The latest technology in film and bottle production

A good plastic package should not only pay attention to the selection of materials, but also consider the stability and diversity of the production line. This article describes a variety of the latest film and bottle production lines and processes.

Increase in demand for special plastics for film manufacturing

Global bi-directional film manufacturers are looking for ways to produce more diverse films that have superior characteristics including mechanical properties, optical properties, shrinkage and barrier properties.

In recent years, DMT has been actively developing horizontal and vertical stretching technology for films because of the increasing market demand for such special films. The first appeared on the market was the mechanically synchronous stretching technology with fixed longitudinal and transverse ratios. This equipment has been widely used and proved to be able to produce high quality films.

The next step for equipment developers is to develop more flexible and effective systems. DMT has developed this new technology, that is, synchronous stretching ratio can be adjusted at will. The difference between this system and other existing systems is that:

* The system is a mechanical system that relies on DMT's proven continuous monorail, bearing pressure iron and lifetime lubrication chain technology;
* The oven design is the same as the traditional sequential stretching production line;
* The need for maintenance is no more than traditional sequential stretching lines;
* Stretch unit energy consumption is similar to that of the sequence line;
* The output (production speed, width) is similar to the standard sequential biaxial stretching line.

In addition to better film properties, production costs and output are also important. DMT Synchronous Stretching System can produce vertical/horizontal slack high shrinkage film (80%), high barrier film (multi-polymer film), isotropic film, and can be used in BOPP, BOPET, BOPA, BOPLA, BOPS, BOPETG , BOPVC, BOPE and other films.

In the past five years, China has invested heavily in biaxially stretched film production equipment. Most of these equipment are used to produce general purpose films, namely BOPP, BOPET, and BOPA. Due to the large investment in new production capacity, a large number of Chinese film producers now doubt whether the market can absorb so much supply. Therefore, a new trend has emerged: investing in more specialty films. The supply and demand of such films are now balanced and long-term investment will be profitable.

DMT sees this development trend, and special films need to increase costs from Japan, Europe, and the United States, so DMT has developed a mechanical synchronization system MESIM, the film made of: BOPP smoke film, with isotropic properties and High shrinkage; Polyolefin film (mixed), high shrinkage (80%) for outer packaging applications; Optical film, such as LCD film, requiring scratch resistance; PET-based thick film, used as industrial and image Uses; high-grade BOPA film, used in the low bending requirements of the printing industry; BOPEN film; packaging with high shrinkage film, such as labels, sleeves; ultra-thin film.

Although general-purpose films have become increasingly saturated in China, their demand is still large. Reifenhauser agrees that China is a very large market. Klaus Reifenhauser, chairman of the company, said that the plastics industry in East Asia has continued to develop, and China, in particular, has played a very important role in the highest growth rates in many regions. China not only occupies the center of the East Asian market geographically, it is also the driving force of the global economy. With a population of 1.3 billion, China is an important market for investment and consumer goods, so they are also ready to actively explore the Chinese market.

Reifenhauser has established a company in China in August last year and has already selected Suzhou as a production plant. It is expected to be completed in April 2004. At that time, the plant will produce 3 blown thin production lines to serve the Chinese market.

Bottles produce low-yield preforms

Husky introduced a one-step, low-yield bottle production process, IndexSB Machinery, which is aimed at producing a variety of low-yield, but often-conversion die bottle container manufacturers on a single machine. The machine uses the Husky Index pin model. Two cores reduce the cycle time and increase overall system productivity. The two cores are mounted on a rotary index and provide extended core cooling time. In this way, IndexSB's cycle time is 25%-40% faster than other one-step machines of the same type. The mold uses Husky's valve gate hot runner technology to provide consistent fill, improve gate quality, and minimize AA production.

IndexSB is highly flexible and can produce containers from 25 ml to 5 liters, with a bottleneck diameter up to 110 mm. To achieve this flexibility, the machine features a quick-change feature that allows the full set of tools to complete the replacement process within two hours. If you just change the blow mold, 15 minutes will be enough to complete the mold change process. The machine is also air-conditioned with an air conditioning station equipped with an infrared oven to optimize the temperature distribution of the preforms prior to blowing.

The one-step process line first moves the preform 60° to the first air conditioning station. Using an infrared oven, heat is precisely controlled and the preform temperature distribution is optimized. The preforms are constantly rotating in the air conditioning station. The preform is then subjected to a draw-blown process to achieve the final shape. The blowing process improves the mechanical properties of the material and makes the container better quality.

The bottles produced by IndexSB include cosmetics, health and personal care products, and food and beverage containers.

