Engel sees 'surprisingly rapid' upturn as recovery picks up

Speaking at an Oct. 12 news conference at the Fakuma trade show, Christoph Steger, chief

sales of� cer of the Engel Group, had a message that was optimis-tic yet cautious.

“The markets are recovering faster than expected,” he said. “The demand is huge, and the plastics industry is taking a very dynamic approach to tackling the challenges of digitalization, cli-mate change and the transforma-tion of the automotive industry.”

But, he noted, the outlook is marred by material bottlenecks, massive increases in raw mate-rial prices and the Corona pan-demic, which has not yet been beaten, all of which create un-certainty in the market.

The surprisingly rapid upturn, ac-companied by an uncertain outlook are characteristic of the changed market situation in the long term.

“The markets are becoming more volatile, more uncertain and demanding more � exibility from us,” Steger said. Importantly, this has not led to a decrease in invest-ment levels — Engel has invested 500 million euros in its operations since 2018. “Some 70 million eu-

ros has gone to research and de-velopment,” he stressed.

Yet right now, he emphasized, the delivery bottlenecks in raw materials and components are by

far the biggest challenge. Semi-conductors, in particular, have become scarce on the market, due to the combined effects of the Coronavirus outbreak and

the consequent shift seen in con-sumption trends — and the situa-tion is now being exacerbated by surging demand following the end of the lockdowns.

As the shortages and pandem-ic-related delays in delivery con-tinue to show no sign of abating and with current supplies of metal parts, plastics and raw materials at insuf� cient levels to meet de-mand, factories around the world are having to limit operations and slow production.

Engel has thus far avoided this fate, thanks to the “very good co-operation with our suppliers and our global network of plants,” which has enabled the company to largely avoid delays in delivery, Steger noted.

One area that is clearly feeling the strain is the automotive in-dustry, he added. That industry is showing a robust recovery from the collapse in sales volumes emerging in the year before the pandemic but that worsened as the COVID-19 crisis endured. Its comeback, however, has been both unexpected and fast.

“The investment backlog has cleared, investments are being made again, and worldwide,”

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Even during a pandemic, Te-knor Apex Co. successfully found a way to open a new compound-ing plant in Rothenburg, Germany.

“Our team did a great job during COVID to make it happen,” Europe general manager Jan Duy-fjes said Oct. 12 at Fakuma 2021. “The plant was built in cost and in timeline and we’re very happy with it.”

The state-of-the-art plant opened in late 2020. It covers 538,000 square feet and increases custom compound manufacturing

capacity for Pawtucket, R.I.-based Teknor Apex. The new site em-ploys 150 and operates eight twin-screw extrusion lines.

Duyfjes said the new plant is double the size of a previous one in the area. That plant closed when the new one opened. The new site makes compounds based on a wide range of ther-moplastic elastomers and engi-

neering resins.The plant uses LED lights, a

closed loop water system and heat recovery systems with heat pumps to support it. It also in-cludes a new European center of excellence for plastics research and development, complete with sample lines.

The new building also has room for additional lines and future growth, Duyfjes said. “We’re very committed to Europe,” he added. The new plant “is our next step to grow here.”

At Fakuma, Teknor Apex is focused on engineering

Teknor Apex up and running at new German compounding plant

By Frank EspositoPlastics News Staff TEKNOR APEX CO.

Hall B2, Booth B2-2114

See Teknor Apex, 0

Jan Duyfjes from Tenor Apex at Fakuma 2021 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

ENGEL AUSTRIA GMBH

Hall A5, Booth A5-5204

Engel sees ‘surprisingly rapid’ upturn as recovery picks up

By Karen LairdSustainable Plastics

Engel molds packaging at Fakuma 2021 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

See Engel, Page 10

2 • Plastics News, October 13, 2021

Positive Plastics is a new ini-tiative launched by three mate-rials experts, united by a special passion for plastics.

It’s a passion they want to share with the designers and en-gineers with whom they work, to encourage them to “think posi-tively about plastics.”

They’ve created an innovative sample kit, launching at Fakuma and on display at the stands of selected partners, as a highly tangible visualization of their message.

The initiative is the brainchild of Efrat Friedland, Erik Moth-Müller, and Markus Paloheimo, who, repeatedly, in the course of their work as consultants and educators in the materials and polymers � eld, ran up against two recurrent problems.

First, the knowledge and un-derstanding of materials tech-nologies, especially of polymers, among the designers, product managers and engineers they dealt with tended to be very poor.

Second, the samples they sourced from raw materials manufacturers were generally not suited for the purpose for which the materials experts needed them, namely, to show what the material could do. Pos-itive Plastics aims to address both problems at the same time.

Knowledge gap“Designers learn very little

about materials technologies during their studies, especially plastics,” Friedland said. As a materials expert with 20 years of experience working in the indus-try, she feels that plastics have too often been cast in the role of villain over the past years by the market, consumers and pol-icymakers.

As a result, many designers, without having any substantial knowledge, have tried to replace

polymers with other materials. They do not understand the ad-vantages of polymers in general and how they are essentially ir-replaceable, she said.

“Try to imagine your life with-out plastic,” she continued. “Without the products and ser-vices we have all grown to rely on in almost every aspect of our lives. It seems that we can’t get along without this material, but we must eliminate its waste and negative impact.”

The solution, however, is not to eliminate plastics.

“There are many new grades on the market that are com-posed of natural materials or recycled materials, or both. ... They can replace traditional, fossil fuel-based plastics in ev-ery industry and product imag-inable. Sadly, very few designers and engineers are familiar with them. Our goal is to change that,” Moth-Müller said.

Positive Plastics aims to intro-duce this group to the polymers currently on the market that offer a positive bene� t of some kind in terms of sustainability and/or circular economy in an effort to create what Friedland refers to as a “more accepting outlook on plastics.”

To that end, the three materi-al experts behind the initiative decided to create a materials kit that could serve as a tool to pro-mote a better understanding of these materials among design-ers and facilitate the commu-nication between nontechnical and technical team members.

Why a sample kit?Samples sent out by polymer

producers today do not provide the information needed to decide whether the material is able to ful-� ll the requirements of a particu-lar application, Friedland said.

“At best, I usually get a square sample the size of a credit card, perhaps with a slight surface treatment, and a uniform wall

thickness. It tells me nothing about the characteristics of the material, or what this material can do for me,” she said. “Markus Paloheimo has therefore de-signed and developed an intelli-gent sample that demonstrates the characteristics and proper-ties of the material in a tangible, comprehensible manner that de-signers could understand.”

He came up with a novel de-sign: a square-shaped sample with 13 or 14 different mechan-ical properties, such as an inter-nal hinge, corners, stress points, different wall thicknesses and different surface treatments. The sample shows how the ma-terial in question behaves under different conditions, its proper-ties and potential applications.

“Holding our sample, one can easily discover various surface structure options, different wall thicknesses, corners, hinges, � uidity indication, draft angle, shrinkage, warpage ... so many features in one piece,” Palohei-mo said.

The kit contains no � lm ma-terials or extruded grades. The focus is on injection moldable plastic materials with a re-duced environmental footprint:

post-consum-er, post-in-d u s t r i a l , bio-based, bio-composite and mass balanced plastics from various manu-facturers. The packaging of the samples re� ects this: They are dis-played in a tray that is “grown” from mycellium.

Each sample is tagged with a label stating what the ma-terial is and what it can do. The label also bears a QR code that links to a material card on the Positive Plas-tics website. This card pro-vides addition-al information about the ma-terial, shows a few sample products and presents case studies on where it has

been used in the market. Further information is also

provided about the technical bene� ts, the look and feel of the material, the environmental ben-e� ts and so on.

“So, some of our materials have done LCAs [life cycle anal-yses], while others state, for ex-ample, the amount of CO2 emis-sions saved on every kilo of the material produced. Plus, we use icons representing the various industries to indicate possible applications. In short, we have tried to make all the necessary information quickly and easi-ly accessible for designers to

decide whether the material is suitable for their product or ap-plication.”

Win-win approachAside from the design of the

samples, Positive Plastics’ cre-ative thinking stands out in oth-er ways as well.

“It is, as far as we know, the � rst kit to contain samples from different producers. Normally, when a sample kit is received from a raw materials producer, it contains only the materials available from that producer,” Friedland said. “This is a curat-ed sample collection of various innovative, commercially avail-able polymers.”

