British Plastics & Rubber articles from April 2003

British Plastics & Rubber archives from April 2003

Verton spearheads LNP's plan to double sales in 5 years. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... SINCE being bought by GE Plastics a year ago, LNP Engineering Plastics has expanded its target applications, expanded the compounds with which to serve them (partly through input from GE) and is now expanding its worldwide production. LNP...

SABIC buys European rights to long glass PP. (Engineering Materials).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Long glass fibre PP specialist StaMax of Belgium is to become wholly owned by SABIC in a deal in which SABIC EuroPetrochemicals is buying Owns Corning's 50 per cent share. SABIC EuroPetrochemicals is the former DSM petrochemicals business which...

Short glass challenge to LGF polypropylene. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... BOREALIS is challenging the use of long glass fibre PP compounds in applications such as pedal boxes, air intake manifolds and vehicle front ends with a short glass fibre compound which uses a higher performance PP matrix. It says its new Xmod...

Higher performance squeezed out of high performance stock shapes. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... TO BRIDGE the performance gap between standard grades of engineering plastics and ultra-high performance (and expensive) materials like polyimides Quadrant Engineering Plastics Products is introducing stock shapes in engineering plastics that...

New perfluoroelastomer for critical seals. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... DUPONT Dow Elastomers has developed a new perfluoroelastomer material for critical sealing applications in the chemical process industry. Compared to its predecessors, Kalrez Spectrum 7075 offers a glossier surface, longer seal life and...

TPV offers a new level of resistance to hot oil. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... THE new Zeotherm TPV family developed by Zeon Chemicals using AES (Santoprene) technology (British Plastics & Rubber, December 2002 page 26) has gone into commercial production. These materials use the AES technology for making TPVs, with...

New vinyls prevent blood clotting. (Engineering Materials).
April 1, 2003... Vestolit has granted exclusive worldwide rights to develop and market anti-thrombogenic vinyl compounds to Teknor Apex. The company expects to have commercial materials ready in about two years time. Anti-thrombogenic means that the...

Biraghi small range is updated. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... BM BIRAGHI machines from 75 to 250 tonnes have been 'reengineered' for greater reliability and faster barrel changing. This is assisted by the provision of a bayonet coupling of the screw to the electric drive motor. Twin injection...

Sepics offers all options for fuel cell moulding. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... THE panacea for our domestic power requirements is the hydrogen fuel cell. Hydrogen and oxygen are brought together in the presence of a catalyst and they react to generate electricity with only water as the by-product. This wonder power...

Micromoulders from Japan. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... TWO micro moulding machines have been introduced worldwide by Nissei, one an electric 3 tonne machine and the other a 7 tonne hydraulic. Both machines are described as 'ultra compact'. The 3 tonne Elject AU3E is the company's smallest, while...

Toyo introduces lightweight electric range. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... TOYO has launched its Si-II Series of modular all-electric machines with 11 clamping capacities from 30 to 450 tonnes and 10 injection units having volumes from 21 to 2,028 [cm.sup.3]. The PLCS-10 control system delivers digital command signals...

New cooling technique pushes DVD cycles to sub 3 seconds. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... Krauss-Maffei has developed a new system for temperature control of DVD moulds that is said to cut cycle times to under 3 seconds. Two temperature circuits are regulated by a new design of chiller and a high performance pump through a new...

First truly all-electric from Demag. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... THE first truly all-electric European machine from the Demag Plastics Group is to be premiered at the Plast exhibition in Milan next month, and will go on sale in the autumn. When Demag Ergotech and Van Dorn Demag joined forces in the Demag...

Injection moulded car windows come a step nearer reality. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... COMPACT DISCS and car windows share two basic requirements. They need to be thin and they need to be free from distortion. When they are both made from polycarbonate they impose the same difficulties on the moulding process -- how to achieve...

Windsor breathes new life into big machines at Volkswagen. (A Universe of Solutions).
April 1, 2003... Two 2,700 tonne machines at Volkswagen's Wolfsburg plant in Germany have been made more flexible and more efficient by fitting additional injection units and replacing the original hydraulic injection units with electric screw drive. The...

Ireland -- the world's moulding shop. (A Universe of Solutions).
April 1, 2003... INJECTION moulding occupies an unusual position in plastics converting in Ireland in that in terms of the volume of material processed, it is substantially bigger than either pipe or film extrusion. Applied Market Information recently surveyed...

Localised clean air gets Data up and running. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... A SHORTCUT to early production of a project requiring clean moulding was provided for Data Plastics when it installed localised clean room equipment from Summit Systems. Data Plastics had the opportunity to mould a high volume biomedical...

