British Plastics & Rubber articles from February 2007

British Plastics & Rubber archives from February 2007

Conferences & exhibitions.(Calendar)
February 1, 2007... Applications--automotive May 2-4 Plastics in Motion 2007. Conference in Rome, Italy, organised by Executive Conference Management. +1 734 737 0507 (fax +1 734-737-0508, e-mail shar@executive-conference.com) [website]...

Plastics exhibitions shuffle for position.(conferences & exhibitions)
February 1, 2007... THE Polymer Machinery Distributors Association has again lent its name in support of Interplas, adopting it as its members' exhibition of choice in 2008. Part of the decision to support Interplas is that it is held at the NEC in Birmingham. ...

Painting system specialist woos British automotive moulders.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... A DANISH specialist in turnkey painting systems is targeting British moulders, particularly those supplying the motor industry. Moldow already has an installation in this country--at PaintBox of Banbury, part of the US-based ADAC Automotive...

Metallised mouldings will be produced fully-automatically.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... A FULLY automatic plant for producing metallised injection mouldings is scheduled to start up in May at Balda in Germany. It integrates a Singulus 3DS cathodic vaporisation (sputtering) system with one of Balda's injection moulding machines,...

Simple stand-alone and automation modules added to pad printer range.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... PAD printing machines from a simple pneumatic single colour unit to high speed modules for automatic production systems have been added to the Teca-Print series sold by Kaye-Dee Marking solutions. The TPA 61 pneumatic single colour machine...

Linear and stepper motors for pad printing precision.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... NEW Microprint Modul-200 pad printing machines from GK Marketing Services have linear and stepper motors for precise printing on large mouldings such as toolboxes, hard hats and power tool housings. The servo motor-driven race track indexer has...

QPP enters the Twilite zone.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... Quality Plated Plastics says it is the first electro-plater in the UK to offer Twilite chrome finish. This smoked chrome finish is widely used by Japanese electronics manufacturers and is becoming fashionable for internal automotive use. ...

Film strip monitors UV exposure.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... A PHOTOCHROMATIC film which measures doses of UV on an irradiated surface has been introduced by Honle for use in printing and coating processes. Readings from the tesa UV strip can be evaluated with a UV scanning device. The self adhesive...

New name reflects concentration on digital transfers.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... FULL colour digital transfer manufacturer Diamond (Printed Products) has changed its name to Diamond Photofoil, reflecting its concentration on the manufacture of Photofoil digital transfers, and transfer application machines. Following a...

Borough gets another contract to plate parts for the Mini.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... CHROME plater Borough has won a 6 million [pounds sterling] contract to supply painted and chrome plated mouldings to Intier Automotive Interiors for the new BMW Mini. The contract will run over seven years and follows a three-year...

Plasma: the fourth state of matter.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... PLASMA is the name given to matter at a high, unstable energy level. Energy, in the form of heat, added to a material takes it through the states of solid to liquid to gaseous. Plasma technology does not stop at gaseous: additional energy from...

Silicone sealant has instant tack for assembly work.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... NEW hot melt technology from Dow Corning combines the instant green strength of a pressure sensitive adhesive with the sealing abilities of a cross-linked silicone to give an assembly option which the company says improves on mechanical...

All about assembly under one roof.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... AN exhibition focused on fastening and assembly techniques is being held on April 26 at the RAF museum at Cosford, near Wolverhampton. The Fastening Solutions Show is run by NewbyCom which publishes the online magazine Fastening Solutions....

Light-curing adhesive for vehicle lighting.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... INTERTRONICS Dymax 3-20469 UV/visible light curing adhesive cures through clear, UV blocked plastics and large gaps and seals assemblies with unusual shapes and less than perfect joints. Intended chiefly for assembly of vehicle lights, it...

New generator from Mecasonic.(finishing)
February 1, 2007... MECASONIC UK has a new digital welding generator that is smaller than its predecessor at 54 x 14 x 14 cm and has more power, giving 1,000-4,000 Watts at 20 KHz, 1,000 - 1,500 Watts at 30 KHz and 500-1,000 Watts at 40 KHz. An LCD screen has...

Edge-detection measuring system is for shop floor use.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... THE latest low cost measuring system from Vision Engineering is the Merlin 300 2-axis VED (video edge detection) machine which is suitable for 'plug and play' shop floor use, needing little training. It uses a Quadra-Chek 300 video...

Entry level video measurement and macro/microscope are added by Nikon.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... TWO new instruments from Nikon bring entry level video measurement, and macro/microscopic inspection of components. The iNEXIV VMA-2520A bench-top video measuring system has been designed specifically for 3D work pieces and priced as an...

