Strictly-Extrusion

Moldflow Corporation (NASDAQ:MFLO), the leading global provider of design through manufacturing solutions for the plastics injection molding industry, announced the successful completion of two major events - a nine city technology road show across Europe and the International Moldflow User Group 2006 (iMUG06) held in Tokyo, Japan. The combined total attendance for both events numbered well over 600 and included Moldflow customers, prospects, partners and press.

The European technology road show attracted over 400 Moldflow customers and prospects to one-day events in the UK, Italy, France, Germany and Sweden. Attendees were able to gain insight into Moldflow’s future development initiatives, learn about the latest in plastics materials testing technology and see the newest features of the world’s leading injection molding simulation products. Attendees were also allowed to ‘test-drive’ the latest Moldflow products.

iMUG06 was held at the Meguro Gajoen, Tokyo and attracted over 220 attendees. User attendance was up by 38% compared to the 2004 Tokyo iMUG, which was held in the same location. Moldflow customers were able to see keynote talks from three of the world’s leading experts on injection molding simulation, as well as peer-reviewed presentations by members of the Moldflow user community from major customers including Mazda, Nikon, Epson, Samsung and Microsoft. Additional presentations allowed users to understand the future direction of Moldflow’s research and development projects and new product development. There were also a number of special interest groups at which Moldflow gathered feedback and enhancement requests directly from users so that they could help to drive the future development of Moldflow projects.

‘We were very excited to see such great attendance numbers at these major events in regions that represent very large markets for Moldflow,’ said Roland Thomas, president and CEO of Moldflow. He continued, ‘Moldflow has a proven track record of developing and implementing customer-driven features and enhancements in our products and it’s events like these that allow us to meet with customers, gather their feedback and determine our future development directions.’

About Moldflow Corporation

Moldflow (NASDAQ: MFLO) is the leading global provider of design through manufacturing solutions for the plastics injection molding industry. Moldflow’s products and services allow companies to address part and mold design issues at the earliest stage and maximize productivity and profitability on the manufacturing floor.

At the Interplastica in Moscow from January 31 to February 2, 2007, Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, will present information about its tailor-made extrusion lines for the production of pipes, profiles and thermoforming sheet at its booth No. FD 51 in the showground pavilion.

Russia has developed into one of the most important export markets for the German machine manufacturer. Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik has responded to the rising demand for high-performance machinery concepts by offering turnkey extrusion lines with perfectly matching machine components from dosing unit to semi-finished product handling, and with each line entirely synchronized by one control system.

Especially for the manufacture of small technical profiles, such as IC tubes or decorative profiles for the furniture and automotive industries, as well as for the refrigeration and air conditioning industries, Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik offers the new techBEX line. This standardized line, entirely manufactured and assembled by Battenfeld in China for the world market, is about 30% cheaper than other known standard lines, yet on a high technological level.

For pipe manufacturers, the German machine manufacturer also offers a number of tailor-made machine concepts. Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik is the market leader in large-diameter pipe extrusion lines. Over the last three years alone, it has sold 20 pipe extrusion lines to manufacture polyolefin pipes with diameters of more than 800 mm.

Mature line concepts are available as well for the growth market of aluminum-plastic composite pipes, which is continuously winning more market shares in the heating and sanitary installations industry, due to combining the positive attributes of the metal, i.e. easy laying compatibility and dimensional stability, with the resistance to corrosion and incrustation of plastic pipes. In partnership with Templet Deutschland GmbH, Seligenstadt, Germany, Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik has designed a complete line for the production of aluminum composite pipes at the record speed of 50 m/min.

With the High Performance Sheet Line, an extrusion line incorporating a high-speed 75 mm single-screw extruder with an output of up to 1,600 kg/h, the machine manufacturer has met the rising demand for cost-efficient production of top-quality packaging sheet. The High Performance Sheet Line is suitable for producing PP, PET, PE and PS sheet with thicknesses from 200 µm.

The Deceuninck Group, one of the world’s leading producers of PVC window systems and building profiles, announces that it will cease extrusion operations at its Oakland, New Jersey (USA) plant. The move is part of the integration of the Vinyl Building Products and Dayton Technologies acquisitions completed earlier by Deceuninck Group. The Pompton Plains, New Jersey, distribution centre shall remain operational to ensure uninterrupted service to Deceuninck’s customer base. This decision is an integral part of the Deceuninck Group’s business plan 2009 and is the final part of site optimisation.
The Oakland, New Jersey manufacturing plant became one of the Deceuninck North America production sites after the acquisition of Vinyl Building Products, part of Thyssen Polymer (Germany) in July 2003.
Deceuninck North America holds a leading position in the American PVC window profile extrusion market with sales of $ 170 million in 2005. The current production capacity of Deceuninck North America remains unchanged, but will be consolidated into its state-of-the art Monroe, Ohio and Little Rock, Arkansas facilities.
The transition will begin immediately and should be completed by the end of March 2007. Approximately 70 people will be affected by this consolidation and the company will make every attempt to identify further employment opportunities for those employees.

