Canadian Plastics September 2010

CanadianPlastics www.canplastics.com

SEPTEMBER 2010

PACKAGING REPORT PET BOTTLES

+

New adventures in lightweighting

BLOWN FILM EXTRUSION

Troubleshooting tips

MEDICAL DEVICE MANUFACTURING The pros and cons

HOT RUNNERS Solving balance problems

INJECTION MOLDING Saving material, cutting costs

Complete Material Handling Solutions

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contents

Canadian Plastics SEPTEMBER 2010 VOLUME 68 NUMBER 4

LOOKING BACK...

The October 1969 issue of Canadian Plastics reported on a new 24-inch PVC pipe product — described as "the largest so far in North America" — being molded

by Toronto-based Scepter Manufacturing Co. The company purchased three new extruders, each in the 1,000 lb. per hour capacity range, to undertake the project.

Those were particularly heady days for Scepter: our October 1969 issue also noted that the company's pipe division was in the process of expanding into a new 75,000-square-foot building on a five-acre site on Toronto's Pharmacy Ave.

80.2*

* Ontario's Feed-in Tariff program pays 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for elecricity generated by solar energy systems. (See pg. 6)

in every issue 4 Editor’s View: • BPA coverage exposes media bias 5 Ideas & Innovations: • Faster cure of thermoset pipe and tubing, minus the oven 6 News: • Ontario moldmaker connects to provincial Feed-in Tariff program • CPSC targets manufacturers with “essential skills” initiative • FEPAC gets gov’t grant for sustainability program • People 9 Executive’s Corner: • How to find the right overseas rep 27 Technology Showcase K 2010 product spotlight 30 Plastics Data File 30 Advertising Index 31 Classified Ads 33 Design Ideas: • Construction concepts 34 View from the Floor: • Panel paranoia

Photo Credit: Amcor Rigid Plastics

Number of the month:

page 24

page 10

page 33

cover story

10 PACKAGING REPORT: Focus on blow molding and blown film extrusion

Lightweighting PET bottles seems like a no-brainer — less plastic reduces the impact of packaging on both the environment and profit margins. But as more and more PET is carved out of neck, sides and bottoms, it's worth asking: Are we reaching the limits? ALSO: Tips for fighting wrinkles in blown film extrusion applications from an expert.

features

16 INJECTION MOLDING: Trimming material usage and cycle times

With the green movement picking up ever more steam, it might seem that energy savings is the sole priority for injection molding machine suppliers these days. But don't you believe it: There's a lot more going on with the latest models, in particular new technologies designed to cut material usage and reduce cycle times. We take a look inside.

20 MEDICAL: The pros and cons of medical parts molding

As the baby boom generation heads into their sunset years, the global demand for plastic medical devices of all sorts is projected to skyrocket.

Grabbing a slice of that market probably sounds like a winning strategy to most plastics processors. It might not be a good fit for everyone, though. We talk with industry insiders about some of the benefits and drawbacks.

24 HOT RUNNERS: Helping the balance process

Injection molding isn't easy — as viscosity changes while the plastic melt is in motion, the odds of making balanced parts get smaller.

Fortunately, a well-built hot runner system can help you beat the imbalanced filling of cavities, for balanced parts every time.

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editor’s view

BPA coverage exposes media bias

I

t’s funny how the news gets reported sometimes.

In mid-August, you may recall, Canadians awoke to screaming headlines about bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial chemical sometimes used in the production of polycarbonate plastic.

“Study finds widespread BPA exposure,” read one headline that was typical of many.

The first sentence of one report said the “vast majority of Canadians” have “de­tectable levels” of BPA in their urine. It got worse: “Study says children have higher levels of the chemical than their parents or grandparents.”

The study referred to was a Statistics Canada report measuring lead, mercury and BPA bloodstream concentrations among Canadians.

The thing is, the content of the StatsCan study was nowhere near as dramatic as the reports covering it made it seem — i.e., “Innocent Canadian children exposed to deadly chemicals by that sinister conglomerate known as Big Plastic.” (I paraphrase, but only slightly.) For example, those who bothered reading to the end of the StatsCan study came across the following: “Canadians aged 6 to 79 had a geometric mean concentration of urinary BPA of 1.16 micrograms per litre. This is consistent with results from international studies reporting mean or median concentrations of 1 to 3 micrograms per litre.”

Hmmm. That doesn’t sound particularly frightening to me — or to the Chemical Industry Association of Canada, who were admirably quick out of the gate re­sponding to the StatsCan report hysteria. The CIAC reminded Canadians that any chemical can be detected in human fluids and tissues in as little as one part per billion (“a single drop in an Olympicsized swimming pool,” as they put it), and that the mere presence of an environmental chemical in a person’s body doesn’t mean said person will suffer any adverse health effects.

The screaming-headlined reports also admitted this, although usually not until the bottom of each story. As one reporter put it, almost grudgingly, “The average level [of BPA] found in the population was 1.16 parts per billion, an exceedingly small amount.” It’s a sure sign, though, of how biased the coverage of BPA has become that a report that offered nothing new is presented as though it heralded a disaster of near-Biblical proportions.

Anyone following the BPA saga with a scintilla of objectivity can’t help but notice that a huge, neon-lit pattern has emerged, of which the StatsCan coverage is only the latest example: Research disputing the notion that BPA is harmful to humans — and there’s plenty of it — is largely ignored by the mainstream news organizations; conclude that BPA is harmful, however, and most journalists will shout themselves hoarse to spread the news.

Why? Well, coming from a liberal arts background myself, I can assure you that too many of my fellow scholars — many of whom drift naturally into jouralism — have an instinctive dislike of big business, and of the dreaded Big Oil in particular, of which plastics is viewed as an inevitably sinister byproduct.

And these journalists are having an effect, at least in Canada: So far, our country stands alone in having banned BPA from baby bottles, without any concrete scientific evidence to support such a move.

Predictably, activists seized on the Stats­Can numbers from mid-August, arguing they showed that Canada must immediately move to ban BPA from products like food tins.

But Health Canada said exactly the opposite a few short months ago in a study of canned food and BPA: “Health Canada’s Food Directorate has concluded that the current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging uses is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborns and infants.”

Again, it’s funny: That report didn’t get much coverage.

4 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

Mark Stephen

mstephen@canplastics.com

Canadian Plastics magazine reports on and interprets develop­­ ments in plastics markets and technologies worldwide for plastics processors, moldmakers and end-users based in Canada.

www.canplastics.com EDITOR Mark Stephen 416-510-5110 Fax: 416-510-5134 E-mail: mstephen@canplastics.com TECHNICAL EDITOR Jim Anderton 416-751-5749 E-mail: jimeditorial@yahoo.ca ART DIRECTOR Andrea M. Smith PRODUCTION MANAGER Steve Hofmann 416-510-6757 E-mail: shofmann@bizinfogroup.ca PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER Phyllis Wright SENIOR PUBLISHER Judith Nancekivell 416-510-5116 Fax: 416-510-5134 E-mail: jnancekivell@canplastics.com ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE Brayden Ford 416-510-5124 Fax: 416-510-5134 E-mail: bford@canplastics.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Diane Rakoff 416-510 5216 Fax: 416-510-6875 E-mail: drakoff@bizinfogroup.ca HEAD OFFICE 12 Concorde Place, Suite 800, Toronto ON M3C 4J2. 416-442-5600, Fax: 416-510-5134 CANADIAN PLASTICS is published 7 times a year by BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspa­ pers and business-to-business information services.

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ideas & innovations

Faster cure of thermoset pipe and tubing, minus the oven

A

n industrial curing oven is a cumbersome piece of equipment on a busy shop floor — and if you can do without it, while saving energy and improving part characteristics in the process, why wouldn’t you?

If you’re a manufacturer of thermoset filament wound pipe, maybe now you can.

A new super thermal conductive mandrel technology developed by Acrolab Ltd. is designed to cure filament wound pipe and tube sections through induction heating, without the need for curing ovens.

Trademarked the “Isomandrel”, the new mandrel design consists of an internal process within the mandrel that enhances thermal conductivity and thermal reactivity. It sounds simple: A long, cylindrical-shaped bar of metal heated uniformly to up to 500°F by an induction coil, the process permits heat to be applied in a localized concentration that’s then rapidly and homogeneously redistributed over the complete mandrel working surface. The heating can occur while the assembly is in the winding cycle, after the winding cycle — while the mandrel is one the winding machine — or on a separate rotating fixture within the manufacturing cell. Once completed, the mandrel is allowed to cool and the pipe section is removed.

CONTROLLING THE HEAT

How is this an improvement over traditional approaches? “Hollow composite tube or pipe sections are typically made by winding the material around a hollow mandrel which is then placed in a convection curing oven,” said Joseph Ouellete, Acrolab’s president. “The challenge has always been to produce the fastest cure of the resin/ fibre composite matrix using the least energy applied in the most uniform fashion. The Isomandrel method cures these resin fibres quickly from the inside out without the oven by using high watt density energy generated by the induction heating system and applied directly to the Isomandrel, which then heats the composite matrix directly.” The result is a very rapid cure time, he continued, with a lower energy requirement and a significantly more uniform cure.

“We’re basically introducing an entirely new methodology for manufacturing fibre-reinforced plastic pipe,” added Peter McCormick, Acrolab’s technical sales manager. “It not only reduces production time from as much as four hours down to less than one hour, but also produces a much better product.”

a fully integrated software and hardware station to provide the controlled power and recipe requirements to integrate with the Isomandrel units.

For plastics processors, Acrolab’s CEO John Hodgins said, the potential manufacturing implications are huge. “The Isomandrel technology can be a valuable new tool for lightweighting component processing of any tubular structure or reinforcement, such as drive shafts, seating structures, front end modules and door reinforcements,” he explained. “For the right auto parts suppliers, it can be a game-changer, giving them a real advantage over their competition.”