The kit contains materials from companies who were in-vited to participate, including Arkema, Biowert Industrie, Bo-realis, Lignin Industries, Mo-com, Sappi, Sirmax, Stora Enso, Trinseo, UBQ and UPM.

“We’ve included a transpar-ent, mass-balanced grade and two white grades. Both are high-ly sought after by designers for their aesthetics. There is also a 54 percent bio-based TPU grade, so not all the samples are of rig-id polymers,” she explained.

Through their long experience in working with different mem-bers of project teams, the trio of experts behind Positive Plastics knows what is needed in the way of information. They also know how to reach the designers who need this information. So, when sending out the kit, Friedland said it will not be sent to a ran-dom project manager.

“We will send it to the princi-pal designer or design director of, say, the small domestic appli-ances department or the design director of the whitegoods divi-sion because we know them per-sonally, as they are our clients,” Friedland said.

From the point of view of the raw materials manufacturers, it is a great door opener, she add-ed. Usually, their contacts are with the procurement depart-ment or with a product manager, or perhaps even the engineers on the production � oor.

“They rarely have contacts with the designers, and that’s where we come in. We have cher-ry-picked 100 brands to send a complementary edition of the sample kit to, and we know it will reach the people we intend it to reach. And that is a very at-tractive idea to the producers of these materials,” she said.

Positive Plastics has also cre-ated a form on its website that will allow designers to contact the materials suppliers directly.

“Not only will this create leads from our website directly to their mailboxes, but it will also enable us to generate quarterly traf� c reports from our website to our partners,” Friedland said.

Positive Plastics is con� dent that the number of participants in the initiative will continue to grow.

“Right now, we have 16 mate-rials,” she said. “We hope the kit will grow so that by 2022, we will have the second edition with additional and new materials to present. Because this is not a one-off product; we are in this for the longer term.”


FA K U M A S H O W D A I LY


ARKEMA


SIRMAX SPA


MOCOM COMPOUNDS GMBH & CO. KG


By Karen LairdSustainable Plastics

Bridging the gapPositive Plastics is the missing link between designers, manufacturers

The Positive Plastics project provides material samples for designers that feature internal hinges, corners, stress points, different wall thicknesses and different surface treatments so designers can better understand what different polymers can do.

Moth-Müller

Friedland

Paloheimo

Positive Plastics photo

DuPont Co.’s work with electric vehicles and sustainability goes beyond material development.

“We’re not just supplying ma-terials,” Giacomo Parisi, global marketing director for automo-tive electri� cation, said Oct. 12 at Fakuma 2021. “We’re working with our customers and deciding how to meet their challenges.

“We can do metal replacement or redesign a whole system or whatever they need,” he added. “That’s the way we work.”

New Zytel High Temperature Ny-lon (HTN) materials from Wilming-ton, Del.-based DuPont are being used in a motor on Ferrari’s SF90 Stradale hybrid vehicle. Those materials and new grades of Cras-tin-brand polybutylene terephthal-ate also are being used in fuel cells and battery packs.

“The key is safety — how to make a battery pack safe,” Parisi said.

DuPont also is producing sus-tainable materials with both renewable base materials and post-consumer content. “It’s im-portant to let the customer know

that it’s not just a green name; it’s sustainability and quality,” Parisi said.

Other recent Du-Pont material advance-ments have focused on supporting e-motor and power electronic ef� ciencies, as well as safety, lightweighting, durability and connectivity.

At Fakuma, DuPont is announc-ing the launch of an extension to its Zytel HTN range of electrically friendly nylon materials. Other Du-Pont advancements in vehicle elec-tri� cation include a hybrid bobbin produced from Zytel HTN-brand nylon that supports thermal man-agement in e-motors and a plastic/metal hybrid cooling plate where a channel plate made from Zytel HTN is chemically bonded to aluminum.

DuPont last month announced the opening of three Centers of Excellence for vehicle electri� ca-tion. Of� cials said that these tech-nology centers, located in Europe and China and supported by other global R&D and technical service centers, will support ongoing developments in battery safety, thermal management and e-pow-

ertrain ef� ciency.Earlier this year, Du-

Pont announced plans to invest $5 million into a pair of European fa-cilities — in Schkopau, Germany, and Freien-bach, Switzerland — to increase capacity of bonding adhesives and

thermal management products for electric vehicles. The � rm also disclosed plans to build a $30 million manufacturing facility in Zhangjiagang, China, for EV vehi-cle materials.

In March, DuPont acquired spe-cialty products maker Laird Per-formance Materials for $2.3 billion in cash. Cleveland-based Laird is a major supplier of electromagnetic shielding and thermal management products. Plastics-related products made by Laird include gaskets, tapes, foams and microwave ab-sorbers. The � rm employs more than 4,300 at 11 global sites and posted sales of $465 million in 2020.

DuPont is a major global pro-ducer of specialty chemicals and plastics, including nylon resin. The � rm posted sales of $20.4 bil-lion in 2020.


Plastics News, October 13, 2021 • 3

DUPONT SPECIALTY PRODUCTS


DuPont helping customers meet EV, sustainable needs

By Frank EspositoPlastics News Staff

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Giacomo Parisi, DuPont global marketing director for automotive electri� cation, says engineering thermoplastics produced by the company are playing a big part in improving electric vehicle systems.Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

Automakers were severely af-fected in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing them to cut back on supply contract deliver-ies. That affected plastic mold-ings, but as it turns out, it also left carmakers with such insuf� cient supply of electronic chips that vehicle production was cut just at the time they should be recover-ing from pandemic effects.

Today’s vehicles depended on advanced electronics, and inade-quate or no chip stocks at carmak-ers — who typically depend on just-in-time delivery of chips from Asia — something just had to give.

Probably most dramatic among the carmakers’ moves has been the decision of Opel to stop car production in Eisenach, Germany, for three months up to the end of 2021. Such measures can only result in collateral damage at car-makers’ suppliers, and it hasn’t taken long for this to happen.

Two German molders have al-ready � led for insolvency at the end of Septem-ber, giving as the reason the chip shortage at their carmaker cus-tomers. The two companies — Diepersdorf-based B o l t a - W e r k e GmbH, and Her-ford-headquartered Fakuma 2021 exhibitor Heinze Gruppe, through its Heinze Kunststofftechnik GmbH subsidiary — both special-ize in plated and other metal-effect decorated plastic moldings, while Heinze Gruppe subsidiary Krall-

mann is heavily involved in highly integrated and lightweight plastics molding solutions, primarily in au-tomotive applications.

Without giving details of com-panies involved, the local West-falen Blatt newspaper reported that three Heinze subsidiary companies are not affected by the group insolvency.

Heinze Gruppe owner and Man-aging Director Jörg Tilmes, who

has also been managing direc-tor of Krallmann since mid-2020, described the sit-uation realistically, simply saying in resignation: “The automobile mak-ers are not produc-

ing anymore because they can’t get any semiconductors. So they also don’t need any more plastic parts.”

Automaker customers and sup-pliers of both Heinze Gruppe and Bolta-Werke are reported as do-ing everything they can to ease

the situation at these companies. It is indeed a serious situation, as consultants Alix Partners esti-mated in September that the chip shortage will cost the global auto-motive industry 179 billion euros ($206.8 million) of lost sales alone in 2021, due to the sale of 7.7 mil-lion fewer vehicles than in 2020.

Staff at the Heinze booth at Fakuma con� rmed that the insol-vency administrator for Heinze Gruppe has made assurances, together with Jörg Tilmes and in consultation with the works coun-cil, that business operations will continue. There will be no cuts among the 1,100 staff, who will not only continue to be paid out of insolvency contingencies, but also receive their Christmas bo-nus as usual. In contrast to Faku-ma 2018, there is in 2021 no lon-ger a large display of parts on the Heinze Gruppe booth.

Without giving details, the insol-vency administrator says poten-tial strategic industrial investors have shown interest in the group.

Heinze Gruppe annual sales, primarily in plastics parts produc-tion and mold making, amounted to 112.9 million euros ($130 mil-lion) in 2019, of which 77 million euros ($89 million) were from the automotive market.

In mid-2020, the company said its sales for the year would be down 17 percent. It admitted at the time to being in an advanced liquidity crisis, but had secured � -nancial arrangements that should have covered it through to 2022. Bolta-Werke achieved 128.9 mil-lion euros ($149 million) in 2019 sales from part production and 55.9 million euros ($64.5 million) in toolmaking.

