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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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sustainability

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

Compounding

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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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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k show

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

SPONSORED

Five Ways to Increase Productivity for Injection Molders

Faster setups, automation tools and proper training and support can go a long way.

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Digital Twin Creates New, Virtual Paths for Robots with Real-World Cycle-Time Impacts

Realtime Robotics seeks to get more robots involved in manufacturing by addressing the biggest current barrier: programming costs.

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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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Solutions

Multiscrew

How to Configure Your Twin-Screw Extruder for Mixing: Part 5

Understand the differences between distributive and dispersive mixing, and how you can promote one or the other in your screw design.

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Extrusion

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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best practices

Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 6: PE Performance

Don’t assume you know everything there is to know about PE because it’s been around so long. Here is yet another example of how the performance of PE is influenced by molecular weight and density.

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Bole Machinery
Orbetron new for 2024 micro twin screw feeder
Gardner Business Media, Inc.
Dover Clear
Latest Issue

Latest Issue

Essential Reading

Extrusion

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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Extrusion

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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Commodity Resins

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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Go Beyond Blending
quick mold change solutions injection molders
Plastics Recycling Latam
Orbetron LLC new product of 2024, micro twin screw

Latest News and Products

Additives

Performance Phosphite Antioxidant and Extended Service Life UVA for Polyolefins

NPE 2024: Songwon’s Songnox 9228 phosphite enhances  resistance to oxidative corrosion while Songsorb 1164 UVA outperforms benzotriazoles.  

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NPE

Cobot Palletizing System for Bottles

NPE2024: Proco Machinery’s new collaborative robot system palletizes bottles with trays and tier sheets up to 104 in. high.

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Postprocessing

Polyfuze Graphics Corp. Partners With RFID Specialists

To help customers navigate the complexities of RFID technology, Polyfuze has partnered with such companies as HID Global.

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NPE

Brightmark Intends to Build Recycling Circularity Center in Upson County, Georgia

The company announced plans for an investment totaling $950 million.

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NPE

Mold Solutions Target Safety, Storage and Productivity

NPE2024: Globeius and its suppliers showcase solutions focused on decreasing downtime, reducing energy consumption, increasing safety and more in an injection mold shop.

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Formlabs Form 4 Prints at Double to Quintuple Speed

Formlabs announces SLA printer with much greater speeds than previous generation.

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Three Robots and 12 Automated Operations in One Cell

Sepro is highlighting a range of automation capabilities in a three-robot cell — including cartesian, articulated arm and cobot units — integrated with a 125-ton Milacron injection molding machine.

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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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AM Workshop
New 2024 Twin Screw Report
pipe and profile extrusion chemical foaming agents
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