CPL Acrolab Ltd. (Windsor, Ont.); www.acrolab.com; 519-944-5900

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AID FOR AUTO PARTS MAKERS

Over two years in the making, the technology was developed by Acrolab in conjunction with several U.S. firms, including Ameritherm and Chino Works America Inc., and was introduced at the American Composites Manufacturers Association show in Las Vegas in February. Recognition has been quick to follow, with the Isomandrel being selected as a finalist for the worldwide 2010 JEC Process Innovation Award. According to Ouellette, Acrolab and Ameritherm are currently coordinating the development of

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news

Ontario moldmaker connects to provincial Feed-in Tariff program It’s not exactly a second vocation, but moldmaker Compact Mould Ltd. has just broken into the energy supply business — starting out not on the ground floor, but on the roof.

The Woodbridge, Ont.-based company recently finished completion of two rooftop solar panel systems — one in Woodbridge and the other at its nearby Brampton facility — as part of the provincial government’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program. Here’s how it works: The solar photovoltaic (PV) generators will produce solar electricity which the municipalities will then buy from Compact Mould for the fixed price of 80.2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh); Compact Mould can then put that money towards its own power bill.

SMART IDEA

Photo Credit s:

Compact Mould

Ltd.

Middle: Compact Mould’s executive vice president Gaston Petrucci, MPP Dr. Kuldip Kular and Gus Kokkoros of Icarus Power Generation pose with plaque at the official August start-up in Brampton.

Bottom: Miguel Petrucci, Kular and Kokkoros on the Brampton facility rooftop.

The rooftop solar PV generator at the company’s Brampton plant was connected to the power grid in June, with an official start-up ceremony held in August attended

by Dr. Kuldip Kular, MPP for BramaleaGore-Malton. The PV panels at the Woodbridge facility will be fully outfitted and operational in September. Both generators were paid for in part through Ontario’s new SMART program, created by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters industry association — with funding from the provincial government — to help smalland medium-sized businesses adopt more energy efficient operations. “The total investment for the solar panels was approximately $100,000, one-half of which will be paid for

by SMART,” said Compact Mould president Miguel Petrucci. “We received $15,000 from the program up front, and have applied for repayment of the remaining $35,000.”

Run by the Ontario Power Authority

6 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

(OPA), the FIT program is for renewable energy projects that can generate more than 10 kW of electricity to be fed directly into Ontario’s power grid; smaller projects, at a home or small business, that can generate 10 kW or less qualify for the OPA’s microFIT program, under which Compact Mould’s project falls.

“The idea to do this came from our having attended a SMART program seminar,” Petrucci explained. “We applied for the SMART program for funding, and then applied to the OPA for approval of our microFIT project. We then worked with local solar panel developer Icarus Power Generation on the project, with the cities of Woodbridge and Brampton finally approving the plans before we could go ahead with construction.”

LONG-TERM BENEFITS

Space-wise, it’s not a big investment for Compact Mould. The solar panels at the Brampton plant cover 2,000 square feet of a 35,000 square-foot area, and the panels at Woodbridge will cover approximately 1,250 square feet of a 25,000-square-foot rooftop. One-hour shutdowns are necessary at both plants for the actual power hookup process, but beyond that there’s no interruption of the daily routine. The benefits should be bigger. “We expect to be able to pay roughly one-quarter of our own electricity costs through the solar panels,” Petrucci said. “We’ve signed a 20-year contract with the OPA that pays us the guaranteed 80.2 cents per kWh.” Since Compact Mould owns both the Woodbridge and Brampton plants, the investment made sense from that perspective too.

“The initial investment in the solar generators was high, but we expect a quick payback on it, hopefully within four years,” Petrucci said.

“In the long run, we’re certain that the incentives and stable prices offered will result in significant savings, as well as revenue for the future of our business.”

CPL

news

CPCS targets manufacturers with “essential skills” initiative The Canadian Plastics Sector Council (CPSC) has launched a national two-year initiative designed to target and develop a list of “essential skills” deemed necessary to boost productivity, safety and the ability to adapt to change within the plastics industry workforce.

The CPSC has identified nine essential skills: reading, document use, writing, numeracy, oral communication, working with other, thinking skills, computer use and continuous learning. By December 2011, the organization said, its website will include an interactive, state-of-the-art product suite available in English and French aimed at building these nine criteria.

“Workers will be able to find information about occupations in plastics and they’ll be able to see how their skills measure up,” the CPSC said. “An online assessment will summarize where they already have the necessary essential skills and where there may be gaps. It will then point them to learning resources aimed specifically at closing their gaps.”

FEPAC gets gov’t grant for sustainability program The Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites (FEPAC) has received a $130,456 federal government grant to help mem-

ber companies in Quebec streamline operations.

The grant comes from Canada Economic Development’s Business and Regional Growth program, and will be used for Quebec-based FEPAC’s IMAC Plastics-Composites initiative, aimed at helping small- and medium-sized enterprises transition to enhanced performance and sustained growth.

Some 40 firms will participate in this program, which consists of four phases: preparation, pilot, validation and deployment. “In practical terms, FEPAC guides its member firms in their undertakings and helps them redefine their business plans and commercialization strategies,” said Pierre Fillion, FEPAC’s president and CEO. “This will inevitably influence their choices in terms of investments, technologies and training activities and make them aware of the value of placing greater importance on research and development.”

NEWS BRIEFS

Calgary, Alta.-based chemicals manufacturer Nova Chemicals has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hess Corporation, of New York City, to start receiving ethane from Hess’s plant in Tioga, N.D. for use in Nova’s Joffre, Alta. ethylene and PE production complex.

To facilitate this, a new pipeline will be built between the socalled “Bakken Formation” oil and gas field, located between the states of North Dakota and Montana in the U.S., and Saskatchewan and Red Deer, Alta. in Canada. The pipeline is expected to

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news be completed by the fall of 2010. The arrangement also involves Nova purchasing 100 per cent of the ethane produced at Hess’s Tioga gas plant.

PEOPLE — The Mississauga, Ont.-based Canadian Plastics Industry Associa­tion has appointed Susmit Mahalanabis as its sustainability manager.

— Engineering and commodity resin supplier PolyOne Distribution Canada Ltd. has named Ron Davis as account manager for the Ontario region. Davis will be based out of Mississauga, Ont.

Quebec City-based composites parts maker Sigma Industries Inc. has filed for bankruptcy reorganization in Canada, seven months after its U.S. subsidiary in Ohio filed for Chapter 11.

Ron Davis

Brampton, Ont.-based injection mold manufacturer StackTeck Systems Ltd. has acquired Matrix Technology Specialists, based in Hong Kong, and formed a new company: StackTeck Matrix Systems. Designed to expand StackTeck’s presence in Asia, the new outfit will have operations in Toronto, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City.

— Mark Christie has joined Cobourg, Ont.-based Lorenz Conveying Products in the new role of director of sales.

— Cindy Gruber has joined Missis­ sauga, Ont.-based material supplier BASF Canada as manager of business and market development.

— Auxiliary equipment maker The Conair Group, of Cranberry Township, Pa., has named Steve Petrakis — former president of Frigel North America — as vice president of sales in Canada and the U.S.

Steve Petrakis

1101-380 Globalisation_CanPlastics:Layout 1

BECAUSE ENTREPRENEURS WANT TO CONQUER THE WORLD.

8 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

Barway Plastic Equipment Inc. has been named the new sales representative for Axmann Conveying Systems for eastern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. Barway is headquartered in Vaudreuill-Dorion, Que. Jeffersonville, Ind.-based Axmann’s product range includes flat conveyors, inclined conveyors, horizontal to inclined/declined conveyors and underwater conveyors.

Mark Christie

8/9/10

Heat application specialist Stanmech Technologies Inc., of Burlington, Ont., has been named the exclusive distributor for compressed air products supplier Nex Flo Air Products Corp. in Ontario and 8:35 AM Page 1 Quebec.

Nex Flo is headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ont. CPL

The Business Development Bank of Canada understands your reality. It provides the necessary support so your business can grow at the pace of your aspirations – come rain or shine.

executive’s corner

How to find the right overseas rep

By Mark Mensing, Canada Export Centre

L

ocating an effective overseas sales rep for your product is not an overnight process: Moreover, there are different routes to finding the right one, and many issues to consider.

First, you need to decide if finding a rep is even the right approach. To determine this, you’ll first need to have a good understanding of the target market: who is the competition, what are the barriers to entry, and where are the opportunities? This will include not only investigating the competition, but also understanding various regulatory issues, and perhaps looking at the supply chain to identify the key players. If you decide that having a rep seems like the right approach to go forward, you can begin your search.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

Think about your personal network — do you know anyone in the market? Are there any associations or government agencies in the target market that you could contact? What about industry publications or journals? Instead of showing up at a trade show not knowing anything about the key players, go online and look at exhibitor lists from past trade shows. Research these lists to determine if any are potential reps that fit what you’re looking for.

look at hiring a salesperson in the region that could follow up on leads, or designate a salesperson at home who would travel to the area periodically. A telemarketing campaign would give customers the appearance that you’ve got a local presence, and its operators could set up appointments for your sales staff who would fly in and meet with qualified leads. If export sales continue to increase, you could look at establishing a sales rep in the region permanently.

In the end, let what you’ve learned about the market through thorough investigation help you better determine your approach. Also, it’s important to be open to alternatives: You may find that a rep is not the best route to go after all. Joint venturing, licensing, setting up manufacturing facilities, or even buying a competitor or channel partner might make more sense. Each market is unique, and you need to be flexible and open to the various options.

CPL Mark Mensing is the president and CEO of Vancouver-based Canada Export Centre. With 11 offices around the world, the company works with clients who are looking to generate direct international sales, develop new distribution channels, and develop JV partnerships or licensing opportunities. Visit www. canadaexportcentre.net.

THE END-USER/RETAILER APPROACH

A great way to identify potential reps involves calling on your target end-users or retailers in order to determine who they’re buying from and who they like to deal with. Those distributors or re-sellers who have carved out a comfortable niche with the retailers or end-users are the potential reps you want to be talking to.

Interviewing the retailers or end-users will provide unique insight into your rep candidate(s): how often they visit their clients, what else they sell, how creative they are and how well-liked they are.

