British Plastics & Rubber - Latest News

PMC and Reed Exhibitions Join Forces to Run Interplas 2011

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2009

Reed Exhibitions recently announced that Plastics Multimedia Communications (PMC)(part of Rapid News Communications Group) publisher of British Plastics and Rubber (BP&R) magazine, European Plastic Product Manufacturer (EPPM) magazine, and Middle Eastern Plastics (MEP) magazine is to run the UK's Number 1 plastics show, Interplas. Justin Tadman, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions' B2B Division, said: "Despite the fact that we ran a very successful Interplas event in 2008, we see both the commitment that the publisher of BP&R, EPPM, and MEP have to the plastics sector and their drive and enthusiasm as of real benefit to the plastics industry in general and to Interplas specifically. I am sure that all parties that have dealt with them will recognise these qualities. This arrangement allows both parties to bring their respective expertise to the future of the event." Chris Young, Managing Director of PMC said: "We are aware that the plastics industry does not want or need more shows. We all remember the days when the ‘big' plastics shows — Interplas, the K-Show, NPE, and Plast — ran successfully at three yearly intervals. So our thought was to Reed, and instead of launching a new show, see how we could work together to optimise the Interplas offering." Scott Colman, Sales Director at PMC, commented: "There is a unanimous call for a coherently thought through show that will stimulate business. People's number one show in the UK is Interplas. We realised that a great opportunity existed to create a show with Reed that really put down a marker demonstrating the resilience, robustness, and professionalism that exists in the UK plastics arena. One of the innovations we will be introducing is a Best of British focus that will not only attract the cream of British plastics manufacturers, but will also be promoted heavily internationally, ensuring that all manufacturers looking to source British products and services will attend. This show will incorporate material suppliers, equipment and service suppliers, plastics design and moulding, and will also showcase the best in British plastic processors. It will draw together the plastics niche as a whole, and re-energise the plastics sector once more. Chris Young sums up the future for plastics shows in the UK: "With Interplas focused as Scott has described, there will be a clear choice for exhibitors and attendees alike. We all know that in 2010, the K Show takes centre stage. In 2011, however, there will now be a new holistic Interplas event focussed in the UK Everyone who is anyone will be attached to this flagship ‘Best in British Plastics Event.' This will be the place to meet, the place to find out what's new, and the place to do business to invigorate the plastics sector in the UK."

Austrian extrusion equipment suppliers form 'all in one' unit

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 3, 2009

Austrian industrial group High Tech Industries, which has its roots in plastics and which expanded by buying several plastics-related companies in the past couple of years, has grouped some of them in an extrusion subsidiary it has called High Tech Extrusion. HTI bought extruder manufacturer Theysohn in March 2008 and the following month it bought die and downstream equipment maker Technoplast. Also last year it bought the in-mould decorating operations of HAT-Skinline (now renamed HTP Skinline), and took a stake in Carbo Tech Composites, primarily a supplier to the motor sport business.

The new High Tech Extrusion grouping combines Theysohn Extrusionstechnik, Technoplast Kunststofftechnik, and Kopf Kunststofftechnik - part of the Theysohn group which makes tooling for window systems, cable ducts, gutters, and foam and other profiles - to create an "all in one" supplier of extrusion systems. The group is operating from two factories in Austria - Korneuburg (Theysohn and Technoplast extruders and downstream) and Micheldorf (Technoplast and Topf tooling) - and one in Germany, at Salzgitter, where Theysohn makes screws and barrels.

High Tech Extrusion

European demand drives French PP compound expansion by Exxon

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 3, 2009

Demand for polypropylene compounds from the European automotive industry is behind an increase in capacity for ExxonMobil's Exxtral compounds at the Lillebonne plant in France. Exxon is to increase capacity there by 45,000 tonnes by the end of this year as the latest stage in a series of worldwide capacity expansions for automotive PP compounds. Last year it added 40,000 tonnes of capacity at its Baton rouge compounding plant in the USA and in September entered an arrangement for Resin & Pigment Technologies of Singapore to make speciality compounds, including Exxtral, for automotive use.

