All-round machinery and technology

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Touted as one of the largest plastics and rubber trade exhibitions in Asia, Chinaplas 2015’s 29th international exhibition will be held at the China Import & Export Fair Complex in Pazhou, Guangzhou, from 20-23 May 2015.

The Germans will be at the show in full force with 143 exhibitors, occupying 3,733 sq m of exhibition space. In 2013, worldwide supplies of plastics and rubber machines to China was EUR2.5 billion, which is a slight decrease of 1.3% compared to the preceding year.

However, Germany is No. 1 in world exports to China with a share of 34.9%, followed by Japan (18.5%), Taiwan (11.4%), and South Korea (6.1%).

Materials

  • Kraiburg TPE will reveal its new automotive compound, targeting interior, exterior, under-thehood and window encapsulation applications. With high flow technology, long and thin flow paths are realisable with low cavity pressure of up to 50%. Furthermore, the encapsulation of laminated safety glass is also made possible. The compounds also have characteristics like resistance to sink marks, glass breakage, uniform gloss finishing all over the part surface, colour matchability, UV and detergent resistance, with mechanical properties. Applications include back window sealing lip, frame rear and rear quarter windows.

  • BASF will participate in the Design x Innovation concurrent event with experts, including the designfabrik and Ultrasim team, discussing upcoming trends and insights into design, materials, and how plastics technology unleashes design possibilities and address fast-changing market needs in mobility, electrical & electronics and lifestyle sectors. External guest speakers include Akihiro Nagaya of Yamaha, Luo An of Teams Shanghai, Oliver Risse of Floatility, Tian Hao of LKK Design Shenzhen, Wing Lee, Designer at Milk Design, as well as experts from SAIC Motor Corporation.

  • Lehmann & Voss’s Luvocom XTF is a new generation of polymers lubricated with a proprietary PTFE formulation. Said to exhibit significantly increased wear resistance, especially at high loads, compared to standard formulations, they open up opportunities in automotive, industrial and oil and gas market applications, as well as high precision machined components via stock shapes. Benefits also include short running-in behaviour and the PTFE remains intact with the polymer during injection moulding. The first compounds in the series are based on PEEK, with other formulations to follow.

Extrusion Machinery

  • With a rising demand for hygiene products and especially for breathable film, Windmöller & Hölscher (W&H) will show blown and cast film lines. Formerly produced on cast film lines, breathable film output is now shifting towards blown film featuring enhanced properties, less thickness and therefore also material and cost savings. In general, breathable film is produced by embedding small particles of calcium carbonate in the film. After extrusion, the film is stretched in machine direction orientation (MDO) to create micro-holes around the embedded particles which do not stretch. W&H says it has invested years of research to be able to offer its own MDO, fully integrated with the blown film line and with special configured winders for handling the higher speeds that are required. Rounding this up are high speed flexo printing machines to handle this sensitive material, to guarantee high printing speed and quality.

  • Parallel to the exhibition, W&H, in cooperation with its subsidiary BSW Machinery, will host the ADProtex open house at the production site of Guangzhou Shengqing Package Technology to present woven cement sack production. The two focal points of the technology talks and live demonstrations will be the ecoTEX 1600L extrusion laminating line, which is able to produce OPP/woven or paper/woven composite materials and the converTex SLC bottomer, which will turn the composite material into finished sacks. Both machines will be running during the show.

  • Brückner Maschinenbau will showcase its Intelligent Line Management (ILM), including an energy monitor for measuring and analysing the energy consumption of the film production process based on the ISO50001 standard. ILM will support the operator to optimise the energy use of each product to achieve film quality on lowest energy input. At the joint booth, visitors will also find Brückner Servtec, promoting film stretching lines, Kiefel, showing developments for the packaging, automotive, medical & appliance industry, and PackSys Global, presenting packaging equipment.

  • Lindauer Dornier will promote its film lines for the production of mono and biaxially oriented films. For polyester condenser film there are plants available for a final thickness down to 1 micron and a trimmed width of 5.5 m and for thick film

  • Andritz Biax will present sequential stretching lines with Sedyn technology, including the latest generation biaXline Sedyn aXcess Mesim concept that has been designed for high-capacity production of BOPP flexible packaging film. It is a solution for the production of speciality films, such as optical film, battery separators, capacitor film, or BOPA high-quality packaging.

  • Dieffenbacher has commissioned a fully automated LFT-D plant for China, for a newly established joint venture of American company CSP (Continental Structural Plastics) and Chinese company Victall. Dieffenbacher has supplied ten presses and six LFT-D plants to CSP, a supplier of composite components in the automotive industry. Victall operates primarily in the field of railway engineering. The supply includes a 4,300 tonne press with a punch press, in-line compounding, convection ovens and complete automation. A large portion of the plant will be built in the Dieffenbacher production plant in Shanghai. The LFT-D production line will be in Tangshan, in the north of China. The plant supplies components in a 30 second cycle and with double belt-loading, with an output of 1 million components/year.

