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Wittmann Battenfeld Flexes Its Expertise at Fakuma
Wittmann Battenfeld is pulling out all the stops at Fakuma this year. We previously reported on the eight-station energy efficiency path that the company will lay out in its booth and the EcoPower B8X injection molding system , which will make its debut at the event. Here are some more highlights that you can expect to see on the Wittmann Battenfeld stand (booth 1204 in hall B1) at Fakuma , which returns to Friedrichshafen, Germany, from Oct. 17 to 21.
Molding at its level best
To demonstrate its digitization and automation expertise, Wittmann Battenfeld will fabricate a spirit, or bubble, level on a SmartPrimus machine with the new B8X control system.
The ABS-based level is produced using a 1+1 cavity mold provided by Austria’s Sola running on a SmartPrimus 90/350 equipped with the CMS Lite conditioning monitoring system and an automation cell designed and manufactured by Wittmann Battenfeld Deutschland.
First, the top and bottom parts of the level housing are injection molded. The top part is then deposited at a laser station for printing. Simultaneously, the bottom part of the level, placed on a tray, is fitted with vials from Sola. Next, the top and bottom components are pressed together, and the finished part is then transported to a testing station, where the positioning of the vials is checked by a vision system. After quality inspection, the spirit level is removed and deposited on a conveyor belt by a WX138 robot from Witmann.
Liquid silicone processing
A membrane for a high-end micro speaker will be molded at the Wittmann Battenfeld stand on a MicroPower 15/10H/10H Combimould. Engineered to injection mold micro parts, the MicroPower is also extremely energy efficient by design, as are the auxiliaries, according to the company.
The membrane is molded from a thermoplastic and liquid silicone using a single-cavity mold supplied by Starlim Spritzguss GmbH. The MicroPower is equipped with a two-step screw-and-plunger thermoplastic aggregate and two-step screw-and-plunger LSR aggregate. The LSR metering pump, supplied by EMT Dosiertechnik in Germany, is a one-liter cartridge system developed for extremely small metering volumes. Smooth, continuous emptying of the cartridges ensures precision and consistency.?
At Fakuma, Wittmann Battenfeld will also present its latest developments in Airmould internal gas pressure technology. Engineers will be on site at an Airmould/Cellmould workstation to show visitors how these technologies can enable significant reductions in material usage, part weight, and cost in the production of plastic parts.
Keeping an eye on energy consumption
The energy consumption of every machine at the booth will be monitored using IMAGOxt software, a proprietary development from Witmann Digital Srl. The software provides scalable display and visualization of the energy consumed by the machines and connected equipment. The program also calculates CO2 consumption and energy savings that may have been realized.
The program is available as a web application either in the form of an optional extension to Wittmann’s TEMI+ MES system or as a stand-alone program. This will be of particular interest once funding options for new energy-saving investments are in place in the European Union, said Wittmann Battenfeld. The IMAGOxt program is certified according to DIN ISO 50 001. Consequently, the investment costs for this product already can be subsidized in Germany.
Tennessee Recycling Center Destroyed in Massive Fire
By PlasticsToday Staff
A massive fire broke out at Scott Plastics, a recycling center in Newport, TN, late yesterday, local media outlets are reporting. The building is a total loss, but fortunately no injuries were reported.
“You can still smell the burning plastic smell, you smell it all through town right now,” Ben Burns, who lives nearby, told Wate.com , the website of 6 ABC. “The heat you can feel it from a few hundred yards away last night. On top of the heat already I know the firefighters were cooking in all of their gear.”
The cause of the blaze is unknown.
Recycling fires are increasingly common in North America. Readers may recall the conflagration in Richmond, IN , in April of this year that led to the evacuation of approximately 2,000 people. “The number of major fires reported at plants in the U.S. and Canada has increased by more than a third since 2017, hitting 390 in 2022. By the end of March this year, 75 more had taken place,” reported Time in a recent article.
Experts cite several reasons for the increase: More plants opening to meet demand; a proliferation of products containing lithium ion batteries, which can self-ignite under pressure; and a hotter and drier climate.
Molecular Breakthrough Boosts Durability of Plastics
By PlasticsToday Staff
Plastic typically expands and contracts when exposed repeatedly to hot and cold temperatures, affecting its durability in a range of applications. Additives can mitigate this issue, but most products combine different materials, and managing fillers to compensate for thermal expansion mismatch gets complicated. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories may have a solution —?it all begins at the molecular level.
The team modified a molecule so that it can easily be incorporated into a polymer to change its properties. When the molecule is heated, it contracts instead of expanding by undergoing a change in its shape, explained research team leader Erica Redline, a materials scientist.?
“When [the molecule is] added to a polymer, it causes that polymer to contract less, hitting expansion and contraction values similar to metals. To have a molecule that behaves like metal is pretty remarkable,” said Redline.
Reducing material deterioration
One of the biggest factors in material?deterioration is repeated exposure from hot to cold temperatures and back. Most materials expand when heated and contract when cooled, but each material has its own rate of change. Polymers, for example, expand and contract the most, while metals and ceramics contract the least.
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Complications ensue when several materials are used in a product, as is often the case.