Although the GKV association of plastics processing companies appears not to have speci� cally commented on the Heinze and Bol-ta-Werke situations, Boris Engel-hardt, main managing director of the GKG German rubber industry trade association, has used the occasion to say about carmakers and their suppliers: “If we don’t come as soon as possible to a dif-ferent way of dealing with each other, we will experience a wave of insolvencies by Christmas among small- and medium-sized automo-tive suppliers.”

Engelhardt pointed out that suppliers are sitting on parts � ll-ing their stores that they made for their automotive customers, leaving the suppliers perilously strapped for cash.

Automakers have been can-celing orders at short notice of sometimes just one day, Engel-hardt said, with one case known to him of an already loaded truck having to be unloaded upon order call-off cancellation.

Auto supply chain chaos: No chips, no cars, no plastic partsBy David Vink

Plastics News Correspondent

HEINZE KUNSTSTOFFTECHNIK

GMBH


Heinze Gruppe showed plated and other metal effect parts at Fakuma 2018.Plastics News photo by David Vink




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been a challenge. But not one without opportunity.

“Everything is related with co-rona. I would say from our point of view, at the moment, the mar-ket is booming,” he said. “There is no doubt about it.”

Pure Loop, a unit of Erema Group, certainly has had dif� -culty engaging potential new customers since early 2020. But market forces are allowing the company to maintain sales of new machinery to existing cus-tomers at a healthy pace allow-ing for continued growth, Do-bersberger said.

So being back at Fakuma, which was canceled last October due to the virus, brings renewed hope to the managing director to connect with new people.

“Finding new customers was a little more dif� cult because the plat-forms, the shows [and] the speeches we couldn’t make out there were just missing,” he said. “So where we could attract customers we didn’t know or they didn’t know us, that was a bit of a challenge.

“But we took the time and looked into alternative markets. And, I think, is a good part for us,” he said.

Pure Loop had just started looking into the clothing industry as a potential market for its recy-cling machinery when COVID-19 struck early last year. What the company found was up to 50 per-cent of the PE � bers created for clothing can get lost in the sup-ply chain from manufacturing to conversion into clothing to sales. This means there is plenty of PE available for recapture using

Pure Loop’s technology.Pure Loop is promoting its ISEC

evo line of equipment, which the company describes as a “materi-al all-rounder” that can recycle different types and shapes of material. ISEC evo, Dobersberger said, shreds, melts, extrudes and pelletizes production waste in one integrated unit.

Time made available by COVID lockdowns allowed Pure Loop to better investigate the segment and determine there is a viable market for the company’s equip-ment, Dobersberger said.

While Pure Loop was essential-ly unable to really cultivate new clients in existing markets, he said a combination of forces has pushed existing customers into more equipment purchases. Leg-islation and regulation, along with public opinion and company recy-cling goals, are spurring creation of additional recycling capacity.

Pure Loop has bene� ted from these market conditions and has been able to sell additional ma-chinery to existing customers as those processors continue to ex-pand, he said.

As part of Erema Group, Pure Loop concentrates on the post-indus-trial plastics recy-cling, where clean m a n u f a c t u r i n g scrap is captured and recycled into new pellets.

About half of the company’s market is in � lm, with another 30 percent or so in materials such as carpeting, arti� cial turf and ge-otextiles. The � nal 20 percent is what Dobersberger described as solids such as pipe and injection molded parts. He estimated sales have continued to grow about 20 percent annually during COVID-19.

Regardless of use, the manag-ing director said Pure Loop relies on shows like Fakuma to wave the company � ag in an attempt to attract new customers as well as reconnect with existing clients.

“We are really happy that we can go out again and see the cus-tomer,” he said. “I’m an optimist. I brought a lot of business cards with me.”

PURE LOOP GMBH


For recycling equipment mak-er Pure Loop GmbH, it just feels

right to be back on the Fakuma show � oor.

The doors had barely opened on the � rst day of Fakuma and Managing Director Manfred Do-

bersberger was already chat-ting up people at the company’s booth as the show awakened.

For Dobersberger, leading Pure Loop through the pandemic has

By Jim JohnsonPlastics News Staff

Manfred Dobersberger, managing director of Pure Loop GmbH, at Fakuma 2021 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Pure Loop sees the potential of selling equipment to those interested in recycling disposable face masks.

For Pure Loop, Fakuma is a chance to � nd new customers

Plastics News photos by Caroline Seidel



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Ascend Performance Materi-als is looking to meet customer needs while expanding its global footprint.

“Every region now has com-pounding assets to support the business,” Isaac Khalil, nylons vice president, said Oct. 12 at Fakuma 2021. “We have a glob-al footprint but are locally sup-plied and locally sourced.”

Houston-based Ascend — the world’s largest integrated nylon 6/6 maker — has made four ac-quisitions in less than two years, most recently buying French compounder Eurostar Engineer-ing Plastics in January for an un-disclosed price.

Fosses-based Eurostar has a broad portfolio of � ame-retar-dant engineered plastics and expertise in halogen-free for-mulations. The � rm employs 60 and operates 12 extrusion lines, making compounds based on ny-lons 6 and 6/6 and polybutylene terephthalate, primarily for elec-trical/electronic uses.

In early 2020, Ascend acquired Italian materials � rms Poliblend and Esseti Plast GD. Esseti Plast is a producer of masterbatch concentrates, while Poliblend makes compounds and concen-trates based on virgin and recy-cled grades of nylon 6 and 6/6. In mid-2020, Ascend entered Asian manufacturing by buying a com-pounding plant in China from two Chinese � rms. The Shang-hai-area plant operates two twin-screw extrusion lines and covers about 200,000 square feet.

Moving ahead, Khalil said that Ascend “will make appropriate acquisitions to support custom-er growth.” He added that the � rm will make acquisition deci-sions based on both geography and product mix.

On the new product side, Khalil said Ascend is growing its lineup of Star� am-brand � ame-retardant materials and HiDura-brand long-chain nylons for applications in electric vehi-cles, � laments and other areas. EV applications for Ascend ma-terials include connectors, bat-teries and charging stations.

Sustainability also is in focus at Ascend. Khalil said the � rm has expanded its post-industrial and post-consumer recycled ma-terials, with an eye on improving consistency and quality, which at times can be a challenge for such materials.

Ascend also has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2030. Khalil said the � rm has invested “millions of dollars” to meet this goal and should show “signi� -cant progress” in 2022 and 2023. In this area, Ascend is eliminat-ing use of coal at its plant in De-catur, Ala.

In addition, Khalil said As-cend “has hardened its assets” through such projects as in-creasing backup supplies of

Ascend goes global while keeping local approach

By Frank EspositoPlastics News Staff

electrical power at its plant in Pensacola, Fla., in case of ex-treme weather.

In June, Ascend expanded pro-

duction capacity for specialty nylon resins at its plant in Green-wood, S.C. The multimillion-dol-lar expansion will help the com-pany meet growing demand for its new HiDura line.

Ascend employs 2,600 and oper-ates nine global locations, includ-ing � ve fully integrated manufac-turing facilities in the southeastern U.S. and a compounding plant in the Netherlands.

ASCEND PERFORMANCE MATERIALS


Isaac Khalil from Ascend at Fakuma 2021 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel




Hall A 7Booth 7101

Z

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OPC – UA

EM

77/ 82.1 /83

Procan ALPHA ®

Industrie 4.0

Automation

BOY –WLAN –

USB - Stick

Smart Control

Moulding Assist

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IWK MATERIALS TECHNOLOGY AND PLASTICS

PROCESSING INSTITUTE

Hall A3, Booth A3-3111Switzerland can hardly be de-

scribed as an ideal location for developments in surfboard appli-cations, since it is a landlocked country, far from prime marine sur� ng locations and a high wage-cost economy.

But that didn’t prevent Rap-perswil, Switzerland-based IWK materials technology and plastics processing institute at OST East-ern Switzerland Technical Univer-

sity from developing high-perfor-mance carbon-� ber-reinforced plastic composite surfboard � ns, which are now sold to sur� ng equipment suppliers throughout the world.

IWK developed the � ns with Buchs, Switzerland-based molder Kunststoffwerk AG Buchs “Svis-mold.” The company produces the new H4 � ns on a tie-barless injection molding machine from Engel Austria GmbH, equipped with a Kuka articulated robot, for the Newport (NSW) Australian

company FCS Fin Control Systems Pty Ltd.

