Canadian Plastics October 2014

CanadianPlastics www.canplastics.com

OCTOBER 2014

avoiding OV ER LOAD The right way to add raw materials conveying capacity

How to maximize HOT RUNNER performance Moldmakers tell all in our BENCHMARK SURVEY POLYKAR INDUSTRIES wants to make the perfect trash bag KILLING THEM SOFTLY The latest antimicrobials for plastics MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40069240

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contents

Canadian Plastics OCTOBER 2014 VOLUME 72 NUMBER 5

Things got a bit heated at a joint meeting of Canadian and American plastics industry execs held in Toronto in May 1959. As detailed in the June 1959 issue of Canadian Plastics, the meeting — which was actually a gathering of the U.S. Policy Committee of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) held in Canada so some of our own could sit in — was centred around ways and means of publicizing plastics. Some attendees believed that the SPI's annual technical conference should be used as a sales tool for the industry, complete with an advertising campaign in national newspapers; others argued the conference should remain a purely technical forum, period. The propublicity side won out, and voted to spend $75,000 of SPI funds for an ad blitz.

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©Getty Images/iStock

LOOKING BACK...

Number of the month:

$24.55*

* Average hourly wage paid to a mold shop worker in Canada.

(See pg. 24)

in every issue 4 Editor’s View: It’s time to drop interprovincial trade barriers 5 Ideas & Innovations: Seamless rear window feature is a visible game-changer 6 News: • Big order marks a big year for W. Amsler Equipment • Mexico’s Anipac joins North American Plastics Alliance • Supplier News & People 10 Executive’s Corner: Six steps to solve a problem 32 Technology Showcase 36 Plastics Data File 36 Advertising Index 36 Classified Ads 38 Technical Tips: • Why you should optimize barrel temperatures for barrier screws

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cover story 12 RAW MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT: No pain, just gain There's a right way and a wrong way to add capacity to your raw materials conveying system. You might be tempted to simply hitch more powerful pumps to your vacuum conveying tubes, but it's not that simple. Here's how to make sure your material handling system delivers the productivity you paid for. features 16 ADDITIVES & COLORANTS: Die hard They don't go easy, but harmful bacteria are slowly losing ground to the latest antimicrobials for plastics. PLUS: The hot consumer colors forecast for 2015.

20 HOT RUNNERS: Five tips for boosting performance Hot runners help injection molders deliver parts of uniform density, and free from all runners, flash, and gate stubs. But they're not exactly uncomplicated. Here's how to avoid being shut down by some of the most common problems.

24 MOLDMAKING BENCHMARK SURVEY: Talking shop The results of our latest moldmaking survey are in. Last year, our respondents reported a return to semi-prosperity as the auto industry accelerated. Twelve months later, we find out if they're still in gear.

28 DOING IT BETTER: Imperfect is not an option at Polykar Industries How a DIY solution to a plastic garbage bag shortage grew into one of Canada's leading PE blown film extruders.

Visit us at www.canplastics.com www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

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editor’s view

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.

It’s time to drop interprovincial trade barriers L ike it or not, most of the world is moving towards more expansive trade agreements and larger trading blocs.

And that includes Canada. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) signed between Canada and the European Union shows we can indeed reduce our international trade barriers.

So why the &*%$# can’t we drop interprovincial trade barriers here at home?

The Fathers of Confederation urged exactly that way back in 1867; as the Constitution stated, “All Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any one of the Provinces shall, from and after the Union, be admitted free into each of the other Provinces.”

It didn’t work out that way, and we’ve been living with these barriers — described by National Post columnist Peter Foster as a “crazy quilt...whereby trade is hampered by everything from Rube Goldberg trucking and dairy container regulations to outright bans on sales of beer and wine” — ever since.

“One hears continuous bleating from business-bashing policy wonks about the timidity of Canadian companies in launching onto the world stage, but that is perhaps less surprising once one realizes that they are often prevented from launching out into neighboring provinces,” Foster added.

Until now, possibly. The premiers of Canada’s three western provinces recently announced they’re going to review the remaining trade barriers between them as part of their New West Partnership. Canada’s federal government, meanwhile, has signified its own readiness to bring down interprovincial barriers through a new proposal called “One Canada, One National Economy: Modernizing Internal Trade in Canada”.

So everybody’s on board, right? Not 4

necessarily. The provincial government least enthusiastic about removing barriers is also — surprise! — one that’s flagging economically: that of Ontario.

In a way, it’s to be expected. Left-ofcentre governments such as those of Ontario’s Kathleen Wynne and U.S. president Barack Obama don’t like free markets, and are perennially prone to want to favor local companies against “outsiders” — witness the recent wailing from the Obama administration over Burger King’s “unpatriotic” takeover of Tim Hortons.

But by the law of unintended consequences, protectionism tends to make companies weaker — living off the taxpayer dime as opposed to innovating and becoming more productive.

Take Ontario’s experience with building wind turbines. The province chose to encourage Ontario’s wind turbine production industry through strong protectionist elements, not sourcing quality inexpensive components made in other parts of Canada. As a result, the cost of purchasing, erecting, financing and connecting a turbine currently runs about $2,500 per kilowatt of capacity, according to the Canadian Wind Energy Association — more than in virtually any other jurisdiction in North America or Europe, and far more expensive than in China or India.

And if companies from Ontario and other provinces can’t even compete on quality and price in their own country, you can bet they won’t compete effectively abroad. The path to plentiful, well-paid jobs is through innovating to produce things people want at prices they can afford, not the death-by-a-thousand-cuts of sheltering unproductive firms. Canada’s founders realized this almost 150 years ago when they advocated open trade across the nation. It’s about time we acted on it and knocked down our interprovincial barriers.

Mark Stephen, editor

www.canplastics.com EDITOR Mark Stephen 416-510-5110 Fax: 416-510-5134 E-mail: mstephen@canplastics.com 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 ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Greg Paliouras 416-510-5124 Fax: 416-510-5134 E-mail: gpaliouras@canplastics.com CIRCULATION MANAGER Anita Madden 416-442-5600, ext. 3596 Fax: 416-510-6875 E-mail: amadden@bizinfogroup.ca EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER Tim Dimopoulos VICE PRESIDENT, CANADIAN PUBLISHING Alex Papanou PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP Bruce Creighton HEAD OFFICE: 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto ON, M3B 2S9. 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 newspapers and business-to-business information services.

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Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

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ideas & innovations

Photo Credit:

Ford Motor Co

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Seamless rear window feature is a visible game-changer

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utes to vehicle weight savings, as the seamless power slider uses a lighter window control module that trims the system’s entire weight by nearly one pound.

“We designed the seamless sliding rear window to deliver not only a new look and improved functionality, but also to start a trend in the truck sliding window market,” said Troy Tooker, Magna’s design engineering manager. “With pickup sliders being one of our core products, we wanted to show our leadership and raise the bar on the new F-150.”

The 2015 F-150 is due in dealerships near the end of this year. Ford also is using the technology for pop-out windows on the new Ford Transit commercial van.

As did our old pal Godzilla, this designed-inCanada technology should put the fear into thousands of foreigners.

CPL

othing ruined those old Godzilla movies faster than seeing the zipper seam running down the back of the foam monster suit. Visible seams are almost never a good thing, in short, which is why Ford Motor Co. is excited about its new “seamless sliding rear window” feature developed by Aurora, Ont.-based supplier Magna International Inc. for the new 2015 Ford F-150 pickups.

The seamless design conceals the vertical seams that mark the edges of conventional pickup truck sliding rear windows, creating a smooth opening when viewed from outside. And the segment-first design might just set a new trend for power sliders by reducing component needs and improving overall functionality and manufacturing efficiency.

Standard sliding rear windows typically contain three pieces of glass — left and right panes that don’t move, plus the sliding portion in the middle — held together by a support structure that requires numerous components. It’s an elaborate apparatus that’s prone to rapid wear and tear. The seamless sliding rear window uses only two pieces of glass — the exterior surround and the sliding portion, reducing build componentry and complexity. The window’s opening is the same size as the outgoing design.

Aesthetics aside, the window’s two-piece design has numerous advantages — it has a heating grid for defrosting the rear glass even when the window is open (which isn’t possible with current rear windows on pickups), it seals better, reduces cabin noise, and keeps out dirt and water. The new design also contribwww.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

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news

T

Big order marks A BIG YEAR for W. Amsler Equipment

he Beatles sang “It was 20 years ago today” back in the 60s, turning twentieth anniversaries into big deals ever since.

Blow molding machine maker W. Amsler Equipment Inc. hit 20 this year, and promptly made the event a big deal of its own by landing one of its largest orders ever. Between September 2013 and March 2014, the Richmond Hill, Ont.-based company delivered five of its new L32 convertible PET stretch blow molding machines to PET bottle maker Triumbari Corporation, of Bolton, Ont. Amsler was founded in August 1994 by Swiss-born moldmaker and blow molding technician Werner Amsler. Currently numbering 20 employees in a 17,000-square-foot plant, the company manufactures reheat stretch blow molding machines and auxiliary equipment for blow molders of PET containers for the beverage, personal care, household products, detergent, chemicals, and food industries; and also supplies complete turnkey blow molding systems and filling lines.