“Take for example, your phone, which has a plastic housing, coupled to a glass screen, and inside that, the metals and ceramics that make up the circuitry,” Redline said. “These materials are all screwed, glued, or somehow bonded together and will start expanding and contracting at different rates, putting stresses on one another which can cause them to crack or warp over time.”
“I thought, what if I conjured up a perfect material. What would that look like,” Redline said.
Redline thinks she’s done it, with the help of her team: Chad Staiger, Jason Dugger, Eric Nagel, Koushik Ghosh, Jeff Foster, Kenneth Lyons, Alana Yoon and academic alliance collaborators Professor Zachariah Page and graduate student Meghan Kiker.
Applications in 3D printing and lightweighting
“The molecule not only solves current issues but significantly opens up design space for more innovations in the future,” said Dugger, a Sandia chemical engineer who has been looking at potential applications, especially in defense systems.
The invention also can be incorporated into different parts of a polymer at different percentages for 3D printing.
“You could print a structure with certain thermal behaviors in one area, and other thermal behaviors in another to match the materials in different parts of the item,” Dugger said.
The molecule also has potential in lightweighting applications and adhesive formulations.
Currently, the molecule is only being produced in small quantities —?it takes about 10 days to make between 7 and 10 grams.
The team is working to reduce the production steps using $100,000 in funding through Sandia’s technology maturation program, which helps ready products for the marketplace.
“My role is to see if there is an easier way to make it at a commercial level,” said postdoc Eric Nagel. “There is nothing like it out there. I am really excited at the possibilities of what this technology can do and the applications that could be associated with this.”
Resin Price Report: Producers Seek Five-Cent Hike in PE Contracts
By PlasticsToday Staff
After a hectic first half of the month, spot resin trading maintained the more relaxed pace observed in last week’s Resin Price Report.
Prime polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) prices held firmly flat at the PlasticsExchange. The resin clearinghouse reported in its Market Update that it continued to see the bottom side of the spectrum shore up, as lower end buyers conceded to rising levels. A good number of railcars were sold to processors stocking up for the next 30 to 60 days, while ready to go packaged truckloads served more immediate, and in some cases urgent, needs. Some of the orders can be attributed to supplemental inventory buys as a hurricane-season buffer. Storm systems that hit the Pacific, Atlantic, and Caribbean fronts have had no impact on resin production, but at the time of writing, Tropical Storm Idalia could threaten the Gulf Coast and Florida.
Are exports being consumed or stockpiled?
The flow of fresh offers stayed slow, as producers seem to be circumventing the traditional reseller channels and selling more spot resin directly. The PlasticsExchange said it is seeing this trend in both domestic and export markets. Strong international demand for US resin has been absorbing much of the surplus resin that producers have sought to move. The question remains, however, if these cost-advantaged exports to Latin America, Europe, and especially China are actually being consumed or just positioned offshore for future sales?
PE volumes maintained their moderate yet relatively good pace from a week earlier, even as both buyers and sellers have taken a step back from their more aggressive activity seen earlier in the month, writes the PlasticsExchange. Prices for all PE grades were steady, holding at two cents above the market low established in July. Upstream inventories seem to be plentiful, but spot resin availability has been more limited — perhaps producers are holding back material, wonders the PlasticsExchange.
CP Chem declares force majeure
Well-priced wide-spec railcar offers, particularly high-density (HD) PE fractional melt, were hard to find as major resellers continued to grab available material to cover orders taken earlier in the month. There is some reduced output out of Orange, TX, following CP Chem’s force majeure a week earlier. There is also an HDPE production disruption in Canada. Linear-low-density PE Injection and Film remained the major movers for a third straight week at the PlasticsExchange trading desk, outshining sales for HDPE and low-density PE resins. ?
Though not yet finalized, August PE contracts were trending toward a rollover, which would leave contracts up $0.03/lb for the year, according to the PlasticsExchange. More producers joined in the collective push for a five-cent increase for September, as sellers have begun to regain some pricing power. The increases are logically in place in case a?major tropical storm or hurricane develops in the petrochemical producing part of the Gulf.
PP resin prices stay flat
PP trading was solid and prices held flat for the second week in a row, maintaining their two-cent bump over cycle lows. Demand chased limited availability, and producers have ratcheted up their asking price over monomer costs in the spot market, hoping to implement a margin-enhancing $0.03/lb increase for contracts.?
Prime copolymer PP was the main mover. The PlasticsExchange said it has also seen growing interest in homopolymer?PP resin from both domestic and Mexican buyers. Supply and demand seem to be balanced, leaning toward a shortage in supply. While the bottom part of pricing has continued to firm, aside from certain hard-to-find grades like copolymer PP High Flow and 20 melt No Break, the top side of the market has not advanced any further, according to the PlasticsExchange. Reseller stocks of packaged PP resins have been very tight and some restocking efforts have been observed.
August polymer-grade propylene (PGP) contracts are heading toward a one-cent decrease and PP resin prices probably will follow. The PlasticsExchange said, however, that it can also see justification for flat PP contracts, which would be recognizing a penny margin gain. At least one producer, Formosa, has come out with another proposed?September increase of $0.02/lb for homopolymer?PP and $0.04/lb for copolymer PP.
Read the full Market Update, including news about?PGP pricing and energy futures, on the?PlasticsExchange ?website.