BLOWN FILM HIGHLIGHTS - BANDERA NEWSLETTERS - APRIL 2012

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BLOWN FILM HIGHLIGHTS BANDERA NEWSLETTERS

Processing biodegradable polymers with new Bioflex It seems that an European common law defining precisely which materials can be used for the production of shopping bags is still far away to come.

There are huge differences between the EU members, and sometimes even in the same countries the regulation relevant to this specific matter is left into the municipalities hands.

As result, while the multinational companies producing the biopolymers are competing in order to get their products approved by each competent authority, the manufacturers of shopping bags are struggling to satisfy a wide range of customers, as their extrusion lines were born just to process HDPE, while now they are in the need of processing several different polymers.

L.N. nº 01/12 - APRIL 2012

So, the ultimate Bandera challenge has been to help those shoppers manufacturers in overcoming the actual difficulties, by supplying a machine suitable to run, with the same screw, the following materials: • biodegradable starch-based material (compostable) • biodegradable polymers (additivated polyolefins) • HDPE • LDPE

In occasion of the PLAST’12 show, Bandera presents a fully equipped innovative, high productive 3-layer coextrusion line for the manufacture of lamination film, printing film, protective film, stretch hood film and shrink film.

A dedicated water thermoregulation of the different line utilities and the use of torque motors for the whole downstream equipment, improve the line flexibility as well as the efficiency of the line, with a particular focus on the power consumption.

Bandera can now finally unveil the new series to be included in its wide production range: the BIOFLEX. This monolayer line has the following configuration: • 4-components gravimetric dosing unit • TR75 extruder, L/D 30, with feeding bush, barrel and screw coated with tungsten carbide rich alloy • Ø200 mm IBC die, with high efficiency dual lip Karat air ring • non-marking calibrating cage, with vertical extra-stroke for both high-neck & low-neck extrusion • oscillating haul-off, 188 mm wide, equipped with pneumatic device suitable for inserting, when needed, aluminium rollers or wooden slats • web guiding unit E+L • single station contact winder (two stations available on demand)

Always with the aim to reduce production costs and to facilitate the job of the operators who daily will run the line, Bandera developed its software with the introduction of the new “RAPID CHANGE” function, suitable to reduce the time (and, on consequence, the raw materials) needed to change production between two different articles, by adjusting automatically the line to the correct set values.

LINE PERFORMANCES

The winding centre has been equipped with all the devices necessary to get extremely high quality reels in any conditions, becoming the cutting edge of winding technology.

Image courtesy of Novamont

The line can be supplied with 3-layer configuration • film width: up to 1500 mm • thickness range: 6–50 µ

See on page 2 the whole technical specs.

• max output: 250 kg/h • max linear speed: 200 m/min

INDEX

Costruzioni Meccaniche Luigi Bandera SpA Corso Sempione, 120 - I-21052 Busto Arsizio (VA) Italy t +39 0331 398111 - f +39 0331 680206 lbandera@lbandera.com - luigibandera.com

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PLAST’12: EXHIBITING A TRULY TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED 3-LAYER COEX LINE

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THE 3rd SMARTFLEX GENERATION

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AGRIFILM INNOVATIVE BANDERA PLANTS

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THE LATEST GEOMEMBRANE TRENDS

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PROCESSING BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS WITH NEW BIOFLEX

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3-layer coex line Bandera at Plast 2012

PRODUCTS: LAMINATION FILM, PRINTING FILM, STRETCH HOOD FILM, PROTECTIVE FILM SHRINK FILM OUTPUT: up to 600Kg/h with Ø 400mm die with thickness tolerance ± 3.5% (2).

• Raw materials: LDPE, LLDPE, mLLDPE and blends with EVA, MDPE, HDPE and coPP. A) 12-components loss-in-weight gravimetric dosing and feeding unit.

B) Central extruder TR 100 AFS, L/D = 30, 160 kW A.C. motor, with hydraulic screen changer.

C) Side extruders TR 75 AFS, L/D = 30, 90 kW A.C. motor, with hydraulic screen changer.

D) 3-layer coextrusion die-head EXPH 500 (dies range 400÷600mm), side feeding, IBC. E) Installed die: Ø 400mm, gap 1.6 mm, chromed lips.

F) 3-lips cooling ring with and motorized height adjustment.

G) Thickness auto control device, integrated in the cooling ring.

H) Capacitive sensor for thickness reading, with wireless data transmission protocol.

I) Bubble guiding cage model with special suction device of exhtaust monomers.

L) Advanced auto bubble control, with 8 ultrasound sensors for width automatic adjusting system.

M) Oscillating take-off unit with flattening devices made of carbon fibre idle rollers and wooden slats with pneumatically driven device. The structure of the take off has a special shape suitable to move the gusseting devices backward completely, when such equipment is not required. Flattening angle adjustable by innovative telescopic mechanism. Anti-stick treatment on all idle rollers.

N) Motor-driven wooden gusseting triangle-shaped devices 5 m long.

