British Plastics & Rubber articles from May 2009

British Plastics & Rubber archives from May 2009

Conferences & exhibitions.(Calendar)
May 1, 2009... APPLICATIONS--ELECTRONICS June 23-25 LOPE-C--Large-area Organic and Printed Electronics Convention. Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, for the organic and printed electronic industry with an exhibition at which more than 50 exhibitors are...

The Henry Ford School for Colorists.
May 1, 2009... Let me apologise right away if I'm trampling on people's beliefs or sacrificing their sacred cows. Maybe I'm a closet Philistine, or simply lacking romantic perception. But I just don't get the annual forecast of "influential" colour trends....

Don't cut costs by cutting contact with customers.
May 1, 2009... I called in at Colortronic's open house celebrating its 35 years in business last month. It was pretty much as I remembered the last time I went to a Colortronic open day. There was no reason for it to be much different of course, except for...

Taking weight out and more with chemical foaming agents.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Foaming polymers saves weight and cuts cost. And it does a tot of other things besides. Foaming agents are predominantly based on one chemical compound. Steve Quinn, product and market development manager for West and Senior, describes the...

New technology replacements for HFC blowing agents.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... More environmentally-friendly blowing agents for use in polyurethanes are being developed by Honeywell and Arkema. The Honeywell material, which should be available in sample quantities later this year, is a non-flammable liquid that the...

UV and FR combined with colour for stadium seating masterbatch.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Improvements have been made to Gabriel-Chemie's PPSYS combination masterbatch for the production of stadium seating to make it more economical to use. PPSYS was developed to meet the demand for a masterbatch which combined colour, flame...

Improved retarder technology for cross linking coagents.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... An improved retarder technology has been developed by Sartomer in the USA for its cross linking coagents for rubber applications. Products incorporating the new technology maintain the same scorch safety as with previous Sartomer materials,...

Pet bottles made biodegradable without risk to recycling.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... The Wells Plastics Reverte oxo-biodegradable additive is now being promoted for use in PET bottles by Canada-based Planet Green Bottle Corporation (PGBC). As its description indicates, Reverte's action is dual acting. It causes...

PVC stabilisers come reach-ready.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... New PVC stabilisers with REACH pre-registration have been introduced by Chemtura and Baerlocher. Chemtura's new Mark mixed metal liquid stabilisers are free of ptBBA (para-tertiarybutyl benzoic acid), nonyl phenol and 2-EHA (2-ethyl...

'The only stabiliser you'll ever need'.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Two new grades added to Arkema's Thermolite stabiliser series are intended as a single stabiliser for most PVC pipe types. Thermolite 130 and 135 can be used in differing applications such as thin-wall agricultural pipe, high-shear pipe, large...

Lead replacement ahead of schedule.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Use of lead stabilisers for PVC has halved in Europe since 2000. In its latest report Vinyl 2010, the sustainable development programme of the European PVC industry, quotes the European Stabiliser Producers Association as saying that a switch...

Product identification additives now more affordable in plastics.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Improvements to the Microtaggant product identification technology from Microtrace in the USA mean the taggants are now easier to detect, locate and read in plastics. This allows the technology to be used at very low loading levels which...

Laser-lit additive provides protection against counterfeiting.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... An additive masterbatch capable of providing counterfeit detection in mouldings or extrusions has been developed by Silvergate Plastics. Brand Protector works by incorporating a number of ingredients into standard colour masterbatch, which...

Green additives for green polyethylene.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Bio-sourced polyethylene is to be matched by bio-sourced additives in a partnership set up in Brazil. Braskem, which has a 155 million [pounds sterling] investment project in a 200,000 tonnes ethanol-sourced polyethylene plant, has linked with...

Biodegradable colour for compostables.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... A series of biodegradable colour masterbatches formulated for use in a number of biodegradable polymer systems has been developed by Colloids for sale under the D-K brand name. The initial range uses two principal polymer carriers. One is...

Polyolefin tie layer added by Velox.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... The co-operation between Israeli compounder Polyram and materials distributor Velox in coupling agents and impact modifiers has been extended with a polyolefin tie layer. Velox is now distributing Polyram's Bondyram TL, which is a modified...

Improved properties and processing for polyolefin elastomers.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... The Elevast PM range of speciality hydrocarbon fluids for use in polyolefin elastomers is being brought to Europe by ExxonMobil Chemical with introduction at the International Rubber Conference in Nurnberg, Germany at the end of June. ...