Auxiliary Equipment

  • ProTec Polymer Processing will present the revised SSP (solid state post-condensation) discontinuous tumble reactor. It no longer features a double jacket but is designed as a single-shell unit. A multi-duct system of half-pipe coils for transporting the heat transfer oil is welded to the outside of the vessel. The optimised weight of the reactor combined with a gear wheel direct drive system have cut energy use by 25%, along with batch times for material treatment.

  • Meanwhile, ProTec has developed a pultrusion system for producing long fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) from carbon fibre-reinforced PP, previously not possible. The line can be equipped with a twin-screw extruder and this "in-line compounding" allows the fibre-matrix compound to be individually adapted to the respective application.

  • Coperion’s latest STS Mc11 twin-screw extruder is making its debut. It features an increase in torque from 10 to 11.3 Nm/cm³ and is part of Coperion’s ZSK MEGAcompounder method patent, with an output up to 27% as well as decreased melt temperature due to higher screw filling. It also comes with Coperion-branded gearboxes. Screw speed has been increased from 800 to 900 rpm. To improve cleaning and quick change for masterbatch applications, it is equipped with new hoppers with inserts and a redesigned die head. The screw shaft coupling is similar to the ZSK Mc18 series. Sister company, Coperion K-Tron, will also be at the booth.

  • Motan-Colortronic China will introduce the new Metro G material loader range for raw materials conveying, that can be integrated in automatic central systems. The modular system allows configuration for specific applications. A dust removal module removes fine dust, essential for some engineering plastics. The system can also be fitted with a tangential material inlet to provide a cyclone effect for processing materials where separation of coarse dust is required.

  • It will also show the new Miniblend V, a volumetric dosing and mixing unit for smallquantity dosing. Three different disc sizes as well as dosing modules made of stainless steel or glass, and special wear-resistant discs for hard and abrasive materials are available. The unit can be operated by Motan’s volumetric controls VOLU MC or VOLUnet MC, which is equipped with an Ethernet interface.

  • Gneuss, which has established its Multi Rotation System extruder for processing PET reclaim without pre-drying, will show the SFpvc, the latest addition of screen changers for PVC. It is characterised by the adaptability to match the individual extruder and robust drive system to handle contamination surges. This model has proven itself in recycling of PVC plastic windows.

Injection Moulding Machinery

  • Arburg will launch its Freeformer for additive manufacturing for the Asian market. It will demonstrate the potential of plastic Freeforming for functional parts as one-off items or in multivariant small-volume batches, manufactured from standard granulate based on 3D CAD data, without a mould. The company says it can achieve far more than a simple 3D printer. The granulate is first melted in a plasticising cylinder. The second discharge unit can be used to produce multi-component/colour parts. One Freeformer will combine a TPU material with a special supporting material – a first in additive manufacturing. Possible applications include bellows, hoses, sleeves, or flexible parts for robotic grippers. The supporting structures can subsequently be removed in a water bath. Last year, the Freeformer received the internationally renowned Red Dot Award for industrial design, next to top brands such as Apple, Audi and Adidas. Arburg demonstrated the process for the first time at the Fakuma 2014 (Germany) producing an office scissors with individualised lettering.

  • Arburg will also present the hybrid Allrounder 570H designed for thinwall packaging applications. A 2+2-cavity stack mould is used for the IML application, which compared to a conventional four-cavity mould, permits the use of a smaller machine. It will produce four 200 ml margarine tubs in a cycle time of around 3.2 seconds. The automated process is performed by a two-axis robotic system. It inserts two so-called butterfly labels on both the fixed and moving mould platens and removes the finished parts from the central block.

  • It will also display an electric Allrounder 470E demonstrating the production of prefillable syringe barrels made of COP (cyclic olefin polymer), which is transparent and has similar barrier properties to glass, but almost unbreakable and more costefficient. In a subsequent step, the syringe barrels can be pre-filled, assembled and packaged ready for use. The Multilift Select robotic system from Arburg is used to remove the barrels.

  • Boy will be showing its 60E that is equipped with a servo motor pump drive, similar to the E-series, boasting up to 50% energy savings. It will be shown making thinwall ABS caskets, each consisting of two under parts and upper parts in a 2+2-family mould in 5 seconds. A 22A at the South Chinese distributor Trillion Machinery is equipped with a cantilevered clamping unit for accessibility for automation equipment or other devices.

