New twin-screw system is based on a conical design.

Materials formulation, cast and blown film extrusion, sheet extrusion, printing, and laminating come under one roof at this processor.

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.

A new customized nine-extruder, five-layer sheet extrusion system for production of multi-colored, striped sheet for thermoformed HIPS yogurt cups is said to be one of the most unusual and sophisticated packaging sheet lines on the market.

Whether producing mono- or multi-layer sheet, many sheet extrusion systems produce rolls of finished sheet, or stacks of sheet that has been cut-to-length.

A sheet extrusion line consists of an Extruder (single or twin screw), equipped with a Screen Changer and a Gear Pump, followed by a Static Mixer (sometimes feeding a Coextrusion Feedblock that is preceded by one or more additional extruders sets as described above), feeding a flat sheet die.

Flat film and sheet toolmakers are focusing on technologies for nanolayer systems.

Novel TPE/Polyimide Medical Tubing Through a special manufacturing process, TPE tubing with one or more lumens is being extruded inside thermoset polyimide medical tubing.

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.

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

"We tend to jump on things early," says John Kittredge. "F-K has been a pioneer in a number of things. Our earliest example was converting HDPE margarine tubs to ABS. After that we were a leader in thermoforming polypropylene, and then APET." Now it's PLA biopolymer.

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

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.

Around three dozen, mostly European, processors are pushing commercial development of high-speed single-screw extrusion. They have installed more than 100 of the small hyper-drive machines whose screws turn at up to 1500 rpm, about eight to 10 times faster than standard extruders. At least two German machine builders are working on machines that will go to 2000 rpm and even higher. The goal is to raise output without increasing extruder size.

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.

Last month, extrusion equipment supplier Welex Inc. moved from its home of 40 years to a location virtually next door, at 1600 Union Meeting Rd., Blue Bell, PA 19422-1966.

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.

Two machine builders offer sheet lines with 90-mm extruders that reportedly achieve double the usual output, thanks to four-motor torque drives from K&A Knoedler GmbH in Germany (represented here by Henschel America Inc., Green Bay, Wis.). When Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik in Germany launched its High Performance sheet lines with the four-motor torque drive at the K 2004 show in Germany, output was increased only 25% because the takeoff could not accommodate more.

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

Welex extruders are designed and built to be exceptionally reliable and versatile, to meet your changing needs, year after year.

Welex pioneered sheet coextrusion in 1967.

The Welex World Standard is the most complete, advanced, high performance sheet extrusion money can buy.

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.

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.

Perpetually in its infancy, PET foam sheet has been a hard sell for packaging producers over nearly a decade. It found successful niches in thermoformed ovenable bakery trays, meat trays, and reheatable dinner trays for home delivery to disabled persons.

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.

Where's the extruder?" was the comment often heard about the most unusual extrusion exhibit at K'98, a screwless, cone-shaped device that can extrude two or more melt streams.