The firm has accumulated more than a few steady customers in both Canada and the U.S. over the past two decades, but its relationship with Triumbari is turning into one of those beautiful friendships they told us about in Casablanca. “Triumbari first approached us in 2010, looking to replace an older MagPlastic Machinery blow molding machine, and we sold them a two-cavity unit,” said Heidi Amsler, the company’s sales and marketing manager. “They’ve been coming back to us ever since to replace Mag-Plastic and ADS blow molders.”

And they came back most recently for Amsler’s latest machine offering. Designed for custom blow molders of PET containers with small to medium-sized requirements, the three-cavity L32 blow molders sold to Triumbari are the successor units to Amsler’s two-cavity stretch blow molding machine, although the latter are still being built. “The L32 machines are all-electric and feature servo-driven electric stretch rods rather than the pneumatic type,” Heidi Amsler said. “At a rate of 3,600 two-litre bottles per hour, the machine produces 50 per cent more containers than a two-cavity unit.

Heidi Amsler with an L32 convertible PET stretch blow molding machine.

It can also be used to run one-cavity and two-cavity molds for production of five-litre and three-litre containers, respectively.

Neck sizes range up to 48 mm.”

With the same compact footprint as a two-cavity, the L32 can replace a conventional two-cavity unit for only a slight upcharge, she added.

As the L32s attest, Amsler isn’t showing any signs of rust two decades in. The company also recently acquired its first CNC milling machine, which means it no longer has to get all its machined parts from outside vendors; and is finalizing a contract with the above-mentioned former competitor MagPlastic Machinery, which stopped building blow molding machines in 2011. “We will be providing service for the Mag blow molders, and we will have a new service technician from Mag who is transitioning over to Amsler,” Heidi Amsler said.

The service agreement covers Canada and the U.S., she said.

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Werner Amsler is still being innovative at the helm — he picked up an Innovator of the Year award from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association in 2010 for his efforts — and the second generation of Heidi and brother Jason Amsler are surging on the administrative and technical fronts, respectively.

The next Beatles-inspired landmark for the firm to hit?

Quite possibly “When I’m Sixty-Four”.

CPL

Extrusion pioneer, Welex co-founder Frank Nissel dies

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rank Nissel, an extrusion pioneer who cofounded processing machinery maker Welex in 1966, passed away on August 28 at age 88.

Born in Germany, Nissel emigrated to the U.S. in the 1940s, began his career in plastics in 1946 with Union Carbide, and then co-founded Welex 20 years later. His collaboration on co-extrusion with leading packaging producers in Europe and Japan led to its prevalence in those markets and ultimately in North America. Similarly, collaboration in Japan with a pioneering EVOH barrier

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packaging producer resulted in innovations that made their way to North America in the early 1980s, when the first successful barrier container was produced.

Nissel was awarded patents in the U.S. and 13 other countries, and authored over 50 technical articles and papers on extrusion and co-extrusion.

He was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2000, and retired from the industry in 2010.

Welex was bought by York, Pa.-based Graham Engineering Corporation in 2013.

CPL

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

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news

Mexico’s Anipac joins North American Plastics Alliance

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or its third birthday, the North American Plastics Alliance (NAPA) got a new member. Founded in 2011 by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), and the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (SPI), NAPA has now been joined by the Asociación Nacional de Industrias del Plástico AC (Anipac), the leading plastics association in Mexico.

According to CPIA president and CEO Carol Hochu, NAPA was formed to better leverage each association’s individual programs through enhanced cooperation among alliance members, with four areas in particular to be targeted.

“We wanted to promote better understanding of plastics’ benefits, to encourage public policy that supports the growth of the plastics industry, to facilitate increased recycling and recovery of plastics’ stored energy content, and to extend wide-scale adoption of the Operation Clean Sweep pellet containment program throughout North America,” she said.

And they haven’t been wasting time. “CPIA representatives joined with ACC and SPI in Washington for the plastics industry ‘fly-in’ in July, demonstrating the cross-border nature of the North American industry,” Hochu said. “Representatives from seven plastics associations, along with 111

member company participants, went to Capitol Hill to meet and discuss key issues with elected officials. In total, we met with 122 members of Congress, enhancing our industry’s profile in the capital and underscoring our contributions to jobs and sustainability.”

The three associations also are involved in specific projects like energy recovery, as well as the general exchange of ideas. “In Edmonton, we’re working together to determine if adding more non-recycled plastics to a system that converts waste to gas improves efficiencies and results in better synthetic fuel products,” Hochu continued. “And this fall, SPI will coordinate a meeting of North American plastics recycling association leaders to share best practices on plastics recycling and determine how to work more closely together in the future.”

And with Mexico now on board, NAPA has that much more clout. “With Anipac, NAPA is now a truly North American entity,” Hochu said. “NAPA pledges to help maximize the industry’s post-recession resurgence through cross-border cooperation and leveraged resources to enhance opportunities for the plastics industry and its products in the U.S., Canada, and now Mexico.”

CPL

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www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

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news

SUPPLIER NEWS

PEOPLE

— Vancouver, Wash.-based Shaw and Christler Equipment Technologies LLC has been appointed as manufacturers’ representatives for processing machinery maker Sumitomo (SHI) Demag for British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Shaw and Christler principal and 40-year plastics industry veteran Jim Shaw recently received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Columbia Chapter of the Society of Plastics Engineers for his work helping molders in the Northwest and with the Society Chapter.

— New Berlin, Wis.-based auxiliary equipment maker ACS Group has appointed Paul Grekowicz as vice president of marketing and Paul Grekowicz Frank Kavanagh Masaaki Michishita product development.

— Aston, Pa.-based auxiliary equipment supplier Maguire Products Inc. has appointed Frank Kavanagh as vice president of global sales.

— Strongsville, OhioJun Akimoto Michael Uhrain Michael Urquhart based processing machinery maker Sumitomo (SHI) Michael Uhrain as its technical sales manager Demag has appointed for packaging.

Masaaki Michishita as its — Michael Urquhart, formerly vice president of international sales manager global sales for packaging systems with Bolton, for the company’s North Ont.-based Husky Injection Molding Systems, American operations, Jun has joined the sales team for the upcoming Akimoto as its international NPE2015 trade show, focussing on sales of field sales associate, and exhibit space to the packaging industry.

Jim Shaw

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executive’s corner

Six steps to solve a problem

By Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D., Majorium Business Press

E

ffective problem solving in a complex world and in times of uncertainty requires that managers use a systematic approach rather than their intuitive judgment alone — an approach that ensures managers consider all aspects of an issue before making decisions.

It helps to break the decision making process down into bite-sized components.

Once the problem has been identified, framing allows you to structure it in the proper context, identifying the resources and potential solutions. But watch out for the common pitfall of creating a bias toward one solution over another by framing the problem in a particular way. Try to keep an open mind.

1) IDENTIFY PRIMARY ISSUES

Gather facts and information to clearly define the extent of the problem and point to the causes. But be careful not to discount information that challenges your perceptions and personal biases. The key to information gathering is to go about it in a systematic manner that allows facts and data to be developed in an organized fashion.

Too often, problems are treated as symptoms rather than as root causes, which means they aren’t tackled effectively.

To avoid this misstep, identify the actual causes and the degree of difficulty involved in resolving the issue. If it’s not identified properly, a manager can waste valuable time and resources on inapplicable solutions.

2) FRAME THE PROBLEM “Framing” is another word for structuring the problem.

3) GATHER INFORMATION

4) IDENTIFY AND PRIORITIZE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS As information and data are organized, correlated and analyzed, a series of possible solutions should begin to emerge. Once this list has been created, examine the feasibility of each in regard to time, cost, ease of use, satisfaction, and any other important criteria. Solutions should then be ranked from best to worst.

5) AGREE ON THE SOLUTION The ideal solution is the one that’s acceptable to all parties.

The top one or two potential solutions should be considered and modified to meet the needs of all concerned. A win-lose solution may be expedient, but will create ill will in the long-term. Whenever possible, always go for the winwin solution that everyone can agree on.

6) ASSIMILATE THE LESSONS

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Finally, assimilate the lessons learned from the situation and to refer back to them when a similar problem arises.

This may require you to periodically spend several hours, once or twice a year, to review those decisions and their subsequent impact and ramifications on your business.

With manufacturers under more and more pressure to produce in today’s world, problem solving skills are taking on heightened significance. Getting a solution right the first time gives you a big edge.

CPL Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D., is the author of the 125 books, including “Great! What Makes Leaders Great,” which was selected by Forward Review magazine as one of the top 10 career books published in 2011. He is also the founder of Major­ium Business Press publishing house. Visit www.major­ iumbusinesspress.com for more.

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

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raw materials handling equipment

NO PAIN, JUST GAIN When adding capacity to your raw materials conveying system, there’s a middle ground between the DIY non-solution of just hitching up a more powerful pump and the nuclear option of tearing out and replacing your existing structure.

Here’s how to find it.

By Mark Stephen, editor

T

here are good expansions and bad expansions. Loosening your belt another notch because your middle age spread keeps spreading is the bad kind.