  • Having reworked its CX small machine series (35-160 tonnes), KraussMaffei Technologies will show a new CXV 160 at its booth. The company says it uses 10% less energy, is 15% faster, 30% quieter, with the oil volume reduced by 20%, and 25% more efficient. With automation and faster set-up times, it has 100% added value for the customer, says the firm. Additional highlights include the new sprue picker, the ejector coupling and the BluePower Vario Drive concept.

Blow Moulding Machinery

  • Kautex Maschinenbau will be showing a KB25 suction blow moulding machine that has been modernised at its Shunde plant. Used for manufacturing air ducts, it has been fitted with a 1.8 l high-temperature accumulator head, a low-wear E60 extruder and a full suction blow moulder. Some 25% of Kautex's turnover is generated by its range of servicing programmes, including retrofitting. This is now possible at Kautex’s plant in Shunde, opened 20 years ago, which in 1995 became the first German joint venture to be set up in the southern region of Guangdong.

Other European Machinery

  • Extrusion machinery manufacturer battenfeld-cincinnati Extrusion Systems has been active in China for 19 years. At Chinaplas, the company will introduce its new management, and the extended turnkey LeanEX extrusion line for pipe diameters up to 400 mm.

  • In March, Toni Bernards was confirmed as CEO and Bruce Lamont as COO of battenfeld-cincinnati’s Chinese subsidiary. In addition, Bernards will also serve as Head of Global Sourcing for the group.

  • Bernards explains on the Chinese market: “We have a strong position in the market and an experienced team of engineers and sales people. The market situation is becoming more difficult as overall growth rates in China decrease. However, last year, 75% of customers ordering with us were new customers. This is a good basis.”

  • Following customer demand in Southeast Asia, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Russia, battenfeld-cincinnati China has extended its basic line solution for PO pipes to four sizes: 63, 160, 250 and 400 mm. The lines are equipped with the LeanEX extruders in one of three sizes: LeanEX 60-30 (output HDPE 350 kg/ hour, PP-R 280 kg/hour), LeanEX 75-30 (output HDPE 500 kg/hour, PP-R 400 kg/hour) and LeanEX 90-30 (output HDPE 800 kg/hour, PP-R 640 kg/hour). LeanEX turnkey lines cater to companies that need a low cost line for small, standard pipe applications. They are offered in a basic package with limited options, a smaller control panel and control system, as well as locally sourced screws, barrels, motor and drive. The pipe heads are from the standard helix series.

  • The company also recently introduced solEX single-screw and twinEX twin-screw extruders to the local market. These machines are equipped with energyefficient AC motors and, in combination with gravimetric dosing systems, can save up to 3% material in PE pipe extrusion, while consuming about 200 kWh less than the average local extruder when producing 1 tonne of PE pipe. It will show a solEX 60-40-C and a twinEX 93-28-C at Chinaplas.

  • Meanwhile, for thermoforming sheet extrusion, last year, battenfeld-cincinnati sold the fourth sheet line with high-speed extruder and Multi-Touch roll stack in Asia to Chinese company Guangdong Huasheng Plastics, Shantou. With a capacity of 1,400 kg/hour, this line replaces four to six of the previously used Chinese lines. It can produce sheet ranging from 350-2,500 microns in thickness.

  • Swiss company Maag will show the new design of its underwater pelletising system, Sphero S, making it ideally suited for masterbatch and recycling applications with medium outputs between 700-3,000 kg/hour. Improvements include a new frame that allows it to be mounted on a single mobile structure for a reduced footprint. The design of the cutter head facilitates startup, to ensure less agglomeration and production of evenly shaped pellets.

  • The Baoli line of dry-cut strand pelletisers for the Chinese market are manufactured in Maag-Automatiks's local facility. The series is available in three basic machine sizes with operating widths of 100 mm, 200 mm and 300 mm.

  • Another highlight will be the extrex series gear pump and filtration system for extrusion, compounding and recycling applications. It generates the required pressure for downstream processing with energy efficiency, while at the same time reducing the burden on the upstream extruder by eliminating pulsations and pressure surges.

  • Maag’s extrex EA is a localised extrusion pump that is assembled at its facility in Lingang near Shanghai, with key components, such as gears and bearings made in Maag’s European facility. Maag is now extending the EA pump with the sizes extrex 36-EA and 110-EA for an output range of up to 4,200 kg/hour.

  • Recycling equipment supplier Erema's focus will be on its new Intarema system featuring the core technology Counter Current. The Austrian firm says it has already sold 150 systems worldwide since the launch in 2013. As the trend is continuing in Asia, too, Erema will present an Intarema 1007 TVEplus system with a melt filter SW4/104 RTF as an exhibit. With an output of 300-350 kg/hour, the system will be shown operating to demonstrate the recycling of heavily printed LDPE materials.

(PRA)

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