The material science specialist supplies Hytac-brand plug-assist materials to thermoformers and, through extensive tests, found improvements in haze, material distribution and crush strength of PP parts for which a processor used syntactic foam plug assists.
Thermoforming trials used 0.055-inch thick PP sheet that was clarified with the Millad NX 8000 agent from Milliken & Co.'s specialty chemical business in Spartanburg, S.C., and run at uVu Technologies LLC in Boca Raton, Fla.
“We took a data-driven approach,” Conor Carlin, Hytac sales and marketing manager, said in an interview. ”We have seen a demand for higher quality plastics parts, including cold-beverage deep-draw cups that are thermoformed.”
The aim was to determine if Hytac-C1R copolymer syntactic foam could provide all of the benefits of syntactic foam without losing optical properties compared to solid polymers such as polyetherimide and acetal.
The formed part was a 3.5-inch-tall cup with a rim inner diameter of 2.6 inches and a bottom diameter of 2 inches. Hytrac-C1R's draw ratio of 3.4 led to cups with 20 percent lower haze compared to PEI and a 10-percent increase in cup weight versus PEI and 3 percent versus acetal.
Kathleen Boivin, CMT materials engineer, noted that the high-friction copolymer base of Hytac-C1R maximizes pulling sheet material in a tool in comparison with other plug materials.
The trials showed that forming with Hytac-C1R increased minimum sidewall thickness by 28 percent vs. PEI and 20 percent compared to acetal.
Increased cup weight and minimum sidewall thickness obtained with Hytac-C1R resulted in 31 percent higher cup crush strength compared to plugs made from PEI.
CMT displays Hytac-brand material samples at its NPE booth.
In addition, five thermoformers demonstrate use of CMT's plug-assist materials in their NPE exhibits: Guangdong Designer Machinery Co. Ltd. (Booth S28169), Güven Teknik Makina ve Kalip San. Dis Tic. ve Ltd. Sti. (Booth S12041), Illig Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG (Booth W8052), Kiefel GmbH (Booth W4763) and OMG srl (Booth S21055).
CMT of Attleboro, Mass., employs about 15 and occupies 18,000 square feet.
TPS LLC of Beaverton, Mich., doing business as Thermoformer Parts Suppliers, has a long-standing business relationship with CMT, and the firms collocated in exhibiting at NPE 2015.
