Canadian Plastics May 2011

CanadianPlastics www.canplastics.com

MAY 2011

&

PIPE PROFILE

MOLDMAKING REPORT

Saving time with unscrewing components

HOT RUNNERS

Getting clean with purging compounds

EXTRUSION Pulling the PLUG on die buildup

DRYERS

Processing PLA

PLUS: EW PREVI

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contents

Canadian Plastics MAY 2011 VOLUME 69 NUMBER 2

LOOKING BACK...

Number of the month:

7*

*As in “the Seven C’s of Success”.

(See pg. 8)

in every issue 4 Editor’s View: • The bottom drops out of bag bans 5 Ideas & Innovations: • Self-repairing elastomers inspired by the natural world 6 News: • Q&A with Greg Wilkinson, the CPIA’s new president and CEO • Arburg open house celebrates 50 years of Allrounders • People, Supplier News 8 Executive’s Corner: • The Seven C’s of Success 24 Technology Showcase 25 Plastics Data File 26 Advertising Index 28 Classified Ads 29 Design Ideas: • Automotive excellence 30 View from the Floor: • Considering corona

page 14

thinkstockphotos.com

The December 1964 issue of Canadian Plastics reported on “the most difficult pack­age ever developed”: a wooden crate lined with slabs of foamed polystyrene, and filled with 20 barrels of polystyrene beads, developed to ship Michelangelo’s priceless “Pieta” statue from Rome to New York City for display at the 1964 World Fair.

A team of six packaging experts had been assigned to the project by the Vatican, where the “Pieta” is normally housed; they eventually selected Arco Polymers Inc.’s Dylite expandable polystyrene for the project, after determining the material was chemically inert and wouldn’t damage the statue’s patina.

page 10

page 21

cover story 10 P IPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION: Pulling the plug on die buildup

The bane of every extrusion process, die buildup has been ruining parts and breaking production lines for as long as processors have been extruding plastics. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We show you how to stop buildup before it stops you.

features 14 DRYERS: Putting the heat to PLA

It’s not easy being green — especially if you’re in the plastics biz. With no ties to petrochemical-based thermoplastics, biopolymers made from polylactic acid (PLA) are in demand. Problem is, many molders are still inexperienced at PLA processing. But don’t worry — if you can handle drying at low heat, you’re already over the biggest hurdle.

18 MOLDMAKING REPORT: Giving unscrewing components a turn

Okay, they're not exactly new, but unscrewing components keep on making converts by cutting leadtimes, reducing component costs and decreasing cycle times. PLUS: Behind the scenes with Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd., a moldshop that’s going heavy on quality, light on “bling”.

21 HOT RUNNERS: The urge to purge

You’ve spent your career ramming resin through your hot runner systems to clean them, so why change now? Because, used properly and in the right circumstances, commercial purging compounds can take your color changes to new heights.

23 PLAST-EX PREVIEW: Your father’s trade show? Yeah, right

This time around, Canada’s most venerable plastics show gives more bang for the buck through co-location with a slew of other trade events, plus conferences, seminars and after-hours happenings. Plan your schedule the smart way with tips from our special preview.

Visit us at www.canplastics.com www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 3

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editor’s view

The bottom drops out of bag bans

I

blame Ireland.

In 2002, the Emerald Isle enacted a plastic bag tax for the clearly stated purpose of lowering the amount of litter in the country. The fact that it would also raise tax revenue was an added bonus. And sure enough, weeks after its passage, the keepers of statistics in Ireland were already reporting a 94 per cent drop in plastic bag use, as reusable bags quickly caught on among Irish shoppers.

You didn’t need the insight of Nostradamus to foresee what would happen next. Citing Ireland’s case as an example, environmentally-minded legislators from throughout North America saw their chance and struck fast. In 2007, San Francisco (where else?) became the first U.S. city to pass an all-out ban on plastic grocery bags.

Aside from making up a sizeable percentage of total litter, San Franciscans argued, the bags took up a large amount of space in landfills and were difficult to recycle. In the years since passage of the San Francisco ban, too many municipalities to mention, in both the U.S. and Canada, have enacted similar legislation, as have retailers like IKEA Canada and various Real Canadian Superstore outlets.

And hey, why not? Such legislation, it was said, would reduce the amount of solid waste, promote the use of reusable bags, and (in the case of taxes) increase much-needed revenue for state, provincial, and local governments in one fell swoop.

Win-win-win, right?

Not exactly.

Turns out that every lynchpin on which the bag ban argument turns is — to put it kindly — a wee bit faulty. Take the environmental argument. As the American Chemistry Council noted, San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags resulted in a switch to paper bags, which require 70 per cent more energy to produce, generate 50 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions, and produce 80 per cent more waste than plastic bags. Less than one year in, even San

Francisco’s own litter audit determined that the ban did not reduce litter, one of the stated purposes of the city’s ban.

Okay, but what about the promotion of recycling? Well, continent-wide, bag bans have led to more than one grocery store chain shutting down its plastics recycling program, contributing further to the problem that was meant to be solved.

The revenue-generating aspect is largely a bust too. Unlike Ireland — which had imported most of its bags from China — North America has vibrant plastic manufacturing, recycling, and secondary industries, all of which are damaged when bans and taxes increase. For example, as Philip Rozenski, director of marketing and sustainability for Hilex Poly Company, perhaps the largest plastic bag manufacturer in the U.S., told National Review magazine, most composite lumber companies use recycled bag content when manufacturing their product. “You’re looking at 4,000, maybe 5,000 [recycling] jobs that are created, and it’s a growing industry,” he said. “With composite lumbers, it puts the number getting near 10,000 direct and indirect jobs through plastic bag recycling.” In short — and as almost always happens with sweeping legislation like this — the unintended consequences of plastic bag bans hurt the poor more than anyone else by destroying jobs and adding unnecessary additional expenses to daily life.

As facts like these start to trickle in — and don’t hold your breath waiting for the anti-plastics mainstream media to turn this trickle into a torrent, by the way — there’s cause for hoping that momentum will swing against unnecessary bag taxes and bans. Those of us in the plastics industry aren’t exactly disinterested parties, of course, but that doesn’t make us wrong to point out the hardships imposed by plastic bag bans — hardships with (it bears repeating) absolutely no environmental upside.

So what’s wrong with people wanting to feel virtuous by carrying reusable bags?

Absolutely nothing. But we shouldn’t pretend they have the facts on their side.

Mark Stephen, editor

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: janderton@bizinfogroup.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 Maga­ zines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-to-business information services.

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4 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p04 Editors view.indd 4

18/04/11 10:40 AM

Innovation Innovation Innovation

ideas & innovations

Maximum Maximum Maximum Series Series Series Portable Portable Portable Chillers Chillers Chillers with with with

Self-repairing elastomers inspired by the natural world

chains of the elastomers to close the cracks.”

To date, the Fraunhofer researchers have obtained good results by putting the polyisobutylene component into the elastomer uncapsulised. “Various test bodies from different synthetic caoutchoucs indicated clear self-healing properties, since the restored tension expansion was 40 per cent after a healing period of 24 hours,” Nellesen said.

An even more promising outcome came about by supplying elastomers with ions.

“Here, the caoutchouc tree also acted as the model for this method,” she continued. “The hevein proteins that are released when there is damage link up to each other through ions and stick in this process so that the crack closes. Therefore, if the elastomer material is damaged, the particles with opposite charges are looking for a new bonding partner — in other words, a plus ion attracts a minus ion, which makes it adhere.”

So how many applications could benefit from the use of a self-healing plastic? They probably don’t make numbers that large.

The auto industry is an obvious instance, where, to take just one example, dinged and cracked polymer parts are the bane of just about every driver’s life. Maybe that’s why the first public showing of the Fraunhofer scientists’ project was a self-repairing muffler suspension on display at the recent Hannover Fair in Germany.

As Nellesen conceded, there’s still a long way to go in the quest for indestructibility — “we still haven’t developed elastomers that can close their cracks without interference from outside,” she noted — but it might just be that an important corner has been turned. Today a muffler, tomorrow — who knows?

CPL

The microcrack shown at left gets much smaller in as little as 30 minutes after the plastic component is supplied with ions. www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 5

CPL May2011 p05 Ideas & Innov.indd 5

Photo Credit: Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT

H

ere’s a question: Superman aside, how many things can you name that are indestructible? Not many, right? And even Superman had to come from another planet.

Turns out, though, we don’t have to go nearly that far for something that just might approach this level of toughness. A project currently underway with researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen aims to create self-healing elastomers that can repair themselves autonomously, making them almost impervious to damage.

