mold-clamp stack height, so it can run existing three-station molds for injection blow molded containers.
The NSB 850/400 has an electric screw drive and indexing motor, so it saves energy compared with an all-hydraulic unit, according to Novapax of Leer, Germany, Tel. +49 (211) 947-5257.
Institute announces foam molding results
The Institut fur Kunststoffverarbeitung in Aachen, Germany, has presented research work on the injection molding of thermoplastic foam, which requires a low clamping force.
IKV has tested the process by molding components that incorporate elements such as ribs, screw-in heads and bosses.
IKV developed the Optifoam technology, which was commercialized in 2004 by Sulzer Chemtech AG of Winterthur, Switzerland. The key feature is a blowing fluid injection nozzle, which introduces blowing agent directly into the polymer, upstream of the plasticizing unit. IKV said the nozzle is retrofitted easily and inexpensively onto conventional presses.
The foam cannot obtain a Class A surface finish, IKV said.
Tel. +49 (241) 809-3806, fax +49 (241) 809-2262, e-mail [email protected]
High-heat ovens clean plastics from tooling
Barnstead International of Dubuque, Iowa, is marketing Pyro-Clean ovens, which use very high heat instead of solvents to clean plastic from breaker plates and other metal tooling.
The oven chamber is purged to remove air. The temperature is raised to about 900° F, leaving only carbonized residue on the parts. The residue is removed by introducing air into the chamber, quickly oxidizing the carbon.
Tel. (800) 553-0039, fax (563) 589-0516, e-mail [email protected]
Tinius impact tester touts high-res display
Tinius Olsen of Horsham, Pa., said its IT 504 plastic impact tester has a highly accurate controller and high-resolution display.
The equipment has fixtures for Izod and Charpy impact tests. A T-slotted block makes it easy to change from one to the other. Options include hot and cold chambers, an instrumentation package and separate 1J and 0.5J hammers.
Tel. (215) 675-7100, fax (215) 441-0899, e-mail [email protected]