Metrology network dedicated to micro and nano materials.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... A NETWORK of materials metrology centres focused on micro and nano technologies has been set up with funding from the Department of Trade and Industry. The Centre of Excellence in Metrology for Micro and Nano Technologies (CEMMNT) can handle...

Bench-top hardness testers in compact form.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... BAREISS has introduced its second-generation IRHD Micro Compact II hardness tester. This new bench-top instrument provides test results on parts like thin-walled O-rings, soft elastic moulded parts and standard plates with material thickness...

Zwick introduces new Vicat and heat deflection testers ...(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... A NEW line of thermal testers for performing heat deflection temperature and Vicat softening temperature measurements on thermoplastics has been introduced by Zwick. The range includes the manually-operated HDT/Vicat Standard model with...

... And new universal hardness testers.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... Zwick has also added a new range of hardness testers. The first model in its ZHU-topLine series is available now with test loads ranging from 1 to 250 kg. Further models offering test loads up to 750 kg and 3,000 kg will be introduced later in...

Modernisation package for high speed testers.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... ZWICK has developed an upgrade package for modernising high speed mechanical testers. The load frames for these machines are robust and long lasting but older models can lack the instrumentation and control needed to meet today's demand for...

Special materials testing systems from Lloyd Instruments.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... AS WELL as supplying standard testing A equipment Lloyd Instruments has a 'customer specials' department. It recently produced special versions of 50 kN LR50KPlus and 10 kN LR10KPlus twin-column universal testing machines. The LR50KPlus...

Novel test methods developed to improve milk quality and comfort for cows.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... NEW testing methods had to be developed to ensure the performance in both practical mechanical and health terms of the rubber liners used in milking machines. Milk-Rite, a part of Avon Rubber, has been making liners for milking machines...

Gammadot installs Celsum capillary rheometer.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... CELSUM Technologies has supplied an ACR 2100 capillary extrusion rheometer to Gammadot Rheology Testing & Consultancy Services, which will use the instrument to characterise materials over a wide range of shear rates and temperatures. The...

Milliken opens European lab for antimicrobial testing.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... A MICROBIOLOGY laboratory has been opened by Milliken Chemical Europe in Gent, Belgium to support its European customers for Alphasan silver inorganic antimicrobial technology. It will provide in-house material and finished part testing...

New options for Haake rheometers.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... THERMO Fisher Scientific has brought out new options for its Haake rheometers. The first is a new optical module for the Haake MARS rheometer platform. The RheoScope module simultaneously records rheological properties and changes in the...

Free PC with polymer analyser.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... METTLER Toledo is offering a free PC with every Q-SYS polymer analyser until the end of March. Q-SYS is a complete polymer analysis system including measuring cell, controller and software that enables you to identify raw materials, check for...

Viscometers for reaction vessel and laboratory applications.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... HYDRAMOTION has introduced new viscometers for use in reaction vessel and laboratory applications. The new RV-100 is an unlimited-range, research-grade device for the continuous measurement of dynamic viscosity in reaction vessels of any...

Batch inspection of profiles gives way to continuous monitoring.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... Periodic off-line checking is now giving way to continuous on-line monitoring of profiles used in vehicle building according to Dennis Reynolds of Bytewise Measurement Systems, who describes here how his company's profile monitor is being used...

Powder property testing is improved.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... THE LATEST version of Freeman Technology's Data Analysis software for its FT4 universal powder tester delivers faster analysis with more flexible reporting options. It incorporates the latest types of test available on this multifunctional...

Universal reflectance spectrophotometer.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... THE ReflectaScan reflectance spectrophotometer from Cecil Instruments provides complete reflectance and transmittance testing in a single instrument. It has been designed as a universal reflectance measuring instrument capable of scanning...

Oxygen permeation tester gives rapid results.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... SYSTECH says that its new oxygen permeation tester for plastics bottles and closed packages is the first to be designed specifically for the purpose, rather than as an add-on to an existing film tester. As a result, the Model 8700 provides the...

High tolerance control of extrusion length.(testing & quality control)
February 1, 2007... ACCURATE control of cut extrusion lengths was a difficulty overcome by an American company by switching to a digital linear measurement device. Crane Plastics needed to be able to meet and exceed the parameters its customers demanded for...

Injection moulded closed cell foam process comes to Britain.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... A PROCESS for injection moulding a self-skinning closed cell flexible foam has been brought to Britain by Foam and Rubber Products of Wellingborough. The process uses PolyCell, an ethylene-based elastomer which is injected into the mould in...

