Strictly-Extrusion

eco-Profil, Belgium, is a privately owned company started by Eric Devos. Mr Devos, who is from the synthetic fibre extrusion business, began research in wood polymer composites in 2002. The company expanded into full production with a new 4,000 tonnes/year extrusion line that started up in September 2004. eco-Profil has since set up distribution to the DIY market in Belgium with Brico and Gamma, the two major Belgian building and supply chains, and a number of smaller distributors. eco-Profil is also expanding its territory into other countries in Western Europe. According to Mr Devos, France, Spain, UK, and Portugal are the fastest growing markets for wood-plastic composites in Europe. eco-Profil’s wood-plastic composite profiles are produced using ENTEK Extruders 53 mm twin screw co-rotating extruders capable of producing up to 500 kgs/hr. These Composite boards are made from recycled polyolefins (polyethylene, polypropylene), about 60% reclaimed wood fibre, a UV-inhibited pigment system, and selected process additives. The profiles are solid, have a brushed surface, and are available in two colours: Bahama Brown and Ash Grey. eco-Profil also developed a wood print embossed siding panel. The standard lengths for its decking board are 1.2 m, 2.4 m and 3.6 m and lengths of 4.8 m may also be requested.

On high-technology process the company, ROSSI STAMP, can offer equipment of high sophistication compared to the normal ones the market can offer. The Company can manufacture tooling and machinery for all types of profile and material, including: PVC, PC, PE, PP, PS, PUR, PA and ABS. Ideal application for Rossi Stamp equipment include co-extruded parts made from a range of materials, the covering of wood, aluminium and steel and multi-material extrusion for the automotive industry. It furthermore specialises in the production of custom made machinery and accessories for extrusion and co-extrusion. Rossi Stamp has developed an innovative process in glassfibre reinforced extruded profiles. The process provides the means of producing a continuously reinforced extruded profile with the reinforcement located where required to give the desired properties. The process provides an efficient, cost-effective manufacturing solution for “self-stiffened” continuous profiles, giving improved properties and greater design flexibility than existing products. The technology offers the potential of up to 500% increase in flexural stiffness over conventional plastic extrusions and a reduction in costs when compared to metallic or pultruded products.

Dow Corning Corporation, a leading supplier of silanes and silicone products and services, will offer a technical seminar about silane-based technology for thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) at TPE 2005 - The Eighth International Conference on Thermoplastic Elastomers in Berlin, Germany.
Valérie Smits, of Dow Corning’s Surface and Interface Solutions Center in Belgium, will present Wednesday, September 14, 2005, at 10:15 a.m. The paper, co-authored with Dow Corning’s Thierry Materne, reviews facts and data concerning organosilane technology as support for the development of new thermoplastic vulcanizates composites.
According to Smits and Materne, the use of resol resins and peroxide technology for the vulcanization of thermoplastics elastomers are two well-established technologies. “However, peroxide curing has some major drawbacks such as process stability, odor, color and toxicity issues; and resol resins technology suffers from moisture uptake and color issues,” said Smits.
Other technologies exist such as hydrosilyation crosslinking technology using silicon-based materials. Beside these well-established technologies, Smits explained, organosilane technology could be a user-friendly, tailor-made curative system for a variety of polymer matrices and performance requirements.
“Several advantages of organosilanes well known to the rubber industry are not yet exploited in TPVs,” she added. “As part of our commitment to innovation and research, Dow Corning is working with this technology to target the specific needs of thermoplastics vulcanizates. Our paper discusses several ways in which organosilane technology enables the combination of elastomer vulcanization, filler dispersion, and adhesion promotion.”
Smits, a plastic and rubber compounding senior specialist, leads the SISC’s Plastic & Rubber Application Cell where her responsibilities include the set-up and management of the Center’s plastic and rubber laboratory. Her work focuses on the evaluation and development of silane applications for the plastic and rubber market including dynamic vulcanization, crosslinking and filled composites using in-situ or pre treated fillers. Smits earned her degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Mons-FPMS (Belgium) in 1996 and held several engineering positions at Atofina for eight years before joining Dow Corning.

The Heywood Williams Group has found a buyer for its HW Plastics subsidiary which in a recent review of group activities was deemed non-core to future development. It is to be sold to Latium Plastics Holdings for £3 million.
HW Plastics reckons to be the UK market leader in PVC windows systems and cellular buildings products. It operates two manufacturing plants in Macclesfield and Scunthorpe and a distribution centre in Trentham, with approximately 600 employees. Its sales last year were £65•9 million on which it recorded an operating loss of £4 million.
Latium has cellular building product, window fabrication and installation businesses in the UK.
Heywood Williams’ target is to create a branded building products distribution group. It has strong positions in the North American manufactured housing, recreational vehicle and modular housing markets; in the supply of hardware and door panels to the UK; and in other European window, door and conservatory fabrication markets.

Deceuninck is to launch its new Twinson wood plastic composite (WPC) profile in Europe during the second half 2005. The material is a PVC-wood fibre composite, different from the PE composite deck and rail product that is currently marketed in the US by Deceuninck, together with Alcoa Home Exteriors, under the Oasis brand name. The European product has been tailored to European tastes, with different aesthetics and surface finish compared with the US product. It will also be targetted at different applications.
Deceuninck started full speed production of WPC decking in the US in the second half 2004 on two new extruders in Monroe, Ohio, a facility acquired by Deceuninck through the acquisition of the former Dayton Extruded Plastics from Alcoa in 1997. In its latest financial results, Deceunick’s turnover rose 5.7% to E296.6m in the first half of 2005. Poland, and saturated markets in Germany and the UK, were the only areas where there was no sales growth.