Pressure and position sensing improve gas precision. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... CINPRES Gas Injection has developed its PEP (Plastics Expulsion Process) for greater precision when injecting the gas. Initiation of the gas pressure cycle is now by means of a signal given for the pressure of the melt in the mould cavity. This...

Outstanding WIT. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... The 50 per cent saving in cycle time achievable by water injection technology can recover the cost of converting a mould to WIT in less than a year says BASF, which has been conducting trials with its Ultradur PBT. The shorter cycle times,...

Fiesta front end is hybrid operation for Automold. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... BRITISH automotive supplier Automold is using the Bayer-developed sheet steel/plastic hybrid moulding process to make large vehicle components for Ford's Visteon operation in its Kerpen, Germany plant. The plant was set up for this project...

Precompression prevents problems in thin wall moulding. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... Thin wall moulding has been adopted increasingly in recent years for packaging, and also for technical mouldings used in electronics, with differing reasons. The main reason in the case of packaging products is to save costs at both ends of the...

Multi-couplings for sequential injection. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... SPC multi-couplings have been developed by Staubli for quick and accurate changes of sequential valve gate connections. Making hydraulic connections during mould changes can take up to 20 minutes when individual couplings are used, even longer...

Tooling was pushed to meet Sidekick boom for Bulmers. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... THE significance of tool design to both moulding cost and the overall ability to meet market demand is shown by the development of the Bulmers Sidekick single-shot schnapps chaser which came on to the market a couple of years ago. The...

Hot runner nozzle designed for very high temperatures. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... German hot runner specialist m-form has developed a needle shut-off nozzle for very high temperature materials such as PEEK and PEI. The new MHS needle shut-off nozzle can not only be run at temperatures up to 450 degC. But can also be very...

Torpedo nozzles give rapid colour change. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... TWO Guzzini hot runner systems are now available from Summit Systems for handling shot weights up to 4 kg. The TP Series Torpedo system is intended for general applications and is of the open type, providing thermal shut off. The injection...

Signal amplifier can repurpose outputs. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... MONITORING, controlling and documenting the injection moulding process involves processing signals from cavity pressure and cavity temperature sensors alongside signals from the machine itself. A compact way of combining all the appropriate...

PET mould refurbishment only fixes what's broke. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... A LOW price option to complete PET preform mould refurbishment has been introduced by Husky. In the past, Husky has offered complete rebuild services designed to restore every aspect of a mould to as-new condition. Its latest package, priced as...

Fast Heat adds new valve gates and controllers. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... NEW Fast Heat Precision Series hot runner valve gates are claimed to provide a more uniform delivery of material than conventional types. Suitable for shots from 3 to 3,000 g, the gate is of the guided tip design and the pneumatically actuated...

Automatic nozzle control balances multi-impression moulds. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... THE Priamus Fill cavity balancing system for multi-impression moulding has been developed so that the position of weld lines can be controlled in addition to ensuring that consistent melt volumes are injected. This is achieved by automatic...

Conair aims higher with automation standards. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... AUTOMATION of the injection moulding process has stepped up considerably since the early days of pick and place, with robots handling infinitely more complex tasks. Yet anything more than a standard handling operation can still be regarded as...

Remak designs for rapid response. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... THE NEW Remak RX51 robot for machines up to 400 tonnes has two guides to each linear axis and AC servo motors which provide 1.5 G (15 m/[sec.sup.2]) acceleration as standard. A wear resistant brake is fitted to each axis. To reduce removal...

Euromap defines extra robot safety. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... Improved operator safety provisions for the use of robots with injection moulding machines are incorporated in a new Euro map standard. Euromap 67 calls for a dual safety channel in the interface, and replaces Euromap 12, which will only be...

Teflon coating makes robot tooling non-stick. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... A NEW range of end of arm robot tooling has been produced by Nickerson Europe in cooperation with ATM Automation and is available through Nickerson. Spring loaded gripper arms are, says Nickerson, normally made in a steel, brass and aluminium...

Four-axis robots save costs at C&C marshall. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... TWO SCARA robots from TM Robotics have been installed at C&C Marshall in an operation where three people are now needed instead of eight. The application is in the moulding of electrical switch boxes for installation in dry-lined walls, in...

ATM sets up separate automation company. (Injection Moulding).(ATM Automation )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... ROBOT specialist ATM Automation has been split into two to handle its parallel businesses of special purpose automation and sales to the plastics market of conventional beam robots, six-axis robots and downstream equipment. The original...

