Modern Plastics Worldwide - July/August 2009 - dae uptlax

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PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY production typically represent 80% of total cost, processors of course always are on the outlook for other ways to save, and cores represent one of the latest areas of consideration. Finnemore says in an average in-line handwrap production of four 17-μm film reels of 300 m/reel, processors generally use a paper core with a wall thickness of 5 mm. This represents €0.15 or 23.3% of the total conversion cost. Machine film conversion costs of four reels of 23-μm film running 1500m, and assuming a core with wall thickness of 11 mm, will represent an average core cost of €0.42. But the question remains whether cast-film extrusion operations will accept new solutions such as handwrap cores of only 1-2 mm in wall thickness, and machine film with core wall thickness of only 5 mm or even coreless, Finnemore says. “Reduction in core weight or elimination will ultimately reduce the overall cost/kg of film transportation. Walmart CEO Lee Scott reported back in 2007 that the company was pressing vendors to go more green, and both handwrap and machine wrap were target areas.” Suppliers [who deliver to Walmart] are being asked to cut their packaging by 5% by 2013. During this year’s Plast ’09 show in Milan, Gabriele Caccia, managing director of Syncro, introduced the company’s latest co-development for coreless stretch wrap winding, Easycoreless, pictured here at the stand. PROCESSING TRENDS Finnemore says generally 8360 reels of hand wrap (5-mm wall cores at 300g) fit into an average truck. Using 2-inch cores with a 2-mm wall thickness at 115g, the core weight savings represents 1546 kg per 22 tonnes of film, a potential reduction of 7%. Without cores, an additional 250,800m of film could fit in each truck representing a €0.005/kg reduction in film transport costs. With machine wrap, by using 3-inch cores with a 5-mm wall thickness at 450g compared to 11mm wall cores at 1.1 kg, the core weight savings is 858 kg/23 tonnes’ film load, where 1320 reels fit into a truck. This represents a 3.67% reduction of transportation weight. The thinner cores would allow 132,000m more film per truck, for a transport cost savings of €0.003/kg. Finnemore sees thin cores being an intermediary step and the ultimate goal is to produce reels of stretch wrap without the need for any cores. His company, along with competitors Colines (Nibbia, Italy), Dolci Extrusion (Milan, Italy), and SML (Lenzing, Austria) are all working together with Syncro (Busto Arsizio, Italy) to develop coreless winding that could be used on existing and new winding equipment. Gabriele Caccia, managing director of Syncro, says the past two years of R&D has produced its latest development, the patented Easycoreless technology introduced at the Plast 09 show in Milan, which has already been tested for what soon will be offered by the partners on new equipment and retrofitting on installed machines. The proprietary rotating shafts have up to 250 expanding and contracting parts to wind, then deliver a wound film roll from the shaft; they are able to convert to winding with thin-walled cores or regular Canadian machine maker Cooper Machine & Tool offers this turret winder for tear-off bags. thickness cores as well, Caccia says. Development proceeds on the other side of the Atlantic as well, and at last month’s NPE, Canada-based Cooper Machine & Tool (Concord, ON) was talking about its turret coreless winder. The winder is said to be fully automatic and winds coreless rolls of perforated tear-off bags Finnemore says in an average in-line handwrap production of four 17-μm fi lm reels of 300 m/reel, processors generally use a paper core with a wall thickness of 5 mm. This represents €0.15 or 23.3% of the total conversion cost. at up to 20 cycles/minute, claimed to double traditional coreless winder speeds. Operators can adjust the winding width individually on both sides and on the fly. Also, NO.EL Industrial Automation (San Pietro Mosezzo, Italy), as reported in our August 2008 issue (p. 41), will import its coreless rewinding equipment to North America. 16 JULY/AUGUST 2009 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE mpw.plasticstoday.com
PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY Higher loads bring processing advantages By Robert Colvin Reinforcing agents provide physical properties that can’t be achieved in resins alone. Many processors are looking to highly filled compounds to help them improve dispersion and lower overall costs, says Stanley Broadhead, senior sales engineer at equipment maker Farrel (Ansonia, CT). Oliver Eitel, business segment manager engineering plastics at equipment maker Coperion (ex-Werner & Pfleiderer; Stuttgart, Germany) says the motivation today to use, for example, highly filled calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) compounds is that Coperion’s new compounding line layout for highly filled, calcium carbonate-filled polymers permits easier handling and more filler content, says the company. the particle-size distribution can be chosen, plus the filler is non-toxic, food safe, offers good organoleptic properties, and because of its spherical shape and low hardness it results in low wear and tear on processing equipment. High filler content naturally results in lowering polymer costs, but also provides a powder-free shop floor. Eitel says such fillers increase the modulus of elasticity of the matrix material, improve antiblock behavior, result in less shrinkage during cooling and provide higher thermal conductivity compared to the polymer alone. This last feature results in quicker temperature equalization and faster processing speed. He also says a 50% CaCO 3 content in injection molding applications can result in a shorter cooling cycle by half, and 20% filler content in blown-film extrusion can give a 20% higher haul-off speed. Farrel’s Broadhead says both injection molders and film extrusion processors generally opt for highly filled concentrates, with loadings up to 85%, to get both desired opacity and lower unit costs. mpw.plasticstoday.com © 2009 PerkinElmer, Inc. 400161_02. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of PerkinElmer, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. OPEN YOUR EYES TO A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY IN THERMAL ANALYSIS See what advanced solutions can do for you. At PerkinElmer, we think about the needs of your lab today and tomorrow. Whether you’re performing QA/QC applications, studying processes in plastics or pharmaceuticals, or developing the cures of tomorrow, our comprehensive portfolio of thermal analysis, molecular spectroscopy and hyphenated techniques will enable you to see more than you ever thought possible. Optimize your laboratory’s potential. Let us show you how. www.perkinelmer.com/thermalanalysis CLICK mpw.plasticstoday.com/infolink MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE • JULY/AUGUST 2009 17
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Modern Plastics Worldwide - July/August 2009 - dae uptlax

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