But first, a quick tutorial in material failure. There’s a reason that even the toughest plastic components break: so-called microcracks, often too tiny to be seen, that develop and spread quickly, leading to failure in even the best-engineered component part. The Fraunhofer scientists are trying to eliminate microcracks by borrowing a principal from the plant world — specifically plants such as the caoutchouc tree hevea brasiliensis, which conduct latex containing capsules with a protein called “hevein”. If a caoutchouc tree is damaged, the latex escapes and the capsules break open to release hevein, which also links the latex particles in the latex to form — voila! — a wound closure.

You can see where this is going. “We loaded microcapsules with a one-component adhesive (polyisobutylene) and put it in elastomers made of synthetic caoutchouc to stimulate a self-healing process in plastics,” said Fraunhofer’s Dr. Anke Nellesen.

“If pressure is put on the capsules, they break open and separate this viscous material, which then mixes with the polymer

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news

Q&A F

Greg Wilkinson

CPIA President & CEO

or the second time in as many years, there’s been a change at the top of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA). Mark Badger, the CPIA’s president and CEO, stepped down at the end of March to take on a new business opportunity (See pg. 7, ”PEOPLE”).

The CPIA experienced a period of revitalization during the two years of Badger’s tenure. The organization’s membership expanded and its balance sheet was strengthened, in part by trimming costs and relocating to a smaller office. Badger was also the driving force behind a recent series of so-called “Innovation Forums” held in Toronto and Vancouver; the well-attended meetings were designed to foster connections between plastics processors and academic researchers.

Badger’s replacement, on an interim basis, is CPIA Board of Directors chairman Greg Wilkinson. Canadian Plastics sat down with Wilkinson to find out more about him, and to get his thoughts on the venerable association’s past, present and future.

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or those who don’t know you, what’s your backF ground in the plastics industry, and how long do you anticipate being at the CPIA’s helm?

I spent over 20 years with Nova Chemicals, in Alberta, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, in a variety of roles: logistics functions, customer service, market research, and most recently in communications and government relations. Last year, I founded the consulting firm Third Oak Associates Inc. in Toronto, after leaving as spokesman for Nova Chemicals.

As far as the CPIA goes, my involvement dates back to the 1990s. I served on a variety of different committees, and then joined the Board of Directors about five years ago, and have been chairman for the past two years.

We’ll be talking about the right time frame for a replacement, and what the right search strategy for my successor should be, in the months ahead. I expect to be in the role for at least six to nine months, and will be involved with Third Oak Associates on a limited basis during this time.

Q

What role do you think the CPIA can play for today’s plastics industry in Canada?

I believe that an industry like ours — which is very diverse, geographically widespread, and which includes companies of almost every size — needs representation at the national level, and this is the role the CPIA has always played, and will continue to play.

We also want to give value to our members, of course, and the evidence indicates we’re succeeding: Last year alone, 66 new members joined the association, including brand owners like bottled water major Nestle Water. We’d like to achieve that level or more in 2011.

Q

A

What are some of your specific plans for the CPIA? I’ve been working closely with Mark Badger for the past two years on the CPIA’s current strategy, and it’s my goal to continue implementing it. Reputation enhancement will continue to be a key CPIA strategy.

Innovation will be stressed, aided by a new online portal we’ve set up for members to access technology information. Also, we’ll continue staging our Innovation Forums, with a third event to be held in conjunction with the Plast-Ex show in Toronto in June. And finally, recycling efforts will also remain a pillar of our framework.

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6 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p06-7 News.indd 6

18/04/11 10:36 AM

news

Arburg open house celebrates 50 years of Allrounders

PEOPLE

Mark Badger

Eric Gulnac

Michael Mueller

—M ark Badger has been named CEO of Switchable Solu­tions Inc., a new spin-off company created to market solvent-based technology developed at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. — Mirabel, Que.-based Biesse Canada, a supplier of CNC equipment, has appointed Glenn Campbell as product area manager for Quebec and the Maritimes.

—A lpha Marathon Film Extrusion Technologies Inc., of Woodbridge, Ont., has named Jim Ley as director of sales for Canada and the Western U.S. — Mold technology provider D-M-E Company, of Madison Heights, Mich., has appointed Bruce Wasilewski to the new position of managing director.

— Auxiliary equipment supplier The Conair Group, of Cranberry Township, Pa., has named Eric Gulnac as director of inside sales, and Michael Mueller as heat transfer sales manager.

— Inspection system manufacturer Cognex Corporation, of Natick, Mass., has named Robert Willett, the company’s president and COO, to the position of CEO. — Damien Polansky, global telecommunications platform leader of Houston, Tex.-based Dow Wire & Cable, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Telecommunications Industry Association.

— Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based Extrusion Dies Industries LLC has named Gary Edwards as its new CEO.

Injection molding machine maker Arburg Inc. broke its own attendance record as over 5,200 trade visitors packed the latest Technology Days open house at the company’s headquarters in Lossburg, Germany.

Held between March 23 and March 26, the event’s theme was a celebration of Kicking the tires at Arburg’s open house.

50 years of Allrounder technology, with attendees representing 54 countries.

Arburg used the occasion to unveil its new Allrounder allelectric Edrive machine series, which covers a clamping force range from 600 to 2,000 kN. The Edrive machines are Arburg’s entry-level units, said company president Michael Hehl, and are intended as a faster, more energy-efficient, and more economical alternative to the company’s hydraulic injection molding machines. The Edrive range uses a ball spindle system, making it well suited for technical parts requiring slightly longer cycle times, Hehl also said.

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SUPPLIER NEWS — Hamilton Plastic Systems, of Mississauga, Ont., has been appointed exclusive distributor in Canada for Movacolor B.V. in The Netherlands. Movacolor, which specializes in color metering equipment for plastics, manufacturers products that include volumetric and gravimetric feeders, liquid color dosing units, weigh hoppers for extrusion, and mixers.

— Auxiliary equipment supplier The Conair Group, of Cranberry Township, Pa., is now being represented in Canada by Dier International Plastics Inc., of Markham, Ont., in all provinces and territories except for Alberta and B.C.; and by Seattle, Wash.-based The Turner Group in Alberta and B.C.

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19/04/11 8:12 AM

executive’s corner

The Seven C’s of Success

By Mark Lichtblau, Haremar Plastic Manufacturing Ltd.

I

sometimes get the feeling that business styles and philosophies change quicker and more dramatically than retail store windows in the mall. It seems like every possible TLA (three-letter acronym) combination has been used by one business or another — so much so that some management and strategy gurus are resorting to four-letter acronyms, which are really just TLAs preceded by an “I”, “E” or “X”, making for a perceived modern edge to the term.

In reality, strategy and tactics are more than just fads or a means to sell books. They’re critical tools needed for the success of any business, including yours; indeed, the dissemination, implementation and execution of a strategic plan can be more important than the actual plan itself.

There are two schools of thought here. The first says that the plan is definitely more important than the implementation, and the second maintains — of course — the exact opposite, that implementation is more crucial. I’ve always been a firm believer in the second philosophy, and am critical of poor strategies and ill-devised plans or under-developed plans; if you haven’t mastered the implementation and execution of a strategy, the potential

success and impact of the plan will probably be lost.

The company I work for, Haremar Plastic Manufacturing Ltd., recently implemented and rolled out a new organizational strategy, nicknamed “The Seven C’s of Success”.

1 2 3 4 5

OMPETENCE: The need to maintain a high level of C training and development to ensure a highly-skilled workforce and safe environment.

CONFIDENCE: All employees must share passion and enthusiasm for the company, its products and its customers.

COMMITMENT: You need to be committed to your customers’ success.

C REATIVITY: The need for a supportive, creative and open environment where every employee can constructively share his or her ideas.

COMPETITIVE EDGE: Understand what characteristics of your business differentiate your company from the com­petition, and how these differences add value for your customers.

COMMUNICATION: All levels of staff must communicate clearly and often to ensure a timely and effective flow of information.

CONTINUITY: Everyone needs to be reading from the same business script.

6 7

We prominently display and reference these seven C’s in high-traffic areas throughout the Haremar facility, as well as in presentations and on printed materials. I believe that the consistent and clear communication of these ideas enables our employees to “buy in” and “tie in” at various levels of strategies and actions.

In the end, having a successful implementation plan and communications strategy ensures that all of our workers can understand and embrace our goals.

It can work for you too.

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See us at Plast-Ex, booth 2031

Mark Lichtblau is the corporate vice presi­­dent of Haremar Plastic Manufacturing Ltd., a Toronto-based mono and co-extruded film supplier. Visit www. haremar.com.

