Photo courtesy of Coperion
Photo courtesy of SABIC
Photos courtesy of Styrolution
Coperion (Nanjing) Machinery Ltd. Co. has opened a new facility in Nanjing, China. Coperion president Kimberly K. Ryan inaugurated the new plant in the Nanjing Jiangning District in a formal and festive ceremony in the presence of local government officials, representatives of Chinese plastics and machinery associations, media representatives, 150 customers and suppliers, employees, and the entire Coperion executive team.
The plant opening marked the completion of its construction, and the relocation from an old plant to the new one. With a footprint of more than 15,000 m2, the new production plant will continue to focus on manufacturing the STS and CTE twin-screw extruder series.
To serve the company’s manufacturing needs, the new building is designed with the following features: the most advanced machinery production technology, with engineering and manufacturing know-how from Coperion in Stuttgart, Germany, and an optimized, tailor-made workshop layout for highly efficient production.
“We have moved to this new location in Nanjing in response to the importance of the markets in the Chinese and Asian regions,” explained Ryan during her opening speech. She also mentioned Coperion’s 15-year history in China and talked about how Coperion Nanjing has grown from just a few employees in 1997 to almost 400 today.
The company’s new manufacturing plant “reflects the importance of Coperion Nanjing to our business,” added Ryan. “We see it as an investment in the future and a clear commitment to our customers. Coperion Nanjing will continue to play an important role in our network, not only as an extruder manufacturing site but also from a customer service point-of-view.”
Joanne Shen, the company’s Nanjing managing director, added: “Our new test lab, upgraded with a high-end extruder from Coperion’s sophisticated ZSK Mc18 series and a wide variety of other equipment, displays Coperion’s flexibility and commitment to our Nanjing plant and underscores high expectations for future development.”
Celanese Corporation, a global technology and specialty materials company, announced it will expand its engineered materials product portfolio with the addition of nylon 6 and nylon 66, using differentiated technology developed by Celanese. Some grades of nylon will be available immediately and some will be available beginning in the third quarter of 2016.
The company says it intends to develop nylon offerings to expand applications and support customers in a wide variety of industries using the following technologies:
- Celanese’s appearance technologies that leverage MetaLX® metal-effect capabilities, laser-marking abilities, and pre-color compounding;
- melt-impregnation technologies for structural applications to expand the company’s Celstran® LFT and composites product offerings; and
- blend technologies that combine different types of nylons with other Celanese materials.
Targeted applications of a new Celanese nylon offering include both large and small consumer appliances such as washers, dryers and power tools; automotive parts and components including interior, exterior and under-hood applications; and E&E applications including mobile devices, data-storage devices, and home electronics. A nylon offering from Celanese will also support a manufacturer’s need to develop aesthetic Class A-surface-appearance parts and components that meet colorability, laser-marking, and structural functions, the company says.
“With the addition of these high-performance products to one of the world’s broadest, most technically proven engineered materials portfolios, Celanese will leverage its technical capabilities to create differentiated solutions for our customers and be positioned to deliver greater value to molders, tier suppliers, and OEMs in key industries including automotive, consumer goods and electrical/electronics,” says Scott Sutton, president of Materials Solutions for Celanese.
With large format interactive displays becoming more ubiquitous—from large indoor and outdoor displays to electronic whiteboards— the need has increased for advanced materials that are highly sensitive, quick to respond to touch, and capable of achieving a variety of complex forms and shapes.
At the Consumer Electronics Show held in January in Las Vegas, SABIC introduced a transparent, conductive polycarbonate (PC) film that it says represents a completely new class of display materials with outstanding transmittance and resistance, especially in large formats, with exceptional 2.5-D and 3-D formability. In addition to its potential performance capabilities in large format displays, it can be thermoformed into complex shapes, such as those required for a variety of displays in consumer electronics, automotive interiors, and healthcare devices, as well as for architectural uses.
The film combines Sante® nanoparticle technology from Cima NanoTech over a substrate of SABIC’s Lexan™ film to achieve highly sensitive touchscreens that are also impact resistant and formable.