Key to cost-effective produc-tion is a fully automated injec-tion molding process with the Kuka robot laying two ultrathin 0.2 millimeter unidirectional carbon-� ber-reinforced plastic tapes into the mold for molding onto the H4 � n’s injection mold-ed thermoplastic frame, as well as removing the � nished mold-ings from the mold.

The process is economically justi� ed, having replaced labori-

Surfboard � ns molded in Switzerland sell to global market

By David VinkPlastics News Correspondent

ous tape-reinforced � ns made by hand. And there is greater supply chain reliability with production closer to the European market and Svismold determination to source materials from European suppliers, as far as possible.

H4 � n project leader Gion An-drea Barandun heads the IWK � ber-reinforced composites and lightweight construction depart-ment and says the fully automat-ic process has fewer errors than with Asian manual production, ensured with integrated of cam-era-based part inspection.

Svismold Managing Director Martin Rudolph says of the de-velopment that as FCS “demand-ed more consistent quality and higher precision than achievable in manual production, our goal was a fully automatically manu-factured high-tech product.”

The FCS H4 � n is a high-end, premium-priced product that is available in three sizes, with its carbon-� ber tape reinforcement resulting in higher stability, pre-dictability and control at high sur� ng speeds, due to the H4 � n being four to � ve times stiffer than unreinforced plastic � ns.

It means “absolute ef� ciency,” so surfers can “apply more of their energy into each and every turn when it is initiated, the H4

� n supplying speed when needed and releasing it at the ideal transi-tion point,” FCS says.

Fin properties can be easily adapted to a range of individual needs by making adjustments to the tapes, Svismold’s Rudolph points out, FCS referring here to tuning of how the � n bends and twists around the surfboard body. Surfboards typically use several such � ns in central and side locations.

FCS Australia says that the H4 � n project would be impossible without Svismold support, with its “outstanding ability to turn our original idea into a quality and in-novative end product.”

Mike Durante, global product head at FCS described the deci-sion to work with a Swiss compa-ny as “pretty radical.” He says H4 development was part of the FCS innovation platform for the next benchmark in technology.

The H4 brief was to create a � n-enhancing sur� ng experience by giving feedback, anticipating the surfer’s next move and giving as much speed as possible, with a � ne level of control — “the more energy you give, the more it gives back.”

Lead product designer Nick Notara adds that the carbon-� ber tape keeps the base of the � ns very rigid, so they feel respon-sive and also translate the driving force into speed, while the tips are able to rotate, “which trans-lates to the surfer being able to control the speed.”

A � nished FCS H4 surfboard � n at Svismold.IWK photos

Thermoplastic � n frames and CF tapes at Svismold.



Faster than you might expect.Long delivery times and short-term requests are troublesome: With ENGEL you have the necessary agility and flexibility.

We o�er you professional and especially quick help. Whether it is our all-electric e-mac or our tie-bar-less victory series, our stock injection moulding machines are there for you in no time.

engelglobal.com/stockmachines

Thermoforming research at the IKT plastics technology institute at Stuttgart University is putting the emphasis on upcycling of used material.

An “UpFilT” project, developed with 3D printing � laments from thermoforming scrap material, could allow processors to use ma-terial in higher-value products.

Researchers use the UpFilT � laments to 3D print additional features such as reinforcement ribs on thermoformed parts. This involves laying the thermoformed part on a support that follows its contour and printing with a print-ing head mounted on an articulat-ed arm robot.

Stuttgart University’s ISW ma-chine tools and production equip-ment control engineering institute applied robotics to eliminate 3D support structure material. Lan-genargen, Germany-based ther-moforming processor SE Kunstst-offverarbeitung GmbH & Co. KG is also an UpFilT project partner.

A heater on the 3D printing head pre-heats the thermoformed part. Movement pre-program-ming maintains the distance re-quired to the thermoformed part, depending on 3D printed material thickness needed.

Another IKT project involves a “thermoforming with integrated design elements” process used to obtain more complex thermo-formed parts for enhanced design freedom, toward that achieved by injection molding.

The process combines ther-moforming and welding to pro-vide integrated functional plas-tic elements such as ribs, screw bosses or snap-� t hooks, without resorting to post-thermoforming processes such as back injection molding or other joining tech-niques. This is achieved by place-ment of locally pre-heated plastic inserts into the thermoforming mold, which are then welded to the hot thermoformed part during thermoforming.

In another project with SE Kunststoffverarbeitung GmbH & Co. KG, IKT researched how light-er-weight technical components can be thermoformed with good mechanical properties in foamed ABS, overcoming the challenge of obtaining desired surface aes-thetics, namely avoiding typical foamed injection molding surface swirl effects, but without unac-ceptable loss of lightweighting gains with thicker skin layers. IKT seeks to achieve these aims with modi� ed ABS material and ther-moforming process optimization.

In the “HighTransForm” proj-ect on development of highly transparent complex twin-sheet thermoformed hollow bodies, IKT

IKT research focuses on ‘upcycling’ for thermoforming

By David VinkPlastics News Correspondent

researches with Mengkofen/Hof-dorf, Germany based processor Linbrunner Thermoformungs-Gm-bH & Co. KG, using an all-electric T10 thermoforming machine from Sesslach, Germany-based Geiss AG, which was installed in 2019 and adapted for twin-sheet ther-moforming.

Thermoforming and joining is often combined to produce sim-ple-geometry twin sheets in a sin-gle process. But IKT says this is “only possible to a limited extent”

with transparent double-walled components, so that caravan side and roof windows, for example, are produced less cost effective-ly from single sheets in separate thermoforming and manual bond-ing processes.

These involve two stages of sin-gle-sheet thermoforming, sheet alignment, then adhesive bond-ing and curing stages to join the sheets together, with associated ecological and health aspects of adhesive solvents.

The project partners seek to develop a single-stage, adhe-sive-free, twin-sheet thermoform-

ing process, aimed speci� cally for production of such clear and tint-ed transparent components.

Geiss T10 thermoforming machine on display at Geiss AG.Geiss AG photo

IKT PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE AT STUTTGART

UNIVERSITY





The front grille on BMW’s iX electric-drive SUV provides a smart surface that allows the au-tomaker to embed sensors, cam-eras and radar systems behind its decorative exterior.

The iX was one of two grand innovation winners at the recent Society of Plastics Engineers Central Europe 20th Automotive Awards.

BMW’s Dingol� ng plant in Ger-many molds the panels on Engel machinery using an injection compression mold from Schech-en, Germany-based Summerer Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, an automotive plastics glazing mold systems specialist for 40 years.

The kidney-shaped panel is molded from Makrolon AG2677, a medium-viscosity, UV-stabilized, easy-release polycarbonate au-tomotive glazing material from Covestro. It is in-mold � ooded with self-healing polyurethane in a single-shot process integrating radome heating.

Bingen, Germany-based Oer-likon Balzers Coatings Germany GmbH plasma vapor deposition (PVD) equipment creates ra-dar-transparent diamond-shape metallic effects. The “intelligent surface” panel houses camera technology, radar functions, driv-

er assistance sensor technology and heating elements.

Composite part reduces weight

In serial production since Oc-tober 2020 at Mercedes Benz’s Sindel� ngen, Germany-plant, the Mercedes AMG GT Black gear carrier received the powertrain grand innovation award.

The part uses a FibreTEC3D free-space winding process uti-lizing continuous carbon-fiber bundles from Toray Carbon Fi-bers Europe SA. These are first impregnated by an Epikote Trac 06398/Epicure epoxide resin system from Iserlohn, Germa-ny-based Hexion GmbH. The resin withstands temperatures up to 210° C (410° F) near the exhaust tract.

Mercedes produces 3,500 car-riers per year, two per car. Mer-cedes developed FibreTEC3D with the ITM textile machinery institute at Dresden Technical University.

The company also uses the process for robot gripper and other production aids for A-, C-, E- and S-class cars.

Replacing cast aluminum-mag-nesium alloy cut weight by 55 percent (0.95 kilograms vs. 1.75 kg), with identical stiffness. The carrier uses 100 meters of im-

pregnated carbon � bers wound around aluminum de� ection/con-nection points and is integrated with conventional carbon-� -ber-reinforced epoxide compos-ite for load-bearing.

