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New Printing Technology Claims to Bring Unprecedented Decorative Capabilities to Flexible Plastics
By PlasticsToday Staff
A new gravure printing technology reportedly delivers unprecedented precision, color consistency, and sharpness on a range of polymer and paper substrates.
Developed by i2M, a manufacturer, designer, and printer of flexible plastic films in Mountaintop, PA, the Press 22 rotogravure printing press applies VeriPrint+ technology to films made of PET, PETg, acrylic, BOPP, polyester, and PVC ranging in thickness from 0.92 to 30 mil.
Press 22 is equipped with seven stations and is capable of printing 48-in. repeat designs and seven colors in a single pass, with AI-assisted precision registration and color matching capabilities, according to i2M. Surface treatment capabilities include integrated electrostatic printing assist (ESA) and corona discharge.
“Whether it’s flooring wood grain, architectural stone, or pool liner film, every detail counts — especially when you’re repeating it over tens of thousands of yards,” said i2M Senior Designer Dominika Marcisz. “With Press 22 we are able to craft the most realistic designs for a variety of industries.”
The launch of Press 22 expands the company’s decorative portfolio, catering to diverse applications across industries including thermoformers, flat laminators, luxury vinyl tile manufacturers, and decorative surfaces, said i2M. Customers will benefit from the press's capability to print ultra-thin films and handle an array of substrates with unmatched realism and technical expertise.
The female-led company also offers calendaring, laminating, rewinding, slitting, and packaging services as well as in-house lab testing.
The ‘Sledgehammer’ Approach to Recycling Medical Plastics
Thermochemical recycling can be used to process mixed plastics from healthcare waste safely and efficiently, according to researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, where the technology was developed. Based on a steam cracking process, the technique can recycle medical waste that is currently being incinerated or ending up in landfill and convert it into new plastic products that meet the highest purity and quality requirements.
In circular economy policies, medical waste is often overlooked, notes the university in a press release. “Disposable healthcare items usually consist of several types of plastic that cannot be recycled with today's technology. In addition, the items must be considered contaminated after use, and so, they must be handled so that risks of spreading potential infections are avoided. When it comes to the production of single-use healthcare items, it is also not possible to use recycled plastic, since the requirements for purity and quality are so high for materials intended for medical use,” said the release.
Taking a thermal sledgehammer to molecules
The solution, according to Chalmers University, is thermochemical recycling. The technology mixes the waste plastic with sand at temperatures reaching 800°C. The plastic molecules are then broken apart and converted into a gas, which contains the building blocks for new plastic. Martin Seemann, associate professor at Chalmers' Division of Energy Technology, compares the process to a thermal sledgehammer that smashes up the molecules while simultaneously destroying bacteria and micro-organisms. "What is left are different types of carbon and hydrocarbon compounds. These can then be separated and used in the petrochemical industry, to replace fossil materials that are currently used in production," explains Seemann. An additional advantage of thermochemical recycling is the recovery of carbon atoms, aligning it with the principles of a circular economy, according to the researchers.
Tests show technology works . . .
The technique has been tested via two projects, one using specific types of medical products such as face masks and gloves, the other involving a mixture representing the average composition of waste from regional hospitals, including 10 different types of plastic as well as cellulose. Both tests showed the technology worked as intended and, in the view of researchers, resulted in materials that meet the strict requirements for purity and quality in medical products.
. . . but new business models are needed
Regulations regarding recycling medical waste and other mixed plastic waste via steam cracking would need to be reconsidered in order for the technology to be implemented in various countries, the researchers acknowledge. Compatible business models also would need to be developed. Single-use healthcare products would not create a sufficient flow of materials given the investment needed, for example. "To build a plant of the size required for profitable thermochemical recycling, you would have to ensure a material flow of around 100,000 tonnes per year before start up,” notes Judith González-Arias, who led one of the test projects. In 2019, only around 4,000 metric tons of such plastic were put on the market.
"Thermochemical recycling would become more beneficial with new political frameworks that create a recycling solution for our plastic-rich waste," said Seemann. “Certain political decisions would increase the value of plastic waste as a raw material for industry, and increase the chances of creating functioning circular business models around this type of recycling. For example, a requirement for carbon dioxide capture, when incinerating plastic, would create incentives to instead invest in more energy-efficient alternative technologies such as ours.”
