PACKAGING | TECHNOLOGY
Fast production of thin-walled IML drinking cups – in both PP and PET – and several projects to make injection- moulded pails are some recent highlights in packaging applications
Cup winners: advances in packaging moulding
The phrase ‘packaging’ is typically associated with a material – including plastic – that physically contains a product, such as fresh food. However, the definition is much broader – and can include some far more robust examples. This includes items like crates, pallets and pails – which are all vital to the transport and protection of products. Cups are also a huge part of this – and, being
produced at such volume, must be produced quickly and efficiently. At NPE earlier this year, Arburg showed an
electric Allrounder 720 A Ultimate – using injection compression moulding to produce thin-walled cups with an in-mould label (IML). The directly driven machine, with a clamping
force of 2,900 kN, is equipped with a size 1300 injection unit that is optimised for high perfor- mance. Thanks to high-precision servo motors from sister company AMKmotion, high injection volume flows and injection speeds of up to 400mm per
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second can be achieved. The exhibit used a four-cavity mould from Brink
to produce thin-walled IML round cups from polypropylene (PP). For process monitoring, the mould was equipped with six inductive position measuring and embossing sensors. Four moulded parts, each weighing 10.8g and with a wall thick- ness of 0.37mm, in a cycle time of 3.95 seconds. The production cell also included a side-entry robot from Brink that inserts the labels, removes the finished cups and stacks them on a conveyor belt. In this packaging industry application, special emphasis was placed on energy efficiency and on a part design that saves materials. The use of injection compression moulding on an electric machine helped to improve energy footprint by 20% and reduce part weight from 13.0 to 10.8 grams. The flowpath-to-wall-thickness ratio is 380:1.
Usually, this would need a very high injection pressure – at the expense of energy requirements
September/October 2024 | INJECTION WORLD 13
Main image: At NPE, Arburg used injection compression moulding to make 0.37mm thick IML cups
IMAGE: ARBURG
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