Extrusion

Taghleef Industries (Ti; Dubai) has successfully started production of biodegradable biaxially oriented polylactic acid (BoPLA) film at its plant in San Giorgio di Nogaro, Italy. Running NatureWorks's Ingeo PLA, the line is primarily based on Brückner extrusion and winding equipment. Taghleef's European CEO, Valerio Garzitto, said his firm ordered the PLA line in March, with the August 18 startup a more than a month ahead of schedule.

Indiana is the latest state to join California, Florida, Massachusetts, and the Federal government in declining to intervene in a complaint filed earlier this year against JM Eagle, the world's largest pipe manufacturer, said the company in a statement. The so-called "whistleblower" lawsuit originally named 11 states and the District of Columbia in the plaintiff's lawsuit as "real parties in interest"-a listing that essentially invited those states and DC to join, or "intervene," in the lawsuit. Only four states have chosen to do so while three states and DC are still deciding.

Formerly known as Hammel Maskinfabrik A/S, SCITEQ, which is short for scientific test equipment, will display quality control lab equipment for pipes and fittings. The company's pressure-testing systems include the SCITEQ2000 for airless, internal-pressure test systems to run hydrostatic pressure testing. In addition the company supplies burst modules, thermo tanks, ovens, and a variety of end closures.

Rolf Schlicht GmbH will showcase a variety of pipe, tube, and profile cutting technologies at K, including rotational, orbital, and scissor-type designs. The RS Multicut rotation cutter MC-50 cutting unit and RB-600/100 caterpillar units allow precise cutting of soft and semi-rigid extrudates up to about 50-mm in diameter at highest line speed, with cutting cycles up to about 400/minute in stop/start operation and up to 4000/minute with a continuously rotating knife. Rolf Schlicht says diverse feeding and discharging systems are available and can be built according to customer demands.

Gillard will exhibit a new extrusion-cutting machine at their stand, introducing the high-performance Servo-Torq Ultra cutting system for smooth, cuffed, and corrugated plastic and rubber tubes and pipes.

Davis-Standard says recently completed testing of its direct-drive extruders reveal a system that is quieter and more energy-efficient than AC- or DC-drive counterparts. That direct-drive technology will be on display at the upcoming K exhibition in Düsseldorf, showcased in a 2.5-inch (65-mm) extruder. The stand will also feature a ProCone die mandrel, a new pelletizer technology, and control systems for both blown film and extrusion processes.

K 2010 attendees can tap some corrugated pipe expertise at the Unicor GmbH stand, with experts from its design, engineering, and aftersales service departments available in Düsseldorf. The company will also present its new UC 320 corrugator for medium-sized pipes. This machine succeeds the UC 250, of which 100 machines are in operation all over the world.

Swiss pipe and profile extrusion equipment supplier Maillefer will display a series of innovations for drip-irrigation lines, including additional tube designs and dripper styles such as flat and cylindrical. The company's PIL extrusion lines are available with multilayer output, dripper feeding and insertion, and fully automatic nonstop coiling from the company's new KWI coiler. Maillefer (Stand 12C06) said increasing interest from the agriculture sector for economical and ecological water-irrigation systems is driving demand for drip-irrigation extrusion lines.

Citing a trend to move away from single-layer standard pipe toward multilayer pipes with extra functional layers, KraussMaffei Berstorff (Stand 15B27) will use the K show to emphasize its ability to create polypropylene fiber-composite pipe and PP foam core pipe, among other capabilities. Extrusion lines enlisted for such products include single-screw extruders from the 36D Series with multilayer tooling and material-specific calibration and cooling systems.

Tubing extrusion processors attending the K maybe interested in an open house held by extruder manufacturer Kuhne on Oct. 26, the day before the K 2010 opens, or one the first day of the show at its facility in St. Augustin.

The open house will feature a running medical tubing extrusion line including American Kuhne's newest generation of compact modular extruders, a Guill Tool head, LaserLinc ID/OD/wall gauging, and a Conair Medline puller/cutter.