The research has been published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling. The paper is titled,?“Steam gasification as a viable solution for converting single-use medical items into chemical building blocks with high yields for the plastic industry.”
The video embedded below describes thermochemical recycling in greater detail.
Dow’s Pack Studios Adds Advanced Film Technology
By Kate Bertrand Connolly 1, Freelance Writer
Resources for sustainable flexible packaging R&D have taken a robust step forward at Dow’s Pack Studios innovation hub in Freeport, TX, where the company recently installed advanced blown- and cast-film production equipment.
Dow added a machine direction orientation (MDO) unit to Pack Studios’ nine-layer blown-film line and installed a new cast-film extrusion line. Films from the blown-film line are ideal for food and specialty packaging applications, and the cast films are designed for commercial and industrial applications.
Pack Studios is a development and test facility where brand owners and packaging suppliers can experiment with materials and processes. The facility enables users to evaluate packaging performance and sustainability without losing production time on their own lines.
Commercial-scale MDO film tech.
Dow’s new MDO unit supports the production of durable mono-material polyethylene (PE) blown films. According to the company, the addition enables Pack Studios to offer the only in-line, commercial-scale MDO pilot capabilities in North America.
The MDO capability aligns with Dow’s Design for Recyclability initiative, which promotes recyclable mono-material films to replace nonrecyclable, multi-material packaging materials.
In addition to facilitating recycling, the MDO technology enables lighter-weight film, another sustainability benefit. The MDO unit stretches the plastic to the limit of its tensile strength; thus, less material is needed to produce each package.
The technology provides functional advantages, as well. “The benefit of the MDO process is that it helps improve certain film properties, like optics and stiffness, by stretching in the machine direction,” says Kristin Matter, technical services and Development Lab leader at North America Pack Studios, Dow.
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“MDO polyethylene can be used in a variety of applications, such as stand-up pouches, pillow bags, lidding films, flow packs, sachets, and more. Other common packages include those for processed foods and pet foods,” Matter adds. The “majority of food packaging is made using blown-film technology.”
High-density PE (HDPE), medium-density PE (MDPE), linear low-density PE (LLDPE), and plastomers can be used to make MDO films.
“MDO PE is made after the PE is extruded on the blown-film line, and the stretching process helps to elongate the polymer chain, leading to higher crystallinity, strength, and stiffness,” explains Kara Stoney, marketing manager, value chain engagement and sustainable packaging, for Dow’s Packaging and Specialty Plastics business.
“Typical orientated film is laminated with a sealant web that is also PE. This results in a PE-rich structure that is recyclable,” Stoney adds.
Windm?ller & H?lscher (W&H) designed Dow’s MDO unit. “Typically, an industrial line does not need to be built or designed for the flexibility we need in research,” Matter says. “In the case of MDO, the Dow team worked alongside W&H on installation design and seamless integration to our existing W&H nine-layer blown-film line.”
Cast-film equipment from SML.
Pack Studios’ new semi-commercial cast-film line features seven extruders, each paired with a six-component blending system. The cast products can be used to make stretch film, the material used to wrap pallet loads for safe, efficient shipping with minimal product damage.
Additional industrial and commercial applications include agriculture films, silage wrap, films used for construction, and billboard films.
Dow’s complex cast-film extrusion technology supports sustainability through film down-gauging, the addition of post-consumer recycled plastic, and design for recycling (via mono-material films).
The cast-film line “was a custom design by both SML and Dow to ensure flexibility to use this commercial scale for our wide array of applications for R&D and customer support,” Matter says.?“Our team worked closely with each OEM to ensure the equipment was able to support multiple applications.”
Pack Studios’ cast-film line also includes an Erema pelletizing unit that can be used as a standalone system to produce in-house recycled materials for evaluation and testing.
A Quantum Leap for Quality Control in Plastic Injection Molding
Quality control is an essential aspect of the production process, especially when it involves parts used in automotive and medical technology applications. The entire quality control process must be designed to ensure maximum precision and reproducibility and typically requires reams of documentation. All of this is labor-intensive and time-consuming and is reliant on expert personnel. Automation coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) may offer an alternative.