Static mixers cut masterbatch consumption. (Injection Moulding).
April 1, 2003... Trials of the Koch Glitsch static mixing elements at several large plastics moulders are said to have given major improvements in melt flow, colour dispersion, colour change times and in product characteristics. Masterbatch usage was reduced by...

Six-component head 'has high degree of manoeuvrability'. (Reaction Processing).
April 1, 2003... THE new Cannon AX mixing head can process six components, including water based additives and low viscosity TDI-based isocyanates, with high pressure recirculation and in different combinations. A claimed exclusive feature is that the TDI...

Glass/PU back-up helps formed parts face a tough existence. (Reaction Processing).
April 1, 2003... A GLASS-reinforced polyurethane moulding process has been combined with thermoforming at Thompson Plastics Group to make engine compartment covers for Caterpillar. Thompson believes that it is the first UK plastics engineering company to have...

Bayer adds another PU systems house. (Reaction Processing).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... ANOTHER joint venture polyurethane systems company has been set up by Bayer, this time with Bufa Beteiligungen of Germany. Bayer already has systems houses -- companies which supply ready-for-use polyurethane materials at a local level -- in...

If it's good enough for BMW. (Reaction Processing).
April 1, 2003... ADVANTAGES for manufacturers and sub assemblers using PU foam to make compressed seals are claimed for the Foamply automated heat cured system introduced by Wittmann UK and SunStar Engineering. The partnership between the two companies has...

High pressure foaming machine is cheap enough to persuade low pressure users to switch, says Hennecke. (Reaction Processing).
April 1, 2003... MAGNETIC couplings which function as maintenance-free seals on the pump drive shafts for both PU components are features of the new Hennecke BaseLine high pressure foaming machine. It can also be supplied with an interface allowing connection...

Post-consumer reclaim: the problems and some solutions. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... The Dutch company Envirotec was founded four years ago as an extension of Plastic Herverwerking Brabant, which runs three plastics recycling factories. It designs and builds recycling plants and advises on how and where to buy scrap and sell...

Research project aims to improve PVC waste recycling. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) is to fund what it believes will be the most comprehensive research ever undertaken into options for PVC recycling in the UK. The research, to be carried out by an industry consortium led by...

Carpet makers will have to rethink to meet legislation. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... A problem with recycling domestic and industrial carpets is what to do with the backing scrap. But it needn't be a problem if manufacturers rethought the way carpets are made, says Francis Woodruff of Web Processing Machinery. NO ONE in...

Recycled rubber keeps uplighters up. (Reclamation & Recycling).(Oxford Plastic Systems)
April 1, 2003... Oxford Plastic Systems is supplying bases moulded in recycled rubber for Defender Uplights made by Birchwood Products. Some 20,000 of these have been sold in the UK. The base withstands rough treatment and allows the lamp to tip over to 45...

Rubber reclaimer targets big tyres. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... IN JULY the second stage of an EU directive comes into force banning the disposal of whole tyres under 1.4 m diameter in landfill sites. Tyres over 1.4 m are excluded on the grounds of the UK's limited ability to reduce and recycle large tyres....

Reclaim plants go from film scrap to moulded products. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... AN EXTRUSION moulding plant for making heavy duty profiles from heavily contaminated film scrap has been installed in South Korea by ART Recycling Technik of Germany (UK distributor, CB Agencies). The film webs, up to 100 m long, are...

Making the solution fit the problem. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... DEVELOPMENTS in designed-for-duty granulators from Tria have brought a new model for blow mouldings and other bulky scrap; a handling system for large, heavy pipes; and a customised installation for thermoforming scrap removal in limited...

Boston Matthews plans to build 100 Munchies a year. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... SINCE the takeover six months ago by Boston Matthews, manufacture of Munchy reclaim extruders has been totalled assimilated into Boston Matthews' Worcester plant, and the first Worcester-built Munchy was delivered in December. The company is...

Erema fine tunes for higher performance. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... DEVELOPMENT of Erema's recycling extruder range has been completed with the addition of two machines, one with a 90 mm screw giving 450 - 480 kg/hr, and the other a 135 mm model with around 1,000 kg/hr throughput. As well as new machine...

New shredder/granulators from Colortronic. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... A SERIES of low speed shredder/ granulators has been added to the Herbold Meckesheim equipment sold by Colortronic. The two models in the HGM series are single-rotor machines combining the functions of a granulator -- size-reduction by...

Dolci line can use reclaimed HDPE to blow film without needing to coextrude it. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... ALTHOUGH designed to produce blown film from 100 per cent regenerated PE granulate, the Dolci Extruboost system has been proved to handle various other materials and even to make high quality thin film. Energy savings of 30 per cent are...

