August 2001 Issue
August 2001
Features
Featured articles from the latest issue of Plastics Technology
Chicken or Egg?
If your injection molding plant capacity is sold out and you aren’t really looking for new customers, then bless you, there’s no need to read further. Feel free to turn the page. For the rest of you, Plastics Technology is launching a new service this month that might help you get some of those idle machines running.
Read MoreLaser Marking Has a Bright Future in Plastics
Fast, programmable, environmentally clean laser marking has established a niche in basic marking of dates and product codes, but it is capable of much more. The market has barely touched the repertoire of decorative effects available with today's wider range of laser-markable resins, pigmentation technology, and laser equipment.
Read MoreFilm Extruder Tries Do-It-Yourself Electric Power
One of the country’s largest makers of stretch film and bags, the Sigma Plastics Group based in Lyndhurst, N.J., has embarked on an experiment in generating its own electricity.
Read MoreNew Ways to Salvage Plastic Waste
European plants are the first to use several new technologies for solvent-based recovery of PVC wire coatings, centrifugal recycling of post-consumer nylon carpet, and mechanical separation of multi-material flakes.
Read MoreHigh-Speed, Thin-Wall Molding Doesn't Need an Accumulator
Forget about using a gas accumulator or a special beefed-up machine to fill thin-wall parts fast. Just let the melt do all the work!
Read MoreGreater Pickings in Robots for Injection Molders
The newest crop of robot automation for injection molding machines, displayed recently at the Platex show in Osaka, Japan, and the Plast-Ex Show in Mississauga, Ont., continue the trend toward six-axis jointed-arm models and improved servo-driven, beam-mounted units seen at last year's NPE show in Chicago. The latest introductions also include new controls for servo-driven robots, new units designed to work in palletizing cells, and a range of new sprue pickers in servo and pneumatic models.
Read MoreSee-Through Plastic Cans Enliven Paint Packaging
Improved technologies for molding see-through plastic paint cans—both clear stretch-blow molded PET and translucent injection molded PP—are adding dash to paint marketing in the U.K. These trends present a lively example to the U.S., where gray steel cans still dominate the shelves in retail paint packaging.
Read More