Jan H. Schut
New Process Makes More Homogeneous PP Homopolymers & Copolymers
New styles of resin reactors don’t come along very often.
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Foamed Films Find New Niches
Thin polyolefin foams have been made for decades for decorative ribbons, wire wrap, and sleeve-type labels.
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Stretching Film's Limits
In the hyper-competitive stretch-film market, more layers often mean more market share. Moving from five layers to seven or nine can give an edge through higher performance or reduced cost.
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Purified Cellulose Fibers Show Promise In Reinforced Thermoplastics
Purified cellulose fibers could be the next lightweight reinforcements for thermoplastics.
Read MoreNPE Newsfinder: Materials & Parts Handling
From pneumatic systems that deliver materials to the processing machine to conveyors and handling devices that pull parts out the back, the trend appears to be “smaller and smarter.” NPE 2000 will show lots of downsized auxiliaries designed for mini processing machines, as well as more compact equipment of every size that frees up floor space.
Read MoreNPE 2000 News Wrap-Up: Compounding
Compounding news at NPE included a wealth of new batch and continuous machines to mix in high loadings of wood flour, glass fiber, carbon black, and more exotic fillers.
Read MoreNPE 2000 News Wrap-Up: Extrusion
At this year’s NPE, new processes to put wood flour into plastic were virtually everywhere—several even start with undried flour.
Read MoreFrom NPE 2000: Recycling & Scrap Reclaim
Recycled Resin Prices Flatten OutNew systems to process mixed plastic waste and to upgrade it with fiberglass or wood flour were prominent at last June’s show in Chicago.
Read MoreNPE Newsfinder: Extrusion
NPE will show higher outputs of practically everything, as advances in grooved feeds, servo drives, screw torque, mixing screws, dies, and downstream cooling, cutting, and handling make everything run faster.
Read MoreInjection Molding Close-Up
The latest development in the D-I-M technology is a vertical press with vertical injector, measuring around 5 x 2.7 x 8.8 ft high (with mold open). It allows plenty of room for automation, so it can be integrated into assembly lines, Ettlinger says.
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'Chaotic Advection' Creates New Polymer Blend Morphologies
A continuous blending device called the SmartBlender is creating polymer blends with novel properties by folding the two melts together, rather than distributing one evenly throughout the other.
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Family Lumber Business Turns To Plastics
Five years ago, Quality Wood Treating in Prairie Du Chien, Wis., was a 30-year-old family lumber business and one of the largest wood pressure-treaters in the country.
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