Nordson Xaloy, the screw and barrel maker owned by Nordson Corp., introduced the Quantum plasticizing unit with a new screw design that the company says reduces screw recovery time by 10-15 percent — cutting cycle times when injection molding high-speed, thin-wall packaging.
Xaloy will introduce the system at NPE 2015 in Orlando, Fla., at Booth W6263.
The barrier screw is designed to increase the rate of plastication for unmelted material, while minimizing shear forces on polymer that is already in a molten state.
Nordson also supplies a custom designed, poppet-style non-return valve with free-flowing channels that prevent degradation of the polymer.
A barrier screw has a middle section that separates solids from molten polymer, to maximize the heat and shear forces applied to the solids. “In the screw for the Quantum system, we strive for a mass balance throughout the length of the screw, accommodating the differential between the bulk density of the pellets being fed into the system and the density of the molten polymer,” said Tony Genova, engineering supervisor for screw manufacturing.