Compounders face a number of processing challenges when incorporating a high loading of low-bulk-density mineral filler into polyolefins. Here are some possible solutions.

Erema in Austria has a new system that combines recycling and compounding in a single step.

It has been a big month for plastics machinery acquisitions.

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

Two suppliers of twin-screw compounding extruders announced at NPE2012 that they are now offering screw-element refurbishing services.

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.

Significant expansion at its Wapakoneta, Ohio, plant.

Twin-screw compounding equipment supplier Coperion GmbH (U.S. office: Coperion Corp., Ramsey, N.J.) has expanded its product line by acquiring majority ownership of Pell-Tec Pelletizing Technology GmbH in Niedernberg, Germany.

Since 1967, FD Plastics in Leominster, Mass., has been supplying processors with color concentrates made with single-screw extruders.

Angel hairs wreak havoc on plastics processing: clogging filters, plugging conveying lines, causing feed problems at the blender, and jamming up machine throats. Here's how to prevent their formation.

When Plastics Color Corp., based in Calumet City, Ill., established a new compounding plant in Southern California, the firm decided this couldn’t be an ordinary color/additive masterbatch facility.

Feed enhancement unit is aimed at low-bulk density materials.

New twin from Coperion also pumps up output by 30%

The new ZSK Mc18 line of twin-screw compounding extruders from Coperion Corp.

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.

channel depth in larger machines, which exposes the material to less mechanical stress at comparable residence times.

Smaller parts, a wider range of resins and reinforcements,and retrofittable molding equipment were among the news indirect-compounded long-fiber thermoplastics presented at a recent Plastics Technology conference. Extrusion and thermoforming are also new extensions of this process.

Extrusion machinery at the June NPE show in Chicago showed inventive ways to get more out of your floorspace and materials.

Compounding news at the show includes several new ways to feed low-bulk-density materials faster for higher outputs with corotating twin screws.

Coperion Corp., Ramsey, N.J., supplier of Werner & Pfleiderer compounding extruders, has tripled its screw-element manufacturing capacity through an expansion of its Wytheville, Va., plant.

Dispersing nano-scale fillers in high-viscosity plastic melts is no simple feat.

Two new groups of twin-screw kneading elements for gentle, lowpressure melting and mixing were introduced at the recent K 2007 show in Dusseldorf by Coperion (U.S. office in Ramsey, N.J.). One is a group of cam-style ZSK elements for dispersive mixing, which are used for bimodal polyolefi ns with very high filler levels.

Compounding machinery news at the K Show next month focuses on more torque, more output, and sometimes both, for kneaders, mixers, and twin-screw extruders.

The first two giant ZSK-NT tandem twin-screw compounders from Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer (U.S. office in Ramsey, N.J.) are being built now for delivery to a Saudi Arabian PE resin plant.

Since 2002, an unusual die has been pelletizing PLA biopolymer at NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, Minn.

Much of the compounding news at the NPE Show in Chicago in June ad-dressed the growing trend among extrusion processors to become compounders.

Throughput capacities are going up for compounding equipment of all types.

Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer in Germany (U.S. office in Ramsey, N.J.) has applied for a patent on a process for compounding and direct extrusion of plastic filled with hollow microspheres.

Two huge tandem twin-screw compounding lines are on order from Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer in Germany for delivery in early 2007 to Saudi Arabia.

A very small laboratory-model twin-screw extruder has been introduced by Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer, Ramsey, N.J.

New compounding technologies displayed at K 2004 included some unusual ways to broaden the range of products a twin-screw compounder can make.

Compounding news at the K Show includes the use of alternative motors to save space and raise output on twin-screw machines.

Loss-in-weight feeders are the most important piece of auxiliary equipment for compounding extruders.

Show exhibitors say long-fiber wood composites, direct extrusion/compounding, and reactive compounding are where the action is.

You may be thinking of buying one of the new ‘high-torque/high-speed’ twin-screw compounders in order to raise your output without going to a larger machine. But how much torque or speed do you really need? Underusing a high-powered extruder wastes investment dollars. So look carefully at what is required for the materials you run.

Compounding raw fiberglass directly into thermoplastic molded parts is growing rapidly in Europe, and now it’s coming here. D-LFT, as it’s called, promises to make large parts cheaper and stronger—but with new technological risks and higher up-front investment costs.

This K show demonstrated the continuing evolution toward higher torque, screw speed, and throughput rates in twin-screw compounders. There were also new developments for reducing wear when processing filled compounds and new processes available for license to compound wood and paper fibers with plastics. There were even some improvements in backflushing screen changers.

Compounding equipment at K presents not so much new technology as new modifications or combinations of equipment to improve output and conserve space.

For the second straight NPE show, the focus in compounding is on twin-screw machines that deliver more speed and torque—thus more output—than ever before. No fewer than six suppliers of twin-screw compounders are showing such machines. There’s something to see in in-line systems as well. And there’s plenty of news in PVC mixers and pelletizing equipment, too.