Strictly-Extrusion

Ticona, the engineering polymers business of Celanese Corporation, intends to build a compounding unit at the Celanese chemical complex in Nanjing, China. 15,000 tonnes of product will be compounded here annually for the Asian market starting from 2009.

“The new compounding unit is further proof that Ticona is committed to Asia. Now we will be closer to our customers here in this region, too,” explains Roeland Polet, Vice President Ticona. “We offer customers everywhere grades that are identical in terms of performance characteristics and specifications.”

“Close collaboration between the technical personnel at the planned application development center in Shanghai and the compounding unit will let us realize additional synergies,” says Lindsey Deal, Director Asia Business Development at Ticona. “This will enable us to transfer applications from other regions of the world, allowing us to develop new solutions for Asian markets.”

The new plant will go into operation in the first quarter of 2009, producing compounds for the high-performance polymers from Ticona – including Vectra® liquid crystal polymer (LCP), Hostaform® polyoxymethylene copolymer (POM), Celanex® thermoplastic polyester (PBT), Riteflex® thermoplastic polyester elastomers (TPC-ET), Vandar® thermoplastic polyester blends (PBT) and Fortron® polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). The company already has compounding facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.

Based on the company’s expertise in material and technology, DuPont Filaments is launching a new generation of synthetic filaments for blush brushes with the touch and feel of natural bristle. DuPont™ Tynex® Natrafil™, samples of which are available for customers as from November 2007, are machine produced for consistency and quality and provide benefits versus their natural counterparts in terms performance, behavior and cost.

Tynex® Natrafil™ filaments have been developed by DuPont for use in blush brushes in loose- and pressed-powder applications, as well as in professional applicators of liquid make-ups, such as eyeliners and lip-liners. The tapered filaments are made from a polymer composite and are produced using a unique tipping technology to improve their softness and enhance their pick-up of powders or make-up. They provide significant benefits in terms of swelling behavior, stiffness retention in moisture and bend recovery versus natural hair or other synthetic alternatives such as pure polyester, polypropylene or nylon, and are also competitively priced in comparison. Tynex® Natrafil™ filaments will be commercially available in a range of colors (natural/white, brown or gold) and diameters (between 3 and 4 mils) as of January 1st, 2008, although samples will be available for customer testing from November onwards.

One of the first customers to work with the new filaments is the Japanese company Shinohara Co., Limited. Combining its knowledge and expertise as a leading cosmetic brush manufacturer with DuPont’s material knowledge, Shinohara Co. was involved in the development and refinement of the new product. According to Takahiro Kasai, vice president of Shinohara Co., the Tynex® Natrafil™ filaments offer a genuine and timely alternative to those made from natural hair. “The brush industry has traditionally dealt with natural animal bristle for cosmetic brushes. However, when it has come to the production of large volumes at consistent quality, we have faced standardization issues due to variations in the bristles,” he explains. “We had always hoped that a synthetic alternative with the touch and function of natural hair could be found, and it is our pleasure to confirm that DuPont has achieved this milestone – an accomplishment for which we hold them in high regard.”

The new generation of Tynex® Natrafil ™ filaments complements the existing range of premium filaments available from DuPont under the Tynex® brand for a variety of cosmetic applications. Offering a vast number of variations in flexibility, stiffness or softness, they have earned a reputation for meeting the most demanding requirements of cosmetic brush makers. From mascara brushes engineered for optimal pick-up and smooth application, to eyeliner-, lip- and blush brushes with multiple colors and optional properties, cosmetic brushes made with DuPont filaments help products deliver maximum customer satisfaction.

The regional operating companies that make up DuPont Filaments are DuPont Xingda Filaments Co., Ltd. in Wuxi, China; DuPont Filaments-Europe BV in Landgraaf, The Netherlands; and DuPont Filaments-Americas, LLC in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

In profile manufacture, coextrusion can cut costs substantially. For example, producing a profile with a regrind core covered with virgin material in all visible areas sharply reduces material costs.