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VETTING YOUR REP

You may have compiled a list of companies you think fit as potential reps. Before contacting them to determine if they’re interested in partnering with you, make sure you’re prepared to ask the right questions to assess the fit. How big is this company? Have they imported before? How many people are working for them? What is their sales strategy? Can they develop a marketing plan for your products? Can they provide references? Does their current offering compliment your product or is it actually competitive?

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Know how… www.haremar.com/film

NAVIGATING CULTURAL ASPECTS

You may have some great ideas about how to go about finding a rep, but there are challenges that require support: language, time zones, different business practices and cultural issues, to name a few.

Some companies think if they’re selling in France, they can go into other French-speaking countries and sell using the same approach.

Things are very different in France than in, say, Belgium, Switzerland or Quebec. The same holds true for Asia and Latin America.

One way around this is by hiring an overseas telemarketing company to do initial customer qualifications for you. You could

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packaging report

PET BOTTLES:

Pushing the boundaries of

LIGHTWEIGHTING

‘‘

Lightweighting PET bottles seems like the perfect win-win strategy, reducing the impact of packaging on both the environment and profit margins. It’s hotter than ever, but are we reaching the limits?

By Mark Stephen, editor

Y

ou can never be too thin” — it’s a slogan many people seem to live by these days, and also a maxim the PET drink bottle industry is testing in its own way.

For bottlers of both carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) and water, these are golden days for shedding weight, with more and more grams of material being carved from necks, sides and bases.

The catalyst for recent innovations in lightweighting began prior to the Great Recession, when PET resin prices were rocketing upwards with no end in sight.

Case in point: In December, Nestlé Waters launched a new version of its Eco-Shape half-litre PET bottle. Weighing an average of 9.3 grams, the bottle contains 25 per cent less plastic than the original launched in the mid-’90s. Company CEO Kim Jeffrey predicted that shaving bottle weight down to 9.5 grams would cut Nestlé’s volume purchase of PET resin by 95 million lbs. per year, delivering an annual saving of up to US$62 million.

CSD SAVINGS

With the stakes this high, every part of the bottle is a target for being lightweighted. “In CSDs, the biggest recent developments centre around the bottle necks, which are responsible for the largest share in material consumption,” said Ottmar Brandau, president of OB Plastics Consulting. Shedding weight became simpler late last year, when a new neck finish standard for CSD containers was introduced. PCO 1881, approved by the St. Paul, Minn.-based International Society of Beverage Technologists in 2009, applies to containers 0.5 to one litre in size, the bulk of CSD bottles made from PET. It creates thinner and smaller neck finishes — only two screw threads against three in the past — and lighter-weight polyolefin closures, decreasing the amount of material used in preforms by 1.3 grams and in standard 28-mm closures by 0.5 grams, for a total savings per bottle of 1.8 grams. “Multiply that amount by the billions of bottles molded worldwide every year and it translates into hundreds of millions of dollars saved annu10 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

ally for major brand holders like Coke and Pepsi,” Brandau said.

Bottle sides are another obvious target, and have inspired some creative lightweighting approaches. “Amcor’s current hot-fill offerings use the vacuum to create structures and designs such as hand grips, instead of the old approach of fighting the vacuum by adding geometry and material,” said Fred Beuerle, senior manager, strategic innovation for Amcor Rigid Plastics.

“As a result, we reduced our 20-ounce single serve beverage containers from 38 grams three years ago to 30 grams today, and we’re working on 20-ounce containers that are 24 grams and potentially less.”

Bottle bottoms have been getting thinner for years — and as with other sections, developments are accelerating. Some of the newest lightweighting approaches also embrace the vacuum.

Graham Packaging’s Escape hot-fill PET bottle, for example, is 6.5 grams lighter than previous offerings; production is topped off when, after filling and capping, the bottle goes through a CMA — continuous motion activator — that inverts the base, which takes up the vacuum in the bottle and creates a slight overpressure.

BIG GAINS IN WATER

Particularly dramatic lightweighting results are being seen in water bottles. “Because of the non-carbonation factor, the water industry can go further in reducing the neck to smaller dimensions,” said Werner Amsler, president of blow molding machine maker W. Amsler Equipment Inc. “Modern 500-ml PET water bottles have been reduced to a standard weight of less than 10 grams, compared to a standard weight of 17 grams just a few years ago.”

Statistics from the Alexandria, Va.-based International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) support this: One recent IBWA study estimated that over the past eight years the gram weight of the 16.9-ounce single serve bottled water container has dropped by a whopping 32.6 per cent.

packaging report For the drinker, at the opposite end of the spectrum from water is alcohol. Although PET has nowhere near the market penetration here as in CSDs and water offerings, it’s been around long enough for first generation PET liquor bottles to be replaced by seriously lighter designs. “Over the past few years, Westbridge PET Containers has reduced the package weight in this market by approximately 10 per cent,” said Dave Birkby, company president and CEO. “Most recently, we designed a port and sherry package in PET that went from 86 grams down to 70 grams, using a PET preform that could ideally optimize the distribution of thickness to meet customer requirements for look, feel and performance.”

REACHING THE LIMITS

New CM

A comment from Amcor’s Fred Beuerle sums it up nicely: “In the past, we made incremental progress lightweighting PET bottles; now we’re progressing in leaps and bounds.”

Just so. But there’s always been awareness that lightweighting would eventually reach the point at which it creates more problems than it solves. That marker might be approaching fast. “Many PET bottle suppliers are already the practical for lightweighting,” said Jamie Pace, 1 hitting 7/3/09 10:39 AMlimit Page 1 vice president-general manager at Nissei ASB Company. “If they continue beyond that, they could end up with products too flimsy to survive the rigors of the distribution chain.”

This reality was just acknowledged by UK supermarket giant

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RESOURCE LIST Amcor Rigid Plastics (Manchester, Mich.); www.amcor.com; 734-428-9741 Nissei ASB Company (Atlanta, Ga.); www.nissei-asbus.com; 404-699-7755 Plastics Machinery Inc. (Newmarket, Ont.); 905-895-5054 OB Plastics Consulting (Wasaga Beach, Ont.); www.blowmolding,org; 705-429-1492 W. Amsler Equipment Inc. (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.amslerequipment.net; 905-707-6704 Westbridge PET Containers (Calgary, Alta.); www.westbridge.ca; 1-800-650-2454

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Tesco. In 2007, the company had pledged to reduce packaging weight by 25 per cent by this year, but recently reduced the target — a concession that cost savings through weight reduction can’t remain the sole driver.

The second big lightweighting driver — trimming environmental waste — has also run head-on into reality, at least for now. “Currently, PET bottles are being lightweighted to the point of requiring an added nylon oxygen scavenger as a barrier,” said Fred Beuerle.

“The problem is, some of the currrent barrier materials might contaminate the recycling stream when present at above certain levels, and consumers don’t want the industry to lightweight to a less recyclable product. A big part of our current development projects involve creating an enhanced barrier that will have no impact on the recycle stream, and also support very thin, light containers. The industry is now making rapid progress in this direction.”

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packaging report

Wrinkles in blown film applications occur for two major reasons: First, bubble instability causes web movement as the bubble is collapsed. Second, uneven tension across the web overcomes the modulus (stiffness) of the web, resulting in permanent deformations in the film. Here’s how to prevent both.

Botox for Blown Film 1.

Transverse direction wrinkles

Side to side bubble motion will create transverse direction (TD) wrinkles. Wrinkles tend to form and disappear in a cyclical pattern at the edge folds, and pleated wrinkles form when the bubble passes through the primary nip. Helical instability causes baggy film, which causes TD wrinkles to move around the web. Rotating or oscillating dies or misaligned collapsing frames in oscillating nips will cause the same pattern, but the cycle will be much slower.

Baggy film is usually caused by bubble instability, variations in drag resistance within the collapsing frame, or temperature gradients in the upper regions of the tower. These changes in tension form pleats that are ironed into the web as it passes through the primary nips. Watch to see if the pattern moves or remains in the same position over time. Moving patterns often indicate an alignment problem within the tower. An example of helical instability and the corresponding wrinkle patterns are illustrated in Figure 1. Baggy film causes asymmetrical wrinkles at the edge or centre of the web. These wrinkles will move as the bubble moves from side to side.

If the angle of the collapsing frame is too large, symmetrical edge wrinkles will form in the film and won’t move around the web. Operators rarely optimize the position of the collapsing frame because it changes when the film gauge, layflat width or formulation is changed. Wrinkles can begin to appear in the middle of a production run because the air temperature in the tower changes during the day.

Viscosity variation inside the die can cause TD gauge variation and a tilted frost line. The asymmetrical bubble will produce diagonal wrinkles when it passes through the primary nip rollers.

Roller misalignment wrinkles are diagonal wrinkles that tend to move from one side of the web to the other, as shown in Figure 2. The severity of the wrinkles depends on the degree of misalignment.

Strategies to eliminate these wrinkles are increasing or reduc-

Transverse Direction Wrinkle Patterns Figure 1

12 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

By Paul Waller, Plastics Touchpoint Group, Inc. ing web tension, decreasing traction on the rollers, increasing line speed, making the film stiffer by increasing gauge or bypassing the problem roller.

Summary of solutions: Raw material

Processing conditions

Equipment

2.

• Adjust viscosity to minimize TD gauge variation.

• Increase modulus (density) of film.

• Increase film gauge.

• Stabilize the bubble.

• Adjust collapsing frame angle.

• Maintain film tension between 10 to 25 per cent of ultimate tensile strength.

• Increase line speed.

• Align and level tower components (die, cage, collapsing frame).

• Align rollers (maximum misalignment 0.001”/12” 25 microns/24 cm face width).

• Increase span between rollers.

• Decrease friction (traction) on rollers.

Machine direction wrinkles

The pattern of machine direction (MD) — see Figure 3 — wrinkles and the speed at which they appear and disappear provide useful clues about the cause. Slight variations in gauge can result in permanent deformation when the film is deformed (stretched) beyond its yield strength. Excessive web tension often causes this phenomenon. Keep in mind that the yield strength is affected by web temperature, so temperature gradients can increase the permanent distortions in the film when web tension is too high.