Adding capacity to your raw materials conveying system because your plastics processing business is growing? Yes, please.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it the wrong way. You might be tempted to simply attach more powerful pumps to your vacuum conveying tubes, but it

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Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p12-15 Raw Mater.indd 12

Photo Credit: The Conair Group

14-09-16 12:03 PM

raw materials handling equipment

doesn’t work like that. “Everyone thinks that conveying is dirt simple, but it’s not,” said Doug Brewster, conveying product manager for the Conair Group. Pumps have to match the diameter of the conveying tube, or else the material will move too fast or not fast enough. There’s also an optimum distance that pellets or regrind flake can be conveyed without frictional damage or lost efficiency. And there are an optimum number of hoppers or bins that can be loaded for a given size conveying system so that the machines don’t run out of material.

It’s a lot of information to factor in, which is why a good first move is to consult a conveying system specialist.

“First, there are some basic questions to ask about the existing conveying setup: what size vacuum pump is being used; what diameter conveying and vacuum lines; what resins are being moved; what type of control panel is in place, and is it expandable; and is the conveying system already at full capacity?” said Brian Davis, general manager of Maguire Canada. “Second, we’ll need information about the expansion: how many new processing units or lines are being added, where will they be placed relative to the existing equipment, and how many new pounds per hour in total are going to be added to the conveying load; what is the new conveying distance; and what are the resin types being added, and where will they come from — Gaylords or super sacks?”

will degrade your material quality, and also create backpressure from forcing air into a smaller diameter opening, which can reduce the life of the pump.”

Luckily, you have some options here. The MVP series of MaxFlo vacuum pumps and the UVP series of UltraVac vacuum pumps from Novatec are designed to convey more material over longer distances — up to 1,000 equivalent feet or more — than conventional pumps, with no need to increase line size, the company said. MVP and UVP pumps allow the expansion of the system through higher throughput, conveying distance or conveying to multiple destinations with a single pump. Both are designed as cost-effective solutions if the alternative is to tear out your existing system.

If too much conveying speed is a bad idea, trying to convey pellets over too great a distance with one vacuum pump isn’t so bright, either. “Depending on the complexity of the resin, we usually limit the conveying distance to between 350 and 400 feet before recommending an intermediate resin storage bin and another pump,” said Brian Davis. “It’s an easy fix assuming the processor’s control panel has the capacity to add another pump and station; if not, they may have to buy another station.” And don’t forget, distances between pumps are also affected by the height of the conveying system, the configuration, the number of elbows, the number of load and unload points, and even the kind of hoppers used on the processing machines.

PUMP IT UP

MATERIAL ISSUE

Sizing the vacuum pump incorrectly to the existing system or to the new requirements is usually problematic. “If the vacuum pump is too big for the existing pipe, the pellets can travel too fast, resulting in angel hair, fines, and streamers — perhaps enough to clog tubing elbows or hoppers,” said Rob Miller, president of Wittmann Canada. That’s obviously a situation to avoid, but replacing conveying tubing to match a larger pump is a heap of trouble and expense that any processor would also be happy to dodge. And replacement may not be necessary in small systems. “If the capacity expansion only requires a rate increase of 20 per cent or less, it’s possible to increase the pump size without having to increase tubing diameter,” said Jim Zinski, vice president of system design for Novatec Inc. “Generally speaking, you can upgrade from a 3-hp pump to a 5-hp without difficulty because both work efficiently with a 2-inch outside diameter conveying tube.” But pumps of 7.5 hp and higher are efficient with only one tubing diameter. “Above 7.5 hp, the rule of thumb is that increasing pump capacity by one typical size increment requires 0.5-inch larger diameter for conveying tubes — for example, a 7.5-hp pump matches a 2.5-inch OD tube, a 10-hp pump goes with a 3-inch OD tube, and so on,” said Keith Larson, product manager of material handling for AEC Inc. “Connecting a 10-hp pump to a 2-inch conveying line without slowing the pump down

So far, so good. But what about resin? Since resin type affects the intervals at which pumps are located and the distances material should travel in an ideal conveying tube layout — and because you can’t always predict what materials you will be using in the future — it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have installed a resin-neutral conveying layout in the first place. But whether you did or didn’t, resin type should be considered when planning the expansion, since frictional damage varies by material type. “A good rule of thumb is a maximum conveying distance of 500 feet with rigid materials like HDPE or PP using conventional positive-displacement pumps and two-stage regenerative blowers,” said Doug Brewster. “Soft, squarecut flexible PVC is much more difficult to convey, with overall conveying rates dropping off by over 50 per cent at 200 feet. LLDPE requires more careful planning due to the lighter bulk density and a tendency to smear. Longer pumping distances must be calculated individually based on terminal velocity and overall system design.”

On the other hand, the growing use of repelletized resins shouldn’t be a big cause for concern. “As long as they’re sourced from traditional resins, repelletized materials aren’t inherently more difficult to convey than virgin materials, and shouldn’t further impact the capacity expansion,” said Jim Zinski. www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

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14

raw materials handling equipment

As every processor knows, a conveying system should always be designed with as few elbows as possible. One benefit of expansion is the ability to reconfigure an existing system so as to remove elbows; and those elbows that can’t be removed can be enhanced to handle higher conveying throughputs without degrading the material by replacing them with special flow-lined or spiral-groove tubing or products. And go easy on the flex hose. “Flex hoses can actually create more frictional loss in the system — and thereby reduce your conveying rate — than elbows,” said Keith Larson.

Finally, the sizes of the hoppers and the conveying system must also be properly balanced. The system loads only one hopper at a time, and must be able to fill each one before any of them runs dry.

In the end, however, it’s a hard truth that any conveying system can only be stretched so far — and if yours wasn’t designed with enough expansion in mind, or if the new machines have entirely different material handling requirements, it might just be simpler to consider a major rework. But the silver lining is that, if your original conveying system wasn’t designed to handle future growth, you’ve just been given a do-over: the chance to upgrade your equipment with systems that are much more friendly to expansion, and much easier to use and control. “Rebuilding your facility’s conveying system, even in stages, gives you the option of installing new tubes and other hardware, as well as state-of-the-art technology like Wittmann’s M7-IPC network control, which has been designed to facilitate expansion and increase efficiency,” said Rob Miller. “These investments will save you a lot later on when it’s time to expand again.” Or consider the FLX material handling control system from Conair: Developed for plastics processors who want a simple, entry-level material handling system that can grow with them, the FLX is now available in an even larger configuration to serve up to 128 loaders and 40 vacuum conveying pumps, Conair said.

Because adding still more capacity might just be part of your long-term plan, right?

CPL RESOURCE LIST AEC Inc. (Schaumburg, Ill.); www.aecinternet.com; 847-273-7700 EquiPlas (Toronto); 416-407-5456 Auxiplast Inc. (Ste-Julie, Que.); www.auxiplast.com; 866-922-2894 The Conair Group (Cranberry Township, Pa.); www.conairgroup.com; 800-654-6661 Dier International Plastics (Unionville, Ont.); www.dierinternational.com; 416-219-0509 Industries Laferrière (Mascouche, Que.); www.industrieslaferriere.ca; 450-477-8880 Maguire Canada/Novatec Inc. (Vaughan, Ont.); www.maguirecanada.com; 905-879-1100 Barway Plastic Equipment Inc. (Vaudreuil-Dorian, Que.); www.barway.ca; 450-455-1396 Wittmann Canada (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 905-887-5355

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p12-15 Raw Mater.indd 14

14-09-15 10:46 AM

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additives & colorants

DIE

By Mark Stephen, editor

M

icrobes may be nothing more than tiny single-celled organisms, but they’re harder to kill than Rasputin. They’re resilient enough, in fact, that scientists have revived them from fossils more than 250 million years old. They also like to multiply, doubling in number every 20 minutes under the right conditions.

And while microbes have their benefits — we can thank their fermentation mechanism for beer and wine, for example — in a hospital environment they’re deadly. In Canada alone, up to 10 per cent of hospital patients acquire post-operative microbe/bacterial-related infections, resulting in thousands of deaths annually.

Sounds like a very good reason for the medical industry to increasingly turn to antimicrobial plastics for applications that can protect against pathogens while remaining cost-effective.

Antimicrobials are added to plastics for two primary purposes: as an active biocide to kill germs, and as a biostabilizer/preservative for the plastic. The difference? Plastics with active biocides are often formulated for use in implantable medical devices and items with known high infection potential such as catheters. The basic requirements for antimicrobials used as either biostabilizers or active ingredients are low toxicity to humans, animals, and the environment; compatibility with processing aids and other additives; and — needless to say — no negative impact on the properties or appearance of the plastic article.

There’s no doubt that antimicrobials will continue to play an increasing role in protecting plastics from damage by microbes — but it’s worth asking which types of antimicrobials. The chemistries used for biocides compounded into plastics have been undergoing major changes since the 2013 phase-out in Europe of the traditional workhorse biocide, oxybisphenoxarsine (OBPA), due to concerns about toxicity. OBPA is still currently allowed in Canada and the U.S., but for how much longer is anybody’s guess.

HI-YO, SILVER

There’s a proven successor antimicrobial material to OBPA 16

already in place: silver. Silver and most silver compounds are toxic for bacteria, algae and fungi by inhibiting the essential functions of the cell walls and interfering with the functions within the cells. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, since silver-based antimicrobials require higher concentrations to be effective against fungi and algae, they’re not particularly costeffective alternatives to OBPA for traditional plastic protection.

