TECHNOLOGY | FOAM MOULDING


Asian firms’ new foam tech


Japan Steel Works, Woojin Plaimm and Shibaura Machine demonstrated their technologies for physical foaming during the IPF 2023 exhibition in Japan. By Mikell Knights


Main image: The Interna- tional Plastics Fair 2023 exhibition in Chiba, Japan


At the International Plastics Fair (IPF), held between 28November and 1 December at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, foam moulding was a focus of demonstrations by injection moulding machin- ery companies based in Japan and South Korea. Japan Steel Works (JSW) for the first time demonstrated its patented physical foaming technology used in the production of large parts. It developed its Simple Optimised Foam Injection Moulding Technology (SOFIT) technology as an alternative to the use of chemical foaming agents, which can leave decomposition residues that impact the environment and create difficulty in using foamed recycled materials. JSW’s SOFIT approach is also an alternative to the


MuCell process offered by Trexel. SOFIT does not require the use of a supercritical fluid, can operate at


52 INJECTION WORLD | May/June 2024


less pressure than MuCell and does not require the complement of specialised machinery, said Masa- nori Morita, General Manager in the injection moulding business development department. SOFIT makes it possible to reduce the weight of the part while minimizing warpage and sink marks. The SOFIT technology is based on injecting CO2


or nitrogen into a decompression zone in the barrel, typically after the melting zone of the material and before the metering/compression zone. The gas is delivered directly from a storage tank using a pressure-reducing valve to the injection press. There is no requirement for a high-pressure metering pump, said Morita. The gas supply unit does not need to be connected or integrated into the control of the injection moulding machine, and


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IMAGE: M KNIGHTS


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