Silver masterbatch 'gives metal-like gloss'.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Improved metallic effects are claimed by Frilvam of Italy for a new silver masterbatch. Prisma UG Silver 82669 is said to give the product a surface gloss typical of a metallised part. It is food approved and does not have the smell typical of...

Additive masterbatch keeps bugs at bay.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... SteriToach antimicrobial masterbatch from Performance Masterbatches is being used in a range of polypropylene chairs made by Origin Furniture. The POP chairs are designed for the contract, education and residential markets. The education...

High concentration of TI[O.sub.2] maintains opacity in thin wall pet.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... A white masterbatch for use in thin wall PET products has been introduced by Colour Tone. Its aim is to maintain opacity where wall thickness has been reduced to cut product weight. The PET-based masterbatch contains 70 per cent titanium...

Calcium carbonate carrier cuts cost in masterbatch.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... By using calcium carbonate as a filler/polymer carrier substitute, Silvergate Plastics says its new Silvergate CCM masterbatch system is particularly effective for solid colours in processes with severe cost constraints. The company says there...

Yellow is trending a bit greener.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Clariant has published its version of this year's forecast of next year's colour preferences. Every year major colorant producers predict what colours will, to quote Clariant, "resonate with tomorrow's consumers" to "enable designers and brand...

Additions to ultramarine blue range.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... Three additions to the Holliday Pigments Premier and Prestige ranges of ultramarine pigments offer a slightly redder shade of blue compared to the company's existing grades. They comprise a standard version, a very dry specification for high...

Clariant tames peek temperature and base colour.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Colour masterbatches for use in PEEK have been developed by Clariant. High temperature polymers like PEEK are difficult to colour because of their processing temperatures of 370 degC or more, which puts constraints on the heat stability of the...

A spectrophotometer at every machine.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... A non-contact spectrophotometer that is affordable enough to be stationed for quality control at an individual machine has been introduced by X-Rite. The VS4SO is described as "X-Rite's response to customers in the plastics industry that are...

Standard cable colours for fluoropolymers.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... RTP Company in the USA has installed dedicated manufacturing equipment to overcome the corrosive nature of fluoropolymers and produce a series of melt processable fluoropolymer (MPFP) colour masterbatches for wire and cable use. They are...

Feeder automatically adapts to extruder speed fluctuation.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... A new "extrusion following" option is available for Maguire's MGF gravimetric feeder for colorants and additives. This automatically anticipates and adjusts for gross variations in extruder rate like those during changes of film rolls. The...

Blend PVC additives in-house and save money.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... PVC processors are finding that cost savings can be made by blending powders themselves in-house rather than buying compounded pellets. However, conveying powders and powdered additives is a different task from conveying pellets, and...

Simplifying set-up for blending and dosing.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... Calibration of traditional volumetric dosing units has in the past been complicated and time consuming for the operator, says Colortronic, which has added Colortronic Smart Calibration software to its C150 control unit to simplify things. ...

Dosing system can produce eight recipes in sequence.(additives & colorants)
May 1, 2009... A gravimetric dosing and mixing system which processes up to eight different recipes one after the other and operates 24 processing machines has been introduced by Werner Koch Maschinentechnik. The GK 2.000 XXL Graviko provides the same...

Lower cost 'smart' drying system for demanding polymers like pet.(materials handling)
May 1, 2009... A single-stage version of Conair's EnergySmart drying system has been developed for processors of PET and other polymers that require high drying temperatures, applications in which throughput varies and where electrical costs are high. ...

Churchill TCUs live again.(temperature control)
May 1, 2009... The Churchill temperature controller brand, a long-established name in British plastics processing, is to be given a new lease of life by Single of Germany. Single Temperiertechnik, which builds more than 5,000 temperature controllers a year at...

Expanded role for buss kneader.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... Improvements have been made to the Buss MX Kneader which extend the materials which can be produced on it and increase its capacity. The four-flight MX Kneader was intended originally to make HFFR cable compounds containing up to 70 per cent by...

Guillotine/grinder combination reduces rubber bales in a single step.(compounding)
May 1, 2009... A combined granulator and guillotine has been introduced by Pallmann of Germany for the size reduction of rubber bales, making pre-cutting unnecessary and saving a separate processing step outside the machine. The rubber bales are fed...