Bubble instability that increases and decreases the thickness of the film will produce this symptom. Slow Figure 2 changes in web tension are usually caused by gradual frost line height oscillation. Faster web tension pulsations may be caused by bubble breathing. Very fast web tension pulsations are usually caused be cyclical changes in traction (friction) on idler rollers.

Symmetrical wrinkles that do not move, but just appear and disappear, are usually due to TD gauge variation that is magnified by MD gauge variation or unstable web tension. The most common causes are port line effects inside the die or water absorption that causes web expansion, such as with nylon. Symmetrical bubble instability (frost line height oscillation or bubble breath-

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packaging report ing) will result in MD gauge variation. Surging from the extruder is a less Figure 3 common cause for these symptoms.

Asymmetrical wrinkles are usually caused by unstable traction (friction) between rollers.

Common causes for web tension pulsations from idler rollers are dirty surfaces, bent rollers and wobbling bearings.

A popular technique to compensate for baggy film is to use spreader rollers. Keep in mind that the web must be in the middle of the spreader roller to work properly, otherwise diagonal wrinkles and excessive edge wander will be created by the spreader roller. Fixed bowed rollers will work well only if the baggy web does not move from side to side. Elastic expander and grooved spiral rollers work better with unstable baggy film. Adjustment of the angle is critical. A minimum 30-degree wrap is required for bowed rollers to work effectively. Non-driven bowed rollers often create more wrinkles because the drag resistance is too high. Elastic expander and spiral grooved spreader rollers require more wrap around the roller to work effectively.

Machine Direction Wrinkle Patterns

Summary of solutions:

Raw material • Improve mixing inside die.

• Change formulation to increase modulus (density) of film.

• Increase film gauge.

Processing • Reduce web tension. conditions • Reduce film temperature.

• Reduce air currents.

Equipment • Reduce drag resistance in collapsing frame.

• Match rotation speed of rollers to line speed.

• Reduce width of spreader roller grooves.

• Adjust position of spreader roller.

• Reduce idler roller deflection.

• Reduce drag resistance across idler rollers.

Summary

The best way to diagnose and fix wrinkling problems is to look for clues in the rolls and web tension fluctuations that result in changes in reflection of light from the web. Work your way upstream until the changes in tension are no longer significant. This will help you isolate bubble from web transport problems.

CPL Paul Waller, president of Thornhill, Ont.-based Plastics Touchpoint Group, Inc., is an internationally recognized consultant in flexible packaging. He can be reached at 905-738-9742, paul@plastics touchpoint.com, or by visiting www.plasticstouchpoint.com.

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INJECTION MOLDING

GETS TRIM Cutting material usage, cycle times — and equipment prices When it comes to new developments in injection molding machines, energy savings tend to get the lion’s share of attention.

But don’t be fooled: I/M machine manufacturers have been working to deliver other improvements too. Canadian Plastics looks at some of the latest technologies to help molders reduce resin consumption and trim cycle times — without necessarily forking over big bucks.

D

epending on which injection molding shop you talk to, the Great Recession may or may not be over. But one thing they’ll all agree on is the need to get more out of their I/M machines — more parts per hour, more resin savings, more energy savings. Taking the last first, energy savings has been the hot topic for awhile now — and if you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that OEMs have

By Mark Stephen, editor

spent the past few years unveiling new energy-efficient machines, one after the other, at an almost frantic pace.

Developments that save material usage, cut cycle times and improve overall cost haven’t received quite the same share of the spotlight, but they’ve been a focus for OEMs nonetheless. Here are some recent results.

EXCELLENT ALL-ELECTRICS

Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH recently redesigned the former Battenfeld Microsystem five-ton I/M machine and has come out with two models of the new all-electric MicroPower series in five and 15 metric tons.

According to the company, the MicroPower machines are designed for precise metering of material for high-precision and micro parts — and even nano parts — with accuracy of 0.005 grams. And the units are fast: Injection speed and pressure can be up to 750 mm per second and 36275 psi.

The keys to resin-savings? A two-step screw plunger system that’s designed to empty on each shot, with no material left over. Shot capacities are 1.2 and 3 cc, although shots as small as 50 mg can be delivered. The units are also said to deliver up to 90 per cent material savings in gating.

“Apart from the fast acceleration and precise metering, the main benefit of the MicroPower series is its costefficiency,” said Rob Miller, president of Wittmann Canada.

“Thanks to shorter cycle times as well as lower material and energy consumption, cost savings of about 30 to 50 per cent can be realized when compared to conventional machines.

With such drastic cost cuts, the payback period for this system is extremely fast.”

For injection molders in the packaging industry, there’s

The Allrounder H (Hidrive) (above) hybrid series from Arburg generate the high injection speeds required for thin-walled packaging and other applications.

16 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

Wittmann Battenfeld’s (right) all-electric MicroPower micro-molder comes in five and 15 metric tons.

Photo: Wittmann Battenfeld

Photo: Arburg

injection molding more good news on the speed front: Engel’s new e-cap system, said to be the first fully electric system for cap and closure molding, is designed to cut energy consumption in half while also providing speed competitive with standard accumulatorassisted hydraulic cap-molding systems. It has a new injection unit capable of high plasticating rates, and high-speed, highpressure injection of up to 300 mm per second at 29,000 psi in the premium version, according to Engel. The first model will be 420 metric tons, and capable, the company said, of molding 26-mm soft-drink caps in 96 cavities with a 2.6-second cycle.

“The e-cap has the potential to bring faster cycle times and higher outputs to the hugely expanding plastics caps and closures markets — the fastest growing niche in the overall plastics packaging market,” the company said.

JSW Plastics Machinery, meanwhile, has added new medium-to-large sizes to its AD Advantage series all-electric molding machines in clamping forces of between 550 to 850 metric tons. Design improvements are said to include cutting dry-cycle times by 20 per cent, while newly developed injection units are smaller and lighter to improve acceleration and deceleration, reducing plasticating time by 10 per cent.

HELPFUL HYBRIDS

Also targeted at reducing cycle times is Arburg Inc.’s Allrounder H (Hidrive) series hybrid machines, introduced last year. Presently consisting of five machines ranging from 600 to 3,200 kN,

the series pairs a servo-electric clamping unit, as already used in the company’s Allrounder A series, with a hydraulic unit, as used in the company’s Allrounder S series.

With an injection unit complemented by a hydraulic accumulator, the H series machines are said by Arburg to generate the high injection speeds required for thin-walled packaging and other applications, but are priced about 25 per cent less than the firm’s Alldrive all-electric machines. And, yes, for those who are interested: Energy savings of up to 40 per cent can be achieved, because in addition to the servo-electric drive and braking energy recovery, the hydraulic accumulator is also driven with the minimum amount of installed pump capacity and by motors of efficiency class EFF1.

The new El-Exis SP (speed and performance) series hybrid machines from Sumitomo Demag, available with clamping forces from 150 to 750 tons, are designed to cut cycle times for packaging applications. “The direct drive for dosing is frequency-controlled, giving a higher plasticizing output, which gives a shorter cycle time,” said Andreas Schramm, head of research and development. “At the upcoming K show, we’ll be running an El-Exis SP 300/2500 press to produce an HDPE-threaded cap weighing 1.6 grams formed in a cycle time of only 2.6 seconds.”

Crucial for shaving seconds off the cycle time, Schramm continued, is finding the correct balance between acceleration and mold braking. “For an in-mold labeled part, for example, acceleration must be high, but mold braking is probably going

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injection molding to be more crucial,” he explained. “By contrast, a thin-walled yogurt cup to be labeled or printed after molding could be run at higher acceleration rates.”

Nissei Corporation has made similar improvements to a wide range of its machines. “The PNX, FNX, and FVX hybrid model Nissei machines have an injection scanning time of 250 micro seconds, while the Nissei NEX all electric machines have an injection scanning time of 100 micro seconds,” said Brad Lemieux, sales manager with Nissei representative En-Plas Inc. “These fast scanning times allow the machine to react faster to changes that could affect the injection process control, maintaining a much more consistent cycle and part integrity through their shot to shot repeatability. This is especially important in circumstances where larger parts are being molded — inconsistent deviations in part weight could easily add up to a lot of material, and therefore money, being wasted.”

Importantly, the presses permit ejection on the fly, for up to 10 per cent faster cycles. “The NEX also has injection holding pressure positioning control — or HPC — which maintains uniformity of thin-walled parts and prevents sink and warpage in high-speed molding applications,” Lemieux added.

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RIGHTEOUS RETROFITS

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Finally, lest you think you have to buy the newest equipment to get some of these benefits, relax — in some circumstances, retrofitting can do the job. Introduced in June, Husky Injection Mold-

ing Systems’ Encore program is a low-investment tooling and machine upgrade program designed to help customers improve systems performance — including getting faster cycle times — on injection molding machines that are less than 20 years old.

The program can include both tooling and machine upgrades and is broken down into two distinct series: maintenance, meaning reliability upgrades done over time for systems where performance improvements are not needed; and performance, a more complete upgrade that does include some new technology, including Polaris controls.

CPL RESOURCE LIST Arburg Inc. (Newington, Conn.); www.arburg.com; 860-667-6500 Dier International Plastics Inc, (Unionville, Ont.); 905-474-9874 D Cube (Montreal); 514-272-0500 Engel Canada Inc, (Guelph, Ont.); www.engelglobal.com/na; 519-836-0220 Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, Ont.); www.husky.ca; 905-951-5000 JSW Plastics Machinery Inc. (Elk Grove, Ill.); www.jswpmi.com; 847-427-1100 Nissei Plastic Industrial Co./En-Plas Inc. (Toronto); www.en-plasinc.com; 416-286-3030 Sumitomo (SHI) Demag/Plastics Machinery Inc. (Newmarket, Ont.); www.pmiplastics.com; 905-895-5054 Battenfeld (Wittmann Canada Inc.) (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 1-866-466-8266

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There is a better way

medical

MEDICAL DEVICE MOLDING:

YEAor NAY?

