The Role Barrel Temperatures Play in Melting

You need to understand the basics of how plastic melts in an extruder to properly set your process and troubleshoot any issues. Hint: it’s not about the barrel temperature settings.

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Your Business

resin pricing

Prices for PE, PS, PVC, PET Trending Flat; PP to Drop

Despite price increase nominations going into second quarter, it appeared there was potential for generally flat pricing with the exception of a major downward correction for PP.

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Commodity Resins

Prices Up for All Volume Resins

First quarter was ending up with upward pricing, primarily due to higher feedstock costs and not supply/demand fundamentals.

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Packaging

Austrian Recycler's Mission to Recycle PET Takes It Beyond Bottles

Mission PET supplements bottle-to-bottle capability with alternative applications for recycled PET.

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Processing Plant Tour

sustainability

Engineering Resins Compounder Expands to Take on More Scrap

Polymer Resources responds to sustainability push by upgrading plant with grinding and shredding equipment to take on both postindustrial and postconsumer reclaim.  

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plant tour

Back in the Family Business

In its 45th year, Precision Molded Plastics has carved out a technology and market niche, growing not just when opportunities arise but when they make sense, after its leader changed careers to keep the family business from changing hands.

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Film Extrusion

Breaking the Barrier: An Emerging Force in 9-Layer Film Packaging

Hamilton Plastics taps into its 30-plus years of know-how in high-barrier films by bringing novel, custom-engineered, nine-layer structures resulting from the investment in two new lines.

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Technology in Depth

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Finding Efficiencies in How Components Work Together

Auxiliary systems are vital to the proper functioning of a plastic processing line, and they can be a source of major cost and efficiency improvements.

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Packaging

PHA Compound Molded into “World’s First” Biodegradable Bottle Closures

Beyond Plastic and partners have created a certified biodegradable PHA compound that can be injection molded into 38-mm closures in a sub 6-second cycle from a multicavity hot runner tool.

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Film Extrusion

New Blown-Film Cooling Technologies Set to Debut at NPE2024

Cooling specialist Addex to roll out new auto-profiling air ring for rotating dies, and new single-plenum air ring.

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Processing additives for Plastics recycling stream
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Solutions

Screw Design Tips to Boost Productivity

In this collection of articles, two of the industry’s foremost authorities on screw design — Jim Frankland and Mark Spalding — offer their sage advice on screw design...what works, what doesn’t, and what to look for when things start going wrong.

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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 5: Metallocenes

How the development of new catalysts—notably metallocenes—paved the way for the development of material grades never before possible.

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polyolefins

Polyethylene Fundamentals – Part 4: Failed HDPE Case Study

Injection molders of small fuel tanks learned the hard way that a very small difference in density — 0.6% — could make a large difference in PE stress-crack resistance.

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Essential Reading

What You Need to Know About the Design and Operation of Maddock Mixers

Designed properly, all entering solid polymer fragments and certain types of PE gels entering the Maddock mixer can be trapped and dispersed into the matrix resin. But many are not properly designed. Here’s what to look out for.  

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best practices

Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 3: Field Failures

Polyethylene parts can fail when an inappropriate density is selected. Let’s look at some examples and examine what happened and why.

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The Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 2: Density and Molecular Weight

PE properties can be adjusted either by changing the molecular weight or by altering the density. While this increases the possible combinations of properties, it also requires that the specification for the material be precise.

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The Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 1: The Basics

You would think we’d know all there is to know about a material that was commercialized 80 years ago. Not so for polyethylene. Let’s start by brushing up on the basics.

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Tooling Know-How

How to Start a Hot-Runner Mold That Has No Tip Insulators

Here's a method to assist with efficient dark-to-light color changes on hot-runner systems that are hot-tipped.

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Unraveling the Science and Myth Associated With Moisture Analysis— Part 1

The first task in moisture measurement is to purchase an instrument that is based on sound fundamentals. Then, before it goes into use, method development must be undertaken for all polymers that are going to be processed in the plant.  

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Shell Polymers (Real)ationships start here ad
Vacuum Tech for Plastics Manufacturers
Orbetron new for 2024 micro twin screw feeder
Improved Stainless 420 ESR

Latest News and Products

Commodity Resins

ExxonMobil Collaborated on Creation of a High-Performance, Recyclable, Nonlaminated Freezer Film

The company partnered with provider of plant-based foods Bunduelle and film extruder Constantia Drukpol.

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sustainability

Coca-Cola’s Redesign of Small PET Bottles Pushes Lightweighting Below Prior ‘Floor’

Coca-Cola thought it had reached the limits of lightweighting for its small PET carbonated soft drink bottles. But a “complete redesign” led to a further 12% reduction.

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Delrin Partners with Entec and Channel Prime Alliance

Through this partnership, Entec and Channel Price Alliance will distribute all grades of Delrin acetal to customers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

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Additives

Next-Generation Additives Including Rice Bran Wax, Stabilizers, Flame Retardant

NPE 2024: Clariant is showcasing alternatives to fossil-based carbon waxes and additions to its AddWorks portfolio of stabilizers.

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Crosshead Die for Elastomers Adjusts Easily

NPE2024: Mechanically actuated gum space adjustment requires only ordinary socket wrench.  

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Biopolymers

PHA-Based Compounds for Compostable Film Packaging

NPE 2024: CJ Biomaterials launches two Phact PHA/PLA compounds for blown, cast and MDO film applications.

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NPE

Robotic Speed and Precision on Display

Sepro’s S5-25 Speed and 5X-25 robots work together in an interactive NPE2024 display to show the company’s range of automation capabilities.

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Additives

Additives for Boosting Performance and Sustainability of PE and PP Packaging

NPE 2024: Milliken’s UltraGuard 2.0 boosts barrier performance in HDPE and LLDPE while Hyperform HPN 58ei  improves properties of PP FDA-approved sheet and thermoformed packaging.  

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