O) Additional cooling cylinders, with water thermoregulation device.

P) Additional haul-off, for a perfect control of film tension.

Q) Web center guide.

R) Corona surface treatment.

S) Double-station automatic winding centre ESR 9000 TW 2800, suitable for surface/ GAP,/combined winding modes, with Safe Load mandrel loading device, reel discharge on floor. Side cutters sliding on high precision linear guides and central cutters assembled on an oscillating device, suitable to change the film/cutter contact point.

• ALL DOWNSTREAM MACHINERY (POS. “L” TO “R”) IS EQUIPPED WITH TORQUE MOTORS. • Centralized computer-based system. Teleservice via internet.

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The 3rd Smartflex generation

The new 3-layer line keep on satisfying the Customers who are looking for an economical solution without sacrificing the quality of their products, neither the reliability of the machine.

Bandera, thanks to the optimisation of the serial production and the engineering impact on these particular lines, reached the scope of a further reduction of the sale price, increasing its competitiveness on the market.

Agrifilm innovative Bandera plants

Bandera supplied the first large 5-layer blown film line not dedicated to packaging industry on 2001. At that time, the Customer (a leader in agrifilm manufacturing in Middle East) was intentioned to produce mainly barrier film with PA in the central layer, for containers fumigation, and purchased a Ø1300 mm die.

With the purchasing of the second line, on 2004, the same Client definitely extended his production to the manufacturing of film for agricultural purposes, acquiring a Ø1600 mm die; at the beginning the film applications were supposed to be only containers fumigation and fumigation of the cultivation field, but immediately the great benefits that the 5-layer technology offered to all other articles was clear, and therefore it was extended also to greenhouses and lowtunnels covers.

The 5-layer structure in fact, allows not only a better management of the raw materials, but in particular the optimization of the additives distribution into each layer, also controlling the migration of the additives among the layers, in order to increase physical and mechanical properties of the film, as well as the light and heat transmission, allowing even a longer cycle life of the film itself.

In the meantime, the great benefits mentioned above were understood by a South American Customer, leader in the production of silobag™ (silobolsa), a product which is largely used for the silage of crops (cereals, fodders, coffee…) and therefore on 2006 the first 5-layer line was supplied also to South America: Anyhow, since 2006, 1 or 2 5-layer lines have always been sold every year regularly.

Naturally the 3-layer market was always still representing the great majority of the blown film lines dedicated to agricultural film, and when on 2009 Bandera announced the supply of the biggest 5 layer die-head ever manufactured (Ø2000 mm), stating that the trend was supposed to pursue that way.

As result, in the last 3 years, 4 complete 5-layer lines having die Ø 2000 mm have been supplied, for film open width up to 22 m.

Naturally, during the last decade, the improvements in Bandera lines dedicated to agrifilm haven’t been concentrated just on increasing the size of the dies, but a lot of implementations have been made on each machinery being part of the plant. In particular, the developments concerned the structure and the accuracy of the flattenings&gussetings adjustment (now controlled from the Supervisor), the new models of V-folder and C-folder, and the introduction of the gap-winders (mandrel axially driven) up to 5 m.

The latest geomembrane trends

Bandera is proud to announce that this result has been achieved keeping 100% of the production in Italy, choosing only European partners.

The SMARTFLEX is available in two configurations: the SMARTFLEX16, suitable to get film having net width up to 1600mm and production rates up to 350 kg/h, and SMARTFLEX22, where the film width reaches 2200mm and max output 500 kg/h.

Both lines have a standard configuration, and all necessary ancillaries and additional equipment can be added to the basic machine as modules, giving to the Clients the possibility to decide their own composition, in accordance to their specific exigencies.

The SMARTFLEX perfectly fit to the production of film for the generic packaging, for carrier bags and bags in general, multi-reel shrink film (bottles, cans,…), film for shrink and stretch cover pallets, film for the converting, film for agricultural purposes (Mulching).

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Definitely, during the last years the demand of blown film lines dedicated to the geomembrane production is strongly confirming its growing tendency.

The strongest growth is logically more evident in the developing countries, where the construction industry is booming, and also where the awareness that there is the need of preventing the percolate of the waste dumpings to penetrate into the ground underneath is now considered a priority.

Then it is always important to mention the aquaculture, in particular in South East Asia, and the mining industry, especially in South America and South Africa.

The trend seems to be the increasing both thickness and width of the membranes, respectively up to 3 mm and up to 8m (open width), and to have the possibility of supplying textured membranes.

Bandera can offer blown film plants dedicated for the production of such membranes, assuring production rates up to 1.200 kg/h with thickness up to 3 mm.

A typical configuration is a coextrusion line with N°1 TR200 extruder for the core layer and N°2 TR85 extruders for the skin layers, a Ø2300 mm die-head, 8 m haul off and 8 m winder.

A special device suitable for the injection of nitrogen into the barrels is available, to get textured effect on the surface/s.

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