8 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p08 Exec Corner.indd 8

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pipe & profile extrusion

UNPLUGGED How to defeat die buildup Die buildup has been ruining parts and breaking production lines for as long as processors have been extruding plastics. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We show you how to stop it in advance.

D

ie buildup is, to put it bluntly, a pain in the a**.

Also known as drool, die bleed, or plate-out, buildup is the bane of every extrusion process, causing a wide range of problems from visible surface imperfections on extrudates to process disruption to outright product failure.

It’s not a situation that goes over well in today’s ultra-competitive plastics processing industry, where production delays are about as welcome as another Canadian election. “Frankly, I don’t meet a lot of customers who will tolerate shutting down their extrusion line because of die buildup,” said Dr. Jason Baird, process development engineer with Davis-Standard’s Extrusion Systems Group. Too often, though, many do just that, expending time and labor removing die buildup — including scraping out the accumulated gunk by hand — because they don’t know how to eliminate it any other way.

But it doesn’t have to be like this, and it definitely doesn’t have to happen to you. By honing in on three areas — your die, your process, and your material — you can improve your chances of stopping die buildup before it stops you.

BUILDUP BACKSTORY Like all good villains, die buildup has a complicated origin. “Die buildup is related to stress at the die exit,” said John Perdikoulias, president of the North American office of polymer processing specialist Compuplast International Inc. “Resin flowing along the die inner surface moves relatively slowly and then is suddenly accelerated as it exits the die. This sudden acceleration causes stress within the melt, with low-molecular-weight polymer fractions and other components separating and being deposited at the die exit.”

Processors have a choice, Perdikoulias continued, as to how seriously they want to take the problem. “There are a number of tricks that can negate some of the effects of die buildup,” he said.

“Applying mold release or silicone to the die exit area after clean-

By Mark Stephen, editor ing can reduce the rate of buildup and extend the time between cleanings; slowing down the process also reduces die buildup, but this hurts output; and the buildup can be intentionally pushed onto the product and removed further down the line.”

But these approaches only treat the symptom, not the problem.

“Almost always, the better solution is to address the direct causes of the buildup,” Perdikoulias said.

THE DIE IS CAST The first of these is your die. And just like the silk purse and the sow’s ear, it’s almost impossible to prevent buildup in a badlymade die. To a certain extent, then, you’re at the mercy of your tooler from the outset. “A good tooling supplier goes to great efforts to machine tips and dies to a determined specification, ensuring perfect concentricity and alignment,” said Matt Fagan, a design engineer with Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Inc. “The extrusion material is then distributed into the proper location as part of the finished product, rather than building up on the die.”

So if you haven’t guessed by now, die geometry plays a huge role in helping or hindering buildup. “Increasing die land length can also lessen the amount of die buildup by reducing swell,” said John Perdikoulias. “Or you can use a larger die opening to reduce die-exit stress, and then draw the extrudate down to the desired size.”

On this note, enter die-flow modeling, which has been used to good effect to study the stresses that occur at the die exit, and to evaluate changes in die-exit geometry. “While it’s still a developing field, modified die exits said to decrease die buildup include a sharp square exit, sharp pointed exit, radiused exit, outward-stepped exit, inward-stepped exit, and outward-flared exit,” Perdikoulias said.

But even the best-made die still needs a little help — and

10 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p10-12 Extrusion.indd 10

18/04/11 1:04 PM

sometimes it’s just a matter of applying some elbow grease. “Polishing the parts of the die that come into contact with the material, specifically the pin and the bushing, has a big impact on reducing die buildup,” said Jason Baird. “If I had to rank all of the various ways to tackle the problem, polishing would top the list.”

Adding a processing aid, which basically coats the surfaces with fluoropolymers like PTFE, is beneficial in preventing buildup, but it’s also an additional expense. “Another approach that’s had some success is applying ceramic-based coatings to the inside of the die to enhance slip and reduce stress at the die exit,” said John Perdikoulias. “There are also metallic-based coatings avaliable that incorporate PTFE, but these tend to wear off after time.”

Before (L): An unpolished die. Note the longitudinal grooves in the tube caused by die drool.

After (R): That’s better! The die after polishing, with 100 per cent groove-free tube.

PERFECTING THE PROCESS Compared to the extruder die, your process is something you can control. Take die heat, for example. “Higher die and melt temperatures are one way to reduce die-exit stress, although gains may be offset by additional degradation or burning due to residence time,” said Jason Baird.

When checking your process for ways to reduce die buildup, changes in melt and die temperatures should be explored independently. “Start by determining the true melt temperature and set the

Photo Credits: Davis-Standard LLC

pipe & profile extrusion

die body to that temperature — standard melt thermocouples are often wrong, so check the melt temperatures by hand,” said John Perdikoulias. “Also, the die exit surface can be significantly cooler than the die itself, so check the die exit temperature with a surface thermocouple.”

And perhaps consider an air sweep — a wand contoured to the extrusion profile shape, with holes drilled in it to distribute compressed air. Pointed at the die exit, it can help reduce and control buildup. “The air sweep can direct any smoke and condensables away from the die,” Perdikoulias said. “Air sweeps

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pipe & profile extrusion also have the benefit of cooling die buildup so it doesn’t oxidize and turn dark.”

MATERIAL IMPACT No surprise here: Since resin is what’s building up at the end of your die, odds are the resin’s chemical characteristics are playing at least a partial role in that accumulation.

To begin with, different materials produce different sorts of die buildup. “PVCs used in window lineages or decking are often formulated in-house, which can make them more susceptible to buildup than commercialized polyolefins or other engineered resins,” said Mike Puhalla, general manager, technical director of global extrusions, with Milacron LLC. Making it more complicated, resins from some suppliers will generate more die buildup than others, even when the materials have the same characteristics. It’s a good rule of thumb in life, and true here too: try the simplest potential solution first. “If die buildup occurs, try a similar grade from another supplier,” said John Perdikoulias. “Resins from different suppliers can have similar shear viscosity but very different elongational viscosities. If no other differences can be seen between resins, try testing the elongational viscosity; the resin with the higher elongational viscosity likely AM have Page more problems with Rotogran Jan 11-AB-CPL 2/16/11will9:24 1 buildup due to higher stresses at the die exit.”

And just to make it more complicated still, chemical compatibility of different components in a formulation also plays a role.

“Extreme die buildup often occurs when highly incompatible poly-

mers are melt-blended,” Perdikoulias continued. “In such cases, use of compatibilizers can help. Fluoropolymer processing aids can also be added in small amounts to reduce stress at the die exit.”

Lubricants can help many resins slip through the die without building up — but only to a point, after which they can actually add to the problem. “At some point, lubricants will build up and have to be removed from the die, which means more time and labor for die reinstallation,” said Matt Fagan.

So has die buildup really met its match? “I wouldn’t say die buildup will never be a problem in an esoteric application where, for example, you’re stuck with a certain material because only one supplier makes it,” said Jason Baird. “These situations aside, if processors have the right tooling and process parameters, and follow a few simple steps, they can eliminate buildup almost entirely from most applications.”

CPL RESOURCE LIST Compuplast International Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.compuplast.com; 905-814-8923 Davis-Standard Extrusion Systems Group (Pawcatuck, Conn.); www.davis-standard.com; 1-860-599-1010 Auxiplast Inc. (Sainte-Julie, Que.); 450-922-0282 Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Inc. (Warwick, R.I.); www.guill.com; 401-828-7600 Romark Technologies — Div. of Ontor Ltd. (Toronto); 416-781-5286 Milacron LLC — Cincinnati Milacron Extrusion Systems (Batavia, Ohio); www.plastics.milacron.com; 513-536-3320 Accuplast Solutions (Kirkland, Que.); 1-866-630-0808

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dryers

PLA

DRY it, don’t FRY it

By Mark Stephen, editor

I

t’s not easy being green — Quirks like these can put a Thinking about breaking into the world of especially if you’re in the molder behind the proverbial renewably-sourced parts, but feeling plastics biz. Biopolymers eight-ball before processing made from renewably-sourced even begins. “Like PET, Ingeo uneasy about the whole biopolymerpolylactic acid (PLA) resins are can pick up enough moisture in attracting growing market interest 35 minutes to defeat most of the processing thing? You’re not alone. benefits of drying if it’s not kept in a as materials with no ties to petroYes, they absorb a lot of moisture, sealed container, and depending on chemical-based thermoplastics. local conditions,” said Jim Nangeroni.

