Beginning in April 2008, the technical center at Austria-based SML Maschinengesellschaft mbH will make a new sleeve touch co-extrusion line available to customers for conducting trials for a wide range of products and applications using their own raw materials.

The pilot plant will feature a five-layer feedblock attached to three extruders, resulting in an output of 425 kilograms per hour (kg/hr) for polypropylene, 380 kg/hr for polycarbonate and 600 kg/hr for amorphous polyethylene/polyethylene terephthalate glycol; and 1,050-millimeter-wide rollers on downstream equipment. It also can be fitted with a sleeve touch system, coating module, calender roller or airknife. The addition of a haul off unit will enable in-line lamination.

The line can achieve speeds of up to 100 meters per minute for production of thin sheet or coating applications by utilizing the fully automatic winder series 1100, including robot bobbin handling. It also can produce part bobbins using friction winding shafts.

Additional features include: a degassing extruder, which eliminates the need for preliminary granulate drying; and high-temperature calendering rollers to enable the manufacture of polycarbonate and cyclic olefin copolymer sheet for optical applications.

December 4, 2007