Strictly-Extrusion

Great Lakes Chemical, USA, is raising the price of its antimony trioxide flame-retardant synergist by US$220 a tonne in Europe and Asia Pacific from 1 June. The prices of other antimony derivatives will also move up on the same date. The company said the rises reflected recent changes in the London Metal Bulletin value of antimony metal, which has been affected by mine and smelter shutdowns in China.

Dow, USA, is to raise the price of its cross-linkable XLPE grades by EURO 200 a tonne with effect from 1 July. W&C marketing manager Peter Heydasch said rising demand for the products has created a tight supply situation and that current XLPE prices do not allow for acceptable margins in the current market conditions.

Wood-fiber and plastic extruded composites promise to expand beyond their current concentration in decking, researchers told delegates at the Progress in Woodfibre-Plastic Composites Conference 2002. Inroads have begun for other applications, thanks to higher wood-fiber loadings, improved strength, thicker constructions and new chemical additives and the potential for improved distribution systems, they said.

Nina Plastics Inc, USA, announced that it has purchased a Novoflex Printing press and a Varex blown film line from Windmoeller and Hoelscher, a German based supplier of blown film equipment. While the extrusion line is expected to be shipped in September of this year, shipment of the printing press is scheduled for October.
Nina Plastics is a growing manufacturer of flexible plastic packaging and services customers worldwide. The privately owned company, established for more than 23 years already has a complete in house production facility, however the new purchases from W&H Corporation are expected to add a new dimension to the company’s product offering.

The first third-party licence for Borstar polyethylene technology from Borealis, Denmark is now operational at Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. in China. The 550- million-lb/yr, multi-reactor plant for bimodal PE started up in early April and is the largest PE unit in China today. Borstar PEs are said to be easily extrudable products for high-strength films in low, medium and high density. They also include high-ESCR grades for blow molding and grades for pressure pipe, wire and cable.

In partnership with Colmec, Dow Corning has developed a patented “in situ”-mixing extrusion system that allows users to mix then extrude uncolored, Silastic® brand high consistency silicone rubber compounds with color masterbatches, or various additives, fillers, and processing aids in a single step on one piece of equipment. Versus conventional practices, the system allows fabricators to increase processing flexibility by reducing raw material inventories since precolored masterbatches no longer need to be purchased, as color can be added on-the-fly. The system also can shorten production times and lower costs by up to 15% annually, while at the same time yielding excellent mixing and a very consistent product. These benefits make it easier to compress delivery times to customers and react faster to changing market demands.

The Institute for Plastics Processing “Metalchem” (Torun, Poland)designs and manufactures 3 types of the co-rotating twin-screw extruders of screw diameters up to 90 mm. The extruders are assigned for modification (compounding) of thermoplastics with minerals (also dye-stuffs and pigments) to obtain the granulates of masterbatches or for direct extrusion of highly filled thermoplastics (e.g.40% filled PP tubes). The output ranges from 100 to 500 kg/h for 3 types: 2T-40W, 2T-70W, 2T-90W.

A new line of organotin stabilizers that are said to significantly increase throughput of extruded PVC window profiles has been introduced by Crompton Corp., USA. The Mark High- Speed window-profile stabilizers are said to allow for very high output with smooth flow through the extruder die and calibrator. These stabilizers virtually eliminate binding (chatter) within the calibrator, Crompton says. They reportedly are 15% to 20% more efficient than standard organotin, resulting in better performance and significant cost savings. They are also said to provide exceptional color stability and excellent outdoor weathering properties.

Kreyenborg has introduced a new generation of gear pumps to complement its product range. The utilisation of gear pumps in extrusion has positive effects on the final product and the line components, including reduced use of raw material, increase in throughput, improvement of product quality, elimination of pressure fluctuations and pulsations, drop of energy consumption, gentle operation of the extruder, and less waste. Despite its simple and robust construction, the gear pump is a high-precision displacement pump and has the capacity to convey the material accurately, and to build up pressure without straining the material thermally. While the gear pump maintains constant volumetric displacement and the necessary pressure at the die, the initial pressure at the extruder can be adjusted to an optimal operating point.

Coperion Corp. and Davis-Standard Corp. have agreed to jointly supply complete in-line compounding and extrusion systems for the NAFTA market area. Under the agreement, Coperion becomes the exclusive supplier to Davis-Standard of compounding extruders, either Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer ZSK corotating twin-screws or Coperion Buss single screw reciprocating kneaders. Davis-Standard will be the exclusive supplier of in-line extrusion systems utilizing Coperion compounders. Systems can be supplied for cast film or sheet.

Basell, Australia will sell its wholly owned subsidiary, Shorko Australia Pty. Ltd., to Moplefan of Milan, Italy. Shorko is the largest manufacturer of biaxially oriented polypropylene film in Australia, with annual capacity of about 44 million pounds. Moplefan operates six BOPP film plants in Italy, Belgium and Israel.