For electrical/electronics (E/E) manufacturers that previously faced the dilemma of choosing between the high cost of specifying polyimide (PI) to achieve desired performance, or downgrading an application by using lower-performing polyethylene napthalate (PEN) or polyester (PET), there is now a solution. New Ultem* 5000B film from GE Plastics offers excellent high performance coupled with cost-effectiveness. Based on GE’s Ultem polyetherimide (PEI) resin, this material’s high temperature and flame resistance, low moisture absorption and excellent dielectric properties make it an excellent candidate for E/E applications such as insulating tapes and laminates, diaphragms and voice coils for loudspeakers, high temperature bar code labels and flat flexible heaters. Ultem 5000B film is available in black and amber and in gauges 25µm - 750µm.

“This new GE film is what the market has been waiting for,” said Max Cattani, GE industry manager for high-performance E/E films, Europe. “Ultem 5000B film gives E/E manufacturers a combination of high performance and cost-effectiveness– reducing the need to overspecify materials or compromise on properties. And this new grade is highly versatile in terms of processing and range of potential applications.”

The following are the key high-performance properties of Ultem 5000B film:
• Flame retardance: UL-94 VTM-0 listed compared to VTM-2 for standard grades of PET and PEN
• RoHS/WEEE compliance for environmental regulations
• Lower moisture absorption vs. PI and Aramid Paper, enabling the film to be used in motors or generators in high-humidity environments
• Thermal class H allowing Ultem 5000B film to be used in higher-temperature insulating systems
• Better dimensional stability than PET and PEN, making the lamination process easier

The new GE film offers a wide choice of processing, including thermoforming, drilling, die-cutting, cold-forming, laminating, metal sputtering, and ultrasonic welding. It is heat-sealable to itself and other materials. In contrast, PI standard grades cannot be thermoformed and Aramid Paper releases dust during some processes.

For more information on GE’s Ultem 5000B film, please follow this link to the GE Plastics website: www.geplastics.com.

At the Coperion group symposium on Wednesday last week, held at the Waeschle material handling subsidiary plant in Niederbiegen, Coperion Waeschle launched a new Vacutakt conveying system that can provide gentle conveying with low wear of abrasive materials such as glass fibre reinforced plastics granulate, providing protection for both the equipment and the product.
Stating that wear is proportional to the third power of the speed, Andreas Weber, Waeschle’s general manager of the bulk materials plants business unit, described how the Vacutakt intermittent flow vacuum conveying system achieves slow motion conveying and control of the load factor through use of a pulse controller and setting of the amount of air flow, so that abrasion is kept low and sensitive plastic materials protected.
Vacutakt has capability to convey up to 15 tonnes/hour up to a distance of 70 metres, using DN 50 to DN 125 pipe ducting diameters and conveying differential pressure of up to 0.7 bar.

As the leading manufacturer of BOPP films in the Middle East, Dubai based Taghleef Industries operates three manufacturing units (situated in the UAE, Oman and Egypt). Having planned to expand its subsidiary in Sohar, Oman with a new high performance BOPP film production line, Taghleef Industry chose their trusted partner Bruckner for what will be their 7 th joint project - a new and exciting milestone in their long lasting partnership. Taghleef will be taking a decisive step forward with the newly contracted 8.7 m wide line, which features production speeds of up to 525 m/min, thus achieving highest performance and guaranteeing utmost efficiency.
Commenting on the new investment, Mr. Rashed Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Taghleef Industries said ‘With consolidated sales in excess of US$150 million this year, we have already established ourselves as the market leader in Middle East/North Africa region and our aim now is to expand globally. We already export to more than 50 countries around the world and are in the process of setting up a European sales office’. He added ‘We have a strong head start over our regional competition and we are determined to keep it. Our next expansion plan is already on the way. We are filing together with a value added local partner in Saudi Arabia for an industrial application. The new production site would hold several BOPP Lines giving us additional capacity of between 90,000 - 180,000 MT per annum. ‘
Dr. Detlef Schuhmann, CEO of Taghleef Industries, said: ‘This investment of a new state of the art line clearly demonstrates Ti’s commitment to the plastics films market and ensures that we continue to meet the needs of our local and international customers, with a wide and expanding range of transparent, opaque and metallised films. This additional capacity will enable Ti to better meet the anticipated growth in demand into the foreseeable future.’
Bruckner’s proven track record and competence in both, highest speed lines and lines of up to 10 m width, as well as the new line’s flexibility and the convincing automation and drive concept were once again crucial in the decision-making process. Another determining factor was the project’s turnkey aspect. In the end, all these factors pointed in only one direction and Taghleef made the obvious decision to go with Bruckner, who will not only be supplying the film production line, but will also provide an entire package of peripheral equipment for the new BOPP production plant which includes:
• Layout planning and engineering
• Planning, delivery and installation of all energy and utility supply systems, incl. mechanical and electrical installation material as well as cabling
• Storage facilities for raw material
• Slitter
• Handling of mill rolls and slitted rolls
• Packaging and storage incl. final warehouse
• Recycling plant with storage of fluff and recycled material
With their exciting new production plant and Bruckner at their side, Taghleef is sure to continue their booming success in the future. The new investment will increase the company’s capacity by some 35,000 tpa, resulting in a total BOPP film capacity of 135,000 tpa. The new production line will become operational in the first quarter of 2008, making Taghleef Industries one of the world’s top ten BOPP film producers by volume.

