Plastopedia

China's plastics machinery industry continued to grow in the first quarter, but the speed is slowing down, according to data released by the China Plastics Machinery Industry Association (CPMIA).

As wood-plastic composite products gain popularity in China, machinery manufacturers are forecasting rapid sales growth in the next few years, but one of them also warned of overheated investment.

China’s cast film line manufacture Simcheng Plastics Machinery Co. Ltd. plans to invest 200 million yuan (US$31 million) to build a new production facility, in order to meet growing demand.

China faces a trade deficit of plastics machinery, even though its export volume is three times the import volume. The key is price differences, said the China Plastics Machinery Industry Association.

Mergon Automotive of Castlepollard has taken delivery of an additional Graham Engineering blow molding machine. The GEC-7460 dual-head machine will be used to manufacture reservoir bottles, windshield-washer systems, trim parts and fuel-filler pipes.

MachinePoint Ltd., an internet-based trader of used machinery, says demand for its extrusion machinery is coming mostly from Asia and the Middle East, as companies in developed markets are keeping investments to a minimum.Since 2009, demand for MachinePoint machinery has increased 43 percent in Asia and 48 percent in the Middle East, compared with only 5 percent in the United States, the company told European Plastics News.The demand is mainly for pipe machinery, with German brands such as Cincinnati, Battenfeld and KraussMaffei being the most popular.

Arburg used its annual technology open house to launch its Allrounder Edrive range of injection moulding machines. Available with clamping force of 60, 100, 150 or 200 tonnes, the new machine type is described as an “entry-level model of electric machines”.The 60 and 200 tonne Edrive machines come with two Euromap injection unit sizes: 170 and 290 for the 60-tonne version and 400 and 800 for the 200-tonne version. In the middle of the range there is a wider choice of 170, 290 and 400 units for the 100-tonne machine, and 290, 400 and 800 units for the 150-tonne machine.

Will it someday be possible to optimize an injection molding machine for processing and quality production? David Kazmer said the answer is yes, but the technology still faces some limitations.Kazmer, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, presented a technical paper on May 2 during the Society of Plastics Engineers Antec conference in Boston. Kazmer recently became associate dean of the college of engineering at the university in Lowell, Mass.

Ultrasound is being used to melt plastics in a micro moulding machine developed by Spanish ultrasonics technology company Ultrasion. Ultrasion has grown out of research at the Ascamm Foundation in Barcelona, and more specifically the Microplast project of 2005 which led to a patent in 2007 on micromoulding with ultrasonic energy.European Commission funding of a two-year project called Sonoplast followed in 2008, aiming to develop a micromoulding machine using ultrasonic energy. A patent emerged which was licensed to established Spanish injection machine builder Mateu i Solé in 2009, with a machine later shown at the NPE exhibition in the USA.

At this year’s Ligna fair in Hanover, Battenfeld-Cincinnati is showing developments in its fiberEX machine series, specifically designed to process wood plastic composites (WPCs).Along with its partners Greiner and Kompetenzzentrum Holz, Battenfeld-Cincinnati offers its customers a two-step WPC extrusion process – compounding followed by profile extrusion.The European market faces a trend towards two-step production due to higher process stability and higher melt homogeneity, resulting in end products with optimized mechanical and physical properties, says the firm.

Tatra Plastics Manufacturing Limited www.tatra.co.uk continue their investment program with the purchase of a new conical twin screw extruder.This machine represents a significant investment of fifty thousand pounds and is in accordance with the companies continual investment programme, to help maintain increased quality, whilst reducing the companies carbon footprint.

Demand for automation to go with injection molding machinery has prompted plastics processing machinery manufacturer KraussMaffei to invest in an expansion of the production area for its subsidiary KraussMaffei Automation AG. The new building, scheduled for completion in this autumn, will expand the production area from 670 to 1570 square meters.

Bob Lemke, a veteran plastics machinery salesman who ran manufacturers’ representative firm ABC Lemke Inc., died on April 2. He was 72.Lemke played a key role in setting up Battenfeld of America, the U.S. operation of the German injection molding machine manufacturer, in the early 1960s. He founded ABC Lemke in 1979. The rep. firm is in Spartanburg, S.C.

Battenfeld-Cincinnati Austria GmbH has been recognized for its sustainability efforts by the Environmental Agency of the Municipality of Vienna.The agency selected the Vienna-based machinery company for its eco-friendly internal measures as well as the energy-efficient features of its products

KraussMaffei Technologies and Technische Informationssysteme (TIG) of Rankwill, Austria, have signed a cooperation agreement, under which they aim to work closely together on technologies for networking plastics processing machinery and for monitoring production data.

Ohio State University engineers have invented a thermoplastic lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3D image.Other 3D microscopes use multiple lenses or cameras that move around an object. The OSU team says the new lens is the first single, stationary lens to create microscopic 3D images by itself.

S&E Specialty Polymers LLC has invested over $340,000 in machinery, equipment and improvements the last two years and is planning to spend more than $220,000 this year as it updates its facility to expand its own branded family of seven specialty compounds.

North American injection machinery maker Husky Injection Molding Systems said today it is to acquire Austrian closure mouldmaker KTW.The company did not disclose the value of the deal, which is expected to close in May. Once the acquisition is complete Husky will offer KTW-branded moulds as part of fully integrated turnkey closure manufacturing systems, including mould, machine, hot runner, temperature controller, as well as a range of consulting and after-sales services.

Coming on the heels of a similar announcement in China, BASF SE recently released plans for the expansion of its engineering plastics plant in Anson, South Korea. The expansion will increase production of the company’s nylon and polybutylene terephthalate compounds by 13,000 metric tons per year.

Milacron LLC has made a series of organization changes, including creating a global key accounts team and several new positions, as part of the plastics machinery maker’s customer-driven strategic focus.  In moves announced March 3, Glenn Anderson becomes senior vice president of global key accounts. Anderson had been Milacron’s vice president and general manager of North American injection machinery and global extrusion. He has more than 27 years of experience in both injection molding and extrusion technologies.