The recent addition of an ultrasonic gauging and control system is credited by pipe extruder Charter Plastics Inc., Titusville, Pa., with increasing its production flexibility.

Tooling developments allow for versatility, quick changes.

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.

A fixed ring of ultrasonic sensors mounted on the first calibrator reportedly allows much faster die centering and start-up of large pipe extrusion lines, drastically reducing scrap.

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.

The recently developed Internal Air Cooling Die from iBA GmbH in Germany substantially increases output of polyolefin pipe or correspondingly reduces the length of downstream cooling, the company says.

The first non-destructive test device to indicate the level of crosslinking in PEX-A (peroxide-cured) HMW-HDPE pipe for hot water and in-floor heating was recently sold by Inoex GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Lancaster, Pa.). The vision-based device is mounted in the extrusion line after the crosslinking oven and cooling-water bath. (Crosslinking makes normally opaque PE more translucent.) Optical testing isn’t designed to replace chemical tests of crosslinking, but to give early warning of a change in the process to permit prompt correction, since off-line chemical tests on cut samples may take days to yield results.

A new high-output extrusion die for large HDPE or PP pipe (110 to 2000 mm OD) combines water-cooling of the melt before it leaves the die with air cooling inside the pipe.

An adjustable calibrator is available in a new larger size from Inoex GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Lancaster, Pa.). The Advantage Sleeve can now accommodate pipe diameters up to 1200 mm, vs. up to 400 mm before.

The new Maxflexx pipe die from Inoex GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Lancaster, Pa.) cools a pipe with internal air cooling.

Dramatic production demonstrations of cast and blown film set throughput records on the show floor in Dusseldorf.

A patented vertical oven emitting a special distribution of IR wavelengths under 1.6 microns crosslinks PE pipe in record time of about 6 sec vs. 2 to 5 min for typical curing in hot liquid.

Wood-plastic composite (WPC) profiles are made by two main approaches.

A new adjustable calibration sleeve from Inoex in Lancaster, Pa., can change pipe OD and wall thickness over the full range of pressure categories for one nominal pipe size without interrupting production.

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

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.