Improved pelletising from Davis-Standard.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... New pelletising technology from Davis-Standard's Converting Systems Group includes a new air ring pelletiser, a pelletiser retrofit design to increase pelletising capacity, a new die plate design and a conversion kit to double the life of the...

Glass strand for technical compounds of PP and PE.(compounding)
May 1, 2009... Belgian glass fibre producer 3B has introduced a new chopped strand mat for use in polypropylene and polyethylene. DS 2200-13P is made from Advantex boron-free E-glass, brings high levels of stiffness and impact resistance, and has a high...

Vacuum-assisted feed allows more material through twin screw compounders.(compounding)
May 1, 2009... Coperion is now using what it calls Feed Enhancement Technology to get more material through its ZSK MEGAcompounder and MEGAcompounder PLUS extruders when compounding products with low bulk density. With this technology, the feeding zone is...

RTP aims to keep compounding clean.(compounding)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A controlled manufacturing environment for the production of clean compounds for sensitive applications in medical, electronic, end other industries has been set up by RTP at its US headquarters. The Ultra Clean...

WPC: a tale of two Cincinnatis.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... The latest wood-plastic composite extruder from Cincinnati Extrusion in Austria takes the company's WPC range in a new direction. Until now its Fiberex machines have been conical twin screws, but the new Fiberex twin vent A135-37D is a...

Wood it's not.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A water transfer print from Peerless Decorative Finishing has been used on this UPVC cable trunking to complement a range of light oak effect office furniture. The trunking has been installed in offices, schools, stadia and arenas....

Cutting a vent section gives more processing length.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Improved processing of PVC pipe is claimed by KraussMaffei Berstorff by eliminating atmospheric venting and freeing up the whole 36 D length of the processing unit for optimal plasticising and homogenising of the polymer. [ILLUSTRATION...

Window frame at a tonne an hour.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A tonne an hour of window frame profile has been produced in a demonstration at die manufacturer Gruber of Austria. The five chamber profile was extruded through a twin-strand die fitted to a Cincinnati Extrusion Argos 135 extruder. Key to...

New Austrian technical profile system specialist comes to Britain.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Anew company has been set up in Austria to supply equipment for technical profile extrusion, and is being represented in Britain by White Extrusion Machinery. Extrunet was formed a year ago as an equal partnership between machinery builder SPG...

Die is tailored to deliver large diameter pipe at speed.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Problems when extruding large diameter thick wall pipe of melt variations that force a slow down of the line are fixed by using its new Model 2030 tooling system, claims Guill Tool & Engineering of the USA. The Model 2030 is a patent-pending...

Make lighter weight PVDF pipes by using foam.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... PVDF foams can now be extruded into pipes, chemical piping and stock shapes such as rods with new technology developed and patented by Arkema for its Kynar brand PVDF. The company says that until now, commercial applications for Kynar...

More-in-one control system for D-S extruders.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... Additional temperature control features and an option for historical data collection have been added to Davis-Standard's DS-eTPC touch-panel control system. The improved system, which offers processors co-ordinated line control, supports more...

Measurement system keeps errant profiles in its sights.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A system for measuring profiles--particularly in rubber--that prevents the measuring head losing track of the profile if it moves has been developed by Pixargus of Germany. This enhancement of the company's PCD-X360 profile measurement...

Process controller integrates extrusion gauges.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A process controller with configurations supporting wire and cable and pipe and tube extrusion has been introduced by Beta LaserMike. The DataPro 3100 enables laser diameter gauges and ultrasonic gauges to be combined in a number of system...

Corrugator companies quit competing.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Two German competitors in corrugated pipe machinery have ceased to compete. Unicor has taken over the production of corrugation equipment from Frankische Rohrwerke, including its spares and servicing. Frankische Rohrwerke will now concentrate...

Measure layer thickness in foam and barrier pipes.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Layer thickness measurement in foam pipes is closer to a practical reality, says extrusion process control specialist iNOEX. The company showed a test system for pipe diameters up to 400 mm at the K2007 exhibition. Since then it has run trials...

Pipe producer expands by buying a competitor.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Pipes group Polypipe of Doncaster is expanding its rainwater and drainage business by buying the Marshall-Tufflex business in this sector. Polypipe already operates four brands in rainwater and drainage--Polypipe Building Products, Polypipe...