Reclaimed granules match virgin pellets. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... THE new E-Trim reclamation line from Gamma Meccanica recycles scrap coming from the main line so that it can immediately be fed back. Good results have been obtained in obtaining granules similar in shape to virgin which avoid hopper bridging...

100 per cent RPET in detergent bottle. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... 100 per cent post-consumer PET flake is being used to make liquid detergent battles at Deco in Italy. The battles are moulded on an Aoki 250LL-50 fitted with a metal separator, special dehumidified air dryer and drying hopper with stirrer and a...

Rotating discs improve pulverisation and PET reclaim. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... WHEN grinding reclaim to powder it may be necessary to cool down the granulate before feeding into the pulveriser by adding liquid nitrogen or another cooling agent. Colortronic says the Herbold PU series pulverisers it sells are...

Direct extrusion from bottle flakes. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... GNEUSS has developed an automatic system for processing PET bottle flakes which makes repelletising unnecessary and permits direct recycling. The company says that products such as film, sheet, fibres and filaments can be made from PET bottle...

Portable metal detectors help automate reclaim for Wavin. (Reclamation & Recycling).
April 1, 2003... THREE Eriez Model 20C tunnel type metal detectors have been installed at Wavin's Chippenham plant to ensure continuous feed of recyclable material free of metal contamination to the reclamation granulators. Wavin collects and stores sprues...

Cincinnati adds downstream equipment range. (Pipe and Profile).
April 1, 2003... CINCINNATI Extrusion, a company well known for its pipe extruders, has now developed its own matching downstream equipment. The range covers cooling baths -- both vacuum and spray -- and haul offs. Cincinnati's Vakon vacuum bath tanks are...

Compact integrated extrusion line from Boston Matthews. (Pipe and Profile).
April 1, 2003... THE new Compact line from Boston Matthews is a complete extrusion system consisting of a 32 mm AC Vector extruder with a 2.4 m cooling bath and a combination AC Vector puller/servo-rotary cutter unit. The Compact line has been designed for...

Laser alignment keeps extruder screws on the straight and narrow. (Pipe and Profile).
April 1, 2003... SWEDISH company Fixturlaser has developed a new system for aligning extruder screws and barrels. Misalignment causes excessive wear and puts a strain on the drive train but the problem often goes unsolved because misalignment has been difficult...

New production plant For soft foam TPV seals. (Pipe and Profile).
April 1, 2003... Linear, which makes weatherseals for windows and doors, is using Santoprene TPV (thermoplastic vulcanisate) for its new Foam Tite seals. The seals are produced by a water-blown process that was developed by US sister company Amesbury. The...

New gauge gives extra control over thin coatings. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
April 1, 2003... THIN organic coatings applied to metallised PP may be accurately measured by the new SR710 online gauge made by NDC Infrared Engineering which is said to offer 'unprecedented' control of organic coatings for better consistency and effective use...

Forming machines must be modified to improve safety. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
April 1, 2003... A LEGALLY enforceable code of practice to prevent accidents with thermoforming machines has been agreed between the Health and Safety Executive and organisations representing users and suppliers of thermoforming machines. The measures are...

WIDOS machine welds sheet to form tanks and silos. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
April 1, 2003... A SHEET welding machine with computer controlled programming to butt or angle weld plastics material in up to 3 m lengths to produce large tanks and silos has been introduced by Welwyn Tool Co. The WIDOS PSM 3030 5 CNC machine is the latest in...

Polycarbonate structural sheet makers combine distribution. (Film & Sheet Conversion).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... THE UK operations of two Israeli-based polycarbonate sheet suppliers have joined forces to improve logistics. Palram Europe has taken over the operations of Polygal (UK), which distributes from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire. Palram makes...

Labour saving from Flexicon. (Materials Handling).
April 1, 2003... TWO new developments from Flexicon (Europe) are intended to eliminate much of the labour and effort involved when handling materials in bulk. The first is a hoistable bulk bag discharger that does away with the need for forklift trucks and...

Low Pressure Drier is now five times as big. (Materials Handling).
April 1, 2003... MAGUIRE's Low Pressure Drier is now made in a size five times bigger than the previous largest model. The LPD-1000 vacuum material drier has a capacity of 450 kg/hr and is intended for use in PET preform and bottle moulding, injection moulding...

Electric machine included in new Plastiblow line-up. (Blow Moulding).
April 1, 2003... PLASTIMAC has introduced an electric blow moulding machine for the production of 1 x 1 litre or 2 x 500 ml bottles. Known as the Plastiblow PB1E/D, it is a double station machine with twin heads and has a 35 tonne clamping unit. Further details...