But with the pressure on to replace OBPA — just in case — the use of silver-ion antimicrobials is nevertheless growing in medical applications. And material suppliers are stepping up with new silver-based formulations. BASF, which offers Irgaguard silver-ion antimicrobials for industrial applications, supplies fully compounded polymer systems containing medical-grade, silver-ion releasing HyGentic additives for medical applications. Grades include HyGentic SBC (styrene butadiene copolymer), HyGentic PA (glass-filled nylon) and HyGentic SA (acrylic modified PS); custom formulations can also be developed in a wide range of plastic materials. And the company is currently developing products that provide added functionality beyond antimicrobial performance — for example, a PU compound with both anti-thrombotic and antimicrobial performance for vascular access devices is in advanced development.

PolyOne Corporation’s WithStand antimicrobial additive solutions, available since 2010, are targeted for medical devices, medical packaging, and other healthcare applications. Last year, PolyOne launched Smartbatch HC additive concentrates, which combine WithStand antimicrobials and OnColor HC colorants for healthcare applications.

Also last year, Clariant added Sanitized MedX silver antimicrobials to its line of Mevopur masterbatches for medical applications. The materials, which can be combined with pigments, are targeted for such applications as catheters, surgical instruments, and preservative-free pharmaceutical packaging.

Plastics Color Corporation (PCC) recently introduced its silver-

©cuteimage/Getty Images/iStock

HARD

They don’t go easy, but harmful bacteria are slowly losing ground to the latest antimicrobials for plastics.

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

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additives & colorants Precept International Inc.

©cuteimage/Getty Images/iStock

RESOURCE LIST

Americhem Inc. (Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio); www.americhem.com; 330-929-4213 BASF Canada (Mississauga, Ont.); www.basf.ca; 866-485-2273 Clariant Masterbatches Canada (Toronto); www.clariant.masterbatches.com; 800-265-3773 Plastics Color Corporation (Calumet City, Ill.); www.plasticscolor.com; 800-247-7428 PolyOne Canada Inc. Distribution (Mississauga, Ont.); www.polyone.com; 905-405-0003 Sabic Innovative Plastics (Toronto); www.sabic-ip.com; 800-323-3783

VYNAMON ® Yellow The pigments of choice for your needs VYNAMON ® Yellow 118001 & VYNAMON ® Yellow 115002 VYNAMON ® Yellow 118001 is the perfect greenish yellow pigment for the general use in plastics. Its resistance against migration and shrinkage allows the use in all injection moulded goods and it exhibits good properties in all types of PVC. VYNAMON ® Yellow 115002 the medium shade yellow with good lightfastness is designed for high performance plastics application including spin dyeing of polyamide and polypropylene fibers.

O rg a ni c P i g me n t s

ion based MicroBlok antimicrobial compounds, targeted for medical devices and medical packaging applications, as well as consumer markets. “MicroBlok is engineered into resins during our compounding process, eliminating the need for secondary steps and additional material modifications on the customer’s part,” said Tim Workman, PCC’s vice president of business development technology. “The product line is custom-blended in a wide variety of resins, including TPU, PC, ABS, PP and PE. MicroBlok is appropriate for virtually any molding or extrusion application, and can be custom-formulated for any special manufacturing process.”

In 2013, Sabic Innovative Plastics launched nine new antimicrobial compounds featuring silver technology, each of which has been tested for log reduction values according to ISO 221962007. Five of the grades provide a high antimicrobial effect with log reduction values above 4, representing more than a 99.99 per cent reduction in pathogens, the company said; the other four compounds have a lower antimicrobial effect with log reduction values below 4, representing a 99.0 to 99.99 per cent reduction in pathogens. The new grades are based on the four Sabic resins that are most commonly used in medical devices: Lexan EXL copolymer, Lexan PC, Xenoy PC/PBT, plus PP resins with and without glass fibre reinforcement. Target applications include fluid and drug delivery systems, surgical instruments, and monitoring and imaging devices.

But not quite every new antimicrobial is silver-based. Americhem Inc. recently developed the nShield line of antimicrobial masterbatches in partnership with additive supplier Life Material Technologies. Targeted for use in sanitary applications for kitchens, bathrooms and other functionalities, the product line complies with statutes from the Environmental Protection Association in the U.S. and the Biocidal Products Regulation in Europe. “The nShield masterbatches offer good compatibility with transparent polymers like PC, acrylic, SAN and ABS,” said Life Material’s chief executive Tom Ellefsen. “In addition to sanitary ware, our antimicrobial additive technologies are appropriate as antifungal agents in high-temperature and transparent polymers, as well as plastics used outdoors. Products are also available for nylon and polyester fibres, as well as products that allow for an ultra-low letdown rate.”

So is the battle against the omnipresent microbe being won? Not exactly, but when it comes to eliminating them as sources of hospital-acquired infections, we may finally be slugging our way towards a draw.

CPL

250 Trowers Road, Unit 12 Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 5Z7, Canada Phone 905-856-6010 Email customerservice@precept.ca

www.heubachcolor.com

www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

CPLOct2014 p16-19 Additives.indd 17

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additives & colorants

By Mark Stephen, editor

A look at tomorrow’s hot palettes today

AMPACET CORPORATION Ampacet’s AmpaVision 2015/16 color forecast is here, with four primary consumer product color themes identified.

Race the expectation

“Business models are being retooled to meet the demand for nearly instant delivery of goods, which is forcing marketers to explore new and innovative means of advertising for their brand,” said Linda Carroll, Ampacet’s color insight manager. “‘Requisite Red’ reflects consumer desire, ‘On-Demand Ochre’ is meant to appeal to the consumer of the future, and ‘Gratified Green’ reflects the repositioning away from physical retail buildings to online shopping.”

Seeds of change

“Designed to highlight how technological innovations continue to redefine what it means to be human, ‘Connected Cobalt’ reflects the desire for grounding, ‘Covert Carnelian’ is a gold shimmer that reflects revolutionary change, and ‘Sanded Singularity’ is a neutral that captures the blurring of people and their devices,” Carroll said.

competition of the global economy, and the adoption to new financial models by the developing nations that enables them to gain control of their futures,” Carroll explained. “‘Golden Glimpse’ reflects the optimism of Europe, and ‘Blue on the Brink’ is a shimmer that reflects the desire for trust and stability in North America and Latin America.”

Live2Live Clusterflux

“Our global society is in a state of flux, and colors that reflect this are ‘Beleaguered Blue’, which captures identity protection; ‘Perplexed Puce’, which reflects the search for stability; and ‘Temporal Teal’, which reflects a restless culture,” Carroll said.

Carroll also noted that, while blues and greens are still the most popular consumer colors, they come with a twist these days.

“Ampacet has tweaked its blues and greens to reflect more contemporary attitudes,” she said. “When underlaid with silver, for example, they become futuristic.” And anyway, it might not even be about pure color anymore. “Today’s consumers are almost jaded about color, and the positioning of color has become the bigger consideration for product makers across all categories,” she said. “Positioning vibrant colors can create the illusion of movement, for example, such as bright colors on vehicle dashboards and bright safety trim-outs on sports clothing.”

CLARIANT MASTERBATCHES Now approaching its tenth year, Clariant’s annual ColorForward directions are the result of collaboration between plastics color specialists from around the world — and, as with Ampacet, ColorForward 2015 zeros in on four societal/color trends.

Global transformers

Tune In Space Out

“These are colors that reflect the fierce

Meant to represent a world in which peo-

18

ple are becoming increasingly anxious about the future, the colors that represent this theme “are both other-worldly, including shades of orange and red representing the wind-blown sands of Mars, deep-space black, life-sustaining watery greens and blues, and calming grays of life on Earth,” Clariant said.

Designed to represent the so-called Millennial Generation — those born in the years between 1980 and 2000 — who tend to have high levels of self-esteem and a bit of an entitlement mentality, these colors are described as “playful and whimsical”: bright yellow and optimistic blues, grayish green, and warm reds.

Redefining Eden

“Distinctions between genders are beginning to fade and there is fluidity in relationships that allows for same-sex marriage, stay-at-home dads, and career-driven women,” Clariant said. “Barriers are breaking down in the world of color as well, as masculine blues soften, delicate pinks become unconventionally warm, and neutral beige and gray/purple hues fill in the middle ground.”

Raw

Meant to capture a popular urge for “a more primal state of being”, these are the extreme colors to go with a wider variety of “extreme” goods. “Blood red and a bright blue are superimposed in this palette on top of earthy, primal colors like a vegetal green and mud brown,” Clariant said.

CPL RESOURCE LIST Ampacet Corporation Canada (Kitchener, Ont.); www.ampacet.com; 519-748-4654 Clariant Masterbatches Canada (Toronto); www.clariant.masterbatches.com; 800-265-3773

Image courtesy of Ampacet Corporation

T

hink it’s painful to bet wrong in Vegas and drop a week’s salary? Plastic product makers who get it wrong about tomorrow’s color trends could lose it all.

Which is why an accurate color trend forecast comes in mighty handy. With staffs of color trend experts and consumer surveys up the wazoo, colorant makers are trying to determine today what the hot product colors will be tomorrow. Will they bet right? It’s too early to tell, but here are the hip hues and themes that some suppliers are going all-in on.

