MACHINERY | LAB COMPOUNDERS
Right: The FED 26 MTS from Feddem is claimed to offer good scale-up
performance
also points to the high-gloss stainless steel barrel cover, which has removable sections for each module, making it very easy to add one or several side feeders. “We also have a brand new 12mm twin which has the unique property that it can be fed with regular pellets,” says Jurgensen. This unit, with a modular clamshell barrel, 36 L/D screws and a 2.2kW drive, is suitable for compounding batches as small as 20g or even less, he says. Maximum output is around 4 kg/h. Feddem demonstrated a 26mm twin-screw at
the show, too – the FED 26 MTS. This is not a brand new model but was shown equipped with a new ProFlex C100 loss-in-weight feeder from Schenck (an optional addition). The extruder is designed for laboratory work and also for small batch produc- tion, with Managing Director Dieter Gross saying it has very good scale-up capability. The machine on display had all barrel and screw
Below:
Schenck Sales VP Manfred Bruckner changes gear ratios on the company’s ProFlex
C100 feeder, introduced at K2019
element surfaces coated with a wear and corrosion- resistant material. It had two side feeders and one side vacuum degassing unit, but the latter’s position also be used for a side feeder if required. The basic unit has 32 L/D screws, but this can be increased to 42 L/D, which also provides room for a further feeder. The FED 26 MTS unit uses Feddem’s kneading
block-free screw, which Gross claims avoids high shear and provides better distributive mixing and more gentle compounding. It also features the company’s signature curved die plate (a feature also used on larger Feddem machines), which is said to avoid curling at the edges as the speed profile of the melt across the entire width of the die is much flatter than in flat dies. Gross says this provides big reductions in material losses, in some cases as much as 50%, at start-up.
Precision feeding Schenck’s ProFlex C100 rounds off the company’s ProFlex C system, already well established in the compound and masterbatch industry, and provides smaller feed rates (around 0.1 – 100 l/h). It has the same features as its larger family members, such as a flexible feed hopper with external eight-point agi- tation, easy dismantling of components for feed rate adoption or cleaning with just one tool, feed rate modification using a range of helixes and screws in two different discharge lengths, integrat- ed gravimetric isolation with optional pressure compensation, and reduction of pulsation at low speeds, thanks to a special discharge geometry. The integrated quick-change plug-on gearbox between the drive and helix shaft provides six different reduction ratios at a total turn down ratio of 1:5. Just a few component changes are needed to change the ratio between motor frequency and helix rpm or between helix rpm and the agitation speed.
Good vibrations Staying with feeders, Coperion K-Tron introduced its K3 family of vibration feeders for dosing of free-flowing materials into the compounder with very high levels of accuracy and consistency. The feeder also has the advantage of low maintenance is also very easy to clean.
R&D engineer Urs Helfenstein says vibration feeders normally have rubber feet or springs to isolate the vibration from the environment but that a disadvantage of this arrangement is that the cushioning system can move in all directions. “If we analyse the movement of the train, we see that it is
18 COMPOUNDING WORLD | December 2019
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: PETER MAPLESTON
IMAGE: PETER MAPLESTON
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