 |
 |
In this Edition September 2011 |
LEAD FEATURE |
COMPANY NEWS |
MATERIALS NEWS |
MACHINERY NEWS |
ENVIRONMENT NEWS |
INJECTION MOULDING ASIA |
RUBBER JOURNAL ASIA |
 ELECTRONIC ISSUE |
PRA September 2011 Electronic Issue Now Available |
 |
Machinery News
Material-saving technology gaining interest
G
ermany-based Reifenhäuser Extrusion says it has sold several REIfill thermoforming lines with a production capacity of more than 1,500 kg/hour per line, indicating that there is growing interest in Southern Europe, Russia, Asia and in the Middle East. A benefit is that the technology allows up to 40% of PP and PS to be replaced with mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate and talc.The company says the savings potential is "enormous since the price of calcium carbonate is just one-fifth of the current PS price. While the resulting price advantage is eliminated in part with conventional single-screw extruders able to process expensive compound material only, the REItruder allows to fully utilise this advantage since fillers in powder form can directly be fed into the co-rotating twin-screw extruder."
In addition to cost-related aspects, the adding of mineral fillers - according to the application of the end product - is also of interest with regard to the product properties: filled PP and PS films have a higher stiffness compared to pure PP and PS films with identical wall thicknesses, which it says is an ideal prerequisite for the production of disposable dishes.
Producers whose products do not require such enhanced stiffnesses may reduce the film thickness resulting in further raw material and costs savings. Furthermore, filled thermoforming sheets can be produced at increased cycle rates, it says.