You know the statistics: As the baby boom generation enters their sunset years, the global demand for medical devices of all sorts is projected to skyrocket.

Grabbing a slice of that market probably sounds like a no-brainer to most plastics processors.

But is it? Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons.

By Mark Stephen, editor

M

olding plastic medical parts can represent several things to different processors: A transition from automotive work, for example, or a way into a new cutting-edge industry. But here’s what it’s not: A quick, recession-proof economic fix during tough times.

Ask the molders involved and they’ll tell you: Getting into medical device manufacturing takes time, financial resources, effort, and more.

“Being in the medical parts field gives you sustainable business, but it comes with some barriers too, and a lot of molders don’t appreciate these,” said Richard Boon, vice president of sales and marketing at custom molder Columbia Plastics Ltd., which began cleanroom medical parts molding a few years ago. “There’s a lot of upfront investment and work involved, long product development periods, many clinical trials, and ISO standards that preclude continuous product development.”

So, is it worth it? For the right processor, the answer is definitely yes. But are you the right processor?

DEMAND? YES. HURDLES? YES!

No one doubts that the demand for medical parts is heading towards the stratosphere. According to figures from Cleveland, Ohio-based market research firm The Freedonia Group Inc., the value of the U.S. medical market alone will post eight per cent average annual growth through 2016. As the baby boom generation ages, demand for medical products will rise to US$575 billion in 2011 from US$412 billion in 2006, and to US$800 billion in 2016.

Wannabe medical parts molders have to clear a series of hurdles before even being considered for molding that first part, however. The first can be summed up in two words: Financial stability.

“Any processor looking to get a medical devices contract absolutely has to have their finances in good order. Suppliers want to know the molder will be around for years to come, because the relationship between the two is meant to be a long 20 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

one,” said Richard Boon. “For the same reason, the molder should perform its own due diligence on the supplier.”

A second criterion to pass: Having the right manufacturing track record. “After financial stability, major parts suppliers are going to examine a molder’s manufacturing history,” said Len Czuba, president of product development firm Czuba Enterprises Inc. “It can be very hard to convince a company to give you medical parts contracts if you’ve never done this type of work before.” Experience with auto parts molding can help — but not as much as you might think. “Automotive molding has tight quality procedures, but not always tight enough to satisfy medical industry standards,” said Brenan Riehl, president and CEO of custom injection molder GW Plastics Inc., a leading U.S. medical parts manufacturer.

SOLVING A CATCH-22

To get the contracts, then, it helps to have experience with medical parts — but how does a processor get that experience without having had a contract? Solving this Catch-22 situation isn’t as hard as it sounds. “If your company is new to medical molding, hiring people with experience in the field can help you get up to speed quickly, and also signals that you’re committed to being a serious player,” Len Czuba said. “Another good strategy is to find a start-up supply company and work together to grow the business.”

Having a history of good record keeping is also essential. “Part traceability is key in the medical device world, and process documentation is key to traceability,” Czuba continued. “Now more than ever before, the FDA is telling the device manufacturers that they need to hold the molders to the highest levels of quality and traceability. If a molder can’t show superior record-keeping skills, they’re finished before they’ve even begun.”

The ability to provide a sterile manufacturing environment is another must-have. Contrary to what many think, however,

medical not having a cleanroom doesn’t have to be a barrier to molders looking to enter the medical parts world. “Molders can start with so-called white rooms, which don’t require sophisticated air-quality monitoring and filtration systems, but are sterile enough to satisfy many medical device manufacturing requirements,” Brenan Riehl said.

Not that hitting sterility requirements isn’t vitally important.

“More and more suppliers are compliant with ISO 13485 medical device standards, and they want their molders to meet that standard too,” said Richard Boon. “From the molder’s point of view, however, a problem with ISO 13485 is that it rules out continuous improvement. Once the molding process for a part is locked down, nothing can be changed without recertifying the whole part — not even to improve the cycle time.”

?

THE PLUS SIDE

Assuming a processor clears these hurdles and eventually begins molding medical parts, a big bonus is that — absent bankruptcy or a catastrophic manufacturing screw-up — it’s hard to lose those contracts. “The last thing a part supplier wants is to take the time and trouble of qualifying a new molder for a contract,” said Richard Boon. “They don’t want the production hiccups that this entails, and certainly don’t want to have to bear the expense of moving the tooling to a new shop. Again, this is where the importance of a molder being financially stable comes into the picture.”

Another bonus: The above-mentioned manufacturing screw-

ups are a little less likely in medical parts molding because the products themselves don’t change very often. “The program life cycles in medical molding tend to be quite long once production starts — longer than in automotive, for example — because, as a rule, the doctors and patients using these devices don’t like change,” said Brenan Riehl.

And as mentioned at the outset, medical parts manufacturing is inescapably a growth market. “The underlying demographics worldwide — an aging population — will drive growth for decades to come,” Riehl continued. “By 2020, 54 million people globally will be 65 or older, making for a lot of potential customers.”

SOME HEADACHES

Sounds good so far, right? But what about the downsides? There are several, beginning with the costs that might be involved in getting a facility ready to mold medical devices. “Processors don’t always realize the money involved in converting their business model from auto parts production, for example, to medical parts,” Riehl said.

“For GW Plastics, it was a 10-year process to transition from primarily auto molding to almost 75 per cent medical-related parts.”

Then there’s the generally uncertain nature of product development in the medical device industry. “There’s a high risk of medical parts never reaching the market due to the FDA nixing them somewhere along the way,” Riehl continued. “It’s a financial risk for the supplier, but also for the parts molder, and it’s a risk that almost doesn’t exist in auto parts molding.”

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medical And even if the product ultimately players in the industry, both large and It’s a classic Catch-22 situation: does get the green light from the FDA, small. “Also, start walking the floors Getting a medical parts odds are that years will have gone at medical device trade shows and molding contract usually requires by before it’s available to consumers find out what kind of parts the supand medical professionals — years in pliers want,” Czuba said. “The odds previous experience — but how which the molder is not reaping the of a molder being taken seriously as a does a molder get that experience medical parts maker improve if it can benefits from upfront investments.

The FDA can also make a molder’s play to its strengths, too. If a company without having had a contract? life unpleasant in other ways. “In addihas made automotive lenses in the tion to coming down hard on processors dealing with the U.S., the past, for example, it could consider transitioning into making FDA are getting much more proactive overseas,” said Len Czuba. lenses for medical devices.”

“If you have foreign manufacturing facilities, the FDA is not shy In the end, choosing to invest in a medical parts molding about showing up at your doorstep and asking to see your records future is a difficult “yea or nay” decision, and comes down to on medical devices.” each plastics processor weighing its own particular strengths and Speaking of overseas — if you think Chinese competition weaknesses. “For qualified companies, medical device manuisn’t an issue in such a technically precise, documentation-driven facturing is a very stable industry — not recession-proof, but industry, think again. “North American plastics processors often recession-resistant,” said Richard Boon. “It provides sustainable fail to realize that some of the major medical device suppliers business going forward, but comes at the expense of a lot of hard have been in China for the past 30 years, and can mold the parts work and investment.”

CPL there for shipment to North America,” Czuba continued. “Latex rubber gloves, for example, are largely sourced in Malaysia.”

RESOURCE LIST

HOW TO PROCEED

Still want to get involved, but aren’t sure how to get your foot in the door? Good first steps include getting familiar with medical device terminology; with relevant FDA regulations; and with the

Columbia Plastics Ltd. (Surrey, B.C.); www.columbiaplastics.com; 604-530-9990 Czuba Enterprises Inc. (Lombard, Ill.); www.czubaenterprises.com; 630-632-3560 GW Plastics Inc. (Bethel, Vt.); www.gwplastics.com; 802-234-9941

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FUNCTIONAL ADDITIVES Biostrength® - Modifiers for biopolymers Clearstrength® - MBS Impact Modifiers Durastrength® - Acrylic Impact Modifiers Plastistrength® - Processing Aids for PVC Thermolite® - Heat Stabilizer for PVC Vikoflex® - Epoxidized Vegetable Oil Luperox® - Organic Peroxides

With smoother, more aesthetic materials, more reliable and solid products and more cost effective and innovative solutions, your ideas can become a reality, limited only by your imagination. As an expert in polymers, Arkema brings the best in innovation to your creativity. With the use of research and production methods at the cutting edge of technology and a presence in international markets, Arkema is able to put the most complete range of services and solutions at your disposal.

Imagine, Create, Innovate… With Arkema your great ideas become great products.

Arkema Canada 1100 Burloak Drive, Suite 107, Burlington, ON L7L 6B2 polymers.canada@arkema.com

1-800-567-5726

www.arkema.com www.arkema.ca

EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES.

The world is our inspiration

hot runners

Quick tips for solving balance problems Photo Credit: Incoe Corporation

Injection molding isn’t easy — as viscosity changes while the plastic melt is in motion, the odds of making balanced parts get smaller. The good news? Hot runners can help fine-tune the balancing process.

By Mark Stephen, editor

T

he boom in construction of higher cavity tools and demand for better quality parts has put an increased emphasis on proper mold fill balancing. And it makes sense: Many part defects are the direct result of flow imbalance, with cavities that fill first typically being heavier and larger than the remaining parts. Flash, sink and short shots are common production headaches that can arise, wasting your time and material.

A well-built hot runner system monitored by a quality temperature controller, however, can help processors to overcome the key issues that cause mold fill imbalance and get good parts every time.

TEMPERATURE PROBLEM:

Non-uniform mold temperatures adversely affect how resin flows throughout the mold; added to that, the extra heat introduced by a hot runner can play further havoc with mold fill balancing.

SOLUTION(S):

Cooling at the right portion of the mold is crucial to maintaining balance and consistency from cavity to cavity, shot to shot. First, the extra heat in the centre of the tool needs to be addressed with proper cooling techniques; the correct amount of turbulence in the water flow can dramatically improve the efficiency of cooling circuits. Measure and compare the coolant temperature and flow going to each region of the tool.