Reddiplex installs sponge line.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A ballotini curing line for producing sponge EPDM profiles has been installed at Reddiplex in Droitwich. The company has been operating in both plastics and rubber profile extrusion for 40 years and the new line with its Iddon extruder broadens...

Coex line designed for automotive weather stripping.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A line for the co-extrusion of PP and TPV automotive sealing profiles has been developed by KraussMaffei Berstorff, with the first installation producing window profiles for the new VW Golf VI. The two-component profiles are intended to be...

Raised temperature PE added to plumbing portfolio.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... A high temperature-resistant high density polyethylene for plumbing and under floor heating pipes has been added to LyondellBasell's range of cross-linked polyethylene, random copolymer polypropylene and polybutene-1 materials. The new Hostalen...

LyondellBasell gets PP 125 rating.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... LyondellBasell Industries has received ISO PP 125 classification for polypropylene materials used in water pipe applications and says it is the first polyolefins supplier to do so. Its materials have passed testing to ISO 12162, resisting...

K-Tron adds gravimetric extrusion control.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... A new continuous gravimetric extrusion control software package has been introduced by K-Tron. It is primarily intended for use with single screw flood-fed extruders in both mono- and co-extrusion applications. The K-Tron package offers an...

Expanded capacity for PE pipe grades.(pipe & profile)
May 1, 2009... Increased capacity for HDPE grades for gas and drinking water pipe has been started up by Borealis at its Schwechat plant in Austria. It is intended primarily to enable short delivery times and reliability of supply to Central, Eastern and...

Retrofit control system has new features and is faster.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... The latest control system from Davis-Standard, the MACO 6500RSE, is an upgrade from the MACO 6500RS introduced in 2005, and can be retrofitted to existing systems. Improvements over the previous system include screen updates nearly three...

HDPE for industrial containers.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... An HDPE series for moulding industrial containers has been introduced by SABIC. Applications for HDPE ICP (Industrial Container Product) include United Nations-approved jerry cans, open head drums and fuel tanks for which the material brings...

B&W swaps hydraulic drives for electric.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... An all-electric version of its UMS 4 single station machine has been developed by Uniloy Milacron company B&W Blowmoulding Systems of the Czech Republic. The company says that energy consumption is around 70 per cent that of the hydraulic...

Purge specific to EBM machines.(blow moulding)
May 1, 2009... A purging compound intended specifically for use in extrusion blow moulding machines has been introduced by Kautex. Kautex Purge is fed into the extruder barrel in the same way as regular material and, depending on the type of residue,...

Hybrid drive cuts Jomar power consumption by a third.(blow moulding)
May 1, 2009... A hybrid drive version of Jomar's M-135 (135 tonnes clamp) injection blow moulding machine is said to cut power consumption by 35 per cent while giving identical performance to the hydraulic equivalent. The new model has a 22 kW hydraulic...

Clear PP target for double station machine.(blow moulding)
May 1, 2009... The Chinese-built Kautex KCC 10D extrusion blow machine has been optimised for blowing transparent polypropylene to achieve high clarity. The double station machine can produce up to 14 (2 x 7 cavities) 50 ml bottles or up to two (2 x 1...

Clocking up the shots.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... The new D-M-E CounterView Mold Counter is a non-resettable, mechanical, l-digit counter which records the number of mould cycles by detecting when the mould has closed. Each cycle triggers the display to increase or decrease the counting...

On-line calculator predicts hot runner break-even point.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... For high volume moulders, the decision to use a hot runner is an obvious one. With the high cost of material, energy and manpower, hot runners make sense even when fairly small volumes of parts are required. Cold runners run slower cycles,...

Demag adopts Sumitomo motors.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... Sumitomo technology is being injected into Demag's IntElect all-electric injection moulding machine with the switch to direct drive motors developed and built by Sumitomo specifically for use on injection moulding machines. These...

Free seminar on zero reject moulding planned by Kistler.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... Kistler Instruments will be holding a one-day training course on the quality and productivity benefits of mould cavity pressure monitoring at Polymer Training, Telford on Tuesday, June 16. The course will consist of a morning seminar session...

KraussMaffei sells moulding machines on eBay.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... KraussMaffei has started selling used injection moulding machines on the internet. It has set up its own web page at www.kraussmaffei. com/bargainmachines and will also auction machines on eBay. The machines for sale are laboratory and test...

Sandretto sales head goes solo with hot runners.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... National sales manager of Sandretto UK, Chris Whitlam, has left to set up his own company selling the Swedish-made MasterFlow hot runner systems for which Sandretto became UK agent last year. The Masterflow systems are made by the Ewebe group...

