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

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.

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

Apparently undaunted by a lackluster economy that has slowed capital equipment investment and stymied product development in many areas, Windmoeller & Hoelscher last month strutted out six new technologies for film extrusion.

Brampton Engineering Inc., Brampton, Ont., came up with a novel approach to reduce the footprint of its first 11-layer blown film line, which shipped in April.

Brampton Engineering Inc., Brampton, Ont., recently received an order for the world’s first 11-layer blown film die as part of a complete 11-extruder blown film line.

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

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

Injection MoldingSimplified Hot Runners Save Time & CostA new lower-cost hot-runner alternative to valve gating is suited to less critical cosmetic applications where users need predictable and reliable gate opening but not sequential gate operation.

Eight years after nine-layer blown films were first introduced, only a handful of processors have mastered the challenges of making them. Machine suppliers are now setting up lab lines that could make entry easier.

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.