Second, understand the importance of temperature control in the hot runner system. “The viscosity of the melt is directly related to temperature,” said Mike Brostedt, director of market development with GammaFlux LP. “Many hot runner problems can be solved with better temperature control. Minor balancing issues can be compensated by adjusting the temperature of the tips or other hot runner zones, highlighting the importance of individual heat-isolated control zones.”

Getting a uniform heat profile — and therefore melt temperature — can be made easier with hot runner nozzles that incorpo24 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

rate conductive induction coating technology (CICT), insiders say, which equalize the temperature gradient across the nozzle.

Having the latest hot runner temperature control technology can’t hurt, either. Husky Injection Molding Systems’ Altanium Neo2 controllers, introduced last year, are designed to provide two to 24 zones of control and are equipped with 15 amps per zone.

SHEAR PROBLEM:

“As molten plastic flows easily through the centre of the hot runner channel, the material along the perimeter is dragged against the channel wall, causing a high rate of shear,” said John Blundy, vice president, business development with Incoe Corporation. “The result can be uneven cavity filling responsible for voids, core shift, inconsistent dimensional properties and other part defects.”

SOLUTION(S):

By manipulating the orientation of the melt at flow intersections — called melt rotation — proportioned amounts of both sheared and unsheared material can be distributed to all cavities, resulting in a balanced flow. “Melt rotation helps achieve symmetry at intersections, a necessary property of the shear profile so that when split, the shear profiles of the two resulting flows are consistent and evenly distribute proportioned amounts of sheared and unsheared material,” Blundy said.

And don’t forget: Balancing the shear is more difficult in hot runner systems that don’t have a naturally balanced manifold design, because the material won’t flow through identical geometry from the machine nozzle to the each of the gates in the first place. The Melt Flipper system from Beaumont Technologies Inc. can help here. Inserted at the intersection of the primary and secondary runners in a standard ‘H’ pattern runner, Melt Flipper rotates the melt approximately 90 degrees in the secondary runner, rearranging the different melt regions and nullifying the shear-induced variations.

hot runners

DROPS PROBLEM:

Temperature profile inconsistencies from drop to drop in a multi-drop hot runner system can result in the need to set the temperature set points differently on each drop to achieve uniform gate opening. “It’s not uncommon to see wide variations of set points needed from drop to drop on poorly-designed systems in order to achieve a balanced system with acceptable melt flow from the drop,” said Dave Boxall, president of Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc. “In some cases, this range may be as great as 50°F or more.”

SOLUTION:

Selecting hot runners that have drops designed to deliver a uniform and consistent heat profile, with drop to drop set points at or very near one another over the life of the system, is important. “Ewikon products, for example, are built with the heater pressed into a groove that is machined on the pressure body of the drop,” Boxall said. “This ensures excellent heater-to-pressure contact that delivers a consistent heat profile over the life of the product. Also, the heating profile from drop to drop doesn’t vary, resulting in uniform set points from drop to drop.”

VENTING PROBLEM:

SOLUTION:

Invest in a linear, electric actuator for the valve gate system that has an electrically controlled open/close and motion/ position profile.

The Dynamic Feed system from Synventive Molding Solutions, for example, provides separate, closed loop process control at each gate for up to 16 nozzles. “By having a separate throttle and control valve for each nozzle, the processor can set a different packing and filling pressure profile for every cavity,” said Bill Rousseau, Synventive’s chief engineer. “This allows them to eliminate any balance problems inherent to the mold.”

CPL RESOURCE LIST Beaumont Technologies Inc. (Erie, Pa.); www.beaumontinc.com; 814-899-6390 Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc. (Rockford, Ill.); www.ewikonusa.com; 815-874-7270 Incoe Corporation (Troy, Mich.); www.incoe.com; 248-616-0220 Husky Injection Molding Systems (Bolton, Ont.); www.husky.ca; 905-951-5000 GammaFlux LP (Sterling, Va.); www.gammaflux.com; 703-471-5050 Control Solutions Inc. (Brampton, Ont.); 905-458-8382 Process & Design Technologies LLC (Kenosha, Wis.); www.processdesigntech.com; 262-237-2525 Synventive Molding Solutions (Peabody, Mass.); www.synventive.com; 1-800-367-5662 Precision Mold Supplies (Delta, B.C.); 604-943-7702

Non-uniform venting might just be the most under-appreciated cause of mold fill imbalance, due to the common misperception that if there’s no visible burning on a part, the venting must be adequate.

In fact, too many molds have virtually no uniform or adequate venting. Poor venting can lead to significant back pressure in the cavity and poor fill balance.

SOLUTION:

According to Terry L. Schwenk, president of Process & Design Technologies LLC, a good way to check for vent uniformity from cavity to cavity is to perform a pressure test at the parting line. “After clamping a fixture to the parting surface, apply air pressure and then close the valve and measure the time it takes for the air to leak our through the vents,” he said. “The test should tell you if venting is consistent from cavity to cavity.”

GATES PROBLEM:

Hot runner balance is undermined when valve gates are opening and closing at different times for different cavities.

Table # 18

PCMEXPO

Plastiques, Composites et Moules Expo Plastics, Composites and Molds Expo

www.canplastics.com September 2010 Canadian Plastics 25

The Business Acceleration Event for Canada’s Plastics Processing Industry

June 21–23, 2011 Toronto Co ng r ess Centre

Canada’s Source for the full spectrum of machinery, technology, and services for the plastics industry:

Supported by:

• Primary Processing Machinery

• Molds and Mold Components

• Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing

• Automation Technology

• Production Machinery

• Material Handling/Logistics

• Contract Services

• Enterprise IT

• Materials

...and much more!

For Exhibiting and/or Attendee information, visit: 16378_CN_PLX11

plast-ex.org

Produced and Managed by CANON C OMMUNICATIONS LLC • Tel: 310/445-4200 • cancom.com

technology showcase

SPECIAL FOCUS:

2010 Product Preview

With K 2010 right around the corner, Canadian Plastics spotlights some of the many new technologies you’ll find on display.

AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Rotary valve won’t damage resin

With a ‘W’-shaped valve entrance, a new rotary valve from Shini Plastics Technologies is designed for precision feeding of powder materials without risk of chopping the pellet.

The valve comes standard with upper and lower flanges that conform to the standard specification; specifications can be selected from ANSI, 150Lb, DIN PN10, GB PN10, and JIS 10K. Also, the valve has a double-lip seal ring to keep a higher sealing performance without the need for daily inspection.

Optional accessories include an SFNtype (T-type) feed nozzle, applicable for the pneumatic conveying line with multistations; or an SFN-type (J-type) feed nozzle, applicable for dense phase pneumatic conveying where no powder remnant is allowable.

Shini Plastics Technologies Canada Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.shini.ca; 905-565-1602 Hall 12, Stand A 51-36

Gravimetric feeder doubles throughput An advanced model of Maguire’s MGF gravimetric feeder is designed to provide more than double the throughput of the original system, but has the same compact size and offers the same substantial price advantage over competing gravimetric units.

The new MGF system is driven by a motor that is smaller than the one in the earlier feeder but delivers material at rates of up to 36 kg (80 lb.) per hour, compared with the previous top throughput of 13.6 kg (30 lb.).

The accuracy of the MGF feeder stems from the use of load cells to monitor the loss in weight of colorant in a hopper (mounted on the load cell) as the material is fed into the processing machine by an auger. Software in the feeder control scans data on color consumption every half-second and automatically adjusts dispensing when a predetermined amount of accumulated error is detected.

Maguire Canada/Novatec Inc. (Vaughan, Ont.); www.maguirecanada.com; 1-866-441-8409 Hall 10, Stand A26

Screen changer allows direct, one-step recycling

The latest generation of CSC/BF-PE screen changers from Maag Pump Systems is designed to meet all requirements of direct recycling processes in one step, thanks to a new backflushing system.

Fully automatic cleaning of the screens can be adjusted to any kind of process. The quantity of material needed for backflushing of the screens is collected in a perm a n e n t ly flushed accumulating space, and will then clean the dirty screen cloth outside the production process — in this way, variations in pressure and volume are largely avoided, and the effects on the final product are minimized.

Maag Pump Systems Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.); www.maag.com; 704-716-9000 Extrusion Systems Inc. (Markham, Ont.); 905 474 1896 Apex Equipment Ltd. (Calgary, Alta.); 1-800-877-5138 Hall 9, Stand B5

Granulators handle large, bulky parts The new CT500 series size reduction units from Cumberland Engineering www.canplastics.com September 2010 Canadian Plastics 27

technology showcase are mid-sized granulators designed to deliver high throughputs for reclaiming large, bulky parts that would normally require a more costly, higher horsepower central granulator.

Available in three sizes — 20 inches by 28 inches, 20 inches by 36 inches, and 20 inches by 48 inches — the CT500 series also offers a 20-inch (500-mm) cutting circle that’s standard for enhanced part ingestion.

Available in three- and five-knife rotors, with high shear or steep angle rotors, the T500 series encompasses the design elements for the widest variety of application needs.

The side-mounted motor allows full access to the cutting chamber without the dangers inherent in working over a drive system, and is designed for configuration on either side depending on the customer preference.

Cumberland Engineering (South Attleboro, Mass.); www.cumberland-plastics.com; 508-399-6400 Auxiplast Inc. (Ste-Julie, Que.); 450-922-0282 PCMExpo 1-2 Ad 8/17/10 11:48 AM Page 1 New Tech Machinery Inc. (Brampton, Ont.); 905-456-2968 Precision Mold Supplies Ltd. (Delta, B.C.); 604-943-7702 Hall 9, Stand D23

INJECTION MOLDING

Control offers simple interface with I/M units The new Selogica Assistant controller from Arburg is designed to offer a simple interface between operators and Arburg’s Allrounder injection molding machines.

The unit comes standard with menu-guided, supervised set-up, and “teaching” functions for the entire mold sequence. Machine operators are actively supported during set-up, and it takes just five logical steps to create an entire cycle sequence.