Problem is, most molders are still but don’t worry — if you can A general rule: Drying PLA is no difinexperienced when it comes to prohandle drying at low heat, ferent from drying any other hygroscopic cessing them. material, except that it’s more temperature Take drying, for example. The most you’re already over the sensitive. “Depending on the specific grade, critical stage of raw material preparation, biggest hurdle. most manufacturers recommend drying crysprocess drying of PLA might just be the bigtallized PLA at 150°F to 190°F using dehumidigest concern for manufacturers looking to break into making green parts. “The most common question I’m asked fied air with a dew point of -40°F,” said Jamie Jameson, dryer by molders is, ‘Do I really have to dry biopolymers?’” said Jim product manager with The Conair Group. “Amorphous PLA dries Nangeroni, technical leader, films and cards, with Ingeo supplier at a lower temperature.”

NatureWorks LLC. “It’s a particularly daunting idea for processors who’ve only handled olefins in the past; drying is a new thing EXTRUDE ME to them, let alone drying PLA-based resins.”

As with many resins, whether and how to dry PLA depends on a The answer, Nangeroni concluded, is yes, you do have to dry variety of factors, beginning with the type of molding you’re — “with some caveats.” Here’s what he means. doing. “If a processor wants to extrude Ingeo simply on a trial basis, they might not have to dry the material if they’re careful, PLA 101 and don’t open the product before they use it,” said Jim NangeIn the biopolymers world, Ingeo is the current undisputed champ. roni. “Once a company enters production mode, however, and “Ingeo bioplastics, which is a PLA, is the dominant bio-resin get- begins making the same product day in and day out regardless of ting the most attention, and has put the issue of processing bio- temperature and humidity changes, almost invariably they’ll see polymers on the map,” said John Fleischer, vice president, sales changes in the product if they’re not drying.” and marketing, at Universal Dynamics Inc. “NatureWorks is the Single screw extrusion systems with a vent and appropriate leader here; even other companies take the Ingeo from Nature- screw design are said by some equipment makers to allow extruWorks and do reformulation to develop their own PLA variations.” sion of polyester without drying — can they do the same with PLA is a polyester — a semi-crystalline, hygroscopic thermo- PLA? “So far, they’ve had spotty success in processing Ingeo plastics resin that all-too-readily absorbs moisture from the without drying, although the odds improve in moderate climates atmosphere. Oh, and it’s also temperature sensitive. “PLA is with low humidity,” Nangeroni continued. normally crystallized and dried to moisture levels below 400 Meanwhile, some twin screw extruder manufacturers claim ppm by the manufacturer prior to shipping,” said Bob Crawford, that, by coupling a twin screw to a sheet line and venting off Universal Dynamics’ vice president of engineering. “Constant water, they too can eliminate the need to dry PLA. “American exposure to heat and moisture can degrade PLA, breaking down Leistritz is currently testing their units on Ingeo PLA, but the the polymer chains and causing a loss of molecular weight.” jury is still out. Also, the Gneuss MRS extruder, designed for 14 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

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Photo Credit: Univers al Dyna mics In c.

dryers Sonny Morneault, the updated dryers can maintain drying temperatures of 120°F. An option for processors who don’t want a dedicated PLA dryer is a system that can handle both PLA and traditional petroleum-based resins. “The PCT3 series dehumidifying dryer from Universal Dynamics is a dual machine for processors who want to change from PLA to PET without wasting drying energy,” said Bob Crawford.

“Standard throughputs range from 100 lbs to 6,000 lbs of material per hour, with a drying temperature from between 120°F to 375°F.”

TAKE CONTROL An in-pla nt crysta ll drying s ystem fr ization and om Univ ersal D

ynamics

.

the production of PET sheet for thermoforming from bottle flake without any pre-drying, is now being quoted for some PLA customers,” Nangeroni said. “My advice is for the buyer to beware: You’re releasing a level of control by not drying, and maybe your Ingeo-based product can handle that and maybe it can’t.”

TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE If you’re injection molding — and Ingeo can be run on any kind of injection press, by the way — it’s a whole new ballgame.

“Injection molders have to dry Ingeo just as they would PET in almost every instance, because the machines don’t have good venting characteristics,” Nangeroni said.

If you had to sum the PLA drying process up in two words, those words would be “low heat” — between 149°F and 185°F for crystalline PLA, lower than many molders are used to.

Not that low heat is necessarily a bad thing. “Because you’re working at much lower temperatures, the energy needed to dry PLA is less than with most other materials,” said Bob Crawford. “With PET, for example, you’re going to run the crystallization process at 300°F to 340°F, whereas PLA needs 220°F at the very most.”

The downside? “Dryers that are purpose-built PET systems, particularly those with gas heat, might not be suitable for PLA drying because they’re intended to run at higher temperatures,” Crawford continued. “By comparison, most of the purpose-built PLA machines are made with electric process heaters.”

It gets worse: Typical twin-bed desiccant dryers can’t maintain the low temperatures required by PLA due to temperature spikes after regeneration. But a lot of dryer manufacturers are adapting quickly: Wittmann Battenfeld, for example, has made software modifications to adapt its Drymax E series dryers, which have special counter airflow and regeneration features for the lower temperatures needed for PLA. According to regional manager

Whatever dryer model you use, keep a few key points in mind.

“Precise control of temperature, dew point, drying time, and drying air flow are critical when drying PLA,” said Jim Nangeroni. “If the drying temperature is too low, the PLA pellets won’t dry as readily; it it’s too high, the material may soften and agglomerate in the drying hopper.”

After temperature, dew point is the next most important variable, since it determines how dry the material eventually becomes.

“If the dryer can’t produce a stable, low dew point, it won’t reach the low moisture levels required for optimum property development no matter how long the resin dries,” said Jamie Jameson.

Lastly, the design of the drying hopper should ensure that every pellet gets dry. “The hopper has to be large enough to provide the necessary residence time, with adequate air flow to create the proper temperature and dew point conditions for drying,” Jameson continued. “The air inlet should be designed so that even material at the bottom of the hopper cone is exposed to drying air” Here’s a final piece of drying advice: err on the side of technical over-qualification. “A dryer that’s more efficient than absolutely necessary may cost a bit more to operate, but a dryer that doesn’t meet the temperature requirements and the necessary ppm count can result in potentially defective products and loss of business,” Jameson said.

In the end, it might be as important not to get overwhelmed

by Ingeo processing as it is to keep a low drying temperature.

“After some initial adjustments, even an inexperienced molder should be able to dry and process these materials consistently,” said Jim Nangeroni. “And even if not handled correctly, Ingeo can be surprisingly forgiving in some ways. Unlike with many traditional resins, for example, melt degradation of Ingeo isn’t likely to form gels and clog up the molding equipment.”

So maybe it’s not so hard being green, after all.

CPL RESOURCE LIST The Conair Group (Cranberry Township, Pa.); www.conairgroup.com; 1-800-654-6661 Dier International Plastics Inc. (Markham, Ont.) 905-474-9874 The Turner Group (B.C. and Alberta) (Seattle, Wash.); 206-769-3707 NatureWorks LLC (Minnetonka, Minn.); www.natureworksllc.com; 952-742-0400 Universal Dynamics Inc. (Woodbridge, Va.); www.unadyn.com; 703-490-7000 Piovan Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); 905-629-8822 Wittmann Canada Inc. (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 1-866-466-8266 www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 15

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moldmaking report

TURN, TURN, TURN L

ike everyone else in today’s plastics industry, moldmakers are looking for ways to shorten leadtimes while still maintaining quality. Although not exactly new, one timesaver continues to win over new converts: unscrewing components, which can not only cut leadtimes but also reduce component costs and decrease cycle times — in other words, win-win-win.

The aim is simple: get rid of the need to constantly open and close a mold to adjust internal or external molded threads.

According to Mike Hicks, North American sales manager with DMS (Canada) Ltd., unscrewing components were developed to rotate mechanically and unscrew internal or external molded threads by simply opening and closing the injection mold. “Nothing else is needed, including hydraulic or pneumatic drives, and the components are designed so that all other component parts are contained inside the mold base,” he said. DMS sells ExaFlow unscrewing components, and, according to Hicks, the system offers cost savings through ready-made CAD data, short procurement times, and an accurate and space-saving telescopic design. “In its standard version, ExaFlow’s innovative telescope-type thread unscrewing unit supports unscrewing lengths of up to 70 mm despite the unit’s low height of only about 180 mm,” Hicks said.

“Also, they need only minimum maintenance and are easily retrofittable on existing molds.”