Slot lines honored for mobility innovation

Thin electric motor slot liners used in BMW’s � fth-generation eDrive won the mobility innova-tion award. The liners increase ef� ciency, reduce size and weight.

Turin, Italy-based molder Co-braplast SpA makes the part us-ing Xydar G930, a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) from Solvay Spe-cialty Polymers Italy SpA.

Solvay also featured enabling technology for the second-place winner, thin-extruded KetaSpire polyetheretherketone (PEEK) insulated magnet wires at Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire plants in Germany.

BMW again for enabling technology

BMW’s Landshut, Germany, plastics processing plant received the enabling technology inno-vation award for injection mold-ings with integrated temperature control. Media from existing cir-cuits run through the molding’s

coarse cellular core, produced by water-assist molding of Stamax 20 percent long-glass-� ber-reinforced polypropylene from Sabic In-novative Plastics.

Sabic also received new mobil-ity second place for a one-shot stamped aluminum insert-mold-ed Lucid Air electric car battery module housing, produced by Hayward, Calif.-based molder Plastikon Industries Inc. with Lexan 3412ECR, a halogen-free UL94-V0 � ame retardant 20 per-cent glass-� ber-reinforced poly-carbonate. Complex tool design by Zwickau, Germany-based Christian Karl Siebenwurst GmbH resulted in less production stages and a compact, high energy-den-sity battery pack housing.

The chassis/structural sec-ond place went to a Hyundai iX25 roof rail, gas-assist molded by Loznica, Serbia-based Minth Europe Automotive DOO in Ak-romid B3 GF50 1GIT 50 percent glass-� ber-reinforced nylon from Niederzissen, Germany-based compounder Akro-Plastic GmbH,

using equipment from Etten-heim, Germany-based PME Fluid-tec GmbH.

Sustainable materials nomina-tions included Akro-Plastic with ICF “intelligent carbon-� ber” compounds derived from waste CF fabric.

LyondellBasell Co. BV was nominated in body interiors for Looppile X, the claimed � rst car-pet produced with 100 percent recycled PP by Genemuiden, Netherlands-based Condor Car-tex BV, Europe’s largest car car-pet producer. Condor can also recycle polyester-� ber-based carpets into new carpet.

SPE honors innovations in auto molding

By David VinkPlastics News Correspondent Lucid Air car battery

housing in stamped aluminum and polycarbonate.

AMG GT Black compositegear carrier, left, has replaceda cast aluminum-magnesiumpart.

Grille of the new BMW iX SUV.BMW photo

Plastics Newsphotos by David Vink

OERLIKON BALZERS COATING

GERMANY GMBH




Ascendmaterials.com/fakumaHall 4, Stand 4111

Innovate. Optimize. Grow. Repeat.Realize your ideas faster with innovative products produced in Europe and supported by our European experts!

With three business units repre-sented at Fakuma 2021, the Extru-sioneers at Reifenhäuser Group have brought a sizable presence to the show in Friedrichshafen.

Chief Sales Of� cer Ulrich Reifen-häuser of the Reifenhäuser Group was asked about returning to in-person shows after an almost two-year hiatus and talked a little about the effects in general of the pandemic on business and on the company’s various projects.

Q: Let’s start with the show. It’s been awhile — almost two years — since the last major live plas-tics trade show was held here in Germany. Or in Europe, for that matter. How did you feel about having to go completely digital during the pandemic? And did it require much adjustment in the way you communicated with the market?

Reifenhäuser: For us, live trade shows are essential. And of course, we had to adapt. We expanded our digital channels during the corona pandemic, putting a strong focus on virtual events. In fact, these will continue to play a much stronger role in the future — but consider-ing that our business is about big investments, personal trust is what counts when it comes to making a purchase decision. And that is something that cannot be built up via video calls alone. That’s why we’re glad to � nally be able to meet our customers in person again.

And Fakuma is an excellent ven-ue for this, in a particularly beau-tiful region of Germany, right on Lake Constance.

Q: That’s very true — as far as venues go, it would be hard to � nd one in an area with more scenic beauty. However, the ac-tion for those in the industry is mostly indoors, in the halls of Messe Friedrichshafen. Your stand is in Hall A6. Is it the same size it always was, or have you had to make adjustments?

Reifenhäuser: Unfortunately, we have had to reduce the size of our stand due to the new corona speci� cations. However, if this means that we can hold another trade fair at all, we are happy to accept this!

Q: What about your customers who may be hesitant to attend or simply unable to trav-el: Is there any kind of virtual possibility to visit the stand?

Reifenhäuser: Yes, last year, during the pandemic, we digi-tized our technology center at our main site making a 360-de-gree visit possible, in order to be able to demonstrate our lines to customers virtually. Visitors can experience this guided 360-de-gree tour both on-site in Fried-richshafen at the trade show and from their home screens — and not only during Fakuma, but of course also beyond!

Q: The last big plastics show in Europe was, I think, K 2019. What have been the main de-velopments at Reifenhäuser since then?

Reifenhäuser: A lot has hap-pened in the past two years. Prob-ably the most impressive develop-ments revolve, of course, around sustainable plastics production. Thus, the focus of this year’s Fa-kuma is also on the change from a linear to a circular economy and the resulting new requirements for components and production lines. When processing recyclate, the extruder in particular plays a decisive role, as the recyclate quality often � uctuates and im-purities or abrasive ingredients must also be processed safely. Therefore, we offer our customers correspondingly highly wear-re-sistant screws and barrels.

In addition, we have also worked a lot on the design of sus-tainable and fully recyclable end products. Here, we have devel-oped line concepts in both the � at � lm and blown � lm sectors that produce high-performance � lms, even with barrier function, on a monomaterial basis.

Q: Can you tell me something about the highlights visitors can look forward to at the stand?

Reifenhäuser: As we are rep-resented at Fakuma with three of our business units, we naturally have a large number of highlights.

Our Reifenhäuser Extrusion Sys-tems component unit focuses on the world-renowned Reiloy screws and barrels. We are the only man-ufacturer to develop and produce the hard material alloys for wear protection ourselves. This enables customers to achieve veri� ably longer service life, precise match-ing of raw materials and additives, and exclusive alloys with pow-ders developed in-house and pro-cess-optimized surfaces.

The trade show highlight of our Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating � at � lm unit is the new MIDEX 11-2500 cast sheet line with MDO. The line is a real all-rounder and impresses with its enormous ap-plication versatility. From CPP and CPE � lms to barrier, hygiene and technical � lms, customers can produce a wide variety of products and thus react � exibly to rapidly changing market require-ments. In addition, sustainable end products can be produced, for example, by downgauging and changing classic multimaterial

barrier � lms to “mono � lms.”

Our third business unit, Reifenhäuser Blown Film, is also committed to produc-ing end products that can be fully recycled. The technological answer here is EVO

Ultra Stretch — Reifenhäuser’s advanced stretching unit for sus-tainable blown � lms. Customers use it to produce monomateri-al composites (all-polyethylene � lm) for � exible packaging. In this process, the otherwise usual PET layer is replaced by stretched PE. With a stretching rate of up to 10, Ultra Stretch gives the PE � lm completely new mechanical properties for simple PET replacement, without the need to adapt further processing steps. The unique and patented position of the stretching unit di-

Reifenhäuser: ‘Live trade shows are essential for us’By Karen Laird

Sustainable Plastics

rectly in the haul-off of the blown � lm line makes the process par-ticularly stable and ef� cient.

Q: Before the outbreak of the pandemic, you announced a major investment program that would see very sizable con-struction and expansion proj-ects at Troisdorf and elsewhere. How is that coming along? Have these plans been affected by the pandemic?

Reifenhäuser: We are fortunate in that our growth projects are running according to plan and continued to do so even during the pandemic. We were even able to successfully conclude a strategic

acquisition recently and acquired a majority stake in Kdesign GmbH, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cool-ing rings and measuring systems for blown � lm lines, in the spring of this year. In this way, we are further expanding our in-house compe-tence for cooling, con-trolling, measuring and calibrating blown � lms in order to provide cus-tomers in this segment with even more signi� -

cant competitive advan-tages in the future.

Q: How has the pandemic af-fected your business? Has it cre-ated new opportunities, for ex-ample? Challenged you to come up with new solutions?