“With the need for information to be constantly at our fingertips, the challenge becomes how to integrate touch screen functionality into spaces where design and aesthetics are also important—such as in an automotive interior or wearable technology—or where extremely large format touch screens are required, such as digital signage or electronic white boards,” notes Alan Tsai, director, Technology & Innovation for Display & Electronics.
There are alternatives on the market today, such as indium tin oxide (ITO)-based solutions over a glass substrate, and conductive polyethylene terephthalate (PET). SABIC’s solution has definite advantages over both, according to Tsai. “First, our transparent, conductive polycarbonate solution is more sensitive, which can bring the response times of small-size touchscreens to large format touchscreens. The material is capable of 20 ohm/m2 (compared to ITO, which is > 100 ohm/m2), and in fact, SABIC has created a 55-inch [140-cm] demonstration touchscreen display that delivers [a] real-time response.”
And when compared to ITO laminates over a glass substrate, Tsai says that SABIC’s PC film (available in gauges from 800 to 125 micrometers) provides considerable weight savings, supporting thin-wall designs and potentially reducing transportation costs. Another key advantage is formability: the use of ITO is challenging for flexible touch screens, due to its brittle nature.
PET-based solutions are also often considered. However, when compared to SABIC’s Lexan, PET’s resistance is relatively high (>150 ohm/m2) and the material exhibits lower conductivity. PET lacks the rigidity and impact resistance of PC, creating challenges when attempting to achieve large format displays, the company argues.
A case in point is the center stack display (CSD) for automotive interiors, which typically includes touchscreens for navigation, infotainment features, and back-up cameras, as well as an area for climate control. With advanced materials such as transparent, conductive PC film, the opportunity exists to create an integrated CSD design to consolidate these controls in one unit.
SABIC has made available large-scale samples of its transparent conductive PC film in either sheet or roll form, with web width up to 1.2 meters, for use in customer trials, with commercial scale quantities available in the second half of this year, the company says.
The future of injection molding success is in understanding data. Longtime plastics training provider Paulson Training Programs’ new seminar, aptly titled “Data Driven Molding,” is a rigorous, hands-on certification course that involves 80% machine time and 20% concentrated classroom instruction. It’s a completely immersive learning experience given in three one-week modules over 4-6 months at Paulson’s new technical center in Tampa, Florida.
“Our new Data Driven seminar is a completely new concept in injection molding training and is a direct result of our Plastics Academy graduates’ feedback,” explains Craig Paulson, president of Paulson Training Programs. “From our experience, top injection molding companies want their best people to be able to learn and apply, then come back in 6-8 weeks and learn and apply again, taking their skills to the next level each time.”
All seminar attendees learn to easily analyze data, diagnose problems, maintain molding process optimization, and become fiscally savvy personnel who can mold jobs for maximum profit, the company says. The multiple injection molding machines at the Tampa facility enable attendees to learn first-hand the critical scientific molding techniques needed to mold successful parts. The training center has both new, fully instrumented machines, as well as older machines.
“The reality for many of our students is that they don’t necessarily have all new machines,” says Paulson. “Our objective is to create a real-world learning experience that prepares students to be able to solve problems when they can, and identify the ones they can’t with supportive data.”
With the Data Driven Molding course, students can learn to operate the machine based on data-driven decisions and then test and analyze the sample parts in Paulson’s well-equipped QC lab. Based on the data collected, the process can be improved. Access to this type of training is indispensable to both the novice and advanced technician or supervisor level, the company argues.
Data Driven Molding is one of seven courses being offered by Paulson’s Plastics Academy. Unlike the other classes, this one is intensive and highly immersive. It’s considered the definitive in injection molding training, given the amount of machine time involved, the company adds.
A unique one-piece fog-lamp bezel with “integrated wheel aero curtains” reportedly saves nearly 0.45 kg of weight and improves aerodynamics on the 2015 model year Ford Mustang. The component is injection molded by Flex-N-Gate Corp. using Luran® S, an acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) resin from Styrolution.