KMB Seide Technology, set up in 2003 by Krauss Maffei and Berstorff when Berstorff took over sheet extrusion equipment specialist Adolf Seide Engineering, has now been merged completely into Berstorff’s film and sheet division and ceases to exist as a separate subsidiary. The Seide manufacturing facilities as Buchholz in Germany are being retained, but the technical centre is being transferred to Berstorff’s new film and sheet technical centre in Hannover. This enables Berstorff to carry out trials on complete installations of single or twin screw extruders and sheet calenders.

The Heywood Williams Group has found a buyer for its HW Plastics subsidiary which in a recent review of group activities was deemed non-core to future development. It is to be sold to Latium Plastics Holdings for £3 million.
HW Plastics reckons to be the UK market leader in PVC windows systems and cellular buildings products. It operates two manufacturing plants in Macclesfield and Scunthorpe and a distribution centre in Trentham, with approximately 600 employees. Its sales last year were £65•9 million on which it recorded an operating loss of £4 million.
Latium has cellular building product, window fabrication and installation businesses in the UK.
Heywood Williams’ target is to create a branded building products distribution group. It has strong positions in the North American manufactured housing, recreational vehicle and modular housing markets; in the supply of hardware and door panels to the UK; and in other European window, door and conservatory fabrication markets.

Dow Corning Corporation, a leading global supplier of silicone products and services, will offer a technical seminar about the use of silanes in filled polymers at Intertech’s conference on Functional Fillers for Plastics, in Toronto, Canada.
Dow Corning Technical Service Specialist Shawn Mealey will present on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. The paper, “Impact of the silane on the dispersion and performance of polymer filled with sub-micronic fillers,” examines:
• The dispersion mechanism
• Factors affecting filler dispersion
• The impact of silane on dispersion
According to Mealey and his co-authors, the properties of filled or reinforced polymers generally depend on the size, shape and surface characteristics of the filler particles. For a given system, one of the most important parameters impacting the mechanical, electrical or optical performance is the filler dispersion.
Several physical and chemical factors can affect the dispersion process: the structure and cohesivity of filler agglomerates, the surface activity of the filler, the chemical interactions between polymer and filler, and any infiltration of the polymer into the agglomerate. “We found that the selection of the organic functionality of the silane allows the optimization of the final processing-performance compromise,” Mealey explained.
The paper reports that silane action can be observed at different levels depending on the functionality, amount and method of introduction:
• It can accelerate or slow down the infiltration kinetic of the polymer matrix into agglomerates.
• It can decrease the agglomerate cohesivity decreasing the hydrodynamic stress needed to break the agglomerate and also limiting the re-agglomeration phenomenon.
• It generates an interface that can have a significant impact on bulk performance.
Dow Corning currently has a broad list of products commercially available as well as many other materials in development. “Dow Corning continues to lead the exploration of silane technology as we develop solutions together with our customers that help optimize the filler performance in a polymer matrix,” Mealey added.
Mealey has Bachelor of Science degrees in Biological Sciences and Chemistry from Michigan Technological University. He has been with Dow Corning for 19 years with roles in manufacturing, materials development, technical service and marketing. He has held his current role in materials reinforcement technical service for over four years. He is also a member of Dow Corning’s Surface and Interface Solutions Center, a team dedicated to developing the science and applications of organosilanes. His primary focus is on the technology and application of silanes.

Austrian pipe extruder Pipelife has taken full control of Pannonpipe in Hungary and its subsidiary Pipelife Romania, acquiring the 50% stake in the business owned by Pannonplast. Pannonpipe was established in 1990 as a 50:50 joint venture between Pannonplast and Pipelife. Norbert Speiser, chief operating officer of Pipelife Eastern Europe, said the venture was “very beneficial in the early stages of the market economy in Hungary”. The Hungarian and Romanian businesses had net sales of E39m last year and employed 300 staff. After a number of successful years, the business made a loss in 2004, according to joint-owner Pannonplast. Pannonplast said proceeds from the deal – the purchase price and consolidation of loans – would reduce net debt by E11.5m. It said it will now focus on its consumer packaging business.

Finnish packaging group Huhtamaki is to expand flexible packaging capacity in Asia. It is to build a new production facility in North India and add a new production line to the recently opened plant in Vietnam. The combined value of these investments is E20 million.
The company reckons about 15 per cent of its net sales comes from emerging markets. In India it has four facilities with 1,300 people producing mainly flexible packaging for food and non-food sectors. Construction of the new plant will start in the last quarter of this year with commercial production planned to begin in mid 2006. It will supply premium flexible packaging and labelling systems to major customers in North India.
Huhtamaki opened its Vietnamese plant near to Ho Chi Minh City last year where it employs more than 160 people making flexible packaging for the food and non-food sectors. The new line is expected to be in commercial production in the second quarter of 2006.
Huhtamaki Group has 70 manufacturing and sales units in 36 countries with 15,500 employees. 2004 net sales amounted to Eur 2.1 billion.