Molding separate hollow parts on a pipe corrugator is a home-grown technique used by a small number of processors. They discovered it offers higher outputs and numerous other advantages over blow molding for making tube-shaped, precision medical, automotive, and appliance parts. But the process has not yet realized what could be its greatest potential in closed-end parts like bottles.
New molding technologies seen at the JEC Composites Show in Paris in April promise dramatically faster cycles than are achievable with autoclaves or RTM. One novel technique rapidly heats and cools a thin tool by "floating" it on a flexible bladder—similar to a water bed—that is flooded with heat-transfer fluid.
Economical, non-nuclear capacitance gauges are opening new markets in blown film—primarily in barrier films, where they previously suffered serious shortcomings. New gauge designs, and new ways of mounting them, make capacitance technology much more flexible.
The leading edge of EPS and EPP technology is multi-step processes, molding EPS into and around other parts, coating it, or using it as a coating—all in one cycle and fully automated.
It's not unusual for an entrepreneur to sell a company, wait the required non-compete period, and then start up virtually the same company all over again.
Topping recycling news at the latest giant K Show in Dusseldorf, Germany, were new compactor technologies for films and foams that can densify plastic waste for recycling and even mold finished parts—not just save space in a landfill.
Machine-direction orientation is still discovering new market opportunities. But the technical difficulties are so great that some big projects never came of age. New equipment could make it easier.
The show was packed with new equipment for pipe and profile, including extruders redesigned for higher outputs and/or lower cost, plus new ways to adjust die and calibrator diameters or switch dies and calibrators more quickly.
