Plastic link v 2 i 1 jan 2010

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PLASTICS

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Higher Institute

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P l a s t i c s Fa b r i c at i o n

Apparatus for producing a helical seam profile pipe includes extruder, carriage, rotating device, heating device, dies and a mandrel which is mounted on the frame for rotation about a longitudinal axis of the mandrel to helically wind the thermoplastic tube around the mandrel.

HIPF Trainees at our booth in PPPP

Saudi Arabia has the highest plastics consumption among all the GCC countries and many manufacturers have set up industries all across Saudi Arabia. Our booth was located adjacent to the SABIC stall and drew many visitors. They role played by HIPF in providing functional and advanced training in all major aspects of Plastics Industry was appreciated by the visitors to the stall.

HIGHER INSTITUTE FOR PLASTICS FABRICATION

PLASTIC LINK VOL # 4.indd 1

is a process for making a continuous

thermoplastic helical seam profile pipe. The thermoplastic material is extruded through a die to form a continuous tube. The continuous tube is cooled and a filler material is applied.

The continuous tube bearing the applied filler material is helically wound to form turns of wound continuous tube. Each turn of the continuous tube is pressed into the preceding turn on the mandrel for adhering the turns together to form the pipe.

The four day fair which was conducted from 18th to the 21st of October, 2009 was a major success. Our trainees had exposure to many new trends and machines that were exhibited at the fair. They were able to interact with manufacturers, engineers, workers and tradesmen from many countries who had assembled there.

ISSUED BY THE

The mandrel is heated and maintained with the melting temperature of the thermo plastic material. A source of filler material continuously applies a bead of the material to the thermoplastic tube prior to being wound on the mandrel.

The primary advantage of using this technology is that we require only smaller machines to make very large corrugated plastics pipes.

This gives this process a huge cost advantage as compared to using large dies and complex controls.

S pecial P oints of I nterest: • Recent Path Breaking Innovations in the field of Plastics.

• Selected International Plastics centered events and exhibitions.

• HIPF participates in PPPP

Ta n g e n t i a l ly E x t r u d e d P ip e s

was able to make its presence felt n the Saudi Printing Packaging Plastics Petrochem (PPPP) Exhibition at the Riyadh International Exhibition Center. There were about 699 exhibitors in the exhibition this year.

QUARTERLY

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www.hipf.edu.sa

Yo u r L i n k t o t h e P l a s t i c s W o r l d

HIPF at PPPP

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Smaller machines used to make large corrugated plastics pipes

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• HIPF at PPPP • Tangentially Extruded Pipes • Molecor Oriented PVC Pipes • ETFE comes to the market • Exjection Process • Wood Plastic Composites • International Plastics Events

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M olecor O riented PVC P ipes Oriented PVC pipes give unmatched impact strength and tensile strength with good flexibility.

Oriented PVC or PVC-O is the latest advance in PVC pipe manufacture. By orienting the randomly arranged long chain polymer molecules significant improvements can be achieved in the mechanical properties of PVC. Orientation is achieved by controlled stretching and expansion of the PVC pipe.

The result is a pipe with around twice the tensile strength as PVC-U with significantly better fatigue resistance, impact resistance and resistance to crack propagation. These improvements in mechanical properties allow considerable material savings.

A new commercially available system from Molecor, stretches and orients PVC pipe with air rather than water, reportedly achieving both higher stretch ratios and larger diameters than previous technologies. It is a discontinuous technology (stretching after extrusion), but without a gap between the two operations.

The innovation resides in the second phase, in the heating and cooling of the pipe before

and after the molecular orientation step. As a result, this process reduces the length of the process by 80% and energy consumption by 85%.

Other benefits include unbeatable resistance to impact, high flexibility, greater hydraulic capacity, high hydrostatic resistance, excellent resistance to water hammers, high corrosion resistance, lower costs and easier installation.

The new system is five times faster than traditional systems. Operating cost for stretching pipe with tempered air is also less than with water. It is totally automated, hence no additional labor is required, completely dry and stretches PVC pipe more than 2:1 even for 12 in pipes. The OPVC pipe meeting Class 500 standards, the highest performance level recognized worldwide (retaining tensile strength of 250 psi after 50 years), is intended to replace iron pipe with the advantage of much lighter weight and extreme chemical resistance.

ETFE comes to the market

ETFE is an excellent building material offering long life, transparency, lower weight and insulating capabilities.

The possibilities of ETFE (a fluorocarbon-based polymer) may seem new but the formula was originally developed in the 1970s by DuPont for use as an aeronautic insulation material.

Made from a waste product of lead and tin mining, the resin in its raw state “looks a bit like sugar”. Ben Morris, who along with Stefan Lehnert, figured out how to use it to improve the building envelope.

After ETFE is heated up and extruded into a paper-thin film, it can be welded into large sheets that can themselves be used as building skin or can be woven together into cushions pumped with air. The ETFE sheets are transparent, like glass, but are one percent of the weight of glass, transmit more light than glass, and cost 24% to 70% less than glass to install. ETFE sheets are also chemically inert, so they don’t degrade under UV rays. Since the chemical compound of ETFE is related to that of polytetrafloroethylene (i.e., Teflon®), ETFE film is nonstick, so it keeps itself clean. It

is also recyclable, at the end of its useful life— thought to be at least 50, but possibly up to 200, years—it can be melted down and reused.

