Milacron Holdings Corp. will show an Imflux-enabled injection molding machine at the Fakuma trade show in Germany next month, marking the first time an injection press manufacturer has adopted the molding technology from Imflux, part of Procter & Gamble Co.
Milacron made the announcement as part of its Sept. 10 news release in advance of Fakuma 2018, set for Oct. 16-20 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Milacron will mold a technical part on an all-electric Elektron EVO 155 press running a two-cavity Imflux mold.
Imflux uses constant, low pressure to slowly fill the mold, while simultaneously packing the melt and cooling the mold. Imflux software, linked to sensors, controls the process. Traditional injection molding uses high pressure and high temperatures, then switches over to the pack-and-hold phase.
Imflux will be fully integrated into the Milacron molding demonstration at Fakuma, said Gene Altonen, chief technology officer at Imflux. The injection press will be equipped with Imflux software and pressure sensors inside the mold and nozzle, he said.
Altonen said the machine at Fakuma will not include Imflux's sensor called NightHawk, which is bolted on the outside of the mold to measure strain and deflection in the mold, and converts that data into a measurement of cavity pressure. He said he plans to attend Fakuma.
Imflux officials say the technology can cut cycle time, reduce molding pressure by 50 percent, reduce molded-in stress and shrink variations and allow a wider range of processing windows and shrink variations inside the mold, among other benefits.
Giovanni Spitale, Milacron's chief marketing officer, said Imflux fits with Milacron's Industry 4.0 technology, called M-Powered, which the machinery company launched at NPE2018.
Consumer products giant P&G set up Imflux as a technology company in Hamilton, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Milacron's headquarters is in nearby Blue Ash, Ohio, and its main assembly plant is in Batavia, Ohio, not far away.
Imflux leaders want injection molding press manufacturers to offer Imflux-enabled machines as a way to spread the technology through the plastics industry. As reported by Plastics News, Imflux executives have said they are talking to a number of machinery makers, and they specified three: Milacron, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., and Wittmann Battenfeld Inc.
Altonen will give a presentation Sept. 13 at Plastics News' Caps & Closures conference in Chicago. Imflux also is sponsoring a tour at Flex Ltd. in Buffalo Grove, Ill., as part of the conference.