Technology Showcase (March 01, 2006)
Canadian Plastics
MATERIALS...
MATERIALS
Non-transparent acrylic improves auto esthetics
Enhancing design flexibility and reducing total cost-of-use for automotive applications are what Cyro Industries’ 100 per cent recyclable and environmentally friendly, Acrylite and Acrylite Plus acrylic polymers are designed to do.
Appropriate for automotive applications such as decorative trims, functional parts, mirror housings and roof modules, these non-transparent polymers offer intense depth of colour and high-gloss surfaces. That’s because the colour is incorporated into the material itself, so no painting or coating is required.
Plus Acrylite polymers are easily polished to remove small scratches, are UV, weather- and gasoline-resistant lending themselves to exterior automotive applications.
Cyro Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Degussa (Rockaway, N.J.); 800-631-5384;
Super Flow nylon 4,6 made for connectors
DSM Engineering Plastics’ new product series for connector applications, Stanyl Super Flow, is celebrating the commercialization of its first member, Stanyl 46F5030.
The new 30 per cent glass fibre-reinforced grade is the first in the nylon 4,6 line designed to help connector manufacturers keep up with the miniaturization trend in electronics by designing smaller connectors than ever before.
Stanyl 46F5030’s combines processing ease with exceptional strength and ductility to accommodate even the smallest design connectors with higher pin counts and walls as thin as 0.1 mm, and pitch values well below 0.3 mm.
The material’s high thermal resistance makes it ideal for lead-free soldering processes without blistering at low wall thickness and losing its high mechanical properties.
Potential applications include most miniature SMT connector types such as FPC, FFC, SIM card, wire-to-board and board-to-board, among others.
DSM Engineering Plastics; www.dsm.com
Improved Styrolux cuts costs for clear packaging
BASF’s new Styrolux 3G55 styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBC) increases the toughness and reduces the cost of manufacturing clear plastic cups, trays, utensils and lids compared to previous Styrolux grades.
Developed using a proprietary polymerization technique, Styrolux 3G55 can be used with general-purpose polystyrene (GPSS) for both extrusion and thermoforming applications.
Compared with conventional SBC and GPSS blends, up to 25 per cent less Styrolux 3G55 is needed to achieve desired toughness or stiffness and thermoforming ratios.
Styrolux 3G55 is also ideal for manufacturing blister packaging and oriented polystyrene packaging (OPS).
BASF Canada (Toronto)
www.plasticsportal.com; 800-267-7870
EXTRUSION
PVC pipe walls thinner with AMC dual-spider dies
High production rates and improved pipe properties are the chief benefits processors could derive from American Maplan Corp.’s (AMC) RD dual-spider pipe heads for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) extrusion.
Available in seven sizes, the newest small head is the RD 1-7, which makes pipe in diameters from 5 mm to 7 mm. The largest head, RD 24-48, produces pipes in diameters from 630 mm to 1,325 mm.
These pipe heads can allow for throughput rates of 725 to 2,275 kg per hour, improve the physical properties of the pipe due to greater process consistency and make it easy for processors to control wall thickness.
Additionally, users can reduce overweights by about 50 per cent if switching from a single-spider design head.
American Maplan Corp. (McPherson, Kan.)
www.maplan.com; 620-241-6843
MOLDMAKING
Melt-Disk offers hot tip processing for direct side gating
Providing simple, versatile hot tip processing for direct side gating applications is what Mold-Masters Ltd.’s new Melt-Disk is designed to do.
A controlled heat element on the disk portion that ensures optimal heat control in the gate area is the key to the Melt-Disk’s processing performance.
Acting as a “mini-manifold,” it applies heat to the hot runners right up to the hot tip seals.
The Melt-Disk’s expansion point provides a leak-proof seal when heated but is easily removed when cooled.
Melt-Disk is ideal for parts such as pipettes, syringe barrels and needle shields, and delivers simultaneous side gating for two, four, six and eight parts per drop. It is also available with tips angled at zero, 30, 45 and 60 degrees from horizontal.
Mold-Masters Limited (Georgetown, Ont.)
www.moldmasters.com; 905-877-0185
AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT
Nano Coatings signs Husky to distribute device for low-cost plasma barrier coating
Replacing more glass and metal containers with plastics will soon become viable now that Nano Coating Systems has developed a low-cost process for SiOx plasma barrier coating of plastics.
Nano Coatings’ system uses radio frequency energy to generate the plasma instead of microwaves; this is expected to bring cost for the process down to less than US$6 for 1,000 bottles. Testing has shown the process improves the barrier of bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate bottles (PET), polypropylene (PP) and injection-molded items like medical disposables.
Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. will be Nano Coatings’ distributor for the machinery associated with this process.
Nano Coating Systems (Fremont, Calif.)
www.nanocoatingsys.com; 510-249-9601
Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. (Bolton, Ont.)
www.husky.ca; 905-951-5000
AAC’s Raptor 3000-HP top-entry robot cuts cycle time for I/M presses up to 800 tons
Automated Assemblies Corp. plans to release a new robot for packaging and thin-wall injection-molded parts at the National Plastics Exhibition (NPE) 2006 in Chicago in June.
The Raptor 3000-HP high-performance top-entry Robot has single and double vertical arm configurations for injection molding presses from 200 to 800 tons. This configuration allows molders to operate three-plate and stack molds in larger presses without dedicated automation equipment.
Features include a dry cycle take-out time of less than 0.5 seconds and an overall cycle time of less than five seconds with a payload capacity of 10 kg per vertical arm.
The Raptor 3000-HP is available with an extended horizontal reach axis up to 1,500 mm, and double vertical axes, each with a stroke of up to 1,400 mm.
Automated Assemblies Corp. (Clinton, Mass.)
www.aac-robot.com; 978-368-8914
Dier Internatioinal Plastics Inc. (Unionville, Ont.) 905-474-9874
Nucon Wittmann adds low-cost portable dry air dryer
Nucon Wittmann Inc.’s new low-cost portable dry air hot air dryer’s removable side panels provide processors with fast and easy access to all components.
This means processors can easily switch materials and move on to the next job without an excess of downtime.
Features include a heater contactor PID control, a process air flow switch, a fully enclosed heater with air insulation, a high-temperature mechanical shut-off switch, process blowers and a process air filter.
Included are two swivel and two rigid casters for ease of positioning next to the hopper or processing machine. The hot air outlet is sized from 2.5 to 8 in. to suit the specific dryer hopper for the required drying application.
Nucon Wittmann Inc. (Markham, Ont.)
www.nucon-wittmann.com; 888-466-8266
