Wood-plastic composites | machinery feature Compounding and extruding
wood-plastic composites requires special equipment. We look at some of the latest developments
machines for the job
Since they first entered the decking market in the early 1990s, wood-plastic composites (WPCs) have steadily increased their presence. In this article we look at some recent developments in machinery for compounding and extruding WPCs. At AMI’s Wood-Plastic Composites 2011 conference,
which took place in Vienna in November, Battenfeld- Cincinnati demonstrated two different Fiberex extrud- ers as part of a co-extrusion line for WPC decking. The line included a Fiberex 92 as the main extruder
and a ‘space-saver’ Fiberex 38 as co-extruder, which offers an extremely small footprint. Tooling and material for the 160 x 30 mm, seven-chamber decking was provided by Beologic. Conference attendees witnessed the line running at 2.25 m/min, which is equivalent to about 400 kg/h. Battenfeld-Cincinnati says that co-extrusion is an important trend within WPCs, because it allows recycled grades of material to be used as a ‘core’ product. This can cut costs by around 25%. The materials loading equipment for the line was supplied by Woywod Kunststoffmaschinen with gravimetric feeding units from Brabender Technologie and ConPro. The downstream equipment, including the haul-off and cutting saw, was from Battenfeld- Cincinnati’s BaseBex series. Stephen Jones, European business manager at Cincinnati Milacron spoke at AMI’s Wood-Plastic
www.compoundingworld.com
WPCs: the right
Composites 2011 conference about production trends for WPCs and natural-fibre-reinforced compounds. He discussed the moves to increase the energy- efficiency of WPC extrusion lines through the use of the latest AC drives with higher power efficiencies and lower power losses. In addition, thermal barrel jackets and efficient heat shields are being applied to reduce energy losses as well as protecting heaters from contamination.
Jones also highlighted the growing use of foaming to
reduce the weight of WPC profiles by 30-50%, while ensuring the look and feel of natural wood products. He also discussed the increased lines speeds that could be
Above:
Battenfeld- Cincinnati
demonstrated a co-extrusion line for WPC decking at the AMI conference
Top: Cincinnati Milacron’s
TC86 “plug and play” system
February 2012 | CoMPouNdINg World 39
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