Air compressors designed especially for PET bottle blow moulding. (Blow Moulding).
April 1, 2003... COMPRESSORS for PET bottle production, developed in partnership with Siad Macchine Impianti, have been introduced by Boge Compressors. A line comprises an oilfree rotary screw compressor with an oilfree reciprocating compressor and a chiller...

Six colour printer improves opportunities in tube decoration. (Blow Moulding).
April 1, 2003... ARISTA TUBES, which supplies the personal care market, has increased its silk screen printing capacity by installing an Isimat TS 6090 six colour machine. The company says that customers can be offered new opportunities for product...

User experience combined with moulding skill to make squeegee cutter. (Blow Moulding).
April 1, 2003... A squeegee cutting machine designed with knowledge of both use and production has been introduced by Thieme of Germany. Thieme has a screen printing division, and is also a reaction injection moulder. Thieme Screen-Printing Systems designed...

Flame treatment 'outperforms all other pre-treatment systems'. (Finishing).
April 1, 2003... A FLAME treatment system that also applies a chemical coupling agent to improve adhesion has been developed by FTS of the USA, and is now available from Mercia Systems in Tamworth. It has been dubbed the Advanced Thermo-Molecular Adhesion...

Hot stamping machine now has extra registration for greater accuracy. (Finishing).
April 1, 2003... MOSS now equips its SC2.RH hot stamping machine with double optical registration immediately before the stamping position. The decorated tube arrives at the optical detection station where it is registered by a fibre photocell, allowing the...

Mould-aware CAD - an overview. (Software).
April 1, 2003... I mould design has evolved from making everything from scratch to largely a process of assembling a kit of parts. And computers have had a lot to do with the change. Clive Maier looks at CAD programs which have mould production at heart. ...

DuPont Plastics. (What's New On The Web).
April 1, 2003... DuPont has redesigned and relaunched its dedicated plastics web site to give even greater access to its extensive engineering plastics knowledge base. There is a new 'super selector' advanced materials selector, plus sections for design ideas,...

DuPont. (What's New On The Web).
April 1, 2003... DuPont of course has interests in many other areas beside plastics. The DuPont site is a portal to the entire business and it now has a new feature in the shape of the 'Interactive Channel'. This helps you to get ideas and to navigate through...

NetRegs. (What's New On The Web).
April 1, 2003... The NetRegs web site has been set up by the Environment Agency, with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service, and acting in conjunction with the Small Business Service. The aim is...

Santoprene TPV in Consumer electronics. (What's New On The Web).
April 1, 2003... Advanced Elastomer Systems has published what it describes as a totally electronic flash-animated interactive marketing brochure covering the use of its Santoprene soft-touch materials in consumer electronics. The brochure covers audio and...

Apollit on the Web. (What's New On The Web).
April 1, 2003... APOLLIT, the polymer technology reference database formerly known as DKLit, is now available on the web from FIZ Karlsruhe for an annual flat rate. The fee for small and medium businesses is [euro]1,600 and for large organizations [euro]2,000....

IQMS expands with additional European support. (Software).
April 1, 2003... IQMS, the developer of the EnterpriseIQ enterprise resource planning (ERP) software designed specifically for the plastics industry, has opened a support office for European customers at Otterlo in The Netherlands. The new office provides...

Look, both hands. (Software).(Logitech)
April 1, 2003... THE SpaceBall and SpaceMouse 3D motion controllers from Logitech company 3Dconnexion offer a new faster and more intuitive way of working with CAD, CAM and CAE programs in 3D space. The controllers provide six degrees of freedom -- you can...

Granta's Optimal Polymer Selector gains Moldflow data. (Software).
April 1, 2003... A NEW agreement, concluded at the recent Moldflow International User Conference, will see portions of Moldflow's proprietary materials database incorporated into the Optimal Polymer Selector developed by Granta Design. The Optimal Polymer...

Cimatron upgrades QuickNC. (Software).
April 1, 2003... CIMATRON, a leader in CAD/CAM solutions for the tooling industry, has released version 3.1 of its QuickNC CAM package. The enhancements result from close collaboration with customers at a number of sites worldwide. The new version has full...

Materials data searching is the latest Omnexus enhancement: Clive Majer examines the MBase-powered materials selection and specification tool which has been added to the Omnexus internet portal. (Software).
April 1, 2003... WHEN it was founded by BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont and Ticona in 2000, Omnexus aimed to become a one-stop shop for the plastics industry worldwide. It now houses more than 20 global suppliers of materials and machinery, and has a membership of...