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p16-19 Additives.indd 18

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5

hot runners

TIPS

for boosting

HOT RUNNER performance Hot runners help injection molders deliver parts of uniform density, and free from all runners, flash, and gate stubs. But they’re not exactly uncomplicated.

Here’s how to avoid getting hung up by some of the most common problems.

By Mark Stephen, editor

to heat. Solution? Soft start. “I recommend that molders always use a temperature controller with a soft start function when starting up a hot runner system,” Photo Credit: Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc. said Dave Boxall, owner of Ewikon ot runner systems were first developed and came into spo- Molding Technologies Inc. “Soft start circuitry protects the radic use in the early 1960s, with generally negative results. heaters by making sure any moisture that may have gotten in They’ve become far more reliable over the years and the de will be baked out during a slow temperature rise before higher facto standard for multi-cavity molds, but they haven’t become temperatures are applied.” any less complex: They have to maintain the plastic material But be aware that, while many hot runner controllers offer soft within them heated uniformly, while the rest of the injection start, not all are created equal. “Molders should investigate the mold is being cooled to solidify the product quickly. With a lot of method used by the controller to deliver soft start, and be wary of moving parts — systems usually include a heated manifold, a inferior methods,” Boxall added. “Ewikon offers a range of hot number of heated nozzles, and a temperature control system — runner controllers that have superior soft start capabilities.” it’s no surprise that more than a few molders struggle to maximize their hot runner performance. We asked some system suppliers for tips on avoiding the most common errors.

Detecting a hidden hot runner leak in the early stages can save substantial downtime and repair costs. The root cause of the vast majority of material leaks is a process temperature that exceeds A potential problem from the literal word go is having moisture the levels for which a hot runner system was designed. “When in the heaters, which can play havoc as the system is brought up excessive thermal expansion exerts pressure on the system,

1

H

LIMIT RESIN LEAKAGE

GIVE ‘EM A “SOFT START” 20

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

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hot runners

2

something’s got to give — often, components shift position, leaving room for a leak,” said Craig Kovacic, hot runner manager with DME Company. The use of compression nozzles versus threaded nozzles can be an advantage, he said, because they leave room for absorption of the expansion without placing stress on the components, which helps avoid leaks and lessens the risks of component failure over time. “Molding machine nozzle tips that aren’t properly centred in the manifold nozzle seat also can cause costly material leakage,” Kovacic said. To check your nozzle centering, he suggests, try the following: Place a sheet of paper between the tip and the seat of the hot runner, move the barrel forward so that the nozzle tip makes contact with the seat, and then look at the paper — if there isn’t a clean circle cut, adjust the carriage as necessary.

WATCH OUT FOR THERMOCOUPLE FAULTS

3

Small diameter thermocouples typically used in hot runner systems are easily damaged or pinched during mold disassembly. In a worst-case scenario, pinching at a point away from the heated zone can cause serious damage. The good news? More advanced controllers have functions to diagnose thermocouple problems and overcome faults using various strategies. “State-

of-the-art controllers incorporate a safety feature which detects the lack of correlation between power output and temperature rise, and cuts the power with a relay before any damage is done,” Mold-Masters Ltd. said. “Slave mode can be employed if a thermocouple becomes an open circuit, or unreliable in duplicating the power output of any adjacent zone. There are also various auto slave features available that allow for seamless operation in the event of a thermocouple fault without resulting in downtime.” Moreover, additional wiring diagnostics software can detect various heater and thermocouple faults, as well as keep a record of heater performance that can be used for comparison on tests at a later date.

“A basic control system that allows probes, due to their low mass, to reach setpoint well ahead of the manifolds, can clamp down the expanding assembly, which can cause long-term wear, increasing the possibility of leakage in the future,” Mold-Masters said. “Depending on the hot runner design, various modes available can either bring all zones to the setpoint together, manifolds first, then probes — or a sequential process that heats pre-defined groups of zones one group at a time.”

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• Learn to process and troubleshoot from “the plastics point of view” • Learn to document the process so that it can be repeated (Machine Independent Set-Up) • Learn how these principles can provide a common language for your technical staff • Participate in an on-machine lab demonstrating these concepts • Experience unique videos, animations and training aids – visualize the message

november 4-6, 2014 At wittmann Battenfeld’s facility: 35 leek Crescent richmond hill, on l4B 4C2 Fee: $1,675 (USD) per person Includes a comprehensive instruction manual, lunches, beverages and snacks. Free parking Register at:

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www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

CPLOct2014 p20-23 Hot Runners.indd 21

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hot runners

4

5

bling from hot runner nozzles, typically caused by either gas or material trying to escape the constraints of the nozzle. “Gas bubbles are a sign of a hot spot in your manifold causing material off-gassing,” said Craig Kovacic. “If the gases can’t vent properly, they’ll bubble out of the nozzle tips.”

Strictly speaking, this might not be a hot runner problem at all — it’s more likely caused when the molding machine isn’t set to your material manufacturer’s recommended temperatures. “In addition to keeping your system at proper temperatures, maintaining a flat thermal profile is the key to avoiding this issue,” Kovacic said. If unused material is drooling out of a hot nozzle tip, decompression of the injection cylinder may be necessary.

“This involves decreasing the pressure on the screw, which creates a vacuum that sucks any unused material back out of the nozzle until the next cycle,” Kovacic said. Be careful, though, as too much backpressure can cause air pockets to form.

president of NitroJection Corporation. “How often this should be done varies with each system, but a rule of thumb is, don’t mess with new hot runners until something bad happens.”

What’s the earliest sign that something bad has happened?

“The biggest Achilles’ heel for almost every hot runner system is a leak caused by encapsulation, with the leak usually appearing in the fit between the back of the nozzle and the manifold,” Johnson said. “And when the molder does have to disassemble the hot runner system — either to fix a manifold leak or for any other reason — they should pay close attention to what they’re doing, and especially take photos and good notes.”

D ON’T JUMP THE GUN ON MAINTENANCE

RESOURCE LIST DME of Canada Ltd. (Mississauga, Ont.); www.dme.net; 800-387-6600 Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc. (Rockford, Ill.); www.ewikonusa.com; 815-874-7270 Mold-Masters Ltd. (Georgetown, Ont.); www.moldmasters.com; 800-387-2483 NitroJection Corporation (Chesterland, Ohio); www.nitrojection.com; 440-729-2711

You probably knew there was a preventative maintenance tip coming, but there’s a twist to this one: The problem is actually caused by doing too much PM, too soon. “Some molders disassemble and clean their new hot runner systems before it’s necessary or as a matter of routine practice,” said Steve Johnson,

In the end, hot runners remain complex devices, and there are more ways to screw them up than these five. That’s why the best tip of all is to contact your system supplier if you get in over your head.

CPL

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moldmaking benchmark survey

The results of the sixth annual Canadian Plastics’ Moldmaking Benchmark Survey are in.

Last year, our respondents reported a return to semiprosperity as the auto industry accelerated.

Are they still in gear 12 months later? Let’s find out.

By Mark Stephen, editor

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK As per usual, most of the respondents this year — 81% — are located in Ontario, with 38% in the Toronto area, 19% in Windsor, and the rest spread throughout the remainder of the province. The remaining 19% are in Quebec.

When asked how many employees work at their plant, answers varied from 110 to two. Almost 50% of this year’s respondents are with firms that employ 45 or more workers. The average respondent employed 47 workers, compared to an average of 62 workers in 2013 and 59 in 2012 — perhaps indicating that more of the shops that are around today are automating wherever possible. The average hourly wage this year is $24.55, a very slight uptick from the 2013 average of $22.35 per hour, but also down slightly from the 2012 average of $25.41 per hour.

The majority of respondents — 72% — said they manufactured molds and dies for injection molding applications, down from 78% last year. Thirty-three per cent this year make injection molds/stack molds, 26% make blow molds, 24% make die cast molds, 19% make injection molds/ unscrewing molds, 19% make reaction injection molds, 14% make structural foam molds, and another 14% make vacuum forming molds.

24

Compared with 2013, the 2014 responses reveal a slight but noticeable shift in the manufacturing habits of the respondents. Last year, 73% of respondents made molds for the auto industry; this year, 82% do the same. Seventy per cent of respondents this year said they make molds for consumer goods and houseware products, down slightly from

PROJECTION FOR BUSINESS CONDITIONS FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS (n=20)

Good 54%

Fair 25%

6% Excellent

Poor 15% Bad 0%

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p24-27 Moldmaking.indd 24

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moldmaking benchmark survey

73% in 2013. Seems like the see-sawing fortunes of the automotive industry are continuing.

Also, 38% of respondents this year supply molds for packaging applications, and 24% supply molds for electrical applications. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, the number of moldmakers making molds for the supposedly booming medical industry dropped this year: Thirty-three per cent of respondents this year make molds for medical applications, compared to 53% in 2013 and 52% in 2012.

