TDM designed to make MuCell molding easier

Düsseldorf, Germany — Trexel Inc. was present at displays for four injection molding makers at K 2019 in Düsseldorf, and two them — BMB SpA and KraussMaffei Technologies GmbH — molded parts using the company's MuCell Screw Tip Dosing Module (TDM).

BMB molded a margarine container with ultra-thin-wall packaging on a StackTeck mold. KraussMaffei recycled polypropylene buckets to mold an automotive part.

Trexel's TDM will enable more users to implement MuCell, said Trexel President Brian Bechard.

Instead of requiring the use of a screw equipped with a center check ring, to keep the gas under pressure, molders now can now put the TDM onto a standard screw to replace the traditional screw tip/non return valve.

When the melt goes into the mold, the pressure frees the gas and creates the release of tiny bubbles, in the form of microcellular foam molding.

Bechard said Trexel optimized the design of its melting and mixing areas to create the Tip Dosing Module. The prior method with the check ring required a longer screw.

"One of the reasons this length was required is because we didn't have a gas injector design that could handle the pressure of injection," he said. So, part of the TDM innovation was creating a high-pressure gas injector, the SCF.

Bechard said the TDM allows machinery companies to target screws running MuCell to end-use-specific designs, compression ratios and other features.

At K, MuCell also ran on presses at Engel Austria GmbH and Nissei Plastic Industrial Co.