The Selogica Assistant permits the Allrounder to be programed quickly, simply and reliably without requiring the operator to be familiar with every detail of the control system.

Arburg Inc. (Newington, Conn.); www.arburg.com; 860-667-6500 Dier International Plastics Inc.

(Unionville, Ont.); 905-474-9874 D Cube (Montreal); 514-272-0500 Hall 13, Stand A13

THE ONLY PLASTICS SHOW IN CANADA IN 2010

PCMEXPO

Thursday, September 23, 2010 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Plastiques, Composites et Moules Expo Plastics, Composites and Molds Expo

Visit over 30 exhibitors to see their best new products and ideas Attend free seminars on technical topics Network at our post-show cocktail reception.

Loews Hôtel Le Concorde Québec City, Québec

There is no charge to attend PCMExpo, but we do ask that you pre-register at the FORUM Canada web site, www.forumcanada.ca The publishers of Canadian Plastics and Plastiques et moules have partnered with FEPAC (Federation of Plastics and Alliances Composites) and CAMM (Canadian Association of Moldmakers) to bring you this show.

We also encourage you to attend FEPAC’s FORUM Canada conference and Honoris Innova Awards Gala, which takes place September 24 at Loews Hotel Le Concorde

www.plasticsandmoldsexpo.com 28 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

technology showcase

Designed for the packaging industry, the new e-cap series from Engel is intended to deliver the market requirements in cap production with respect to short cycle times, a high level of flexibility and low energy consumption.

The units are fully-electric and with a cycle time of less than three seconds.

Low energy consumption is made possible by a new premium quality injection unit, increased ejector force and a reinforced clamping drive.

Engel Canada Inc. (Guelph, Ont.); www.engelglobal.com/na; 519-836-0220 Hall 15, Stands C58 and B42

bility and gauge control for production of multi-layer tubing for shrink bags used as meat and cheese packaging.

The film offers a superior barrier to water, oxygen and aromas, as the primary barrier material in the film can be PVdC, EVOH or PA. The film also features shrinkage (MD/ TD) of 40 to 60 per cent, good puncture resistance, and is heat sealable and printable.

As with other Macro lines, the DXL line is offered as a total processing solution, complete with resin specification and operator training.

Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.macroeng.com; 905-507-9000 Hall 16, Stand A18

BLOWN FILM

ROBOTS & AUTOMATION

The DXL-7000 series of “Double-Bubble Lines” from Macro Engineering has been improved to offer enhanced bubble sta-

The completely revised TruePath path planning module from Wittmann has been introduced with the R8 control, and is opti-

All-electric machines for packaging applications

Improvements in multi-layer tubing for shrink bags

Proven Extrusion Solutions Maag is a leading supplier of continuous and discontinuous screen changers, melt pumps, static mixers, film and sheet dies, feedblocks, and systems comprised of these and other components. We have over 30 years’ application experience in the extrusion industry and our products are known for their world class technology.

You can reduce energy and resin costs, and improve product quality. Call us to learn more.

Maag Pump Systems, Charlotte, NC 704-716-9000 MaagAmericas@maag.com www.maag.com Americas Switzerland France Germany Italy China Singapore

Control module for I/M machines, downstream work cells

Providing a full line of fluid circulating products with tailor-made microprocessor controls for reliable and effective control of your process temperatures. www.AdvantageEngineering.com • Get Equipment Specifications and Pricing • Contact Sales & Service • Download Literature & Manuals • Learn About New Products & Technology

Advantage Engineering, Inc. 525 East Stop 18 Road Greenwood, IN 46142 317-887-0729 fax: 317-881-1277 e-mail: sales@AdvantageEngineering.com

Chillers Inc. is the exclusive Canadian representative for Advantage Engineering.

www.ChillersInc.com

905-895-9667

Chillers, Inc. 1228 Gorham St. Unit 11 NewMarket, Ontario Canada L3Y 8Z1 phone: 905-895-9667 fax: 905-895-5177 email: sales@ChillersInc.com www.canplastics.com September 2010 Canadian Plastics 29

technology showcase mized for the typical needs of robot movements related to the injection molding machine or downstream work cell requirements.

The SmartRemoval function monitors all relevant processes in a parallel and anticipatory way, regardless of whether the actions are performed by the robot or by the machine.

The software calculates the optimal removal process in communication with the machine control. The mold opening movement is used as the computation base for calculating the acceleration of the kick-stroke, resulting in a shortening of the part removal times of up to 15 per cent.

The EcoMode function reduces energy consumption and noise

level. The control analyzes the actual cycle time and the holding time above the mold, with speed and acceleration outside of the mold area reduced to minimize the holding time of the robot during the following cycle.

Wittmann Canada Inc. (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 1-866-466-8266 Hall 10, Stand A4

Robots for 120 – 180 ton molding machines

The new S5 line of robots from Sepro America are said to be the first models on the market to automate injection molding

advertising index Advertiser Acetronic Alpha Marathon Film Extrusion Technologies Inc. Arburg Arkema Canada Inc. Automatisation S.A.B. Inc. BDC Bohler-Uddeholm Limited CAMM Toronto CPA Canada Canadian Plastics Resin Outlook Conference Canon Communications (Plast-Ex) Chillers Inc. Compact Mould Haremar Plastic Manufacturing Limited Hosokawa Alpine American Inc. Maag Pump Systems Textron Inc. Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. PCS Company PCMExpo Piovan Canada PolyOne Distribution Canada Ltd. SPE Ontario Tempco Electric Heater Corp.

Vortex Valves Wittmann Canada Inc.

Page

Telephone

18 7 back cover 23 17 8 19 22 21 32 26 29 11 5,7,9,11 15 29 27 25 28 2 13 14 35 34 14

800-803-8871 905-265-2055 860-667-6500 800-567-5726 450-652-9767 877-232-2269 800-665-8335

888-777-4390 416-510-5116 416-572-7684 905-895-9667 905-851-7724 905-761-7552 x 204 508-655-1123 888-622-4872 905-507-9000 800-521-0546 416-510-5116 905-629-8822 888-394-2662

800-323-6859 785-825-7177 888-466-8266

plastics data file

E-mail

Website

sales@acetronic.com marketing@alphamarathon.com usa@arburg.com polymers.canada@arkema.com info@sabgroupe.com

info@bucanada.ca

Andrew.Spicer@ChannelPA.com jnancekivell@canplastics.com plastex@cancom.com sales@chillersinc.com info@compactmold.com info@haremar.com jimc@halpine.com maaginfo@maagusa.textron.com sales@macroeng.com sales@pcs-company.com jnancekivell@canplastics.com trodrigues@piovan.ca

info@tempco.com rbarragree@vortexvalves.com info@wittmann-canada.com

www.acetronic.com www.alphamarathon.com www.arburg.com www.arkema.ca www.automatisationsab.com www.bdc.ca www.bucanada.ca www.camm.ca www.channelpa.com www.canplastics.com/conference/ www.plastex.org www.chillersinc.com www.compactmold.com www.haremar.com www.halpine.com www.maag.com www.macroeng.com www.pcs-company.com www.plasticsandmoldsexpo.com www.piovan.com www.polyone.com http://speontario.com www.tempco.com www.vortexcanada.com www.wittmann-canada.com

Get free information from the companies that interest you most.

Contact the company directly using the telephone number, e-mail address or web site listed below

ONE STOP SHOPPING

Innovative automation and auxiliary equipment — from auto­nomous work cells to central systems.

Products include Battenfeld injection molding machines, robots and automation, in-mold labelling, material handling systems including blenders, dryers and loaders, granulators, water flow regulators and mold temperature controllers.

Wittmann Canada, Inc., 35 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4C2; Tel. 1-888-466-8266; www.wittmann-canada.com.

30 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

“Green” Molding Accessories

New web page and catalog feature an assortment of products that can help reduce your use of and the impact on our precious natural resources — air, water, oil, coal, natural gas etc. These products will not only reduce air pollution and help you conserve heat, compressed air, electricity, molding materials and water, they can significantly lower your operating costs as well.

IMS Industrial Molding Supplies 10373 Stafford Road, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023-5296; Tel. 1-800-537-5375; www.imscompany.com/GreenProducts

technology showcase machines from 120 to 800 tons.

The robots have powerful servomotors to ensure maximum accelerations and minimum intervention times in the mold; a new guide-rails frame structure that provides high rigidity adapted to strong accelerations of the mobile parts (as high as 4 m/s for the vertical stroke); and a full range of CNC rotations that allow precise positioning and greater flexibility for any application.

Also, the units come standard with 10-inch graphic color touchscreen and an integrated pick and place module.

Programs can be saved on a USB flash drive and transferred to other applications.

Sepro America, LLC (Pittsburgh, Pa.); www.seproamerica.com; 412-459-0450 Industries Laferriere (Mascouche, Que.); 450-477-8880 Shadow Automation (Uxbridge, Ont.); 416-464-2070 Hall 10, Stand D59

MOLD TECHNOLOGIES

Hydraulic locking cylinder for plastic and die cast tools A new hydraulic locking cylinder from D-M-E Company actuates core pulls and mold slides in injection molds, reducing design, machining, fitting and maintenance time compared to

classified ads MATERIALS

MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

When purchasing your next Chilling System

CHECK US OUT! Plant wide chilling systems complete with pumping packages, filtration, system design incorporating existing equipment, installation and start-up.

Portable chillers air and water cooled with load sizing and chiller selection, double pumps, water by-pass valves and motorized valves for precise temperature control.

www.temperaturecorporation.com

877-513-8310

PROCESSORS/MOLD MAKERS

www.canplastics.com September 2010 Canadian Plastics 31

technology showcase traditional slide assemblies.

The cylinder enables smaller mold base sizes and stack heights, improving efficiency.

The cylinder’s opening movement also operates independently of the mold opening; the piston can be retracted before the mold opens, resulting in reduced cycle time.

Also, the product provides a maximum hydraulic operating pressure of 3,625 psi within the cylinder.