Eighty-two per cent of this year’s respondents offer custom machining, down slightly from 92% last year, but almost on par with the 85% in 2012. Also, 88% offer mold cleaning and repairing, compared with 76% last year. Seventy-eight per cent this year reported having an EDM facility, a bump up from 61% with EDM last year. Here’s a bigger change: this year, only 60% provide mold polishing, compared to 77% last year. Also this year, 54% reported offering CNC duplicating, and 49% perform engraving works. Almost 30% of this year’s respondents have in-house mold testing or try-outs, compared to 23% last year and 28% in 2012.

expected “fair” results, and 15% reported fearing either a “poor” or “bad” outcome. Last year, a similar 6% expected excellent conditions, 53% expected good conditions, 40% expected fair conditions, and nobody thought they were in for a poor or bad year.

Asked for their average machine utilization rate for the past 12 months, 20% reported using 80% or more of their equipment, 65% reported using between 60% to 79% of their machinery, and 15% used 59% or less. Last year, 28% used 80% or more, and 11% reported using 59% or less, so not much seems to have changed in this regard.

Turning to quotations for new business, the numbers have shifted compared to last year’s results, which bodes both good and bad. Twenty-six per cent of respondents this year reported quoting for moderately or substantially more business than in 2013, down from the 40% last year who quoted more than in 2012. Another 54% of respondents this year said they placed the same approximate number of quotes as last year — a big bump from the 27% reporting the same number of quotations in 2012. Meanwhile, 20% reported a moderate to substantial quoting decrease compared to 2013, which is exactly similar to the 20% of respondents reporting a moderate to substantial quoting decrease last year.

RFQ’s are all well and good, but quotes that result in actual new business are obviously where the real money is.

THE BUSINESS OF PREDICTING BUSINESS Asked for a prediction of business conditions over the next 12 months, only 6% of respondents expected an “excellent” year ahead, 54% expected “good” conditions, 25%

Down substantially 0%

The survey, consisting of 33 questions, was emailed in August 2014 to approximately 160 moldmakers across Canada in the Canadian Plastics database.

We received 22 completed surveys.

10

54%

CNC duplicating

15

82%

Custom machining

14

78%

EDM facilities

9

49%

5

28%

4

24%

8

47%

11

60%

16

88%

9

49%

4

24%

100

Up substantially

WHAT SERVICES DOES YOUR PLANT OFFER?

80

6%

Down moderately 20%

60

Up moderately 20%

40

Same 54%

Response count

20

(n=20)

0

CURRENT QUOTING ACTIVITY VS. THE SAME TIME LAST YEAR

(n=19)

Engraving In-house mold testing & try-outs Injection molding of parts Jigs & fixtures manufacturing Mold polishing Mold repair & cleaning Prototyping SLA modeling

To view the full survey results, go to http://www.canplastics.com/survey/archives/ CPL2014MoldmakersSurveyResults.pdf www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

CPLOct2014 p24-27 Moldmaking.indd 25

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moldmaking benchmark survey

100

80

60

40

20

0

WHAT MARKETS DO YOU SERVE?

(n=19)

Response count

Aerospace

4

24%

3

20%

Appliance

15

82%

Automotive

13

70%

Consumer goods & housewares

4

24%

Electrical & electronic

6

33%

Medical

0

0% Oil & gas

7

38%

3

20%

Sporting goods

3

20%

Toys

4

24%

Yo gr

Packaging

Other

This year, 30% of respondents said that 50% or more of their quotes wound up winning the contracts — up from 11% saying the same thing last year. Another 20% said they were successful between 21% and 50% of the time, and the remaining 50% reported getting the contract 20% of the time or less.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY When it comes to buying new moldmaking machinery, the respondents were clear — and for the fourth year in a row, a fair number are in a buying mood. To be precise, 50% are looking to part with some cash, although this is down from 62% last year. Another slight fall-off is that 72% will be on the hunt for new equipment exclusively this year, compared to 84% in 2013. The rest are willing to consider either new or pre-owned.

Digging a bit deeper, 45% of this year’s respondents will be buying to add new capacity — compared to 58% last year — and the rest are looking to replace existing equipment.

On the training front, 30% of this year’s respondents report allocating 2% of annual budgeted expenses for employee training, 25% spent 1% on training, and an obviously ultra-safe and efficient 20% invested 3% or more.

Which leaves 25% who reported having no expenses at all set aside for training in 2014, compared to 6% with exactly zero set aside for training last year.

When it comes to research and development, the spending continues steady. Fifty-five per cent of this year’s respondents will invest 3% or more of their annual budgeted expenses on R&D, compared to 71% last year. On the other hand, 20% will make no R&D investments in the next 12 months, compared to zero respondents saying the same last year.

CPL 26

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p24-27 Moldmaking.indd 26

14-09-15 10:35 AM

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CPLOct2014 p24-27 Moldmaking.indd 27

14-09-15 9:53 AM

doing it better

By Mark Stephen, editor

Polykar Industries Inc. Imperfect is not an option How a DIY solution to a plastic garbage bag shortage grew into one of Canada’s leading PE blown film extruders.

W

hen you think of do-it-yourself jobs, chances are someone like TV’s Mike Holmes and his one-man home renovation industry pops into your head. Not to pick on him or anything, but Saint-Laurent, Que.-based PE blown film extruder Polykar Industries Inc. has a DIY back story that makes the Holmes on Homes crew look like they’re just fiddling around changing light bulbs.

A leading manufacturer of PE film, garbage bags, certified compostable bags, and bulk food packaging in Canada, family-owned Polykar was founded in 1987 when spouses Elyse Damdjee and Aziz Karim — then working as distributors of janitorial products — had trouble getting an adequate supply of trash bags. So they decided to make their own instead. “They had no technical or manufacturing background, and simply bought an extruder and converting equipment and jumped right into the PE bag making business,” said Amir Karim, Aziz and Elyse’s son and Polykar’s vice president of business development. “It really was a classic entrepreneurial move, and it nearly ended in failure as they struggled to learn the business of making plastic bags. But they worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week until they understood the industry, and the business 28

has been growing ever since.”

Fast forward to today, and Polykar has 80 employees working on 10 extrusion lines and 15 converting equipment machines in a 75,000-square-foot LEEDcertified building, and reports annual sales of about $30 million. The company sells to distributors of sanitation products, food products and packaging across Canada, and is a supplier to major buying groups that include Adapt, Balpex, Colabor, Dissan, Itwal, and Wood Wyant.

And it’s also in the midst of taking what might be its biggest step since that very first extruder purchase: an $8 million investment in its manufacturing facility that will expand the floor space by 40 per cent to 105,000 square feet; add a new Wind-

moeller & Hoelscher (W&H) Optimex three-layer blown film line to its equipment arsenal; hike productivity in making trash bags, especially for certified compostable bags; and increase the sources of scrap PE film for conversion to film and bags.

TAKING IT PERSONALLY The expansion comes 27 years after Polykar was founded — a near threedecade run that has seen some big changes at the company and also some areas of continuity. “Like many entrepreneurs with little capital, my parents were perfectionists, obsessed with achieving manufacturing efficiency and flawless product quality — to the point where they took any defect in their trash bags as a personal insult,

Left to right: Elyse Damdjee, Amir Karim and Aziz Karim of Polykar.

All photos and images courtesy of Polykar Industries Inc.

An artist’s rendering of the completed expansion.

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p28-31 DoingBetterV2.indd 28

14-09-15 10:37 AM

doing it better

.

ada to have both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certifications, all obtained in 2003. And Amir Karim himself was appointed chairman of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association last year.

And all the while an internal transition has been underway at Polykar, albeit gradually. “As any manufacturing company diversifies and grows, some of the decision making becomes very technical in nature, and in our case my parents have learned to rely on a new generation of input,” Karim said. “Like many entrepreneurs, they’re workaholics, but naturally there is a succession plan in place.”

which led them to develop a near-phobia about having product returns,” Karim said.

“The lesson learned by our long-term workers, and by myself, is to make high quality bags as efficiently as possible, and this is still our guiding principle today.”

Not that anyone would be allowed to forget. “My parents are still very involved in the business on a daily basis handling internal operations,” Karim added.

With its bedrock values in place, Polykar has been free to adapt in order to meet a changing marketplace. “When I joined Polykar in 2001, the company was extruding six million pounds of film per year, all of it for trash bags; today, thanks to our loyal staff on the floor and in the front office, we’re at 30 million pounds before the expansion, and divide our business between manufacturing trash bags, industrial packaging and food packaging, and reselling PE film to converters for food packaging applications,” Karim said.

“The business has changed dramatically largely because our founding product, trash bags, is probably the most commoditized product in the plastics industry, and the most competitive. It’s very difficult to generate the margins that enable a company to reinvest and grow, which has forced us to diversify.”

Along with successful diversification, Polykar has netted a few accolades over the years, including three consecutive gold seal awards from Recyc-Quebec’s “ICI ON RECYCLE!” program for attaining a record 98.6 per cent recycling rate.

The company is also, according to Karim, the first plastic bag manufacturer in Can-

SCRAP STRATEGY Polykar’s expansion is targeted for completion by the end of 2014 and, according to Karim, is designed to achieve two key objectives: to position the firm to remain a market leader in its core business, while making an important foray into the packaging sector. “For 27 years we’ve been very successful in selling monolayer films, and all of our extrusion equipment has always been monolayer,” Karim said. “But when we conducted a recent survey of our clients, 82 per cent of them asked us to get into more complex films with higher performances and tighter tolerances. The W&H line will be our first three-layer line, and will allow us to make more complex films, and a greater variety of them.” The W&H Optimex three-layer blown film line

SMELLS MINTY, REPELS RODENTS

©Alexey Ilyashenko/Getty Images/Thinkstock

All photos and images courtesy of Polykar Industries Inc.

