Addex Inc., USA

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.

New Digital Internal Bubble Cooling (DIBC) system from Addex Inc., Stoughton, Mass., is said to deliver the fastest reaction time in the industry to ensure precise bubble control, helping processors to speed product changeovers and significantly reduce scrap.

In blown film, equipment and material suppliers have come together to push five-layer technology into non-barrier applications previously held by three-layer films.

In most segments of extrusion technology, the word at K 2010 is more.

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.

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.

Addex Inc., Stoughton, Mass., claims it now can produce nearly perfect blown film rolls with an oscillating die—an industry first.

Four non-contact, ultrasonic sensors-two below the frost line and two above it-are part of a new, patented "early warning" IBC control from Addex Inc., Stoughton, Mass.

Several extruder OEMs offer the four-motor, high-torque CMG drive from K&A Knoedler GmbH in Germany-but only on a single small extruder size, typically 90 mm.

A new blown film winder from Addex Inc., Stoughton, Mass., uses a cutover with a serrated knife that comes up out of a long slot in the lay-on drum and shoots sideways, making a clean cut.

 NPE 2006 presented a bevy of features to make film, sheet, pipe, and profile extrusion more efficient.

The second extruder built in North America with a gearless permanent-magnet torque motor is a new coextruder from Addex Inc., Stoughton, Mass. (The first machine of this type was built a few months ago by Davis-Standard.

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

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.

Machine-direction orientation is still discovering new market opportunities. But the technical difficulties are so great that some big projects never came of age. New equipment could make it easier.

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.

Until recently, blown-film processors looking for auto-gauge control had a choice of one segmented-die system, one IBC-based system, and several segmented air rings. Now there are at least nine auto-dies, including two for high-stalk bubbles, and lots of air-ring variations. All claim to improve gauge uniformity, but there are differences.

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

NPE will show higher outputs of practically everything, as advances in grooved feeds, servo drives, screw torque, mixing screws, dies, and downstream cooling, cutting, and handling make everything run faster.

New-generation winders for blown and cast film are winding bigger, better rolls at higher speeds and lower tension. They've gotten so fast that cast film lines can now realize their full productive potential.

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.

Probably the most intriguing news in extrusion at K 2001 will be a novel way to extrude clear film that differs from standard blown and cast methods.