Beginning in 2017, the first Milacron monosandwich coinjection molding press equipped with MuCell will be installed at German processor Sorcole GmbH, and available for customer trials and samples.
Trexel, the developer of the MuCell microcellular foaming technology, announced the news.
Trexel and Sorcole have worked together for many years, according to Hartmut Traut, Trexel's CEO and business director of Europe.
“Recently, both companies have been increasingly confronted by the challenges of producing aesthetically acceptable lightweight parts,” he said.
Milacron's monsandwich process, developed in the 1990s, uses a standard injection molding machine equipped with a secondary extruder.
The technology offers a process that can produce high-quality parts with solid skin around a core of physically foamed material. That opens up new applications, for example, using recycled material with filler for the foamed core, the companies said.
Sorcole is getting a Milacron MuCell monosandwich machine, with 800 metric tons of clamping force.
Sorcole, based in Hutturm, Germany, now has installed three MuCell injection molding machines, ranging in clamping force from 400-1,300 tonnes.
Trexel is based in Wilmington, Mass.