LAB COMPOUNDERS | PLANNING EXPERIMENTS
flexible to revise the plan as the trial progresses. A typical screw design, given what is known about the trial materials, is a reasonable starting point. Small, lab-sized machines below 30mm are less sensitive to screw design, although on a larger size machine, screw design is more critical. Com- puter simulations can be useful for helping a process engineer choose an initial screw design and processing conditions based on simulation of similar materials. However, simulation is not a good substitute for an actual trial – getting materials into the extruder in the right proportions is often the most challenging aspect of a trial, and this can’t be simulated. It is important to recognise that extrusion is only the first step – typically the quality of the com- pound has to be measured after the trial in another lab. You can do an immediate visual check to see if the compound appears to be mixed and not burnt and you may do a quick melt flow test, but other properties—tensile, impact, or long-term stability, for example—are a separate step. While the trial is running, people can easily take videos and pictures—this can become part of the documentation of the trial. When the trial concludes, it is a best practice to do a verbal debriefing be- tween customer and engineer while the details are fresh in everyone’s minds. A formal summary report should then be generated to document the condi- tions tested, the equipment, and any test results. CPM Extrusion Group’s 26mm CXE-26 and 32mm CXE-32 laboratory twin-screw compounding extruders can be scaled-up directly to production machines. If you’re going to very large-scale production (for example, more than 10,000 lb/h
Key advice for a successful trial
The client engineer providing the materials and the process engineer running the extruder for the experiments need to work together to make a trial a success. Adam Dreiblatt, Director of Process Technology at CPM Century Extrusion advises following these four key communication guidelines: • Define clear objectives and put them in writing. • Clarify expectations and define how success will be measured. • Plan ahead—communicate what types of materials will be used and ensure that appro- priate equipment will be available. • Be flexible—the plan may need to be revised.
[4,500 kg/hr]), it is beneficial to go from lab-scale at less than 100 lb/h [45 kg/h] to a pilot-scale trial at 3000-5000 lb/h [1,350-2,250 kg/h] before going to commercial scale. McHouell: If a formulation is successful on the lab line, it is a good indication that it can be scaled up to an intermediate size and then to a larger size, if needed. We have a 21mm lab line. Our 27mm line scales easily to our 50mm line; both have the same OD/ID [outer-diameter/inner-diameter] ratios and same downstream pelletising equipment.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
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