Medical disposables can be moulded with an Si[O.sub.2] barrier.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... MEDICAL disposables can be moulded with a glass-like barrier coating in a new process from Husky Injection Molding Systems and Nano Scale Surface Systems. It is a plasma coating process which applies an internal layer of silicon dioxide, to...

Cavity pressure sensor doesn't touch the moulding.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... A CONTACT-LESS means of measuring mould cavity pressure has been developed by Kistler. It works by measuring the strain on the mould induced by injection pressure, and enables cavity pressure to be measured without leaving marks on the...

Tiny temperature sensors for cavity monitoring.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... PRIAMUS System Technologies claims that its new Type 4009A/401 OA cavity temperature sensor with a front diameter of 0.6 mm is the smallest in the world. The company's Type 4011 A/4012A sensor has the same front diameter but a longer measuring...

Forums planned to promote high speed packaging.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... THROUGHOUT the first half of this year Demag Plastics Group is promoting its El-Exis S fast-cycling electro-hydraulic hybrid machine as the basis for packaging systems with a series of two-day forums around Europe. The UK dates are April 18 and...

Another Demag for Broanmain.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... BROANMAIN, which moulds both thermosets and thermoplastics in Dorking, has installed another new machine. It has bought an 80 tonne Demag which complements existing Demag machines from 25 to 250 tonnes. The company is now looking at expanding...

First Enaiviv goes to First Press.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... THE first machine to be sold under the new agency agreement between Renmar Machinery Sales (an associate company of Arrowquint) and Enaiviv of Taiwan has been delivered to First Press Mouldings in Balsall Heath, Birmingham. The 400 tonne...

Short runs and local service beat off-shore drift.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... FOCUSING on smaller production runs has brought work for McLaren Plastics which would not be viable to supply from the Far East. The company has countered the industry trend for volume production to move off-shore with projects such as for...

Simpler installation of pressure/temperature sensor.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... THE new Type 6189A combined pressure and temperature sensor from Kistler has the thermocouple leads threaded through the pressure measuring element to give fast response to temperature changes. The technique was first used in the Kistler 2.5 mm...

Tunnel gates for deep injection.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... I-MOLD SGC tunnel gate mould inserts are intended for use where the injection point has to be positioned deep inside the part, such as side gating a rib below the outer edge. The moulding has no visible gate marks on the side exposed to view....

Data acquisition system works with rotary table mould groups.(injection moulding)
February 1, 2007... A NEW function of the Priamus Monitor data acquisition system provides options for rotary table moulds by which all measuring signals can be assigned to different groups. Monitoring of single mould halves is controlled by digital input signals....

Turnkey package to replace glass medical packaging.(blow moulding)
February 1, 2007... BLOW moulding systems supplier Kortec has developed a turnkey package for medical/pharmaceutical applications that perform 'better than glass'. The risk of contamination from glass breakage has been a major incentive to switch from glass to...

Electrically driven mould carrier speeds up back-foaming.(reaction processing)
February 1, 2007... AN electrically-driven mould carrier has been developed by Krauss-Maffei to deliver shorter cycle times than hydraulic units by overlapping movements. The new carrier is opened and closed by a belt drive capable of high speed movements,...

Water-saturated blowing air cuts cooling times.(blow moulding)
February 1, 2007... COOLING times in extrusion blow moulding can be reduced substantially by an extension of Fasti's Compressed Air Chiller technology, giving a payback of between 1 and 12 months. CAC, of which hundreds of units have been sold worldwide, chills...

Ineos to upgrade and expand European polyolefin plants.(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... Ineos Polyolefins is to invest El 50 million over the next three years to upgrade and expand some of its plants for polypropylene and low and high density polyethylene by 450,000 tonnes. Polypropylene capacity will be expanded at Geel in...

Lanxess raises nylon 6 output.(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... AN extra 20,000 tonnes of nylon 6 capacity has been added at Lanxess Semi-Crystalline Products' Uerdingen plant in Germany by extending an existing production line. At Uerdingen Lanxess makes the base polymer, and also compounds it into...

Dow plans further rise in MDI capacity.(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... DOW Chemical to increase its MDI capacity further to meet the estimated 6-8 per cent annual rise in global demand. In October it announced it is to expand MDI production at Estarreja in Portugal, and now has outlined plans to expand production...

