technology | Polymer foam
KraussMaffei Berstorff offers customers use of this Schaumtandex lab line for trials in production of polystyrene foam (XPS) insulating board, pipe and foils. As the name implies, Schaumtandex systems feature a tandem configuration comprised of a ZE Series twin-screw compounding extruder, which carries out plasticising and homogenisation of the polymer and additives (including blowing agent), connected directly to a KE single-screw extruder for final production. The lab line, which uses a ZE40 compounder coupled to a KE90 extruder, is capable of an output of around 100 kg/h; the largest commercial line the company has supplied uses a ZE 130 and KE 400 combination to process around two tonnes of XPS each hour. ❙
www.kraussmaffeiberstorff.com
Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, said the organi- sation is developing extruded foams based on polylactic acid (PLA) and cellulose acetate, as well as bead foams based on PLA and different cellulose esters. Rapp said the main focus of the work is to develop raw materials, formulations and processes to bring prices down and technical properties up to the level of existing systems (he said the bio-based nature of the systems is not enough to guarantee commercial success). Rapp highlighted the development of cellulosic bead
foams for potential application in building insulation. Materials have been developed with flame retardancy meeting the DIN 4102 B2 level and demonstrator parts up to 1,400mm x 1,400mm x 50mm are available. Various bio-based extruded foam boards are also in advanced development, he said. Bangaru Sampath, Global Technical Marketing
Figure 4: Properties of BASF Ecovio EA particle foam
Manager for Biopolymer Packaging at BASF, introduced a new expandable and partly bio-based and fully biodegradable particle foam for protective packaging applications. The particle foam beads are produced in the company’s Ecovio resin, a blend of PLA with BASF’s own Ecoflex PBAT fossil-based biodegradable polymer. Ecovio EA expandable beads can be handled and stored just as EPS. They are said to be foamable using standard EPS prefoamer and shape-mouldable using commercial EPS/EPP machines (with the additional advantage that less energy is required in the process). Heat insulation performance is said to be similar to EPS.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.sabic.com ❙
www.crayvalley.com ❙
www.utoronto.ca ❙
www.imerys.com ❙
www.reedychemicalfoam.com ❙
www.clariant.com ❙
www.polyfilcorp.com ❙
www.bergeninternational.com ❙
www.kcd-weimar.de ❙
www.akzonobel.com ❙
www.basf.com
Dates set for Polymer Foam 2017 The Polymer Foam 2016 conference took place in Cologne in Germany in November last year
. Dates have
already been set for the fifth Polymer Foam conference, which will take place on 28-29 November 2017, also in Cologne. T
or exhibition opportunities at Polymer Foam 2017, or to buy a copy of the Polymer Foam 2016 documentation, contact Conference Organiser Kat Langner
. Email
kl@amiplastics.com; Tel: +44(0)117 314 8111 72 COMPOUNDING WORLD | January 2017
www.compoundingworld.com
o find out more about attending, speaking, sponsoring
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