A big plus to unscrewing components is that the unscrewing of a threaded part starts simultaneously with the opening of a mold, resulting in cycle time reductions. “Hasco’s components can be used to unscrew molded threads in both the core or cavity side of the injection mold, regardless of whether the thread is right- or left-handed,” said Louis Hebert, president of Hasco Canada Inc. And for mold applications with one to 16 cavities, Hebert continued, Hasco’s unscrewing components are very economical. “The system can accommodate molded thread sizes up to 70 mm,” he said. “Family molds also can be produced to unscrew molded threads of different sizes or different thread

pitches, reducing the need and cost for separate molds.”

The company also stocks various standard sizes of core blanks and the rack material to handle larger cavitation molds.

“The core blanks are supplied with the spur gear teeth already cut on the shaft and require heat-treating prior to finish thread grinding,” Hebert said. “Intermediate gears are available to change rotation or help in design of cavity spacing.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

For P.H. Mold Ltd., a Pitt Meadows, B.C.-based custom molder and PET bottle maker, Hasco’s unscrewing components came through with three big benefits. “The system gives us reduced cycle time, a smaller clamp machine, and it’s very simple to use,” said Gordon Menzies, a toolmaker and CNC programmer with the company. “There’s no hydraulic cylinders, no wear pads, and no stripper plate — in short, very little to go wrong. As the mold opens, a latch system grabs the stripper plate and pulls the part off.”

Installed in a mold last year, the unscrewing components have already made a big difference for the shop. “Before, we had to do a semi-automatic operation, with the operator physically unscrewing the nut from the core,” Menzies said.

“We’ve now gone from a two-cavity semi-automatic operation to a four-cavity fully automatic operation on the application for which we use the system.”

Are unscrewing components really a better mousetrap?

Menzies seems to think so. “We’ve built a lot of rack and pinion systems over the years, and they’re slow, complicated, and require a lot of maintenance,” he said. “The unscrewing style is fast and very simple — it’s an open-and-close process, and our operators definitely appreciate it.”

CPL

Photo Credit: Hasco Canada Inc.

The long and short of unscrewing components

RESOURCE LIST DMS (Canada) Ltd. (Oldcastle, Ont.); www.dmscomponents.com; 1-800-265-4885 Hasco Canada Inc. (Toronto); www.hasco.com; 1-800-387-9609

18 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

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moldmaking report

DOING IT RIGHT:

Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd.

I

t’s something you hear all the time: “So-and-so was born to do this job.”

But unless that person is Prince William, odds are it’s an exaggeration. For Brian Bendig, however, a slight variation is the literal truth. Bendig, the president of Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd., wasn’t necessarily born to run the company, but he did arrive on the scene at the same time. “The shop opened on Nov. 17, 1975, the day I was born,” he said. “My father left the hospital to unlock for the first day.”

The Windsor, Ont.-based company started small under the guidance of Bendig’s father and two other partners, who divided their focus between automotive and non-automotive products, as well as medium to large tooling. But like Bendig himself, Cavalier has spent the past 35 years growing. The company had its most profitable year ever in 2009, and its

latest measure of success is a new 20,000 square-foot facility in El Paso, Texas intended to handle manufacturing and repair in North America and Mexico.

PEOPLE, PROCESS, EQUIPMENT

With the Windsor moldmaking community currently resembling the first few seconds after the shootout at the O.K. Corral — lots of fallen bodies and a few cooler heads left standing — Cavalier Tool’s ability to survive and thrive, Bendig said, comes from a combination of three things: people, process, and equipment. “Our success is based on having these three components gel together: the right people doing the right process on the right equipment,” he said. “A shop can have a state-ofthe-art machine, but there’s nothing gained if it’s not run efficiently.”

On the equipment side, Cavalier Tool

A detailed mold from Cavalier Tool.

purchases the latest equipment and software to enhance its manufacturing process. “Our biggest investments are usually in computers and computerrelated items,” Bendig said. The company is also eager to adopt technology that improves speed and efficiency.

“Speed usually translates into cost savings, so we’ve acquired a lot of new or high speed equipment and cutters, usually purchased at a discount from auctions,” he explained.

Process-wise, the 75-em­ployee-strong company got an efficiency supercharge by incorporating Lean and Six Sigma a

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few years back. “Some of our machines are equipped with computer software that automatically dials tech support if a failure occurs; online tech support then determines what caused the problem,” Bendig said. “As a Checking a mold before shipping. result, we’ve attained some real improvements in machine utilization.”

The people aspect of Cavalier Tool’s three-pronged strategy comes not just from having the right employees, but by developing good relations with others — no matter where they live. “By the end of this decade, the entire tooling trade will be global, so Cavalier Tool is currently cultivating relationships with Asian and European companies,” Bengid said. “We’re also looking towards Mexico, which is where our new El Paso facility factors in. The original aim was to use it as a standalone repair business, but our Mexican customers began asking for newly-built molds. As a result, we already need to add a second shift in El Paso.”

MOLDS? YES. “BLING”? NO

A final piece of the puzzle might not sound particularly sexy, but it’s important. Call it good old fashioned discipline. “Ten years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see tool shops with Ferraris parked out front and huge fish tanks in the foyer,” Bendig said.

“We’ve never promoted that type of ostentation. During our lean years, we always told our customers that we wouldn’t buy their business by trying to impress them, and we stick to that philosophy today. We don’t build fixtures, we don’t build end-of-arm-tooling, and we don’t offer a lot of ‘bling’ — we just want to make molds.”

Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd. (Windsor, Ont.); www.cavaliertool.com; 519-944-2144

CAMM’s Golf Day hits a milestone Twenty-five years ago, Brian Mulroney was Canada’s Prime Minister, oil cost an average of $14 per barrel, and the Canadian Association of Moldmakers (CAMM) held its first annual Golf Day. Cut to the present: Mulroney spends his time playing with his grandkids; the price of oil is...well, let’s not even go there; and the CAMM tournament has become a must-attend event for the moldmaking community.

This year’s Golf Day is scheduled for June 5, at Fox Glen Golf & Country Club in Windsor, Ont. Tickets are $120 per player, including HST. For more information, contact Mike Hicks (DMS Canada) at 519-737-6743.

© 2011, IMS Company. All rights reserved.

20 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

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hot runners

You’ve spent your career ramming resin through your hot runner systems to clean them, so why change now?

Because used properly and in the right circumstances, commercial purging compounds can take your color changes to new heights.

HOT RUNNERS Satisfying the urge to purge

By Mark Stephen, editor

Photo Credit: Husky Injection Molding Systems Inc.

T

hese are glory days for hot runners, as mold buyers anxious to reduce scrap and improve efficiency and productivity are shelling out added dollars for the technology.

But there’s a downside. “A lot of plastics processors have rigorous preventative maintenance (PM) schedules for their molds but neglect the hot runner system,” said Martin Baumann, business manager, hot runners, with Husky Injection Molding Systems.

And part of a good PM routine involves cleaning the residue built up from resins inside the melt channels. In the old days, there was only one way to purge this residue: putting more resin through the hot runners. And dinosaurs once ruled the earth too. Today, commercial purging compounds (CPCs) can be a better bet.

But not everyone is buying in. “Using a CPC to clean injection molding hot runner systems remains somewhat taboo,” said John Pizzo, technical service and development manager with Sun Plastech Inc. “Usually, this reluctance comes either from never having used a CPC to clean hot runner tooling, or using it incorrectly and getting a bad result.”

Whatever the reason, giving CPCs a complete miss is probably a mistake. “CPCs have also been shown to be generally more effective in removing color or carbon contamination in hot runners than resin or regrind,” Pizzo noted.

WHAT TO DO IT WITH Sure it’s a no-brainer, but it probably bears saying anyway: The key to using CPCs on hot runners is making certain the compound

In addition to good melt channel design and uniform heat influence, purging compounds can help reduce color change times.

has, in fact, been designed for hot runners. “A lot of standard purging compounds have larger particles that don’t melt, clogging hot runner gates,” said Bill Rousseau, engineering and technical services manager with Synventive Molding Solutions. “But finding the right compound shouldn’t be difficult, since virtually every CPC manufacturer offers at least one hot runner grade.”

Case in point: The Dyna-Purge division of Shuman Plastics Inc. has a new version of its Dyna-Purge P compound, intended for quick color changes in hot runner systems. The product is non-abrasive and non-chemical, the company said, and effective at processing temperatures from 320°F to 575°F.

HOW TO DO IT If you’ve never purged hot runners with a CPC before, it’s often recommended to purge the screw and barrel first so that, if there’s any contamination in the barrel, it doesn’t get dragged into the hot runners. The caveat? “If you’re certain the screw and barrel are relatively clean, it’s okay to start cleaning the hot runners without taking that step, to save time and material,” John Pizzo said.

For the second step, hot runner temperatures — particularly gate temperatures — should be raised before purging to help loosen any deposits, and improve the flow of the compound.