Reifenhäuser: After initial un-certainty in the market, the situ-ation has fortunately developed very positively for Reifenhäuser. In addition to the extremely suc-cessful nonwovens sector, which experienced a unique wave of orders due to the enormous de-mand for respiratory protection nonwovens, the � lms sector also felt increasing growth. Here, the pandemic has generally increased

demand for high-performance packaging — especially for food, hygiene and medical products. Hygiene awareness has increased worldwide and plastic � lms pro-vide effective protection against the spread of infectious diseases in many areas.

Q: A huge problem right now impacting industries across the board is that of container availability. Are you experienc-ing any supply issues or are you otherwise affected by the current problems of container shortages?

Reifenhäuser: The problem of container availability affects us to the same extent as all market par-ticipants — especially in the sup-ply chain. However, we have so far been able to maintain our own de-livery capability and the through-put times of our products through timely procurement, stockpiling or alternative procurement sourc-es, and substitution.

Q: Lastly, what do you expect Fakuma to bring?

Reifenhäuser: Fakuma marks the new start in the live trade show business for the German plastics industry. We hope for a more personal exchange with our customers and partners. Even though we cannot yet expect visi-tors from all corners of the globe this year due to ongoing travel re-strictions, we are very pleased to � nally be able to hold direct, face-to-face conversations again. This is simply much more engaging and offers many more opportu-nities than communicating exclu-sively online.

Reifenhäuser Group has worked on the development of fully recyclable packaging for pouches, with monomaterial content including polyethylene.Reifenhäuser Group photo

REIFENHÄUSER GROUP

Hall A6, Booth 6206

10 • Plastics News, October 13, 202110 • Plastics News, October 13, 2021



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SP Subs Quarter page for show dailies.indd 1 04/10/2021 14:56

Steger said. Even so, production lines in

some plants have already had to be halted due to the chip short-age, among others, in the United States — and this is having an impact on investments in injec-tion molding technologies. The extent to which this will have a lasting impact on the growth of what up to very recently was the largest of Engel’s � ve business units will become clear over the next weeks and months.

Today, however, the compa-ny’s technical molding business unit, comprising sports and lei-sure articles, house-hold goods, and products for the construc-tion and logistics industries, has drawn level with automotive in Engel's revenue distribution, and this is not expected to change anytime soon. Sales in this unit have been fueled both by the boom in demand triggered by the pandemic and the ongoing machinery modernization trend in many companies today.

The three other business units, medical technology, pack-aging and teletronics, are per-forming stably. Medical, which saw its revenue spike upward during the pandemic due to the demand for test equipment and diagnostics, is now settling back to a more “normal,” albeit steady, growth mainly driven by lifestyle diseases such as diabe-tes and respiratory disorders.

For the packaging business unit, the focus on sustainable and more circular solutions holds the potential to unlock

new opportunities, while the sit-uation in the teletronics division is uneasy.

“The introduction of a new smartphone or tablet is no lon-ger the event it used to be and we no longer see people lin-ing up for the newest models,” Steger stressed. “On the other hand, we are witnessing increas-ing demand for connectors, par-ticularly in Europe due to the roll-out of the 5G network and in-creasing use of cloud and smart home applications.”

However, thanks to “at the very least, a 30 percent” year-on-year increase in order intake, the Engel Group expects to close the � scal year 2021/22 in March with sales close to pre-crisis levels.

“But we have learned not to take things for granted. Much depends on how the next six months play out, he said.

Fiscal year 2020/21, which in-cluded the dif� cult months from April to September 2020, generated 1.1 billion euros in sales, down from 1.3 billion euros in � scal 2019/20.

However, Steger said that business rapidly picked up again, � rst in North America and China, and then Europe as well.

In Western Europe, demand soared to record levels in the � rst half of 2021, while East-ern Europe is bene� ting from, among others, the shortage of skilled workers, which is stoking demand for automation.

The North American markets performed very strongly during � rst six months, with the com-pany recording growth in all sectors. Reshoring is a major trend in this region, the effects of which are making themselves felt, while increased digitaliza-

tion is result-ing in cost-ef-f i c i e n t product iv i ty gains.

In Asia, China con-tinues to be the biggest growth driv-er. Although here, too, pre-COVID levels have yet to be

achieved, the country is show-ing signi� cant growth compared to � scal 2020/21. In India, where, aiming to reduce the country’s dependence on China, the gov-ernment has established subsi-dy programs for reshoring proj-ects, processors are investing in modernization and capacity expansion. “It is de� nitely a growing market,” Steger said. “Not only the market, but also the quality standards are rising at a disproportionate rate.”

Elsewhere, including South-east Asia and Latin America, the economic recovery has yet to take hold, although Engel is optimistic about the outlook for Mexico, Brazil and Colombia in the second half of the year.

Fresh momentumEngel is also feeling upbeat

about the opportunities the Fa-kuma will bring.

“After having to do without trade fairs for such a long time, the interest in experiencing inno-vations live is huge,” Steger said. “Even if the effects of the pan-demic are still preventing some people from traveling, Engel ex-pects important impulses.”

E-mobility, sustainability and digitalization are the three ma-jor drivers of innovation that are gaining further momentum with the economic upturn, he added. With its main theme of Digital Transformation and a Circular Economy, “Fakuma is happening at exactly the right time.”

Digitalization is also an im-portant theme at the Engel booth. While the market is in-creasingly acceptant of digi-tal solutions, especially since COVID-19 so clearly highlighted the bene� ts of digital process-es, digitalization levels vary tre-mendously across the industry.

“A wide range of both � eld-proven and new digital solutions is available for all ma-turity levels,” Steger said.

Digital news being presented at the show, he said, includes among others, the expanded pos-sibilities of the new online sup-port and remote maintenance service developed and tested in cooperation with numerous cus-tomers during the Corona pan-demic, when on-site service calls were not always possible. Called e-connect.expert view, the new web application now also can make use of uses video trans-mission to provide additional information on the status of the machine components and the in-jection molding machine's envi-ronment. It is supported on both smartphones and tablets and allows for the use of augmented reality (AR) glasses, so that both hands are free to work on the ma-chine. The only prerequisite is an internet connection.

In addition, the sim link soft-ware launched at K 2019 has also been expanded. Sim link is an in-terface that allows relevant pa-rameters from a simulation to be integrated into a settings data section for further use on the machine. It also makes it pos-sible for data such as process parameters and measurement results to be imported from the injection molding machine into a simulation program.

“So, at the end of the day, there’s no copy-paste operation needed: the data is directly inte-grated into the machine,” Steger said. When it debuted in 2019, the software was available only for Autodesk's Mold� ow sim-ulation program. The newest version now also runs with the CADMOULD simulation software from SIMCON and can be used on all Engel injection molding machines from the CC200 and CC300 control unit generations.

The company is also introduc-ing a new performance.boost an-alytics service, aimed at helping its customers derive optimum bene� t from the data generat-ed during the injection molding process. Trained data scientists at Engel systematically analyze the available data for each spe-ci� c application, visually pro-cess the results and develop concrete recommendations for action. “We invested in new staff for this service,” Steger said.

Engel has brought � ve ma-chines to the show this year. A key exhibit at the booth is the new e-speed size — the e-speed 420 — offering 4,200 kN of clamping force and targeted at thin-walled applications, which Engel is unveiling at the show. The e-speed injection molding machines with hybrid injection unit and electric clamping unit combine very short cycle times with maximum precision and very high injection speeds of up to 1,200 mm per second; they operate with extreme energy ef� ciency. An energy recovery system absorbs braking energy from the platen movements and returns the stored energy to the motor. The toggle lever is encap-sulated to ensure particularly low oil consumption and maxi-mum cleanliness, allowing even the standard versions to meet the strict requirements of the food industry.

The e-speed 420/90 injection molding machine with integrat-ed in-mold labeling is produc-ing ready-to-use margarine tubs from polypropylene with interac-tive labels using Digimarc water-marking technology in a fully au-tomated injection compression process. The containers, which have a wall thickness of 0.4 mm (including the label), will be re-moved from the 4+4-cavity stack mold via high-speed, side-entry automation and stacked on a discharge conveyor following camera-based quality control. The partner companies in this exhibit are MCC Verstraete, Plas-tisud, Campetella, Mevisco and Borealis.

“It’s a monomaterial solution,” Steger said. Both the tubs and the labels are made from the same PP material, which means they can be shredded together as produc-tion waste during manufactur-ing. The company is processing waste label offcuts as regrind at the stand. An Engel victory 460/80 will be used to produce Pöppel-mann tapered closures from an eight-cavity mold.

thermoplastic compounds and Sarlink-brand thermoplastic vul-canizates (TPVs) for the automo-tive market, Duyfjes said. The � rm also is spotlighting styrenic-based materials for consumer and other markets.

