Direct long-fiber thermoplastic (D-LFT) compounding and molding is getting ready to expand beyond non-appearance structural automotive parts to exterior body panels.
Silent, space-saving, energy-efficient, and high-torque, a new generation of ring-shaped motors is gaining a foothold in extrusion. A couple of hundred are already in use. Though most machine builders are reacting cautiously, adventurous processors are using them happily.
A breakthrough in laser welding of three-dimensional parts that eliminates traditional clamping systems was among several innovations in welding and joining highlighted at two recent shows—last month’s Plastics USA in Chicago and this month’s K 2004 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Kadant Composites’ self-appointed mission for the past eight years has been to find commercial uses for paper sludge, a soggy mix of short cellulose fibers, calcium carbonate, and clay that is the copious byproduct of paper recycling.
Several recent software introductions for composites design, processing, and quality control offer more sophisticated predictions of both processability and finished part properties.
While much of the world is studying the possibility of getting any economic value out of auto shredder residue—for example, as fuel for cement kilns or power plants—Europe’s second largest scrap-metal reclaimer cranks out polyolefin and polystyrene pellets made from shredder residue at 20,000 to 100,000 lb/hr, or about 40 million lb/yr.Galloo Plastics, the recycling unit of the Galloo Group in Halluin, France, has been so successful at supplying automotive markets with its black PP compounds that it built a second auto shredder residue (ASR) recycling plant this year next to the first, inside its huge scrap yard.
At K 2004, at least a half-dozen European machine builders will show new direct-drive extruders running gearless—or nearly gearless—drives with substantially higher rpm and output rates than conventional extruders of the same size.
Chris Kasmer, operations manager and co-founder of LTL Color Compounders Inc. in Morrisville, Pa., likes to point to a single green plastic button on the keyboard of his computer when he describes what LTL does: “We color that.” LTL stands for “less than truckload,” and his firm lives up to its name: An entire production run of a particular color may be no more than 50 lb.
Extruded decking still drives the embryonic wood-filled plastics market. But injection and compression molded wood composites are coming on strong, and extruded profiles are moving toward more complex millwork shapes.
An unusual cast-film process that drops a melt curtain of polypropylene between a flexible steel polishing belt and a chill roll has now proven successful in high-volume commercial production.