When ETFE sheets are fused into pillows and pumped with air, the material takes on both stability and high insulation properties. We may manipulate the number of layers in the cushions so you can change the insulating calculations. We can print graphics onto it or manipulate the sunlight going through it, also we can create kaleidoscopes that change and react to sunlight.

This resin has pushed the limits of design and is used in the Watercube and Bird’s Nest in Beijing, the Eden Project England, St. Jakob’s Park in Switzerland, Allianz-Arena in MunichMeuron. ETFE Films have a great future in the Kingdom due to its many advantages of transparency, color ability, low weight, low cost, long life, clean ability and insulation properties.

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E xjection P rocess

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Exjection process can be used to produce long, thin-walled and structured components from materials including commodity plastics, engineering plastics and high performance materials. End caps and functional geometries can be formed with the profile. The process overcomes the difficulty of molding long profile parts by injection molding as the liquid resin has to flow through long sections of a cooled mold. As compared to conventional injection molding Exjection involves moving the mould in tandem with the injection movement at perpendicular to the machine’s longitudinal axis.

This concept makes possible the geometry changes into a long profile while inducing low stress and employing relatively small injection machines. The same is not very easily achieved by extrusion. Moreover, Exjection makes it possible to have screw bosses, snap-fit hooks, closures, or ribs, molded on the profile as the mold moves in the direction normal to the hot-runner nozzle. Due to the continuous movement

of the mold with the continuous filling of the cavity, the process results in short flow paths. As a result, the area where actual filling takes place is affected as against the entire part making it ideal for the molding of long, thin-walled parts along with caps and closures on machines having small clamping force particularly for applications including automotive, packaging and other sectors.

Materials having high viscosity offer a wider process window for Exjection process. The movement speed of the cavity (thus the cycle time) depends on the type of material and wall thickness of the part.

This technology was first showcased by Engel where it molded strips on a 60-ton, all-electric e-motion 200/55 press. Later, it was Arburg’s 55-ton Allrounder 375 V 500-290 vertical hydraulic machine which manufactured a rail of 640 mm length and 60 grams from ABS with a cycle time of 45 seconds. Without Exjection process, such a rail would otherwise demand an injection molding machine with clamping force in the range of 300-500 tons.

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W ood P lastic Composites Wood plastics composites (WPC) are mixtures of thermoplastic polymers and small wood particles in different ratios. The wood and thermoplastics are usually compounded above the melting temperature of the thermoplastic polymers and then further processed to make various WPC products. WPCs can be formed into almost any shape and thus are used for a wide variety of applications, including windows, door frames, interior panels in cars, railings, fences, landscaping timbers, cladding and siding, park benches, molding and furniture.

WPCs offer a number of potential benefits.

The presence of wood in a plastic matrix can result in a stiffer and lower-cost material than if plastic alone was used. The plastic in the product is not subject to water absorption or biological attack, so the WPC can have lower maintenance requirements than solid wood. WPC lumber will not warp, splinter or check.

A recent research done in the Kingdom has proved that, the date palm leaf fibre compounded with polypropylene (PP) and UV stabilizers to form composite materials have more stability than PP while retaining the mechanical properties.

Date trees being readily available, this innovation will provide a new opportunity for the plastics industries in Saudi Arabia.

To prevent excessive damage to the wood component, thermoplastics for WPCs have processing temperatures of less than 220 degrees C. Common materials used include polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinylchloride and polyethylene (low and high density).

Efficient dispersion of the wood component into the thermoplastic matrix (‘compounding’) can be accomplished in twin-screw extruders or other melt-blending processes. Once the materials are sufficiently mixed, the composite can then be formed into the final shape using technologies such as extrusion or injection molding.

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01 LINK 2010 PLASTICS

I n t e r n at i o n a l P l a s t i c s E v e n t s

www.hipf.edu.sa

EXHIBITIONS:

PLASTIC LINK VOL # 4.indd 4

Higher Institute For Plastics Fabrication

PLASTICS LINK

7495 AlKharj Road, New City Industry, Unit #1, Riyadh 14332 - 4073 Tel.: +966 1 498 9600, +966 1 498 9678 Fax: +966 50 107 9961

The establishment of HIPF aims to prepare Saudi youth to participate as skilled technicians in the booming plastics industry of the Kingdom and to develop the technical knowledge and skills of Saudi workforce towards localization of plastics fabrication technology.

Contact Details: Tel.: +966 1 498 9678 Fax: +966 1 498 9650 e-mail: info@hipf.edu.sa www.hipf.edu.sa

Your Link to the World of Plastics

The Editorial board of the Newsletter would like to remind the reader that the articles in this newsletter are collated from the various sources of information. HIPF does its best to verify the sources and confirm the authenticity of the articles published in the newsletter. The HIPF will not assume any legal liability for the content, quality, accuracy or completeness of said information and materials. The sources of the articles and the ‘terms and conditions’ of the newsletter ‘Plastic Link’ are available with the board of Editors and are available on request.s

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