Extrusion (July 01, 2007)

Solid and hollow profile production for composites

Co-extrusion technology and unique tooling solutions from American Maplan create a cost-effective material and time-saving solution for the production of fiber composite profiles.

The company’s co-extrusion blocks, in both dual and triple wall applications, adapt to most tooling with minimal modifications, for significant design flexibility.

And the tooling technology offers die sets that are interchangeable with the die head, allowing a quick change advantage over typical profile dies and minimizing the changeover time between profiles as well as the elimination of secondary calibration.

The tooling system is designed for PVC, polyolefin and engineered polymer based compounds with fibre content of 30 to 70 per cent, and output rates up to 3,000 lbs./hr.

American Maplan Corporation (McPherson, Kan.);

www.maplan.com; 620-241-6843

Tubing/pipe die for thick walled extrusion

Through in-house computer simulation and extensive field-testing, Dual Spiral Systems has developed a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tubing/pipe die for thick walled tubing extrusion.

The 6″ die body can be fitted with supplementary lip sets in order to produce pipes with outer diameters ranging from 1″ to 15″, with wall thickness up to 2″. In order to cool the plastic that makes up the tube wall, the die incorporates a built-in liquid cooling manifold that removes heat from both the inside and outside of the PET tube as it’s being extruded from the die. The cooling section is thermally isolated from the heated portion of the die.

Additionally, the die’s flow channel design also ensures that the product is produced consistently with no machine oriented die or weld lines.

Dual Spiral Systems Inc. (Hamilton, Ont.);

www.dualspiralsystems.com; 905-524-2438