TECHNOLOGY | REACTIVE COMPOUNDING
This specially modified twin screw extruder with easy-open clamshell barrel is used for reactive extrusion research at IKT
Bottles blow moulded in PLA modified using reactive extrusion at IKT
In the next stage of the work, selected PLA types
Right: This TEX25αIII twin-screw extruder is one of three units available for reactive extrusion trials at the JSW European technical centre
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were chemically modified using reactive extrusion with a multifunctional epoxide and then character- ised. In all cases, the epoxide generated a partly cross-linked polymer structure. “The acid value and the thermal stability of the PLA especially deter- mined the reaction process of the additive with the PLA” Pagel says. “However, secondary reactions can occur, which in turn can affect the later stages of the foaming process under certain conditions. The obtained compounds could be already processed to bottles via blow mouldings well as to foams with comparable properties to PS.” With reactive compounding technologies being applied to so many diverse applications, it is very difficult to identify market or material trends. At compounding extruder producer Coperion, Chemical Applications Business Segment Manager Oliver Beiser says that business in the reactive extrusion sector is quite inconsistent in terms of volume on a month-to-month basis. There are some indications, however, that as the circular economy takes shape and the need to use recycled plastics in high- performance applications grows, reactive compounding may provide an important solution to the problem. Whatever the final application, Beiser says the common underlying theme of customers is a desire to improve efficiency in their opera- tions by moving from discontinuous production in batch mixers to continuous production with
COMPOUNDING WORLD | August 2019
twin-screw extruders. He says that twin-screws can make enormous differences to production sched- ules, with residence times of well under 10 minutes compared with many hours for traditional batch processing.
Reactive trials Japan Steel Works (JSW) has been reinforcing its presence in Europe in recent years, with one of its focus areas being reactive extrusion. It opened an extrusion technical centre in Belgium in 2010 to carry out various trials for customers using the latest JSW lab extruder equipment. In 2012, the office became a local subsidiary, Japan Steel Works Europe, and two years ago the extrusion technical centre was relocated to Dusseldorf in Germany. JSW said this was to allow it to take on trials of more specialised projects such as reactive process- ing and devolatilisation and to improve accessibil- ity of the facility to customers. According to JSW Sales Representative
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PHOTO: IKT
PHOTO: IKT PHOTO: JSW
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