The Lillebonne plant currently makes neat, filled and compounded PP such as the new Exxtral BMU141 that was recently specified for the instrument panel of the Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner. Exxtral polyolefins were also specified for the door panel, and upper and lower trim of these vehicles.

ExxonMobil says that Exxtral polyolefins have been used primarily for interior and under-bonnet applications but are increasingly being specified for exterior applications, such as bumper fascias.

Twin screw flow research yields results for software development

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 3, 2009

Research into monitoring the flow of material going through a twin screw extruder has reached a point where particles can be tracked in real time and is opening the door to further developments in twin screw extrusion, screw design and optimisation software.

The research is the PEPTFlow project involving 19 scientific and commercial organisations across Europe. British participants are Smithers-Rapra - the project co-ordinator - the University of Birmingham, the British Plastics Federation, and Genesis Process Solutions.

The aim of the PEPTFlow project is to investigate the flow behaviour and mixing mechanisms in a twin screw extruder and to develop flow simulation and modelling software, and improve the design of twin screw extruders. The commercially available Ludovic software has already been modified to enable results to be be fed in from the PEPT experiments and further software development is underway at the University of Eindhoven in Holland.

PEPT is an acronym for positron emission particle tracking which, in simple terms (more complete explanation at the PEPTFlow web site) involves tracking a radio active particle in three dimensions as it passes through the extruder. The data generated have enabled the calculation of average residence time and residence time distribution, velocity and acceleration profiles, and other ratios used to give an indication of the mixing effect.

Smithers Rapra is planning a number of training events this year to disseminate the major findings of the project.

Top changes at PMB

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 3, 2009

Managing director of Performance Masterbatches, Dave Thomas, has stepped down after 10 years and now retains a part time role within the company while remaining marketing director. Financial director Lawrence Watts has become managing director after a nine months handing over period.

Netstal goes into the 'revised machinery' business

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 2, 2009

Netstal is the latest injection moulding machinery manufacturer to offer a range of refurbished machines on the internet. KraussMaffei began offering used test and laboratory machines on its web site and on eBay in May and now Netstal has set up a department for buying, overhauling and selling used machines as "Original Netstal Revised" and opened a section on its web site at www.netstal.com/2ndhand with a substantial stock list.

Netstal says its aim is to enable companies to buy machines secondhand, but overhauled by the original manufacturer. It is also opening its "revision" service to customers wishing to have existing machines rebuilt to bring up performance levels. Depending on the work done, it is offering a warranty of up to 12 months.

Machines are rebuilt to original manufacturing drawings and with original spare parts. Netstal says that machines can be delivered in "nearly new" condition.

Industry gets behind biopolymer research

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 2, 2009

Several European industrial companies are sponsoring research into bioplastics at the Ecole des Mines in Paris. Nestlé, Schneider Electric, PSA, Arkema and l'Oreal are co-funding a Chair in Bioplastics, which includes six PhD theses. The research programme will study the properties of polymers derived from renewable resources, as well as their industrial application.

Huhtamäki sells another rigid packaging company

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 2, 2009

The continuing restructure of Huhtamäki's rigid packaging business has seen another company sold off, this time in Australia. The expanded polystyrene business in Albury, New South Wales, which serves the local fresh foods packaging market, has been sold to Australian packaging company Pact Group for Eur 5 million. Its annual sales are around Eur 7 million. Last month Huhtamäki sold off subsidiaries in Argentina and Brazil in the progressive disposal of this underperforming sector.

The company still has three companies making rigid plastics packaging in Australia, and the future of these sites, and other operations in Europe, is yet to be assessed.