BASF raises acetal capacity ...(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... CAPACITY for Ultraform acetal is to be increased by around a third at BASF's Ludwigshafen, Germany, plant, reaching 55,000 tonnes by the first quarter of next year. BASF estimates annual growth in demand for acetal at about 4 per cent in Europe...

... And plans to double PES.(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... BASF is doubling the capacity for its Ultrason E polyether sulphone at its Ludwigshafen, Germany, plant to 12,000 tonnes and to support the expansion is building a new plant there to make the feedstock DHDPS (dihydroxy diphenyl sulphone). Until...

Recent price increases.(materials marketplace)
February 1, 2007... recent price increases Material Manufacturer Increase Thermoplastic moulding materials Polyethylene Dow Europe 60 [euro]/tonne on LDPE, HDPE, Dowlex,...

Repsol names Azelis for PP distribution.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... SPANISH oil and petrochemicals company Repsol has appointed Azelis Plastics UK to distribute its polypropylene in Britain. A contract was signed at the end of January and distribution will begin on April 1 .The deal builds on connections in...

Nitrile rubber from Russia.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... RUSSIAN rubber producer Krasnoyarsky Plant of Synthetic Rubber has appointed Russia Britannia Business Connections as its British and Irish agent. It will be selling Krasnoyarsky's NBR into the automotive, mechanical engineering, construction,...

Ticona takes design on the road.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... THIS year's Ticona Engineering Thermoplastics Roadshow has a new programme of case studies from a range of industries highlighting different design and material solutions. Attendance is free and is not restricted to Ticona customers. ...

Degussa sets up European PEEK sales.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... A SALES network for small quantities of its new Chinese-made PEEK material is being set up by Degussa. Grasslin KBS, will handle distribution in Germany while Austria and Switzerland will be served by Dolder in Switzerland. Lati in Italy will...

Faster and safer order handling for Plastribution.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... PLASTRIBUTION has improved communication between its three sites with a new broadband private network, keeping its site traffic off the internet for improved security. Having fast, secure communications was important to Plastribution because 60...

LCP is hot stuff in the kitchen.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... FOR those who may think a plastic baking tin is as likely as a chocolate teapot, here's a picture of one. GEC in Ahlen, Germany is moulding them from Ticona's Vectra LCP compounded by Geba Kunststoffcompounds. Geba developed its own...

SMC for heavy truck market.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... A SHEET moulding compound intended specifically for the heavy truck market has been introduced by IDI Composites International. The new SMC AV-206 is available as a polyester/vinyl ester blend or as a wholly vinyl ester material. IDI says...

New TPEs are more like rubber.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... ADVANCED Polymer Alloys has introduced a line of thermoplastic elastomers that it claims feel, look and perform more like rubber than other TPEs. The new DuraGrip TPE 6200 series have a tactile and rubbery feel, and a matte finish that makes...

FEA data published for Santoprene TPEs.(engineering materials)
February 1, 2007... EXXONMOBIL Chemical has introduced a finite element analysis database for Santoprene thermoplastic elastomers in semi-dynamic applications. At the same time, the company has updated the database for static applications that has been available...

PP for pail packaging promises more for less.(packaging materials)
February 1, 2007... A NEW polypropylene provides an opportunity for pail packaging producers to raise productivity and increase processing efficiency while delivering pails with excellent stacking performance, high impact resistance and good aesthetics, says...

Low-cost device cuts motor power when it's not needed.(energy efficiency)
February 1, 2007... NEW technology from Powermiser offers big power savings on electrically-powered machines that are used intermittently but run continuously. Idlewise is a microprocessor-controlled device that fits to a machine's stop/start buttons using two...

New pipework division and bigger premises for IsoCool.(temperature control)
February 1, 2007... ISOCOOL, which supplies industrial cooling and temperature control systems including the Italian-made Frigomeccanica equipment, has set up a pipework installation company and moved to new premises. The new company is IsoCool Projects and...

Conair adds to chiller ranges.(temperature control)
February 1, 2007... CONAIR has extended its GC and AX Series of chillers. Three new models up to 133 kW have been added to the GC Series. All incorporate twin refrigeration circuits and scroll-type compressors which are said to provide 15 per cent energy savings...

New line increases ICO's coloured powders capability.(colour management)
February 1, 2007... A NEW colour powder line has been commissioned at ICO UK, which will enable the company to increase its capacity for coloured rotational moulding powders by more than 1,500 tonnes a year. ICO introduced a standard colour range last year and...

