At K2016, Illig demonstrated an IC-RDML 70 line with 18-up mould
machinery feature | Thermoforming The project began in 2008. When the decision was
made to use thermoformed plastic walls and roof, Nortec-Cannon – the Cannon agency in Europe’s Northern countries – was consulted by Safeman for the supply of an industrial solution that could provide a large enough volume of parts. The suggested thermoforming solution aimed to
produce a totally trim-less panel – so that no peripheral scrap was generated, contributing to the economy and environmental friendliness of the process. The plant, supplied by Cannon Ergos, includes
automatic equipment to thermoform the panels, and is capable of producing 1m components per year.
Labelling advances At last year’s Thin Wall Packaging Asia conference, Thomas Cagnazzo, area sales manager for Illig Maschinenbau, told delegates that thermoforming is becoming a more popular choice when making thin-wall packaging with in-mould labelling (IML). IML has traditionally been used in combination with injection moulding: a decorative label is placed into the mould, then the package – such as a yoghurt cup – is moulded over it. This produces a highly decorative package that requires no printing step, and can be recycled if label and substrate are the same material. The combination of the techniques can also reduce manufacturing costs. Cagnazzo revealed details of an Illig study, compar- ing the manufacturing costs of a 500g polypropylene Euro tub with PP label – using either a 500 tonne injection moulding machine with eight cavities, or an Illig IML-T line with 12 cavities. (The IML-T line combines IML with thermoforming.) In each case, the production run was 70m pieces per year. Cagnazzo said that while a thermoforming machine
was twice the cost of an equivalent injection moulding machine, a smaller cycle time and more efficient use of materials meant that the production costs for IML-T were 15% less than for injection moulding. As well as part weight and production costs, he also
Illig says that its IML-T
system can cut costs by 15% compared to injection moulding
pointed to advantages in lower tool maintenance costs and better barrier properties. Overall, he said that IML-T offered more flexible
decoration – such as in terms of adding wraparound designs to a package. It was also suitable for most shapes of package, and was compact and flexible. “It also offers the shortest
possible tool changeover times,” he added. At last year’s K2016
exhibition, Illig showcased its 24 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | March 2017
IML-T line under production conditions. Illig says it is the only machine manufacturer that
can offer IML-T with all relevant, optimally synchro- nised technology modules from one source. At the show, it combined its IC-RDM 70K automatic roll-fed machine – which has a forming area of 680 x 300mm – with its RDML 70b IML unit, to illustrate the IML-T technology. The 18-cavity tool has an hourly output of around
17,280 rectangular polypropylene cups. They were decorated in high quality on all four side walls and the bottom directly during forming.
K2016 launches Unsurprisingly, many other machinery manufacturers launched new or improved models at K2016. OMV introduced its RM77, a fully automatic, in-mould trimming thermoforming machine that has a revolving mould. The machine’s tools are made of three semi-moulds
– a female and two males – placed on the same vertical axis. The female half operates at full cycle speed (start position to end position and back), while the two male halves complete their cycle every two cycles of the female half. The formed material remains in the cavity for an extra cycle, which improves part quality. Having two cavity sets allows for the increase in production speed. Featuring a single delivery point, OMV integrated a simple stacking and part-handling system into the new machine. RM77 has a large forming area and high cycle speed. It is designed to produce 174,000 cups per hour when producing 71mm diameter PP drinking cups. OMV says it is the first machine to break the barrier of 50
cycles per minute with PP cups. The machine can process a wide
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