The new W&H Optimex three-layer blown film line.

— the 100th Optimex unit sold by W&H, incidentally — is Polykar’s first investment in W&H technology, and is expected to be in production by autumn 2014. “We went with W&H because it’s the gold standard in co-extrusion equipment, and it gives us added credibility as multi-layer film makers,” Karim said. Among the new markets the co-extrusion line will open are specialty food packaging made by outside converters, he added. To this point, the company has been supplying PE film to the food sector for bulk packaging.

The expansion also aims to increase the sources of scrap PE for conversion to film and bags. Polykar has been using high quality reprocessed PE film since 2009, and now wants to access and use commercial and institutional scrap film. Why? “Most of the firms that make trash bags rely on buying post-industrial recycled material — rejects from other plastics companies that are recycled — but the problem is that the availability of post-industrial material is declining, as more companies reuse more of their own scrap,” Karim said.

“The next natural source for material is post-commercial/institutional film scrap, and this is what Polykar is going to go after.

But post-commercial/institutional film scrap has more contaminants to separate — primarily labels — which is why we require new equipment that allows us to reprocess it in an efficient way. There is comparatively little competition for this

Looking to solve the problem of rats, raccoons and other critters tearing open your garbage?

Last year, Polykar nailed down the exclusive Canadian rights to produce and sell Mint-X trash bags for the institutional and commercial markets. The product is designed as a solution to infestation problems facing building owners, housing authorities, food service providers, and municipalities. The bags contain an all-natural, mint-scented fragrance disliked by rodents, but which is safe for humans and their pets.

“The Mint-X garbage bag is the only product of its type approved by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Authority to reduce the number of bags torn by rats and raccoons,” Amir Karim said. “It’s one of the most exciting innovations our industry has seen in decades, and it was a real coup for Polykar to secure the manufacturing and sales rights for the Canadian industrial market.” www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

CPLOct2014 p28-31 DoingBetterV2.indd 29

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14-09-15 10:37 AM

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material, so we won’t pay premium prices for it. It’s another way to remain competitive in the trash bag sector.”

Karim said the expansion will create about 15 jobs, ten of which will be on the manufacturing side — the first real changes to a remarkably stable workforce in years.

“An advantage of being situated in Quebec is that it’s a province with low employee turnover,” he explained. “Most of our workers have been with us from the start, and have grown up with our corporate culture of making high quality bags as efficiently as possible.” A quick stroll around the shop floor will show you one result. “Polykar doesn’t employ quality control personnel,” Karim said. “An operator making a certain product on a certain shift is responsible for the quality of that product, period, and has full authority to scrap as much of a production run as they think necessary if they believe it doesn’t meet specification.”

As Polykar nears the three decade marker, the Karim family is taking steps to ensure it will be around for a lot longer.

“I’ve seen many family-run companies that haven’t gone beyond that first generation because they failed to — or were unable to — invest, then became uncompetitive, and then were bought out,” Karim said. “Our hope is that we position ourselves to be a company that will survive, and thrive, by being able to take on new opportunities.”

Not bad for what started out as a DIY CPL adventure.

S T

© Copyri

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p28-31 DoingBetterV2.indd 30

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14-09-15 10:38 AM

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CPLOct2014 p28-31 DoingBetterV2.indd 31

14-09-15 10:04 AM

technology showcase

AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Redesigned segmented wheel dryers

The latest addition to its Drymax dryer series, Wittmann’s redesigned Aton plus segmented wheel dryer has a new user interface that allows the operator to get an overview of all drying parameters.

A weekly timer to control the automatic start-up and shut-off of the dryer contributes effectively to reducing energy consumption. Additional means of saving energy include features such as the optimization of the regeneration phase by what’s known as the “3-save process,” and automatic selection of the drying method in the “EcoMode.”

The configuration of the components inside the Aton plus has been left unchanged, including the access to the filter elements and the way to replace the desiccant. The filter can be reached easily from the outside, and changing the molecular sieve is very simple after lifting off the lid. Only the filling needs to be replaced, not the entire segmented wheel.

Whenever the facility to control material loaders and the advantages of a touch display can be dispensed with in

32

practice, the wheel dryer model Aton basic is available as an alternative.

Dryers from the Aton plus series are available in several different sizes, and can be supplied with dry air capacities of 30 m3 per hour, 70 m3 per hour or 120 m3 per hour for material throughput rates of up to about 70 kg per hour.

And via the touch display, the latest-generation FEEDMAX S3 net material loaders can also be visualized and controlled. Frequent climbing onto the processing machine has thus become unnecessary, constituting a real improvement in operational safety.

Wittmann Canada (Richmond Hill, Ont.); www.wittmann-canada.com; 905-887-5355

Liquid-operated variotherm temperature control The Single ATT temperature control unit from Single Temperature Controls Inc. is an individually configured system solution for liquid-operated variotherm temperature control of injection molds, compression molds and other mold types, that allows variations in temperature of more than 100°C in critical areas or in complete molds when combined with suitable mold inserts.

In order to achieve this, the Single ATT system operates with two separate circuits that contain thermal fluid with a different temperature. Both ATT circuits contain the same fluid. Water is recommended for temperatures of up to 200°C, the company said, while oil is suitable for applications that operate with temperatures of up to 300°C. The unit’s circuit-based control system is equipped with up to four external valve stations for switching the two circuits from bypass mode to mold temperature control mode.

User-defined time setting and free selection of maximum or minimum temperatures per mold section allow the energy consumption of the temperature alternation process to be optimized. And signals for the switch-over from cooler to warmer medium are transmitted by the machine control via programmed I/Os according to process requirements.

The units also offer fast alternation between heating and cooling circuit thanks to hydraulic switching; energysaving temperature-controlled feeding of return fluid into the corresponding circuit; easy operation with a touchscreen control; connection to standard molds; and rugged, powder-coated steel sheet housing.

Single Temperature Controls Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.); www.single-temp.com; 704-504-4800 John Morrison, regional sales manager; 519-820-4217

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 32

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technology showcase

INJECTION MOLDING

Intuitive gesture machine control On display for the first time in Canada at the Expoplast 2014 trade show in Montreal, the new CC300 machine control from Engel is designed to offer intuitive operation, simple navigation, and smart user interface design, making operating even highly integrated and automated injection molding systems simpler, safer, and more comfortable.

Using the same intuitive gesture controls found in smartphones, the CC300 has state-of-the-art control logic with self-explanatory navigation and personalized configuration — user-specific information is stored for each operator, basic information about the movement just performed is available without changing screens, and more detail is quickly and easily accessed on the next menu level.

The control also allows superior robot integration: Both the Engel viper linear robot and the Engel easix multiple axis robot are fully integrated into the control unit, allowing control and monitoring of the entire manufacturing cell through the injection molding machine’s control panel.

Other features include an ergonomic design, offering automatic personalized configuration of panel angle and height by login with touchless RFID access card; functional and attractive control hardware that reflects information and views of individual screens based on user-defined tasks; a premium 21-inch multi-touch HD display for excellent light contrast in any light conditions and from all angles; and a resilient, soil-resistant touchscreen made of safety glass.

Engel Canada (Waterloo, Ont.); www.engelglobal.com/na; 519-725-8488

BLOWN FILM

Seven-layer line excels in lightweight film production

A new seven-layer blown film line available from Davis-Standard LLC features next generation technology for manufacturing precise lightweight barrier films ranging from 0.80 mil to 10 mil in thickness.

The seven-layer co-extrusion system features in-line web-f lattening capability, necessary for precise films used in lamination and con-

version operations. The Vertex die configuration includes high volume IBC airflow, and is expandable to nine layers.

The machine is configured with two sets of winders to produce small diameter rolls for hand carrying and large diameter rolls for converting.

SLC surface winders with full shaft handling enable production of mill rolls up to 40 inches (1,016 mm) in diameter.

The Model 1750 turret winder with swing-out shafts produces the small reels, and the system operates in trimless mode.

The line also features the capability of direct recycling by converting excess plastic film to reusable resin pellets.

Davis-Standard LLC (Pawcatuck, Conn.); www.davis-standard.com; 860-599-1010 Auxiplast Inc. (Ste-Julie, Que.); www.auxiplast.com; 866-922-2894

MOLD COMPONENTS Clamping fixtures offer increased productivity Hasco’s new A8001 clamping fixture is designed for costefficient clamping of standard system plates (K-plates and ejector plates), shortened setup times during the clamping process, and increased productivity of processing machines.

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www.canplastics.com October 2014 Canadian Plastics

CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 33

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14-09-15 10:08 AM

technology showcase

Precision bored positioning holes permit both rapid and secure variable clamping of different mold sizes with very high repeat accuracy. Horizontal and vertical processing of all the standard mold dimensions can be carried out without any problems.

Positioning/locking washers used in conjunction with a special expanding collet system ensure that a frictionlocked and keyed connection is achieved through the system holes, and that the plate to be processed is securely positioned even when intensive machining is carried out with high load limits.