Teknor Apex also has seen in-creased interest in sustainable materials, mostly in the form of compounds with recycled con-tent. “We see sustainability as part of the innovation process,” Duyfjes said.

Like many � rms, Teknor Apex

struggled at the start of the pan-demic before demand improved.

“We recovered over the sum-mer [of 2020] and now we’re glad to be back and able to work with our customers,” Duyfjes said. “We’ve invested in Fakuma be-cause of those relationships we have and because we’re in a good position because of our new ca-pacity.”

Teknor Apex is one of North America's 30 largest compound-ers and concentrate makers. The � rm operates 13 plants worldwide in the U.S., Belgium, Germany, China and Singapore and has annual sales of more than $1 billion.

Teknor ApexContinued from Page 1

EngelContinued from Page 1

Steger



The Emerson logo is a trademark and a service mark of Emerson Electric Co. © 2021 Emerson Electric Co.

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Recycling 3D printed and la-ser-sintered plastics, physically foamed recycled PET, plasma treatment enhancement of adhe-sion to polycarbonate and use of gluten as a toughening addi-tive for polylactic acid (PLA) are among recent and current re-search projects at KuZ Kunstst-off-Zentrum in Leipzig, Germany.

Announced at the end of Au-gust and running until June 2022, the “ReUp-3D-Printwaste” proj-ect uses chemical additives to improve additive manufacturing waste plastic quality. These in-clude support structures and faulty printed parts in PLA from fused deposition modeling (FDM), and selective laser sintering (SLS) polyamide 12 powder. These “upcycled” materials save costs while bene� ting the circular econ-omy by use in additive processes from which they originate.

When added to PLA waste, chain extenders, hydrolysis stabilizers and antioxidants enable extrusion into new FDM � laments, and chain shortening and antioxidant addi-tives in PA12 waste powder results in new SLS material. KuZ says it also focuses on combined SLS-FDM and FDM recycled materials.

Material costs take the largest

share of additive pro-cess operating costs. Virgin PLA � laments cost 25-30 euros ($28-$34) per kilogram, virgin nylon 12 pow-der 80-120 euros ($92-$138) per kg. So there is plenty of material available for upcycling, as FDM gener-ates 20-30 percent waste, SLS 50-70 percent.

In a “RecySchaum” recycled foam project, KuZ uses PET from post-consumer packag-ing waste as a basis for recycled PET thermoplastic foam injection molding lightweight automotive components. A recycled PET foam model achieved 40 percent weight saving over an equivalent real application reference part.

Recently concluded with Sand-ersdorf-Brehna, Germany-based contract compounder Compraxx GmbH, the “Gluplast” project involved wheat gluten as a nat-urally reoccurring additive in PLA to reduce inherent brittle-ness and improve low plastic de-formability and impact strength, previously only achieved by blending PLA with conventional petroleum-based polymers such as thermoplastic polyurethane or ethylene copolymer.

Gluten forms a cross-linked elas-tomer phase at around 80° C (176°

F), but adequate distribution of gluten needed to achieve suf� -ciently higher toughness through increased adhesion to the PLA ma-trix could not be obtained when gluten was compounded with PLA at 160° C (320° F) in a twin-screw extruder, due to insuf� cient gluten distribution in the PLA.

The 1.4 percent elongation at break and 1.5 megapascal impact strength were in fact lower than

the respective 2.5 Mpa and 2 Mpa values for un-

modi� ed PLA (Natureworks Ingeo 6202D and Ingeo 3001D).

KuZ overcame this by dilut-ing gluten with wheat � our to reduce the degree of cross-link-ing and/or chemical additives to temporary reduce cross-linking: sodium hydrogen sul� te, ace-tylsalicylic acid and L-cysteine proteinogenic amino acid, as re-spectively reducing agent, anti-oxidant and trapping reagent.

Addition of glycerin plasticizer and oxalic acid enhanced blend-ability through interphase adhe-

sion enhancement and viscosity reduction. The various additives re-sulted in elongation at break rising to 30 percent and impact strength to 4 Mpa, well above the mentioned values for unmodi� ed PLA.

“Maillard effect” browning of the modi� ed PLA is related to re-actions with proteins contained in gluten, but Compraxx concealed it with color masterbatches, widen-ing potential applications, expect-ed in household and of� ce articles.

Bio� ex 6514, a additive-modi-� ed PLA copolyester blend from Willich, Germany-based biode-gradable plastics producer FKuR Kunststoff GmbH was also includ-ed in Gluplast project investiga-tions, but KuZ has not indicated whether it too was modi� ed fur-ther with gluten, or simply used as a reference to compare results with gluten modi� ed PLA.

KuZ researches innovative materials solutionsBy David Vink

Plastics News Correspondent

Yarn reel in PLA toughened by wheat gluten additive.KuZ Kunststoff-Zentrum photos

KUZ KUNSTSTOFF-ZENTRUM


KuZ Kunststoff-Zentrum in Leipzig, Germany.




Lossburg, Germany-based Arburg GmbH & Co. KG is in a growth mode, not only physically with expansions and acquisitions but in terms of sales returning to levels of past years.

The company now has more than 3,300 employees world-wide, which is about 200 more than a year ago, and sales are trending upward.

“We are very satis� ed with the incoming orders this year, and our production capacity utiliza-tion is likewise good. The order backlog already stretches into next year,” Jürgen Boll, managing director of � nance controlling IT, said during a Fakuma 2021 news conference.

Because machine demand has led to increased delivery times in some places, Arburg is building up a small stock of warehoused machines in Lossburg to meet urgent requests for standard ma-chines, such as the Allrounder golden electric, Boll said.

“We are also feeling the strain in the area of steel and aluminum sheets, as well as electronic com-ponents,” he said, but it hasn’t led to other problems.

“We have not had any produc-tion stoppages to date and were and are always able to deliver as planned,” Boll said. “The reason: Our supply chain strategy. We have planned ahead and stocked our warehouses well. We also bene� t here from our central pro-duction location with a high pro-portion of in-house production as well as short, stable and reliable supply chains. This gives us a high degree of � exibility, when we have to react quickly in the event of parts availability bottlenecks.”

On a euro basis for machines and peripheral equipment through August 2021, sales were twice as high as in the same peri-od in 2020, Boll said.

“From today’s perspective, we will again exceed 700 million euros ($808.9 million) in consoli-dated turnover in 2021. So we are

heading back towards the 2018-2019 level,” Boll said.

Germany continues to be Ar-burg’s largest single market and sales are picking up in other parts of Europe, according to Gerhard Böhm, managing director of sales and service.

“After the very deep trough in 2019 and a slight recovery in 2020, all countries are recording very pleasing growth this year,” he said. “Italy has returned to its old strength and automo-tive-heavy countries such as the Czech Republic are also recording signi� cant growth.”

Böhm described sales in the United States as “still very good.”

“Compared to the other coun-tries, there was no signi� cant slump here in 2019-2020, so that in the past dif� cult period, the good business in the USA was an important support for us,” he said.

The Asian countries of Malay-sia, Thailand, Singapore, Indone-sia continue to be heavily affected by COVID-19 with strict regula-tions in place, Böhm said.

“Nevertheless, we managed to get to a very decent level of in-coming orders,” he said.

Meanwhile, Arburg is expanding its presence in China. Last year the company opened the Arburg Tech-nology Factory (ATF) in Pinghu.

“For us, factory means that Allrounders made in Lossburg are customized on site in Ping-hu on short notice,” Böhm said. “But factory also means that ma-chines are automated by our local turnkey team and expanded into high-quality production systems.”

The 2,300-square-meter ATF has space for more than 60 injection molding machines. This facility allows Arburg to shorten delivery times and further expand the au-tomation business.

Looking at sales by sector, Böhm said the automotive industry is picking up again with many new projects related to electromobility.

“Many pilot plants are just starting up,” he added. “It will still take some time before these prod-ucts and models go into mass production, but if you look at the

road maps of the major OEMs, it quickly becomes clear that fur-ther investments will be made in the next two to three years."

However, Böhm cautioned, “It re-mains to be seen to what extent the current production stoppages due to the lack of semiconductors will in� uence the overall situation.”