Schüco International KG has recently invested in a profile system using core extrusion technology. Schüco International is a global player, developing and marketing complete systems using plastic, aluminium and steel. One current project combines double-strand extrusion with core technology. Double-strand extrusion produces two profiles simultaneously. This reduces both the capital investment and the required floorspace for the extrusion line.

Schüco embarked on a cooperative project with Greiner Extrusion and KraussMaffei Berstorff to develop a double-strand extrusion solution for producing its 5-chamber main window profiles. The big challenges were to design the die, to split up and manage the melt streams, and to come up with a cost-effective extruder concept. The combined know-how of the three partners made it possible to meet these challenges in a remarkably short time.

Pressure-optimized channel system
The material ratios in Schüco’s main window profiles are around 60% virgin PVC and 40% regrind. The new system uses two extruders, both of which supply both strands. The melt streams are split via a pressure-optimized channel system so that they reach the dies in the required pattern. The two extruders need to be positioned very close together in order to feed the channel system effectively.

The concept uses two separate KMD 90-36/P profile extruders from KraussMaffei Berstorff, each on its own base frame. The main control cabinets are positioned at a distance from the extrusion line. Two extra compact control units, positioned close to the extruder output zone, house the die control circuits and the operator panels. Both operator panels (one for each extruder) are on the operator side. Each extruder can be operated separately, or the two extruders can be operated in synchrony. This gives Schüco maximum flexibility to respond to future requirements.

Wavin N.V., Europe’s leading supplier of plastic pipe systems and solutions, has today completed its acquisition of Pilsa Plastic, a prominent Turkish manufacturer of plastic pipes and fittings. Selling parties are Sabanci Holding and related minority shareholders.
The purchase price of 82 million USD (approximately EUR 56 million) will be funded from existing credit facilities. The 2007 revenue of Pilsa is approximately EUR 85 million. Wavin expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings per share from the start. It is foreseen that Turkven, a Turkish private equity firm, and the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) will become co-investors, with Wavin maintaining a majority stake of 60%. This is expected to materialise during Q1 2008.

The acquisition of Pilsa provides Wavin with an excellent opportunity to benefit from the positive economic developments in Turkey and surrounding countries. Pilsa is a significant player in its home market and has strong export positions in several Central and Eastern European countries.
The company currently employs 390 people and generates approximately half of its revenue from Civils & Infrastructure business and the other half from Building & Installation business. The company is based in Adana and has been part of the Sabanci Group, Turkey’s leading industrial and financial multi business firm, since 1971.

Beside the quality of the used materials, the smooth material supply is the main pre-condition to get a first-class finished product and a trouble-free production process. For material handling systems, that grant a continuous feed with any kind of polymer granules, mill feed and aggregates, many companies of the branch count on the experience and the service of the specialist FDM GmbH (www.fdm-technik.de) from Germany. Founded in 2003, the plant supplier offers combinations of feeder, mixing and dosing systems for all kinds of plastics as well as the respective recycling materials, worldwide.

Well-known plastics machinery manufacturers such as Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH, St. Augustin (www.kuhne-anlagenbau.de) are convinced of the modular design of the machines from FDM for feeding, dosing and mixing components for their extruders. The continuous high quality and precision required for sensitive products such as multi-layer film is granted by FDM. The feeding, dosing and mixing systems as well as the control components save time and costs, and also increase the operational availability of the lines. Kuhne, one of the worldwide leading producers of blown-film lines, applies exclusively dosing systems from FDM for biaxial-orientated film.

A very accurate material composition is required for biaxial-oriented film used as plastic tube (gut) in the meat-processing industry. For example, the sausage skin protects and represents the sausage meat in an adequate way. Upstream FDM components to the extruders reach a high precision dosing performance. The maximum deviation of the actual value at a throughput of 80 kg per hour is less than 4 grams. This is even less than half a permill (< 0,005 %) in one hour! In order to achieve this extraordinary accuracy, a gravimetric batch dosing feeder is applied. On the one hand, it determines and reviews the total weight of the raw materials fed, on the other hand it controls the output performance of the extruder in a very accurate way. – Only in 2007, over 65 of these gravimetric dosing systems were supplied by FDM to Kuhne Anlagenbau.