In conjunction with specially designed distance elements, processing can be conducted on five sides from just a single clamping position. Sealing plugs prevent undesirable metal chips from making their way into the unused positioning holes, thus avoiding the need for elaborate cleaning during mold changeover. User-friendly handling is ensured through colored sealing plugs, which indicate the hole positions for commonly used positions, and separately equipped plug-in modules for accessories, which are sorted according to system diameter.

With corrosion-resistant clamping plates in stainless steel and DLC coated functional elements, minimal wear is guaranteed, as well as a long service life for the system.

Hasco Canada Inc. (Toronto); www.hasco.com; 888-244-5110

PURGING COMPOUNDS

Purge more plastics with one product

New from the Dyna-Purge division of Shuman Plastics Inc., Dyna-Purge D2 is said to be a breakthrough purging technology that enables users to purge more plastics with just one product.

The new compound is designed to deliver ease of use through its innovative scrubbing formulation and wider processing temperature range, making it well-suited for injection molding, extrusion, and blow molding applications.

Dyna-Purge D2 features a “triple action” technology that thoroughly cleans and removes material from the screw and barrel as well as the tool or die — and with a temp eratu re range of 350°F to 625°F (177°C to 329°C), the material is effective at purging virtually all resins with consistent and reliable results.

According to the company, an independent study demonstrates that Dyna-Purge D2 is more effective than mechanical (abrasive) and chemical purging compounds, and results in faster cleaning and less downtime.

The product can be used without processing adjustment or mixing.

Shuman Dyna-Purge (Buffalo, N.Y.); www.dynapurge.com; 866-607-8743

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34

Medical elastomers provide alternatives to PVC Three new thermoplastic elastomer wire and cable compounds from Teknor Apex Company combine the rubber-like durability and flexibility valued by hospital and clinical professionals and the high degree of purity required for meeting stringent medical standards.

Medalist 8421, 8431, and 8451 elastomers can be used for insulation, jack-

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 34

14-09-15 10:09 AM

S

O

His decision to cut energy costs by 70% with LED high bay lighting was a great idea.

And a great start.

Once you start seeing the benefits from our incentives for installing high efficiency lighting, you’ll want to look into making other areas of your business like HVAC and compressed air systems more efficient too. When you do, you’ll be joining companies like Air Liquide, Ropack Pakaging and Owens Corning who are already enjoying the savings that our programs deliver.

Take a look at their stories and our incentives at

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Subject to additional terms and conditions found at saveonenergy.ca. Subject to change without notice.

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CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 35

14-09-15 10:09 AM

technology showcase

eting, and molded fittings and connectors. They have Shore A hardness levels of 92, 69, and 82, respectively, a flammability classification of HB (UL-94), and a maximum continuous operating temperature rating of 105°C

plastics data file Wittmann Innovations

Innovations — Wittmann’s quarterly newsletter — offers plastics processors detailed insight into ways to improve their businesses with news and application stories covering Robots and Automation, IML, Injection Molding Machinery, Material Conveying, Drying and Blending, Granulation and Temperature Control. It is available in print and on-line.

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

(UL-1581). The three compounds retain high levels of tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation after autoclave, gamma irradiation, and EtO sterilization. They are resistant to the cleaning solutions commonly used in medical facilities.

The new TPEs are analogs to specific Elexar non-medical wire and cable compounds from Teknor Apex and provide comparable properties, but they are manufactured in an ISO-13485 facility dedicated to Medalist medical elastomers.

Medalist 8421, 8431, and 8451 compounds pass ISO10993-5 cytotoxicity testing; are RoHS- and REACHcompliant; and are free of animal-derived materials, phthalates, and latex proteins.

Teknor Apex Company (Pawtucket, R.I.); www.teknorapex.com; 800-556-3864

classified ads

To place your classified ad here, contact: Greg Paliouras, Associate Publisher at 416-510-5124 or gpaliouras@canplastics.com

advertising index Advertiser AceTRONIC Bulk Tech Inc Canadian Plastics CanPlastics TV videos Conair Erema North America Inc. Ewikon Export Development Canada Hamilton Plastic Systems Harmo America Inc. HEUBACH GmbH IMS Maguire Products Canada Maruka Toyo

36

Page

Website

32-33 www.acetronic.com 10 www.bulktech.ca 38 www.canplastics.com back cover www.conairgroup.com 7 www.erema.at 26 www.ewikon.com 15 www.edc.ca 34 www.hamiltonpsl.com 14 www.harmo-america.com 17 www.heubachcolor.com insert at 13 www.imscompany.com 19 www.maguirecanada.com 30 www.marukausa.com

Advertiser

Page

Website

NPE2015 27 www.npe.org Novatec 31 www.novatec.com Ontario Power Authority 35 www.powerauthority.on.ca Piovan 11 www.piovan.com/newidentity Plastic Process Equipment, Inc. 9, 39 www.ppe.com Process Heaters Inc. 22 www.processheaters.ca Progressive Components 32-33 www.procomps.com Scientific Molding seminar 21 http://www.canplastics.com/seminars.aspx Shred Tech 5 www.shred-tech.com Sorel Forge 8 www.sorelforge.com University of Waterloo 2 https://uwaterloo.ca/ co-operative-education-career-action/ Windsor Mold Expo 37 www.windsormoldexpo.com Wittmann Battenfeld 23 www.wittmann-canada.com

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 36

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CPLOct2014 p32-37 Tech Show.indd 37

14-09-15 10:10 AM

technical tips

Why you should optimize barrel temperatures for barrier screws

By Timothy Womer, TWWomer & Associates LLC

E

xtruder operators often don’t compare the barrel zone temperatures to the recommended processing temperature for the resin being run. It isn’t uncommon to see extruder barrel temperature zones set lower than the desired melt temperature, which means that control of the extrudate temperature is totally dependent on screw geometry and the viscous heat developed from shear generated by channel depths, flight clearances, and screw speed.

This is especially problematic when the extruder is using a barrier-type screw, which are commonly used in most extrusion processes, and which need finer tuning of barrel temperature zone profiles.

Studying the heat zone layout and how the zones are located in relation to the different sections of the screw will help deter-

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38

mine the proper zone settings. The general configuration of a single-screw extruder with 24:1 to 30:1 L/D and a barrier screw is to have a feed section, barrier section, and metering section, with a total of five temperature zones.

Starting with the die, both the die and adapter zones should be set at the resin manufacturer’s recommended melt temperature. The cast-iron feed throat section of the extruder should then be set to a temperature which is warm to the touch (110°F to 120°F). This is warm enough to help preheat the material as it enters the extruder, yet cool enough to prevent bridging in the feed throat.

A good way to monitor feed throat temperature is to install an immersion thermometer in the return line of the feed throat cooling water. The immersion thermometer can be fitted by installing a “T” fitting in the line. Place a globe valve after the thermometer to keep the water chamber of the feed throat full and eliminate cavitation of the system.

STICK-SLIP CONCEPT The first barrel zone that should be set is zone 1, which has the most effect on solids conveying of the resin. Three coefficients of friction (COF) take place in that zone: friction between barrel and pellet, friction between pellet and pellet, and friction between the root of the screw and pellet.

The main theory of solids conveying is that the resin must stick to the barrel and slip on the screw. So cooling the root of the screw will reduce the COF between the steel of the screw and the plastic pellets.

Screw cooling should always be installed in the core of the screw in the feed section to give the operator another zone of temperature control on the extruder.

Now zone 1 can be set to a temperature that will maximize solids conveying of the resin. Zone 1 should be set approximately 10°F to 25°F below the resin supplier’s suggested melt temperature, or 10°F to 25°F below the adapter and die zone settings.

For most polyolefins, zone 1 should be set between 300°F and 400°F. The higher the final recommended melt temperature for the resin, the higher zone 1 can be set. It should be set as high as possible without causing bridging in the throat. With sufficient cooling in the feed throat casing, higher temperatures can be set in zone 1.

It takes energy to melt plastic, so zone 2 should be set between 125°F and 175°F higher than zone 1. This elevated zone temperature will not cause a higher melt temperature because the resin is still in pellet form at this point, but a higher temperature in this zone will put more energy into the resin and help melt the polymer.

Energy can be imparted to the resin via mechanical energy from the screw or energy from the heaters. Introducing large amounts of energy via the barrel heaters in the rear of the extruder normally will reduce the drive-motor load or amperage.

Temperatures in the remaining zones should be set in evenly declining steps between zone 2 and the final metering zone. For example, in an extruder with five zones, if there is a 60°F difference between zone 2 and zone 5, then zone 3 will be set 20°F below zone 2, and zone 4 will be 20°F below zone 3, leaving a final 20°F drop to zone 5.

Proper setting of barrel temperatures will also help reduce screw and barrel wear, which can be caused by forcing cold resin into the barrier section of the screw. For example, a flat temperature profile for PP won’t reduce resin viscosity enough to pass through the barrier section.

Too high viscosity then causes high barrel pressures, which accelerates screw and barrel wear.

CPL Timothy Womer is a recognized authority in plastics processing and machinery, and was inducted in the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2012. He runs his own consulting company, TWWomer & Associates LLC. He can be reached at 724-355-3311; tim@ twwomer.com; or www.twwomer.com.

Canadian Plastics October 2014 www.canplastics.com

CPLOct2014 p38-40 TechTips.indd 38

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