Designed for medical tubing, the Modular Micro Extruder from American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I.,provides the versatility to quickly and easily change barrel and screw diameters and feed-section configurations.

The Graham Group, York, Pa., last month announced it had bought controlling interest in American Kuhne (AK), the Ashaway, R.I.-based manufacturer of extruders, screws, and integrated extrusion systems.

New Backdraft extruder from American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I., has a reverse-air cooling system suited especially to blown film that removes heat and undesireable air currents from the extrusion area for optimum bubble stability while also improving energy efficiency.

Blown film towers may have been scarce, but there was no shortage of new technology aimed at helping to make extrusion processors more profitable.

A new coextrusion line from American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I., features one 12-mm and two 16-mm microextruders mounted on a common base.

There won't be many blown-film lines running, but there is still much in the way of innovation going on in extrusion and compounding.

Kuhne GmbH blown-film technology will now be available to North American processors through sister company American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I.

American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I., has introduced a gearless extruder aimed at medical tubing.

Because of their use in critical applications, processors of medical tubing have little or no room for error.

By focusing on high-tech, quick-turnaround, turnkey solutions, Putnam Plastics has grown into a leader in the field of medical extrusion.

The new Compact MD series extruder from American Kuhne, Ashaway, R.I., is designed specifically for cleanroom and controlled environments.

This NPE show won’t have a lot of extruders on the floor, either running or static. Instead, look for videos and announcements of new technology. You will also find lots of ingenious peripheral devices to improve output and quality and save resin. Some will do all three, and cost less into the bargain.

One of the unusual features of NPE 2009 in Chicago June 22-24 will be the first-ever concurrent presentation of the SPE ANTEC conference, by far the largest of seven conferences at McCormick Place during the show.

Injection MoldingHybrid Press Has Electric ClampNew injection presses that combine servo-electric and hydraulic movements to achieve high performance with energy efficiency will be discussed by Arburg Inc., Newington, Conn.

Strip-fed roller feeders for cold extrusion of silicone rubber are normally hard to clean.

Around three dozen, mostly European, processors are pushing commercial development of high-speed single-screw extrusion. They have installed more than 100 of the small hyper-drive machines whose screws turn at up to 1500 rpm, about eight to 10 times faster than standard extruders. At least two German machine builders are working on machines that will go to 2000 rpm and even higher. The goal is to raise output without increasing extruder size.

Extrusion equipment supplier American Kuhne, Inc., has moved from Norwich, Conn., to a 12-acre site in Ashaway, R.I., which is much closer to Providence airport.

A tiered IBC device and air ring from Kuhne GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Norwich, Conn.) enlarges the diameter of blown film bubbles as much as two-fold, using very high air pressure and optimized air-channel distributors.

An unusual series of modular single-screw extruders with interchangeable barrels is being introduced in three sizes at the K Show in Germany next month by American Kuhne Inc., Norwich, Conn.

It’s all about higher speeds and higher outputs at this year’s “K” show in Germany.

The new factor in extrusion machinery at this NPE is the influx of Asian suppliers.

Recycling and reclamation are once again hot technologies—this time because of high resin prices.

Economical, non-nuclear capacitance gauges are opening new markets in blown film—primarily in barrier films, where they previously suffered serious shortcomings. New gauge designs, and new ways of mounting them, make capacitance technology much more flexible.

The show was packed with new equipment for pipe and profile, including extruders re­designed for higher outputs and/or lower cost, plus new ways to adjust die and calibrator diameters or switch dies and calibrators more quickly.

Silent, space-saving, energy-efficient, and high-torque, a new generation of ring-shaped motors is gaining a foothold in extrusion. A couple of hundred are already in use. Though most machine builders are reacting cautiously, adventurous processors are using them happily.

At K 2004, at least a half-dozen European machine builders will show new direct-drive extruders running gearless—or nearly gearless—drives with substantially higher rpm and output rates than conventional extruders of the same size.

At this year’s NPE, new processes to put wood flour into plastic were virtually everywhere—several even start with undried flour.

Gearless extrusion, cryogenic profile calibration, wireless data communications, and automatic start-up of blown film lines are just a few of the new ways to raise efficiency and output that were highlighted at NPE.