“But take care when processing heat-sensitive resins, as raising temperatures may cause further degradation,” Pizzo cautioned.

And don’t forget to verify if there are any hot runner gate-clearance requirements for the CPC being used. “If the CPC has any type of filler, chances are it will require larger gate clearances,” Pizzo explained. “A glass-filled CPC is not recommended for purging most hot runner systems due to gate-clearance restrictions or potential damage to nozzle tips.”

The next step adds another level of complexity to the process: Depending on a variety of factors, CPC suppliers recommend different purging procedures. “Some CPCs can be used with either a closed-mold or open-mold method, depending on the resin being processed, the mold design, and the cleaning difficulty,” Pizzo said. “Open-mold purging is usually sufficient for molds with fewer cavities, while higher-cavitation www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 21

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hot runners molds benefit more from closed-mold purging.”

Each method comes complete with valuable tips for achieving the best result. For closed-mold purging, inject the CPC using short shots whenever possible to decrease the possibility of parts sticking in cavities; if a short shot can’t be molded, then it’s important that the shrinkage rate of the CPC be similar to that of the processing resin to avoid parts getting stuck in the cavities. “Also, use a CPC grade that’s compatible with the processing resin to ensure less residue left behind by the CPC,” Pizzo said. “Spray the cavities with mold release between cycles, turn off pack and hold velocities and pressures but don’t adjust pack and hold time, and then eject CPC parts immediately while still warm.”

For open-mold purgings, it helps to extrude the CPC through the hot runner system starting at a medium velocity; then increase screw speed to the maximum safe level to achieve maximum cleaning. “Once the CPC is flowing adequately through all the gates, inject air shots with the mold open,” Pizzo said.

However you do it, using a CPC to purge a hot runner system can produce striking results. Custom molder Polyfab Corporation, headquartered in Sheboygan, Wis., shaved some serious time from its complete color change process for molding lids: Todd Martin, Polyfab’s plant supervisor, said the company now purges in less than 10 minutes using only 10 lbs of Dyna-Purge P.

WHEN NOT TO DO IT So now that you know how to purge hot runners with CPCs, when

shouldn’t you do it? “We recommend using a chemical purge when moving from very dark to light colors, or when using reds and blues,” said Martin Baumann. “If you’re moving from a light to a darker color and are satisfied with your color change times, there’s no need to use a CPC.” There’s also the thorny issue of CPCs adding an extra step to the purging process. “In this regard, the question becomes, will the CPC help your color change more than the extra time spent purging?” said Bill Rousseau. “With a properly-designed hot runner system, it might not always be worthwhile, because the system will be designed to change colors after five to 10 shots. But in a more difficult application, with color changes after 40 shots, then probably it is worth that extra 10 minutes for a CPC purge.”

In the end, the choice is yours. Done properly, you’ve nothing to lose by using CPCs on the right occasions — other than the minutes you’re shaving off your color change times, of course. CPL RESOURCE LIST Dyna-Purge division of Shuman Plastics, Inc. (Buffalo, N.Y.); www.dynapurge.com; 1-866-607-8743 Husky Injection Molding Systems Inc. (Bolton, Ont.); www.husky.ca; 905-951-5000 Synventive Molding Solutions (Peabody, Mass.); www.synventive.com; 1-800-367-5662 Precision Mold Supplies Ltd. (Delta, B.C.); 604-943-7702 Sun Plastech Inc. (Parsippany, N.J.); www.asaclean.com; 1-800-787-4348

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22 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

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Plast-Ex preview

What’s going on f you haven’t heard, Plast-Ex is now owned by American media conglomerate UMB Canon. So you can bet that, this time around, it won’t be your father’s trade show. The show will be co-located with a slew of other trade events: Design & Manufacturing Canada, Pack-Ex Toronto, the Automotive Technology Expo Canada, the Green Manufacturing Expo Canada, and Process Technology for Industry Canada/Powder & Bulk Solids Canada. It’s all under one roof, at the new location of the Toronto Congress Centre.

The technologies will be the big draws, for sure, but they won’t be the only things on offer. Here’s a quick summary of the conferences, seminars and after-hours events that’ll help you get even more out of the show.

WHEN:

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 — 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 — 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Thursday, June 23, 2011 — 10:00 am – 4:00 pm WHERE: Toronto Congress Centre, 650 Dixon Road, Toronto, Ontario, M9W 1J1 CONTACT: www.canontradeshows.com/expo/plastex11

PLAST-EX CONFERENCES/SEMINARS:

Photo Credits: Messe Dusseldorf/Tillmann

Wednesday, June 22, 2011: 8:30 am – 10:00 am.

“Financing for Capital Equipment Purchases: Public, private, and alternate funding sources” • E quipment Financing Resources Available Through BDC Mary Gagliardi, Vice President, Financing & Consulting, GTA East Business Development Bank of Canada

8:30 am – 8:50 am • E quipment Financing Resources Available Through the Banks Bruce McKay, District VP, TD Commercial Banking

8:50 am – 9:10 am • A lternate Financing: What To Do if Conventional Lenders Turn You Down Brian Hunter, Partner, Northlink Capital Advisors

9:10 am – 9:30 am • P anel Discussion, Questions Moderator: Judith Nancekivell, Senior Publisher, Canadian Plastics magazine

9:30 am – 10:00 am Thursday, June 23, 2011: 8:30 am – 10:00 am.

“Lean Manufacturing: Expert perspectives, plus a real-world case history” • P rinciples of Lean Manufacturing 101 Steve Yardley, Sales & Product Manager, Assembly Technologies, Bosch Rexroth Canada 8:30 am – 8:50 am • L ean Manufacturing: Automotive Mark Lefebvre, VP Operations, SatiStar Management Consulting

8:50 am – 9:10 am • B enefits of Lean, from a Processor’s Viewpoint Mark Lichtblau, Corporate Vice President, Haremar Plastics Manufacturing Ltd.

9:10 am – 9:30 am • P anel Discussion, Questions Moderator: Mark Stephen, Editor, Canadian Plastics magazine

9:30 am – 10:00 am

PACK-EX TORONTO CONFERENCES/SEMINARS: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 9:00 am to 10:30 am: Compete Globally Through Automation—Panel Discussion 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm: Expanding Your Exports—EDC Sponsored Roundtable 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm: PAC Leadership Awards Gala Reception and Dinner Wednesday, June 22, 2011 — Walmart Sustainable Packaging Conference V 8:30 am to 12:00 pm: Executive Leadership Session 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm: Tactical Implementation Session Thursday, June 23, 2011 9:00 am to 10:30 am: Global Food Safety Initiative and PACsecure Packaging Scheme

CO-LOCATED CPIA EVENTS: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 8:00 am to 12:00 pm: Plastics Innovation Forum 1:15 pm to 5:00 pm: Plastics Recovery Seminar Thursday, June 23, 2011 10:30 am to 11:30 am: Annual General Meeting 11:45 am to 2:00 pm: Awards Luncheon

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AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Accurate, easy-to-use dosing unit Configured for continuous weight-loss gravimetric (LG) or volumetric (LV) operation, the new Lybra line of dosing units from Piovan are designed to offer a high level of accuracy, advanced control and straightforward user interface.

The unit can accommodate up to two independent dosing stations — even of different capacities — and can be retrofitted to meet changing production needs. Each dosing station can be configured for individual capacities in the tens of g/h, up to 170 kg/h.

Each Lybra unit comprises a microprocessor control system with seven-inch touch screen. A single screen, with intuitive graphical interfaces, allows the operator to control operation of the whole system, compare preset dosing values with actual values, check instantaneous production values and access all the unit’s functions.

Connection to external supervision systems (by means of an Ethernet or USB port) means settings can be downloaded and exported, while also providing the option of controlling the unit remotely.

Piovan Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.piovan.com; 905-629-8822

Insulated, high-heat blenders for PET processing For producers of PET sheet, strapping and other products that incorporate high levels of recycled polyester plastics, a new fully-insulated gravimetric blender from Conair is designed to provide energy savings and productivity benefits.

The high-heat TrueBlend blender allows processors to keep recycled and virgin materials separated until just before they’re fed to an extruder or molding machine, an approach that offers several advantages: a problem in one material stream, such as contamination, doesn’t have to shut down the entire production line; blended virgin pellets and regrind fluff, which have significantly different bulk densities and flow characteristics, reach the machine feed throat more quickly, and have less of an opportunity to become re-separated during conveying; and by not allowing the heat input during desiccant drying to dissipate during blending,

24 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p24-28 Tech Showcase.indd 24

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technology showcase less energy needs to be added during final processing.

