Reifenhauser-Kiefel

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.

NPE is typically a competitive display of the biggest, most dramatic equipment machine builders can muster.

Newly formed Reifenhauser Kiefel, Danvers, Mass., has developed an air ring that provides two-directional cooling, meaning that air is directed upward to the air lips and downward to an additional air exit closer to the die.

Late last month, Reifenhauser GmbH acquired the blown film extrusion equipment business of Kiefel Extrusion GmbH from Bruckner Technology Holding GmbH.

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

The upgraded Ecoformer KMV 53E in-line vacuum former from Kiefel GmbH in Germany (U.S. office in Hampton, N.H.), has considerably higher forming pressure and slightly larger forming area than its predecessor, model KMV 50.

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.

WEB EXCLUSIVE This month, blown film extrusion equipment supplier Kiefel Inc. has moved from Wrentham, Mass., to join sister company Kiefel Technologies Inc. in Hampton, N.H.

Clear Lam Packaging Inc. is a mid-sized, family-owned packaging company with an enviable growth rate of over 20%/yr, unusual at a time when many mid-sized packaging companies are being bought out and disappearing. The secret, Clear Lam believes, has been its aggressive investment in R&D.

A new high-efficiency mixing (HEM) section for single screws was developed to boost outputs of polyolefins with smooth or grooved feed sections.

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

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

A merger in Germany creates a new force in plastics machinery.

Filler isn’t a bad word in T-shirt bags and can liners any more.

Gearless, synchronous, permanent-magnet torque motors have at least two advantages for wire and cable extruders-energy efficiency and quiet operation.

A cylinder of water-cooled metal inside the bubble of a dedicated blown film line producing heavy-duty shipping sacks increases output by 30-40%, to over 600 lb/hr, says Kiefel Extrusion GmbH in Germany (U.S. offices in Wrentham, Mass.). Kiefel's Enhanced Cooling Package (ECP) is a module about 1.8 meters tall, which keeps the IBC air cool, rather than being heated by the bubble.

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.

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.

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.

Entrepreneur Sven Eckert doesn’t like to waste energy.

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.

U.S. processors still have some catching up to do when it comes to getting the most out of grooved-feed extruders. But decades of European experience offer lessons on how to use grooved feeds to run even resins like TPU, nylon, and PET.

As sheet extruders consolidate, they're modernizing operations to raise output and efficiency. The pressure is on to run faster, wider, with more layers and innovative combinations of materials. The challenges multiply as sheet extrusion is teamed with in-line compounding and downstream operations like thermoforming.