Strictly-Extrusion

Italian company Rossi Stamp has introduced the first commercial application of FibrePlas - the technique that produces reinforced extruded profiles. The extrusion toolmaker has begun commercial manufacture of an extruded product for an Italian company, but is currently unable to release further details. Rossi was one of four members part of the FibrePlas consortium, an EU-backed project which set out to produce the reinforced extruded profiles. The technique operates by feeding continuous glass fibre and a low viscosity polymer through the extrusion die. The fibres are then incorporated into the extruded profile, held firmly in place by the low viscosity polymer. FibrePlas can add up to 500% in stiffness compared to conventional PVC, said the company.

Canadian company cyframe, http://www.cyframe.com , has developed a software called Jobtrack for Extruders. The software can be demonstrated as a WEBEX DEMO and was developed specially for extruders. For further information contact jcoogan@videotron.ca

Breathable film composites known as textile backsheets find application in the outer layer of babies’ nappies. SML has launched a coextrusion-cast-film machine with integrated monoaxial stretching unit and inline nonwoven laminator for producing such film composites. The unit produces 25 000 m2 of film per hour, which is more than enough for 200 000 babies’ nappies.

Double-walled sheets find application in the construction sector, in the graphics sector and in the packaging sector. Since the beginning of the year 2002, Omipa S.p.A., Morazzone/Italy, has been offering equipment for making polypropylene double-walled plates with a useful width of over 3 m. The extrusion line is completely automated and throughput exceeds 1100 kg/h. The system features the patented air cushion and floating plates systems which, thanks to the higher line speed relative to traditional systems, lead to much higher productivity.

BP and Nova Chemicals Corporation have joined in the development of metallocene catalysed polyethylenes. They have signed an agreement under which BP will license its Innovene metallocene technology portfolio to Nova for use in polyethylene manufacturing and Nova has granted BP the rights to use and sub-license its proprietary single-site catalysts. The cooperation extends to the development of metallocene and single-site catalyst technology for gas-phase polyethylene production.
Both companies will use the metallocene and other single-site catalysts arising from this cooperation for polyethylene manufacturing, and will also be able to license them to third parties.
BP and Nova already have an agreement to develop and commercialize Nova’s Novacat T advanced Ziegler-Natta catalyst.

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Finnish based consumer packaging specialist Huhtamaki has reorganised its European and North American operations, which together account for more than 80 per cent of the company’s business. The new organization is based on divisions corresponding to the company’s broad customer categories. In Europe, there will be three main divisions: Consumer Goods, Food Service and Fresh Foods. The North American business will be divided into two divisions: Consumer Goods and Foodservice & Retail.
The divisions will be further divided into business units. Manufacturing units will become cost centres, transferring their products at cost to sales units, which bear profit responsibility.The new organization is designed to promote growth through adopting a pan-European mode and in North America focusing on areas outside the company’s traditional markets.
Huhtamaki has operations in 36 countries, 16,000 employees and net sales of EUR 2·4 billion in 2001. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of rigid, thin-walled plastic and paper packaging, primarily for the food processing, food service and food distribution industries. The company is also a world leader in moulded fibre packaging and a front-runner in high-performance flexible packaging.

Hosokawa Alpine America said its AutoTherm is an automatic gauging system that uses computer-controlled, segmented cartridge heaters at the die lip to improve gauge control and film flatness, eliminating wrinkles and improving film appearance. A sensor, either contact or noncontact, measures gauge variation around the circumference of the bubble, then processes the data through Alpine’s software. A segmented heating ring for the die lip has independently controlled heater cartridges, which add heat to thick spots and reduce heat in thin spots. AutoTherm operates with all Alpine dies, including monolayer and up to eight-layer dies for packaging film, said the company in Natick, Mass.

Belgium’s Deceuninck Group, the number three global manufacturer of uPVC window profiles and cladding, closed its Uniplast subsidiary. Located in Estaimpuis, 100km south-west of Brussels, Uniplast produced Vitflex PP pre-cabled conduit and Mondoflex small diameter PE water pipe. It employed 14 staff. Uniplast was acquired by Deceuninck in 1998, but remained a small player in the Belgian market. Sales in 2001 were €2.39m (£1.44m), almost identical to 2000, but representing less than 1% of the group’s €350.6m (£210m) consolidated sales.
Uniplast’s sales this year were forecast to improve, but escalating raw material prices over the last three years have kept margins low. The Vitflex business, which includes two machinery lines, has been sold to Belgian company Preflexible, based in Ninove. Grainplastics, located in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, has bought the Mondoflex operation, which also comprised two lines. Neither purchase price has been disclosed. Both purchasers already have businesses in the respective markets. Their combined turnover is about €18.5m (£11.1m), almost eight times greater than Uniplast’s.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) today announced the introduction of three new Polypropylene impact copolymer grades to the international market. The new grades will be produced by the Saudi European Petrochemical Company (Ibn Zahr), a 70% owned affiliate of SABIC, based in Al-Jubail on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia.
Announcing the new grades, Mustafa Al-Sahan, SABIC’s General Manager of Polypropylene Marketing said: ‘I am delighted to announce the expansion of SABIC’s range of polypropylenes here at the IranPlast exhibition in Tehran. The introduction of these new grades adds to our product offering, and places SABIC at the forefront of world polypropylene production. These new grades should be available for sale to our customers across the globe by the 2nd quarter of 2003.’
Polypropylene Impact Copolymer has a variety of impact strength levels - medium, high and extra high. PP575H, PP790S and PP777Z will be the commercial trade names of the new SABIC polypropylene copolymers with respective Melt Flow Rates (MFR) of 8, 12, and 25.
SABIC’s polypropylene impact copolymer grades are intended for use in injection molding processes. These new grades are particularly suited for battery cases, automotive parts, compounding base stock, industrial applications, rigid packaging and thin wall applications.
The SABIC polymer portfolio now includes low-density polyethylene (LDPE), Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). SABIC is one of the few suppliers in the world to manufacture all five of the most widely used thermoplastic resins. As our customer needs expand or change, SABIC is ready to meet them.
Companies interested in the new grades should contact Abdulnasser Al-Babtain on +966 1225 8866 / albabtain@sabic.com.