The Conair Group (Cranberry township, Pa.); www.conairgroup.com; 1-800-654-6661 Dier International Plastics Inc. (Markham, Ont.) 905-474-9874 Turner Group Inc. (B.C. and Alberta) (Seattle, Wash.); 206-769-3707

INJECTION MOLDING

Cost-effective unit for micro parts Available with clamping forces of between five and 15 tons, the MicroPower from Wittmann Battenfeld has been designed for precision and micro injection molding.

The two-step screw-and-plunger injection unit with shot volumes ranging from 0.05 to 3 cm2 injects thermally homogeneous melt, resulting in quality parts, production stability and short cycle times.

Because of these short cycle times, as well as low material and energy consumption, the MicroPower is cost-efficient: Cost savings of 30 to 50 per cent compared to standard machines can be achieved, the company said.

In addition, a robot for handling small parts has been developed to complement the MicroPower. The Vertikal-SCARA W8VS2 robot, driven by three servo motors, is able to remove and further process micro parts with dynamics and accuracy. All peripheral devices are optimally integrated in the structure of the MicroPower and can be accessed and controlled via the machine’s Unilog B6 control system.

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

tasks are organized by one BlueLine software platform which includes among others a start-up procedure, standardized warning and action limits, as well as an event log.

Through the use of special algorithms, the acquired measuring data are compressed without loss, resulting in a data reduction of minimum factor five — i.e., five times more data can be acquired and saved at the same time without requiring more memory capac-

plastics data file 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

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Modular platform for monitoring and control Designed for monitoring and control in injection molding applications, the new BlueLine modular platform from Priamus System Technologies is a simple and cost-effective way to replace expensive analog circuits with a digital real-time Hybrid Bus system.

The system consists of a central control unit, the BlueLine core, as well as flexibly expandable amplifier units and machine interfaces connected with the core by a single digital Hybrid Bus cable.

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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.

www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 25

CPL May2011 p24-28 Tech Showcase.indd 25

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technology showcase

HOT RUNNERS

ity and without changing the signal quality.

Priamus System Technologies (Brunswick, Ohio); www.priamus.com; 1-877-774-2687 Control Solutions Inc. (Brampton, Ont.); 905-458-8382

Temperature controller offers quick ROI

ROBOTS & AUTOMATION

Mid-sized model for machine tending and material handling With 15 kg handling capacity, the new IRB 2600ID mid-sized material handling robot from ABB Robotics increases productivity, simplifies programming, and lowers overall operating costs.

With a larger payload than ABB’s other IRB 2600 units, as well as a 1.85m reach, the IRB 2600ID features a flexible conduit in its upper arm/wrist for routing cables and hoses for signals, air and power, fully integrating the process equipment with the robot, all designed for a wide range of material handling and machine tending applications.

With the internally-routed dress pack, the movement of the hoses and cables is completely predictable, allowing the IRB 2600ID to operate at maximum speeds and simplifying off-line programming.

With the increased payload, including a total upper arm load of 26 kg, the IRB 2600ID is suited for applications like case packing, carton handling, process tray handling, small format palletizing, plastic injection molding, machine tool tending, and die cast machine tending.

The IRB 2600ID can be mounted in multiple configurations, and features a work envelope that extends well below its baseline, making it ideal for machine-mounted applications.

ABB Inc. — Robotics Division (Brampton, Ont.); www.abb.com/robotics; 1-800-293-4503

Designed to control up to 24 zones, Fast Heat Inc.’s Ion series modular controller for hot runner systems yields an early return on investment by helping molders increase productivity, and reduce maintenance, scrap generation and peak energy demand.

According to Fast Heat, within one year a molder can recover a minimum of nearly US$3,500 of the initial cost of the system due to a series of features. First, sequenced heating of the tool — the system helps prevent damage to heater seals by heating the largest mass of steel (the manifolds) first, then the drops. Second, slaving of zones — when a thermocouple in one zone fails, control of that zone can be automatically or manually switched to another, maintaining production in the zone where the failure occurred.

Third, accurate, self-correcting temperature control — a key to reducing scrap due to flashing, stringing, and other molding irregularities. Fourth, waterfall arrangement of zones — the Ion controller reduces peak energy demand by distributing power across all three phase legs.

Fast Heat Inc. (Elmhurst, Ill.); www.fastheat.com; 1-877-747-8575

MOLD TECHNOLOGY

Monitoring device for important mold data Progressive Components has unveiled its new CVe electronic

advertising index Advertiser AceTRONIC Arburg Automatisation S.A.B. Inc. Auxiplast CPA Canada Canadian Plastics Resin Outlook Conference CanPlastics TV videos Chillers Inc. Conair IMS Lorenz Conveying Products Maguire Products Canada PCS Company PolyOne Distribution Canada Ltd. Process Heaters Inc. Rotogran International Inc. SPE Ontario Slide Products UBM Canon (Plast-Ex) Vortex Valves Wittmann Canada Inc.

Page 7 back cover 24 16-17 22 27 23 5 2 20 30 31 19 13 11 12 19 6 9 27 8

Telephone

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800-803-8871 860-667-6500 450-652-9767 866-922-2894 888-777-4390 416-510-5116 416-510-5116 905-895-9667 724-584-5500 800-537-5375 800-263-1942 866-441-8409 800-521-0546 888-394-2662 877-747-8250 905-738-0101

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proheat@processheaters.ca info@rotogran.com

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www.acetronic.com www.arburg.us www.automatisationsab.com www.auxiplast.com www.channelpa.com www.canplastics.com/conference/ www.canplastics.com www.chillersinc.com www.conairgroup.com www.imscompany.com www.lorenz.ca www.maguirecanada.com www.pcs-company.com www.polyone.com www.processheaters.ca www.rotogran.com http://speontario.com/ www.slideproducts.com www.plastex.org www.vortexcanada.com www.wittmann-canada.com

26 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p24-28 Tech Showcase.indd 26

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technology showcase mold monitoring device, designed to gather a wide range of data.

In addition to mold cycles completed, the CVe records cycle time over the life of the tool, cycle time over the last 25,000 cycles, percentage of activity versus downtime, downtime date ranges, and increments where mold maintenance was performed.

Data can be viewed either directly off the CVe, or downloaded via its mini-USB port to drive comprehensive reporting.

The CVe is intended to fit into the same pocket as Progressive’s CounterView 100/200 series, making it easy to retrofit onto tooling that’s already in production.

Progressive Components (Wauconda, Ill.); www.procomps.com; 1-800-269-6653

High-performance CNC measuring machine Mitutoyo Canada Inc. has just released the new STRATOApex CNC coordinate measuring machine, designed to provide high-speed scanning with sub-micron measure-

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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, and recycled resin.

BONUS: Plastics processors registered for the conference may attend, at no extra charge, a workshop on the afternoon of Oct. 5 on “How to Negotiate the Best Deal for Your Resin Purchases”.

Investment per person: $395 until Aug. 31; $495 after Aug. 31 Group registration: 50% discount for second and subsequent attendees from the same company.

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A limited number of sponsorships and tabletop displays are available.

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

www.canplastics.com/Conference/ www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 27

CPL May2011 p24-28 Tech Showcase.indd 27

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technology showcase

ment accuracy.

Equipped with new controller algorithm, the machine has a drive system built to offer increased speed and low noise.

Standard equipment includes built-in temperature compensation, auto-leveling pneumatic vibration isolator, and ultra-high accuracy

crystallized glass scales on all axes.

The machine is available in four size ranges from 700 mm (27.5 inches) by 700 mm (27.5 inches) by 600 mm (23.81 inches) (X, Y, Z) up to 900 mm (35.62 inches) by 1600 mm (63.18 inches) by 600 mm (23.81 inches) (X, Y, Z).

Mitutoyo Canada Inc. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.mitutoyo.ca; 905-821-1261

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To place your classified ad here, contact: Brayden Ford, Advertising Sales Representative • 416-510-5124 or bford@canplastics.com 28 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p24-28 Tech Showcase.indd 28

19/04/11 8:19 AM

design ideas • automotive excellence

Single-part tailgate lightens the load

Renewably-sourced airbag saves lives, cuts greenhouse gases The way the green craze is growing lately, you had to know this was coming: Hytrel RS, the industry’s first renewablysourced thermoplastic elastomer for use in airbag systems.

Developed jointly by DuPont and German safety system manufacturer TakataPetri, Hytrel RS is based on a thermoplastic ether-ester elastomer with hard segments of polybutylene terephthalate and soft segments that contain a polyether derived from non-food biomass. DuPont describes the material as comparable to its popular Hytrel DYM as far as low temperature ductility, high stiffness, good long term aging performance, ease of processing, and good paintability.