Switzerland-based Kistler, a developer of measurement systems and sensors, is collaborating with the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) in researching advanced quality-control technologies. In particular, Kistler is involved in a project with the university’s IWK Institute for Materials Technology and Plastics that fully automates the inspection of injection molded parts while harnessing the power of AI to hone quality predictions while injection molding.
A less-burdensome alternative to statistical process control
Manufacturers typically rely on statistical process control (SPC) to verify quality. The frequency and scope of sample testing is defined, enabling users to monitor the production process according to predefined quality parameters.?
The process can be burdensome, as the samples are removed, transported, and tested manually, tying up resources. Moreover, the quality of the data depends on the skills and expertise of the personnel performing the inspections. Critical parts may have narrower tolerances and require more frequent spot checks, increasing the potential for human error. Automated, reproducible random sample testing can optimize the process.
When starting to design an inspection concept of this sort, the focus initially is on the requirements for the part being tested. The project team collaborates with manufacturers to develop the required quality-relevant test parameters, mostly related to surface defects and dimensional accuracy. They also identity the appropriate test methods. Kistler-developed sensors make it possible to integrate mechanical pressure and force and torque tests. Experts from the company’s competence center then design the test cell accordingly. In addition to determining the number and positioning of camera stations with lighting elements, the key factor at this stage is outlining the inspection path for the part.
The objective is to achieve consistently smooth and efficient part handling throughout the entire test process. Integrated safety concepts monitor the systematic progression of the individual steps in the process — as well as the “handshakes” — to guarantee process reliability while preventing data loss. The automatic system then sends the collected data via an OPC UA interface to the operator's higher-level quality assurance system and to relevant databases for analysis.
Project focused on molding of medical part
The research project with the IWK Institute for Materials Technology and Plastics Processing is focused on injection molding of a medical part. The objective is to develop a system that provides medtech manufacturers with comprehensive automated random sample inspection, generating accurate AI-based quality predictions while injection molding is still in progress.
Autonomous vehicles transport parts to the test cell and storage area. Image courtesy of OST – Ostschweizer Fachhochschule.
The molded parts are serialized using individual QR codes and sorted onto trays. While production is still in progress, Kistler’s ComoNeo system monitors cavity pressures via pressure sensors. With support from appropriately trained AI, ComoNeoPREDICT software generates quality predictions for the individual parts. Driverless transport vehicles convey parts selected for spot checks to the optical test cell. This is the first time autonomous transportation has been used in this context. The parts then pass through the predefined inspection program and are checked for dimensional stability and surface defects as well as injection molding anomalies, such as black specks or moisture splay. Issues specific to plastics processing such as shrinkage due to cooling and crystallization are also taken into account.
Suited for complex production requirements
Additional injection molding machines producing different parts can be integrated into this setup and incorporated into the material flow with the use of autonomous vehicles. In other words, the concept allows for automation of quality control in complex production environments as long as the test cell is equipped with the appropriate inspection programs: The inspection system recognizes the different parts and triggers the relevant test program.
Following inspection, the autonomous vehicle transports the tested parts to the warehouse and the test cell sends the analyzed data to higher-level QA or MES systems. Experts can then compare the quality data with the quality forecasts previously generated by ComoNeo PREDICT. If variances occur, the AI models are retrained using new test data.
The research project is also investigating possible ways to automate data matching and the adaptation of neural networks. Manufacturers not only gain the benefit of improved data quality from optical inspections, they can also design their entire process to be as rigorous and error-free as possible, even in complex production environments where a variety of different parts need to be tested.
Recommended Reads ??
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?? Automotive Plastics Innovator Tom Russell Receives SPE Lifetime Achievement Award: The founder of Allied Composites Technology fostered game-changing innovations in automotive plastics throughout a career that includes positions at General Electric Plastics and Ford Motor Co.
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?? Plastics Machinery Shipments Mark Second Consecutive Quarterly Decline: High interest rates are weighing on capital expenditure plans, according to the chief economist of the Plastics Industry Association.
?? Upcoming Industry Events
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