Define your use of chemicals now to avoid more REACH declarations

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 2, 2009

You need to tell your suppliers what you use their chemicals for to ensure you are not forced to make your own specific REACH declaration. European Plastics Converters (EuPC) is warning plastics processors that in order to comply with REACH article 37 plastics converters must, by December 1 this year, make their uses of materials known to their suppliers. These uses will have to be taken into account in the Chemical Safety Assessments of the substances manufacturers and by December 1, 2010 those suppliers will have to register the uses they support to the European Chemicals Agency for larger volume substances.

     EuPC says that if a use is not supported, a converter will have the choice between developing an own Chemical Safety Report or discontinuing the use of the substance. "Converters may well have additional costs for securing their end markets under the REACH Regulation if their end uses are not communicated to their suppliers" says Alexandre Dangis, EuPC managing director.

     EuPC has set-up a project with major additive producers, compounders and masterbatchers and polymer producers associations to make an inventory of converters' applications and processes and to define areas of safe use for 90 - 95 per cent of major applications. This Plastics Exposure Team Project (PEST Project) aims to provide instructions to plastics converting companies in order to identify uses of materials to their suppliers as part of a unified and standardised industry approach which will try to streamline and minimise company to company exchange of information.

     After the use identification phase, EuPC will report regularly on the development of "areas of safe use", enabling converters to contact their suppliers and ensure their uses will be supported. Liaison with the EuPC over PEST will be through national plastics associations - in Britain the British Plastics Federation.

Bayer unveils 2,300 tonne test machine for polycarbonate glazing

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 2, 2009

Bayer MaterialScience has been showing off its research facilities for polycarbonate vehicle glazing and this week invited around 100 car manufacturers and system suppliers to see its new 2,300 tonne Engel injection moulding machine in action. The machine has been installed with localised clean room areas around the cavity, robot and packaging zones at Bayer's Leverkusen plant in Germany and is capable of producing 3D roof modules measuring up to 1·2 m² along with other complex glazing components.

The facility is also designed for back-injecting pre-formed, printed films to integrate additional functions such as heating, antennae and IR reflection in roof modules, rear windows and other glazing applications.

The new machine has a central swivelling platen for two-component injection, with shot a capacity of 1 - 6 kg for the first component and 0·2 - 3 kg for the second. It can operate injection-compression, and is ready for the installation of MuCell for the second component, as well as for direct skinning and direct coating.

Because of the importance of accurate temperature control to achieve a high optical quality the new machine is equipped with 17 temperature control units. The swivel platen is controlled separately with 10 water feeds for 24 temperature control channels.

As well as its research function, Bayer expects to use the machine for mould proving and production troubleshooting for its customers as part of its full service approach to supplying automotive glazing systems.

Since withdrawing from the Exatec joint venture with GE Plastics and setting up BayVision Bayer has also expanded its coating pilot plant at Uerdingen, focusing on polysiloxane wet coats, and now has a class 100 clean room able to apply flow coatings to 3D moulded polycarbonate components measuring up to 1·4 m².

Coatings have to withstand the rigours of windscreen wiper abrasion for rear windows and the effects of car wash brushes on other unwiped glazing. Bayer has developed windscreen wiper test facilities that it says are more representative than the standard Taber abrasion test. In the new test system, a wiper arm fitted with commercial wiper blades moves backwards and forwards across a fixed test sheet. A force of 20 g/cm² is applied and the wipers move at a speed of 14 cm/s. As drivers tend to have very different "wiper habits", the test can be adjusted accordingly. For example, the tests can be performed dry and/or wet, with or without standard dirt (ISO 6255). Bayer says that initial tests have shown that, when dirty panes with a polysiloxane coating are wiped under primarily wet conditions, there is virtually no clouding visible to the naked eye, even after 30,000 double-wiper cycles.

A further test rig has been devised for the effect of car washes on unwiped glazing, with test sheets fixed to the top of a car which is washed weekly for a three year period.