In its finished, compounded form, as used in airbag systems, its renewablysourced content is at least 35 per cent by weight. Green or not, the new grade still had to satisfy a string of requirements before the project team at Takata-Petri gave it the proverbial green light. Prototype airbag covers had to comply with the company’s technical requirements relating to paint adhesion, long-term aging performance, and low temperature ductility.

“With the automotive industry seeking a greater number of sustainable products to help reduce its impact on the environment, green products are high on the manufacturers’ agenda,” said Heinrich Binder, Takata-Petri’s CEO. “The new Hytrel RS airbag cover creates a much smaller environmental footprint than its petroleumbased predecessor with no compromise in safety performance.”

E.I. DuPont Company (Mississauga, Ont.); www.plastics.dupont.com; 905-821-5193

Makrolon polycarbonate from Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) is rewriting the design rulebook for automotive tailgate modules. Chapter One: the BayVision prototype concept of a complete, singlepart tailgate with integrated backlight.

Unlike the conventional design involving a metal carrier and a glass window inserted in it, the new part has a completely seamless outer skin consisting of coated polycarbonate. Non-transparent areas are either back-printed in a dark color or backinjected with a black frame material using two-component injection molding.

“We wanted to demonstrate the design freedom offered by Makrolon compared with glass and metal for giving the rear of the vehicle a distinctive appearance,” said Volkhard Krause, head of the Automotive Glazing team at BMS. “According to our estimates, a weight saving of between 30 to 40 per cent has been achieved with the Makrolon part.”

But it wasn’t as simple as it probably sounds. “A tailgate manufactured exclusively of polycarbonate wouldn’t be stiff enough to meet load specifications,” Krause continued. This was where the Automotive Glazing team really stepped up. “We developed a new plastic-metal composite technology, based on reinforcing ribs of polycarbonate or its blends — for example, PC and ABS — which are molded to the inside of the tailgate,” he explained. “Simple strips of sheet metal are inserted in the grooves between the ribs, and bonded with an elastic adhesive.

The elasticity of the adhesive evens out the differences in heat expansion between the metal and the amorphous plastic.”

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

Technology team-up creates innovative back seat Coming soon to a car near you: the SUSCO 1.5, an innovative car back seat that weighs 20 per cent less than conventional car seats thanks to a new Ultramid polyamide grade developed specifically for the project by BASF. The new technology — which can also be employed for other structural components — replaces the existing metal structure by implementing a one-piece plastic part that minimizes foam and trim; special features include layers of continuous fiber-reinforced plastic which are overmolded with Ultramid in a second step. The resin grade has specially selected mechanical properties, giving it tailor-made characteristics for being combined with the continuous-fiber structures.

Co-developed by France-based automotive supplier Faurecia and Performance Materials Corporation, of Camarillo, Calif., the first prototype of the SUSCO seat was showcased at the Los Angeles Motor Show at the end of 2009; the revised prototype was on display at last year’s K Show in Dusseldorf, Germany.

“BASF’s new technology has helped us push our seat technology into the next generation of automotive seating,” said Thilo Ludewig, Faurecia’s vice president, research and development.

Faurecia anticipates the first serial seats hitting the road in about four years.

BASF Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.basf.ca; 1-866-485-2273 www.canplastics.com May 2011 Canadian Plastics 29

CPL May2011 p29 Design Ideas.indd 29

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view from the floor

Considering corona

By Jim Anderton, technical editor

O

ne of the appealing aspects of common thermoplastic resins as materials is that nothing much sticks to them.

Basically, it’s basic chemistry: Commodity thermoplastics are made up of cross-linked long-chain carbon molecules that don’t like bonding with the highly charged molecules that make up real world things like paint, ink and baby food.

That’s good for food packaging, and it made Tupperware a game-changer, but there’s a downside: sometimes we want to get things to stick, like ink.

OVERCOMING RESISTANCE So why are commodity thermoplastics so resistant?

Because the exposed surface of a resin part, sheet or film has a natural energy associated with it. In fact, all surfaces have a measurable amount of energy spread out over the surface like jam on toast. Why does it matter? Because nature always seeks to achieve the lowest energy state — so if we try to spread a film of a higher energy coating or substance, it’s repelled, because the coating presents a higher energy surface to the environment. Simple, right? If the energy mismatch is really large, the potential coating will resist

hard enough to form tiny, sphere-shaped droplets on the surface, nature’s way of enclosing a volume with the least surface area.

That’s why water will bead on a waxed car fender — the chemists who develop the wax create a big spread between the surface energy of the wax coating and rain water.

In our ink-on-plastic problem, however, it’s rarely cost-effective to create a specially tailored coating, so we do something to raise the surface energy of the resin sheet. The objective is to get the lower energy coating to do the opposite of beading: spread thinly and evenly over the surface.

We can raise the surface energy by disrupting a very thin layer of polymer molecules and getting the “broken ends” to bond to things like oxygen or ozone. A flame can do it, as can ionizing radiation and some chemical treatments.

IONIZED AIR, NOT BEER But the coolest technique, in my mind, is corona treatment. Not to be confused with watered-down Mexican beer, “corona” in this instance is a layer of ionized air that forms around conductors that carry a very high electric charge.

Leaky car spark plug wires are a source, and sometimes you can see them around high-voltage electricity towers. The blue glow of ionized air is really impressive around a corona discharge machine, but the interesting aspect of the process is that it not only zaps the resin surface, but the high charge state ionizes some of the oxygen in the air to form ozone which is — you guessed it — an abnormally high-energy, unstable molecule. It achieves its lower energy form by attacking anything handy, including the carbon-carbon bonds in polymer molecules.

This is a surface effect, so the bulk properties of the resin sheet aren’t affected. It’s as if you roughened up the surface of a painted board with sandpaper, making the top coat stick. Obviously it’s a little more complicated than that, but I love the idea that the charge both modifies the surface and makes its own oxidation agent as ozone.

And at 50 or 60 thousand volts, a corona discharge machine will keep you entertained, and keep your mind focused on the job at the same time. In other words, win-win!

CPL

JIM’S DEFINITION OF THE MONTH: Corona discharge

For complete product information Call Toll Free: Canada 1-800-263-1942 or VISIT OUR WEBSITE TODAY! BOOTH #2146

www.lorenz.ca

In electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor, which occurs when the potential gradient (the change in the strength of the electric field) exceeds a certain value, but conditions are insufficient to cause complete electrical breakdown or arcing. Corona discharge usually involves two asymmetric electrodes: one highly curved, and one of low curvature. The high curvature ensures a high potential gradient around one electrode, for the generation of a plasma.

30 Canadian Plastics May 2011 www.canplastics.com

CPL May2011 p30 View from Floor.indd 30

18/04/11 1:29 PM

Turn your Purgings into Profits.

(Savings)

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Stop throwing away money. Reclaim your purgings with Maguire’s unique PURGING RECOVERY SYSTEM™.

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Imagine what you could save in recovered purgings across your entire operation. You could easily pay for this unit itself within the first year. The Maguire Purging Recovery System runs about $30,000. Prior to this, size reducers would commonly cost about $150,000 per unit. So don’t throw away those purgings in some landfill, regrind them, recover those resin costs. It’s a new way to find money (savings) within your current system. A small outlay with a quick payback. And it’s the right thing for the environment.

The Purging Recovery System (PRS-20) is a unique, yet simple two-

stage process. The first stage takes awkward, large size purgings and planes them into small pieces, somewhat like a carpenter’s plane. Then stage two granulates them into highly uniform regrind ready for processing.

With nearly 150 patents in the U.S. and internationally, Maguire is committed to developing unique products and systems for plastic processing. It’s backed by a five-year warranty for your protection. This is another way that Maguire helps you find new profits in your plant.

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Maguire Products Canada, Inc ®

CPL May2011 p31 Maguire AD.indd 31

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YEARS OF

Customized series production. Milestones of the ALLROUNDER principle: Variety of working positions. Multi-component injection molding. Modularity. Automation. VARIO principle. Displaceable injection unit. Vertical and rotary table ALLROUNDERs. SELOGICA machine control system. Today: Unique range of technologies. Highly modular. Customized to meet any production

ARBURG, Inc. 125 Rockwell Road Newington, CT 06111 Tel.: +1 (860) 667 6500 Fax: +1 (860) 667 6522 e-mail: usa@arburg.com

www.arburg.us

requirements. The ALLROUNDER: 50 years of innovation. To be continued…

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 |

CPL May2011 p32 Arburg AD.indd 32

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