Arburg is satis� ed with the sales to the medical technology and packaging industries and is “well represented” in the electrical/elec-tronics sector, Böhm also said.

Developments in the � eld of ad-ditive manufacturing (AM) are fa-vorable for Arburg, too, he added, noting that Arburg is working with partners and customers on excit-ing projects in the medical tech-nology and automotive sectors.

Acquiring additive technology

Arburg of� cials see additive manufacturing as an important and complementary production method in plastics processing for the future.

The company expanded its range of machines and exper-tise with the 2020 acquisition of RepRap GmbH followed by AMK Arnold Mükker GmbH & Co. KG this year.

The integration of RepRap, which is now called innovatiQ, brings liquid additive manu-facturing (LAM) technology to Arburg’s injection molding cus-tomers who already process LSR with Allrounders as well as for its additive manufacturing customers who want to expand their material spectrum to in-clude LSR, Boll said.

The acquisition of AMK, a devel-opment partner and supplier in the � eld of drives that is now called AMKmotion, will help Arburg ad-vance the technology, he added.

“Thanks to this acquisition, we now have the entire drive train — in other words, everything that moves the machine — in our own hands,” Boll said. “We can optimize the dynamics of the machine or the energy requirement more easily.”

AMKmotion products are in-stalled in many machines that place extremely high demands on drive systems, for example ma-chines for the packaging industry, Boll also noted.

“This technological know-how can now be used even more ef-fectively and in a more targeted manner for the further develop-ment of our injection molding ma-chines,” he said.

Boll pointed out that the ac-quired companies weren’t in-tegrated into the familiar and complex structures of the Arburg organization.

“Instead, they will be able to de-velop as independently and � exi-bly as possible in their respective market segments,” he said. “At the same time, however, syner-gies are being used to fuel their success within the framework of cooperation among the family.”

Intelligent waste sorting

Arburg also has focused on how to sustainably mass pro-duce items as part of its initiative called arburgGREENworld.

“Our common goal is to make the best possible use of the many possibilities offered by the im-portant resource that is plastic, to produce high-quality plastic products economically, to con-serve resources and to close the recycling loop,” Böhm said.

The company is the exclusive injection molding machine part-ner for the R-cycle program, which calls for recycling-related proper-ties to be identi� ed on packaging during production through ma-chine-readable markings.

Digital watermarks that carry information about the packaging type, ma-terial and usage are molded onto products for R-Cycle’s program called Holy Grail 2.0 as well as another effort called CurveCode.

At Fakuma 2021, Ar-burg is molding cups and containers that can be sorted using “HolyGrail” and “CurveCode” markings.

In one demonstration, the mold for espresso cups on the Allround-er 270 S compact is engraved with a CurveCode that’s speci� c to the material. This code is transferred to the molded part so that the

cups can be recycled after use, said Gui-do Frohnhaus, managing di-rector of tech-nology and en-gineering.

HolyGrail re-quirements can be met by in-mold labeling products on an Allrounder.

Waste sort-ing plants will then be able to identify the re-cyclable pack-aging, which will help es-tablish a func-tioning circular economy.

The used packaging is

scanned on the sorting line with a high-resolution camera that detects and decodes the digi-tal watermark. The packaging is then sorted into corresponding streams based on speci� ed attri-butes including food, non-food or polymer types.

The goal is to create more accurate sorting streams and higher quality recyclates to be channeled back into the plastic packaging value chain.

“Digitalization is therefore mak-ing an important contribution to resource conservation and the cir-cular economy,” Frohnhaus said.

Arburg also is offering a re-cyclate package for Allrounder presses. The package will give plastics processors access to a range of different controller func-tions and special equipment for plasticizing to ensure that recy-clates can be processed safely.

“And most important of all: The new recyclate package is avail-able for all Allrounders and can also be retro� tted. This means our customers can process recy-clates,” Frohnhaus said.

New apps for arburgXworld

Arburg also is offering new digi-tal features and a “smart” injection molding application for improving production ef� ciency. One new feature is the “customer upload” function in the “MachineCenter” app of the customer portal. With this service, customers can also integrate non-Arburg equipment.

The “AnalyticsCenter” analy-sis tool is designed to document mold acceptance tests, trials, and injection molding processes.

Customers that use “arburgXworld” will have the option of test-ing the Industry 4.0 as-sistance packages for free for 182 days.

Two other new as-sistance functions, which are part of the Gestica brand control system — the aXw

Control CycleAssist and the aXw Control EnergyAssist — help improve cycle time and energy ef� ciency.

Also, the Arburg FlowPilot com-bines a cooling water manifold close to the mold with tempera-ture and � ow control.

Arburg growing, sales returning to pre-pandemic levels

By Catherine KavanaughPlastics News Staff

ARBURG GMBH

Hall A3, Booth A3-

3101

At Fakuma 2021, Arburg is showing cups made with digital watermarks, making them easier to recycle, part of the “HolyGrail” concept to improve circular production, says Guido Frohnhaus, managing director of technology and engineering, at Fakuma in front of Arburg’s Allrounder More press.Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

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Hexpol TPE GmbH is expanding its applications for thermoplastic elastomer compounds to meet sustainability goals amid a “com-plete” market change toward a more circular economy.

“We’re improving a lot of our production processes, how we pro-duce our compounds, what kind of energy we use and a lot of optimiza-

tion to reduce our CO2 footprint,” Thomas Köppl, group product manager at Hexpol TPE, said Oct. 12 at the Fakuma trade show. “Our aim is to calculate [the climate im-pact] for every product.”

The company’s � rst TPE with bio-based content, Dry� ex Green, launched in 2019, contains raw materials from renewable resourc-es like plant and vegetable crops, like sugarcane.

The series includes grades

based on styrene block copolymer and thermoplastic polyole� n tech-nologies, with bio-based content of up to more than 90 percent “de-pending on the hardness and the property pro� le,” Köppl said.

Special grades of the materi-als are available with a high melt strength and drawability to pro-duce foamed materials, according to a company news release. Foam-ing enables lightweight advantag-es and cushioning in applications

like mats, protectives clothes and seating.

“Everyday we redevelop the range,” Köppl said. “There are a lot of new raw materials coming [to market]. We can increase the




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Hexpol’s recycled-content TPE for auto interiors pushes it toward ‘changing’ market

By Sarah KominekPlastics News Staff

biocontent, and we can have new properties that were not possible in the past.”

Now the compounder can create grades for automotive materials used in many interior applications with its new Dry� ex Circular TPE, released this year, which includes up to 60 percent post-consumer materials, the release said.

“Typically with TPEs containing recyclates you have some odor and some reductional properties,” Köppl said.

Because its post-industrial plas-tic comes from injection molding sprues or edge trims in extrusions, which are a “very clean source,” he said, Hexpol’s Circular TPE has no odor issues.

Not only do the materials work for applications like � oor mats and small anti-slip mats, but they can also work in important sealing roles and vibration dampers like under the hood of the car, doors, windows and HVAC parts, Köppl said.

Over the last six years, he said, recycled material can be used in “more and more applications,” in-cluding “very critical things like in the interior where you have odor and emission requirements, tem-perature requirements … mechan-ical [and � ame-retardant] proper-ties, which are also not always so easy to reach.”

“I’m certain we can’t [put it in every application],” Köppl said. “Every raw ingredient has a cer-tain property and our daily work is to choose the right materials to create a TPE which will � ll the speci� cations.”

Changing the way raw materials are processed

“By choosing the right raw ma-terials, you can signi� cantly re-duce the CO2 footprint and the other [life cycle analysis] data,” Köppl said, “especially for the sustainable product lines but also for the others.”

Sales of its bio-based materials are growing, he said, but the com-pany also plans to encourage other ways of lowering CO2 emissions by saving resources in other ways.

Products can be designed with raw, nonbio-based materials that make products lighter and lower density and waste can be eliminat-ed from injection molding process-es, Köppl said.

“It’s important to choose the right sources,” he added. “It’s a process; it’s never � nished. … The circular economy is the most im-portant one.

“You see a lot of hard plastics [moving toward sustainability] but the soft ones are not easy to achieve,” he said. “They are very speci� c; they’re not large amounts of material … that you can easily change.”

“We see market requirements evolving in three ways: soft, safe and sustainable,” Jochen Schnei-der, managing director for Hexpol, said in the release.

HEXPOL TPE GMBH


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