The Austrian extrusion lines manufacturer SML Maschinengesellschaft GmbH has introduced a new range of extrusion lines i.e. SML CPP lines that has been specially designed for cast polypropylene (cPP) films. The new SML CPP machines, already shown on the occasion of the latest Chinaplast 2006, offer throughputs up to 400 meter per minute for film widths up to 5,000 mm. In addition to higher production speed, they provide energy cost savings. Moreover the CPP films produced using the new SML CPP extruders have higher optical properties than films produced using previous extrusion lines.

Dow Corning® 3-0100 Automotive Sealant is a low-volatility, neutral-cure silicone adhesive sealant designed for use in automotive component assembly where adhesion to a wide variety of substrates is important.
Used as a formed-in-place gasket material, Dow Corning 3-0100 Sealant is a one-component adhesive/sealant that cures at room temperature when exposed to moisture in the air. Dow Corning 3-0100 Sealant is easy to apply thanks to its non-sagging paste consistency and cures to a tough, flexible rubber. Stable and flexible from -55°C to +180°C, Dow Corning 3-0100 Sealant has low volatility and excellent adhesion to many substrates.
For more information about Dow Corning’s complete line of assembly and maintenance solutions, visit www.dowcorning.com.

Cincinnati Extrusion GmbH, Vienna, Austria has just shipped the largest parallel counter rotating twin-screw extruder ever built to an American customer. The 30-ton jumbo with an output of up to 2,000 kg/h is the ideal equipment for high-speed manufacturing of PVC sheet.
The Argos 173, which has been built for the first time, is more than one third bigger than the Argos 135, previously the largest parallel twin screw extruder model of the Cincinnati range. Naturally, the machine manufacturer’s proven high precision techniques have also been applied to the screw and barrel of this new extruder with a total length of 9.5 m. It is powered by the wellknown, high performance four shaft drive system. As is the case with all other Argos extruders, the jumbo model features robust construction, simple operation and versatility in respect of tooling and materials processed. The 28 D processing unit with an innovative screw geometry and an active internal screw temperature microcontroller, plus the efficient apc air cooling system for the barrel, ensure high precision melt temperature control during processing, thus providing the perfect equipment to manufacture high quality, low density PVC foam sheet up to 31 mm thickness.

Those who give PET bottles a frosted-glass look for use with cosmetics, alcohol and other high-end consumer goods have, until now, resorted to spray painting to gain this premium color effect. A new product from Ampacet, the leading masterbatch supplier, eliminates the time and expense of painting by allowing processors to use a masterbatch to add a frosted look to stretch blow molded bottles and thermoformed containers made from extruded sheet.

‘Our estimates indicate that molded frosted plastic bottles cost at least 90 percent less than those that are painted,’ says Stuart Swain, market development specialist. ‘As an added benefit, end users gain a more durable package because the color occurs throughout the wall, so it cannot be scraped off, and the package will not shatter if dropped as glass can.’
The new masterbatch can be formulated for use with acrylic and polycarbonate. It can also be formulated with Ampacet’s new PET binder system, Formula X™, which eliminates predrying, so it can go directly from storage to machine. The non-drying system also saves energy, improves productivity and makes dryerS available for other materials.
‘Consumer companies are hot on the frosted look in plastic packaging because they want to duplicate the fresh, clean, premium appearance of sandblasted glass, while gaining the safety of plastic,’ says Doug Brownfield, strategic business manager. ‘Our new frosted masterbatch does this for PET and other clear resins in one step as part of standard stretch blow molding and sheet extrusion operations. It is a flexible product that can be tinted to create other effects. It can, for instance, be given the soft blue and green tones of vintage glass.’
The intensity of the frosted effect depends on the letdown ratio, which is typically between 1 and 5 percent. Bottle appearance can range from translucent to opaque. The masterbatch also allows the use of pearlescent and other special effect pigments in PET, which can enhance the frosted look without the streaking, pin holes and other issues often associated with such pigments in PET.