Modern Plastics Worldwide - March 2010 - dae uptlax

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY
PRODUCT WATCH
Gneuss’s rotary screen filters help blown film
processors use more recyclate without dropping
film quality.
and this is for retrofitting an existing line
where the replacement of an existing
screen changer has to be justified.”
One of the company’s recent blown
film customers, a processor of three-layer
polyethylene garbage bag film, retrofitted
an extrusion line with an SFXmagnus
and reported it was able to increase the
percentage of recyclate in its recipe from
25% to 45%. Another blown film processor
of single-layer packaging film was able
to use up to 100% recycled material.
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24 MARCH 2010 • MODERN PLASTICS WORLDWIDE
The SFXmagnus, like all of the company’s
melt filtration systems, is based on
the rotary disk system. Screen changes can
be made with no need to stop processing.
Because it is process-constant, very fine
filters can be used, leading to high-quality
film with tight tolerances.
Gneuss, www.gneuss.com
THERMOFORMING
We want to be YOUR
competitive edge.
(215) 675-7100
www.TiniusOlsen.com
Infrared heaters help
put the “thermo” into
thermoforming
A better understanding of what works,
and what doesn’t, when using infrared
heaters could prove profitable for thermoformers,
and even more so for processors
of high-volume packaging applications.
According to heating element supplier
Ceramicx (Ballydehob, Ireland), simply
reviewing and renewing the infrared
heating platen can lead to a 30%-40%
improvement in operational efficiency of
most packaging thermoforming lines.
Place
Those numbers come from Frank Wilson,
founder and managing director of
Ceramicx, who reminds processors that
these oft-forgotten assets in a processing
machine also require maintenance and
analysis. Otherwise, output and quality
will suffer. As a general rule, he notes,
heat systems are very rarely the cause of
production problems. Instead, the complexity
of the part’s design, its dimensions,
the depth of the thermoforming “draw,”
and the characteristics of the material
composition are the prime culprits when
it comes to naming a problem.
The essence of infrared heating involves
three factors: absorption, transmission,
and radiation. During thermoforming,
infrared ceramic heaters are generally
mounted on reflectors, which are then
arrayed upon a platen—or two—which is
part of a production line.
The performance of the background
reflectors—their material composition—
and the performance of the platens are
vital in directing the infrared heating to
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