Add a metallised finish with back moulding.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... Metal foils are being used in a surface insert moulding process to improve on the metallisation that may be achieved by plating or by gluing/screwing on a metal cover. Swiss mould maker Georg Kaufmann is supplying the tooling which...

Bigger machine added to Victor all-electrics.(injection moulding)
May 1, 2009... A 300 tonne all-electric machine has been introduced by Victor Europe. The Victor V-alpha 300 combines technology from the existing V-alpha machines with new generation designs that the company says "will enable higher machine precision and...

Layer multiplication is now selective.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... The Layer Multiplier feedblock developed three years ago by Extrusion Dies Industries in the USA has been improved to enable selective multiplication of key layers. The concept behind the original design, based on Dow Chemical technology,...

Breyer breaks high-tack speed limit.(TECHNOLOGY NPE 2009 UPDATE)
May 1, 2009... A line tuned to increase the speed at which EVA film may be produced for the encapsulation of solar cells has been developed by Breyer. The company says that measures to prevent shrinkage can cripple productivity, in that at a speed of...

Water-based barrier coating 'beats EVOH'.(film & sheet production)
May 1, 2009... A barrier coating introduced by InMat of the USA is water-based and is said to require less volume in application than other coatings. The company says that its Nanolok PT ADV-7 nanocomposite water-based coating formulation provides a more...

Glass hard shafts for crush cutting.(film & sheet production)
May 1, 2009... Improved glass hard shafts for use in crush cut slitting systems have been introduced by Dienes of Germany. They are available as solid hollow (one or two pieces), cooled or heated shafts with standard or custom dimensions. to be adjusted to...

More investment in RPET packaging.(film & sheet production)
May 1, 2009... LinPac Packaging has spent another 3 million [pounds sterling] at its Featherstone plant in West Yorkshire on equipment for its Rfresh range of recycled PET food packaging trays. Last July the company invested the same amount on thermoforming...

Improved machine control brings faster, more uniform forming.(film & sheet production)
May 1, 2009... The fourth model in IIlig's updated pressure former programme is the 735 x 465 mm RDM 75K, which runs at 42 cycles/minute and is 30 per cent faster than its predecessor--possibly more, depending on material and cup shape. Illig says it brings...

Bio-sourcing adds selling point.(design)
May 1, 2009... A renewably-sourced thermoplastic elastomer is being used in a new ski boot from Saloman. It is one of the first commercial uses of DuPont's Hytrel RS and is used for the collar of the company's "Ghost" freerider alpine ski boot. The grade...

Pulsed PU bladders prevent deep vein thrombosis.(design)
May 1, 2009... Inflatable polyurethane bladders are bonded together to make a circulation-inducing device to prevent deep vein thrombosis in patients undergoing surgical procedures. The CalfPad was invented by two UK surgeons, designed by Novamedix for...

Visor can be flashed to 1,000 degC.(design)
May 1, 2009... High temperature performance is obviously essential for plastics used in fire-fighting safety equipment. A visor for a fireman's helmet made by the PAB company in Croatia has to resist a temperature of 250 degC for 30 minutes without damage and...

Switching from gas to epoxy insulation cuts greenhouse gas risk.(design)
May 1, 2009... Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is used widely in the electricity power industry as a gaseous insulator for high-voltage circuit breakers, switchgear and other electrical equipment. But it is also one of the most potent greenhouse gases with major...

EPDM made to tighter specifications.(engineering materials)
May 1, 2009... Upgrades have been made to now Elastomers' Nordel hydrocarbon rubber products to enable higher compound quality at better economics. All Nordel products now undergo gel contamination testing by new equipment installed at the Nordel IP and...

Low chlorine PPS for electronics.(engineering materials)
May 1, 2009... In anticipation of low halogen content standards for the electronics industry, Chevron Phillips has introduced two Ryton polyphenylene sulphide grades with chlorine content of less than 900 parts per million. Ryton R-4-280 is a 40 per cent...

These TPEs pass the test for flame and temperature ...(engineering materials)
May 1, 2009... Additions to the Teknor Apex Elexar range of SEBS TPEs are fully RoHS-compliant and meet UL criteria for fire retardancy while providing flexibility and toughness over a broad temperature range. They are available with hardnesses from Shore S6A...