Coffee packaging shows you can have too much of a good thing.(colour management)
February 1, 2007... TO GIVE a quality appearance to a new canister for its Folgers coffee brand Procter & Gamble in the USA opted for a deep red/burgundy colour enhanced with pearlescent effect. Unfortunately the effect wasn't as the company anticipated and...

Ciba expands its colour services.(colour management)
February 1, 2007... CIBA Specialty Chemicals has made two additions to its colour services, with the launch of Color Trend Vision and the acquisition of French company ColorViz. Color Trend Vision is a design and technology package developed to provide...

Internal mould release improves acrylic casting in metal moulds.(additives)
February 1, 2007... A MOULD RELEASE developed specifically for acrylic casting has been tested by Northern Cast Acrylics and found to reduce the down-time spent on refurbishing moulds. The new Moldwiz AM121 grade is a water-white internal mould release which...

Adhesion promoter for PP/natural fibre composites.(compounding)
February 1, 2007... THE Pigments & Additives division of Clariant used the recent Wood Plastic Composites conference and exhibition in Vienna to introduce Licocene PP MA 6452 TR an adhesion promoter for natural fibre-filled composites with a polymer matrix. This...

Pressure scales enable low headroom mixing.(compounding)
February 1, 2007... CHRONOS RICHARDSON has introduced a range of pressure scales, some of which are already in use for high accuracy weighing of carbon black, white fillers and silica. They are said to be suitable for low headroom or single storey mixing room...

Simplified central control handles up to 12 loaders.(materials handling)
February 1, 2007... A NEW 'cost effective and operator friendly' control system from Wittmann enables the control of up to 12 vacuum loader stations, one central vacuum pump and one spare pump with programmable automatic switch-over, as well as the control of...

For PCS and Colormax read Premier.(materials handling)
February 1, 2007... K-TRON is restructuring its pneumatic conveying equipment brands following the acquisition last autumn of American company Premier Pneumatics. Premier is a major supplier of pneumatic handling equipment in the USA and its name is being adopted...

Static eliminators for bench use.(process control)
February 1, 2007... TWO portable bench-top static eliminators have been introduced by TBA Electro Conductive Products for quick, localised neutralisation of static charges in a work area. The ECP SL-001 and SL-020 units have emitter cleaners, adjustable air flow...

Static pinning works in continuous or discontinuous mode.(process control)
February 1, 2007... THE new Meech Model 992v3 30 kV static generator can be operated in either constant voltage or constant current mode to permit optimisation for various pinning applications. It has a constant voltage output range from 0-30 kV and constant...

Side fed die improves on spiral manifolds for multi-layer pipe.(pipe & profile)
February 1, 2007... A NEW side fed die said to provide optimal melt distribution and to overcome shortcomings associated with spiral mandrel dies has been developed by Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik. It is intended for the production of multi layer pipes with which...

Betol comes back to Britain.(pipe & profile)
February 1, 2007... AMERICAN extrusion equipment group Davis-Standard is moving its European Extrusion systems business back to the UK. It is to be transferred from Erkrath in Germany to the D-S Brookes facility in Birmingham. The Converting Systems business...

Continuous process beats batch manufacture of rubber sealing tape.(pipe & profile)
February 1, 2007... A DUTCH company, Carlisle Hardcast Europe, is said to be the only company in Europe to use a continuous process on a co-rotating twin screw extruder for the production of hot melt adhesives for high quality sealing tapes. Conventional...

Space and energy saving are features of new co-extruders.(pipe & profile)
February 1, 2007... BOSTON Matthews has substantially reduced the size of its co-extruders for applications including PEX pipe and automotive and cosmetic tubing, saving floor space in multi-extruder configurations. An AC motor with encoder feedback and flux...

Inclined disc rotor shreds big pipes.(reclamation & recycling)
February 1, 2007... A NOVEL shredder specifically for reclaiming large diameter PE pipes has been introduced by Herbold. At one time, says the company, 1,600 mm pipes were standard but now pipes bigger than 2,000 mm are not uncommon. Wall thicknesses sometimes...

Shredder is designed for thin wall IBCs.(reclamation & recycling)
February 1, 2007... A NEW version of Weima's WLK 12 single-shaft shredder has been introduced for the size reduction of bulky plastic containers and parts with thin walls like intermediate bulk containers, barrels, drums and tanks. It has a new compactor that...

New name for shredder company.(reclamation & recycling)
February 1, 2007... WSDE of Oldham, which builds tailor-made shredding machinery, has been relaunched as Shredding & Recycling. The company builds machinery from single- to three-shaft shredders, with either mechanical or hydraulic drives. In addition, it offers a...