The cylinder withstands temperatures up to 356°F, with the proximity switches built to withstand temperatures up to 212°F. D-M-E of Canada Ltd. (Mississauga, Ont.) www.dme.net; 1-800-387-6600 Hall 1, Stand C25

HOT RUNNERS

Valve pin speed control gives control

New from Incoe Corporation, the SoftGate hot runner valve pin speed control uses controlled opening of the valve gate nozzles to offer superior reliability for surface quality in sequential injection molding.

SoftGate is particularly well suited for large parts that demand high-quality cosmetic appearance, although the technology can be applied in a wide range of applications.

The process is also cost-effective, and can be retrofitted to fit existing systems.

Incoe Corporation USA (Troy, Mich.); www.incoe.com; 248-616-0220 Hall 1, Stand B9

Resin supply, demand and pricing forecasts

ON TARGET!

Since resin accounts for up to two-thirds of your manufacturing cost,

you can’t afford to miss the mark.

Get the information you need by attending the 15th Annual Canadian Plastics Resin Outlook Conference

Wednesday, October 6, 2010, Doubletree Airport Hotel, Toronto, Ontario Hear forecasts from experts on supply, demand and pricing for the major commodity and engineering resins: polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, styrenics, PET, nylon, polycarbonate, plus biopolymers.

A full conference agenda and registration form is on the Canadian Plastics web site at: www.canplastics.com/Conference/

NEW! Conference delegates may attend, at no extra charge, a half-day workshop

Investment per person:

on the afternoon of October 5th at the Doubletree: “Hydrocarbons to Polymers, an overview of how plastics are produced from wellhead to finished product.”

Regular Registration – after Aug. 31: $495 plus H.S.T. Group Registration – 50% discount for second and subsequent attendees from the same company

Organized by Canadian Plastics magazine. Endorsed by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association A limited number of sponsorships and tabletop displays are still available.

For more information, contact: Judith Nancekivell, Tel: 416-510-5116, Email: jnancekivell@canplastics.com SPONSORS TO DATE:

“Earning your trust one stripe at a Cantec time.”

Polymers INC.

32 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

design ideas • construction concepts

Polyurethane foam makes undersea pipe welding possible Roofing concepts using polycarbonate sheets Solid and multiwall polycarbonate sheets made from Bayer MaterialScience’s (BMS) Makrolon material are proving a popular choice in construction projects that require innovative roofing.

Offering good stability and elasticity, Makrolon sheets are designed to withstand high wind loads without the need for complex substructures. Weighing just a few kilograms per square metre, they are also lighter than comparable glass structures but can nonetheless cope with extreme weather conditions such as hail and heavy rainstorms. And they’re described by BMS as being easy to machine and handle, even on site.

For sports stadiums, UV filters are particularly valuable. “The addition of a special UV absorber layer filters out harmful UV radiation from the Sun while also allowing the grass on sports fields to grow naturally,” BMS said. “The safety of the fans is also ensured by compliance with numerous international fire protection regulations.”

Even a short list of sports venues and other buildings that have incorporated the Makrolon sheet is impressive: a new 3,000-square-metre grandstand roof recently installed in the Westerdam stadium in Bremen, Germany; a discusshaped roof with a diameter of 217 metres in the BayArena soccer stadium in Leverkusen, Germany; large-scale grandstand roofs constructed for the Olympic venues in the Chinese cities of Tianjin, Shenyang and Quingdao; airports in Jeddah and Hanoi; and multiwall sheets 16 and 25 mm thick used in the current construction of a futuristic new railway station in Wuhan, China (pictured).

Bayer Inc. – Division of Bayer AG (Toronto); www.bayer.ca; 1-800-622-2937

Since April of this year, the crew on the first pipelaying ship has been working hard on the Baltic Sea, laying the gas lines of the Nord Stream Pipeline Project, which will run between Vyborg, Russia and Greifswald, Germany.

Approximately 200,000 pipes — each measuring 12 metres in length — will be welded together by Swiss-based subsea construction company Allseas Group, calling in turn for 200,000 weld seams to be sheathed. The material selected for the job? Elastopor H, an open-cell polyurethane rigid foam from BASF. Two years in the making, the weld seam system consists of two liquid components that are mixed together on site using special metering machines and then filled into the hollow space in the sleeve. Subsequently, an exothermal reaction turns the reaction mixture into the actual polyurethane, which is expanded by means of a foaming agent that’s also present in the mixture. “Thanks to its good flow properties, the polyurethane system is quickly and uniformly distributed throughout the hollow space,” BASF said. “In order to prevent the polyurethane rigid foam from being buoyant, it’s configured to be open-celled so that hydrostatic pressure causes it to fill up completely with water.”

Once down on the seabed, the Elastopor H rigid foam also has to be strong enough to withstand contact with the weights used in large dragnets or with the anchors of ships. Tests demonstrated that the foam is able to withstand even higher forces than required without any damage occurring to the steel pipe.

BASF Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.basf.ca; 1-866-485-2273

Sheet protection from extreme weather, human threats Police, security officers and other emergency response groups have a tough enough time out on the streets — you’d like to think they could at least feel safe in their own offices. Now they can. The new Insulgard window system from Insulgard Security Products — owned by SABIC Polymershapes, a division of SABIC Innovative Plastics — uses Lexan polycarbonate sheet to protect emergency and security workers from the battering of hurricane- and tornado-strength winds, ballistic impacts and other threats.

The system combines Insulgard Security Products’ TH600 aluminum architectural framing system, TOR-GARD glazing material and Lexan sheet to meet Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 361-2008 requirements for debris impact resistance, as well as UL 752 specifications for security-ballistic protection up to level 8. In tests conducted by Architectural Testing, Inc., in York, Penn., a 15-lb., two-inch by four-inch wood board traveling horizontally at 100 mph served as a missile that impacted the window system to simulate projectiles hurled during a hurricane or tornado. The result: No damage.

According to SABIC, potential applications for Insulgard include police and hospital emergency facilities, 911 call centres, utility control centres and critical government infrastructure.

SABIC Innovative Plastics (Toronto); www.sabic-ip.com; 1-800-323-3783 www.canplastics.com September 2010 Canadian Plastics 33

view from the floor

Panel paranoia I

n a famous scene from the 1954 movie “The Caine Muntiny”, Humphrey Bogart’s character Captain Queeg describes four ways to do anything: “The right way, the wrong way, the Navy’s way and my way”, and then announces that everybody aboard had better do it his way.

On the hopefully less dramatic setting of the production floor, Bogie’s theory still holds true.

Maintenance personnel often develop ideas that sometimes don’t seem important or relevant to others. Here’s one of mine: Electrical panels and distribution boxes. Every plant has them, and most have been spliced, patched and modified until a schematic is a necessity if you’re tackling a problem any distance from the source or load. Trouble is, that schematic is usually in an engineer’s filing cabinet, and I can’t find it or him...and the downtime is piling up.

What to do? Here are some tips that I’ve learned can save time and money.

PLANT SCHEMATICS 1 MAKE ENGINEERING DRAWINGS

By Jim Anderton, technical editor The electrical crew gave you a diagram, but putting it into your formal blueprint system means there’s at least a chance that it’ll be revised and changes noted formally. This will save you time and troubleshooting effort, and also put you in a stronger position with your fire marshal and insurance carrier.

THE SCHEMATIC UNDER GLASS 2 POST NEAR THE MAIN DISTRIBUTION PANEL

This might seem picky, but the ability to use a grease pencil on a drawing that’s next to the actual panel helps visualize the system quickly and easily. Extra tip: Don’t use color, as — eventually —someone is bound to photocopy the drawing and the lighter colors won’t show, leading to confusion and mistakes.

CONTROL CURRENTS 3 SEGREGATE FROM POWER CIRCUITS

Everyone loves conduit, but in a facility with modern wiring you don’t need NASA-grade protection in anything but a washdown environment. If your techs get used to working on 24VDC circuits inside 110/220 VAC junction boxes and panels, eventually someone is going to stick something sharp and metallic into a nasty AC box. Plastic is cheap and more than adequate for control/monitoring circuits; bright colors are even better.

4 KEEP SAFETY GEAR HANDY

Wall-mount a resin box with a latching removable lid next to the main panel and add OSHA gloves, a fuse puller and face shield. Next to the fire extinguisher is a good place. This greatly increases the chance that the gear will be used, and the fire bottle noticed too. Don’t use a box with a flip top or hinged lid, or it’ll collect everything from loose tools to empty Coke cans.

5 USE YOUR TEMPERATURE GUN

Non-contact infrared temperature guns are now cheap as chips, and they’re great around electrical panels. The trick is to scan breakers and major junction boxes under normal operating conditions and note the temperatures.

Do you have a mysterious breaker trip that seems to happen for no reason? It might be running hot, just waiting for that extra circuit load to put it over the edge. I often carry my gun in my pocket, and I’m not unusual — in that way, at least!

I could go on, but you get the idea: Everyone is busy in a typical plant environment, and the temptation to “fly by the seat of your pants” is compelling. If the right tools for safety and efficiency are readily at hand, your people will use them, especially if it’s a crisis. In my experience, it usually is...

CPL 34 Canadian Plastics September 2010 www.canplastics.com

Achieving more: hand-in-hand. How is efficient co-operation characterized?

By simplicity and dependability! This applies just as much to the partnerships with our customers as it does to the extensive ARBURG injection molding solutions for all applications. Even higher performance with unique extensions to the machine range and to the SELOGICA control system. Allow us to surprise you!

2010 ldorf e s s Dü any m r e G 0 1.201 .-03.1 0 .1 7 2

ARBURG, Inc. 125 Rockwell Road Newington, CT 06111 Tel.: +1 (860) 667 6500 Fax: +1 (860) 667 6522 e-mail: usa@arburg.com Québec: D Cube · Montréal, QC · Phone: 514-831-6623 | Ontario: Dier International Plastics, Inc. · Unionville, ON · Phone: 905-474-9874 | Alberta & British Columbia: Turner Group, Inc. · Seattle, WA · Phone: 206-769-3707 |

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