The part is mounted below the bumper fascia on the front of the vehicle, and helps improve fuel economy as well as handling while retaining the vehicle’s distinctive front end styling. The new part has been so successful that it already is being implemented on other Ford vehicles, Styrolution reports.
It features vertical slots in the front corners that function as dedicated air channels, capturing and directing incoming air to vents in the front wheel wells. As the high-speed curtain of air flows across the wheels, it reduces turbulence caused by wheel rotation, which reportedly aids fuel efficiency, increases downforce, and improves road handling and stability at higher speeds.
Traditional fog-lamp bezels have been multi-piece assemblies with three or four brackets and separate air ducts that had to be welded to the bezel during a post-mold finishing step. However, by integrating the duct into the fog lamp bezel and the B-side of the fog-lamp bracket along with the park/turn lamp assembly, all functional benefits are maintained or improved, while lowering mass 20% and reducing part complexity. In turn, this reportedly has helped Ford save 30 seconds of assembly time at the assembly plant by eliminating the separate brackets.
The part had to meet demanding performance specifications, including both 49CFR Part 581/ECE R42 Low Speed Impact as well as GTR-9 Pedestrian Lower Leg (TRL) requirements. It also required dimensional stability over a broad temperature range, and the strength to hold fog lamps without juddering during driving, while also meeting noise/vibration/harshness (NVH) targets.
Another important property was stiffness to prevent sagging across the 500-mm long, 450-mm tall, 240-mm deep part, with a 3.0-mm nominal wall. Further, the part needed good heat-aging properties, resistance to automotive chemicals and road salts, and resistance to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight, which is very important in this unpainted exterior part.
Styrolution worked with both Flex-N-Gate and Ford to help identify the right Luran S grade for the application. The grade chosen was Luran S 777K, in black. This unreinforced, easy-flow, injection-molding grade reportedly provided excellent physical and mechanical properties to meet the application’s requirements as well as cost targets.
Luran S products offer excellent heat-aging properties, Styrolution says, which protect against loss of mechanical and aesthetic properties from prolonged exposure to temperature fluctuations. It also features a UV-stabilization package for enhanced weatherability to preserve part aesthetics even under heavy exposure to sun, wind, rain, ice, and snow, the company adds.
The American Injection Molding Institute, a growing plastics educational and research organization, announces the graduation of the first class to complete its Plastics Technology & Engineering (PTE) program. The first class began the integrated multi-course program at the beginning of 2015 and concluded their exams in December.
According to John Beaumont, founder of the AIM Institute, “The mission of the Institute is to help advance the injection molding industry by delivering high-quality science, engineering, and technology-based educational programs developed specifically for practicing professionals.
“The unique multi-course PTE certificate program is a first of a kind. The program is designed to provide high-level foundational knowledge to help its graduates to use critical thinking to solve problems and to be more innovative in the development and manufacture of plastic products.”
Beaumont used both his academic and industry background to develop the AIM Institute. “This first class included a great mix of professionals with varied educational backgrounds and job functions. All of them were significantly challenged and were required to put in many hours of hard work, not only in each of the four-week-long classes at the AIM Institute facility, but also time in the weekly online meetings, homework assignments, and exams,” he says.
New graduate Rene Menjivar, program manager from Viking Plastics, enjoyed the challenge and learning experience, the AIM Institute reports. “The instructors are some of the most respected men in the plastics industry. We were able to learn materials from Mike Sepe, processing from John Bozzelli, and were taught by Dave Hoffman and Mr. Beaumont as well. This has been such a great learning experience and [an] honor to have learned under some of the most recognized names in the industry.”
Billy Allen, a process technologist at Thogus, was impressed with how comprehensive the PTE program was: “[I]t doesn’t matter what line of work you come from—if plastics is your industry then this program will work for you. The PTE certificate has helped me in many ways, most importantly a job promotion.”