Singapore postponement buys Lanxess time to develop new butyl technology

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2009

The largest investment project yet from Lanxess, its Eur 400 million 100,000 tonnes capacity butyl rubber plant to be built in Singapore, has been delayed due to the global economic crisis. Instead of starting up in 2011 as originally planned it has been put back to 2014.

     While the anticipated fall in demand for butyl makes the additional capacity from the plant unnecessary - despite a recently-announced five year agreement to supply "large volumes" of butyl to South Korea's Hankook Tire from 2010 to 2014 - it gives Lanxess time to rethink the production process.

     Lanxess has developed what it terms a "technical breakthrough" in butyl production which it has so far tested only at pilot scale. Extending the schedule for the Singapore plant will enable Lanxess to prove the process for full scale production, and it plans to invest "a substantial sum" to do so over the next few years.

     The new technology "uses far less resources and is considerably more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly," said Lanxess chairman Axel Heitmann, and he anticipated that capital expenditure on the new plant will now be slightly lower than originally planned.

     Lanxess is investing in Singapore in other ways as well. It is currently negotiating with the Singapore Economic Development Board with a view to managing the global business of the butyl rubber business unit from there in the future. The Group currently runs the Southeast Asian business of all its 13 business units from Singapore.

Milacron sale to investors is approved

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2009

US machinery group Milacron is to be bought by the investor group led by Avenue Capital Group and DDJ Capital Management as expected. The sale was triggered by Milacron's move into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year. The plan was for Milacron's debt to be converted to equity and for the company to be taken over by the lenders consortium.

The US Bankruptcy Court imposed the proviso that the company was to be offered for sale openly, and be sold to the highest bidder, with a deadline of June 24. In May Milacron reached agreement with the lenders consortium on a sale structure, and at the deadline no better offer had been received despite "considerable interest" according to chief executive Dave Lawrence, so the sale is expected to be concluded this month.

Prove oxo-degradables are sustainable, says EuPR

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2009

The recent condemnation of oxo-degradable additives by the European Plastics Recyclers Association and the US-based National Association for PET Container Resources brought a rebuff from Symphony Environmental Technologies, which makes oxo-degradable additives. The two organisations had expressed concerns about the contamination of the recycling stream by additives that could lead to a waste of a valuable resource. Symphony accused the EuPR of publishing "alarmist nonsense" and pointed out that "wild statements" about oxo-degradable additives contaminating recycling streams took no account of compostable and bio-based plastics that could also enter the recycling stream and compromise the recycling of oil-based plastics - and that anyway, oxo-degradable plastics could be reycled. The company urged the EuPR to sit down with it and discuss its concerns.

Now the EuPR has issued its own challenge to the oxo-degradable producers to test and prove the recyclability of their products with organisations such as the European PET Bottle Platform. The EuPR points out that the European Waste Framework Directive does not mention oxo-degradables and as the directive requires that all waste must be treated before going to landfill, plastics containing oxo-degradables will be included in the streams arriving at recyclers.

What damage this waste will do to the recycling streams is not clear, admits the EuPR, but it says that in the past plastics recyclers have experienced problems as a result of new materials and technologies on the market. It says that oxo-degradable producers "first need to convince the plastics industry (recyclers, converters, fillers....) and the environmental organisation that their products are effectively sustainable as they claim to be before putting them on the market."

Rapid buys Chinese granulator company

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

July 1, 2009

Granulator manufacturer Rapid has expanded its Asian presence by buying Chinese granulator and recycling systems manufacturer Avian Machinery. The move gives Rapid access to Avian's established Chinese and Asian distribution network, as well as significantly expanding its local manufacturing and assembly capabilities: Rapid will move its existing Chinese facilities to Avian's 50,000 m² factory in Shanghai, which is 10 times the size of Rapid's existing Shanghai base shared with sister company Conair.

The site move will also give Rapid the space to manufacture and assemble more of its own range in China for local customers.