Blow molding technology with inspection system

Sidel's SBO Series2+ blowing technology increases throughput, finished product quality and profitability. This innovative technology is equipped with a functional housing and an intuitive inspection system. Its main purpose is to improve speed, energy consumption, simplify operation, and facilitate maintenance.

When each mold is produced at a speed of 1,600 bottles/hour, the Sidel SBO Series2+ blow molding machine can increase speed without affecting reliability, and is successfully demonstrated in high reliability.

The key to improving the production speed of the Sidel blow molding machine is to adopt the latest dynamic mechanism to make the guide system more accurate and reliable. At the same time, some cam profiles and strokes were redesigned to extend the life of the moving parts of the equipment. The transfer arm is now made of lightweight alloys.
Make it lighter and speed up production.

Due to the reduced blindness of the air distribution system, 15% of the 40 bar pressurized air can be saved.

With the new exhaust gas recovery system, the savings can be increased to 30%. This alternative system uses the last blowing cycle of exhaust gas for the current pre-blowing cycle. The system can also provide 7 bar control air, depending on the system configuration.

Sidel has designed a new modular self-supporting housing (HMA) for the SBO Series 2+ equipment. The HMA housing facilitates overhaul of the mechanical system, enabling quick maintenance and format replacement, thereby extending actual production time. The chassis and mechanical structure are completely independent, easy to disassemble, and the weight of each board is reduced by 5 times. The machine adopts honeycomb plate material, which can reduce the noise more than 2dBA in the production process, which can greatly improve the operator's working environment. Honeycomb panels can be cleaned only by high-pressure spraying. Their unique design eliminates the need for sound-absorbing foam. Therefore, the HMA chassis can greatly enhance the cleanliness of the chassis.

To achieve zero defect production goals, Sidel introduced the IntellispecTM packaging inspection system as an alternative to the system. When the bottle is blown out and conveyed, the system tests all PET bottles produced by Sidel blow molding machines, including bottle holders, bottle necks and bottle walls. It can accurately trace the root causes of bottle defects and facilitate rapid diagnosis and problem solving.

The above-mentioned innovations can bring a lot of advantages to customers: they can reduce the unit production cost of packaging by about 10%, and at the same time ensure the performance and quality of packaging. With the exception of SBOs 24, 28 and dual-cavity equipment, all SBO models with production speeds of 6,000 to 32,000 bottles/hour have these innovative technologies.

Mass production

Since June 2003, Aoki Corporation has begun to demonstrate its SBIII-750LL-80S model at its factory. The demonstration bottle was a 17.6 g 500 ml water bottle and the molding time was only 9.6 seconds. Both the preforms and the finished bottles are molded at the speed of 6,000 bottles/hour. Therefore, this model is particularly suitable for mass production.

Achieving a production speed of 6,000 bottles/hour on a one-shot model not only reduces the unit cost but, more importantly, ensures that the number of moldings is the same to achieve the production target. Faced with fierce competition in terms of capacity, quality and price, manufacturers will focus on the ability to deliver quality products with consistent quality and quantity on time. In the short term, the unit-hour output is of course very important.

However, in the long term, we should focus on the ability to ensure consistent capacity and quality within one, two, five or even 10 years. In this way, it helps to establish user brands and increase profits.

The advantages of the SBIII-750LL-80S include:
* Increase production speed: synchronous movement of upper and lower molds; actuator for electric rotary table.
* Improve injection performance and shorten molding time: higher injection pressure and faster mold filling.
* Increased moldability: The use of rack and rack bar device to achieve simultaneous opening and closing of the blow molding and closing device * Enhances the high temperature and mold release properties and shortens the drying cycle time; enhances the clamping force of each unit to accommodate high pressure blow molding .
* Improve maintainability: improve the mold structure, reduce the weight of the mold; use additional fixtures, easy to replace the mold.

With the decrease in the demand for steel cans and glass bottles, the production of PET bottles has increased year by year.

About 45 million packaging containers can be produced each year, based on the production speed of 300 bottles/day, 24 hours/day, and 6,000 500-ml bottles per hour. The above figures are comparable to the two-step method of running a 32-cavity preform injection molding machine and a 6-cavity blow molding machine, and the investment cost of this Aoki machine is 33% lower than that of the two-step machine. In addition, the cost can be further reduced in terms of injection molding speed, energy consumption, labor costs, scrap rate, work efficiency, and occupied space.

Small cavity drawing blow molding machine

Krones has successfully developed and produced a small-cavity drawing blow-molding machine. SK series machine adopts the Contiform technology platform which has been tested and equipped with 30 or 40 injection molding stations. The mold carrier can be used to carry PET bottles with a capacity of 750 ml.

This design concept is favored by the market. Krones has used this type of high-performance machinery for the two leading PET bottle manufacturers: Visipak Australia and South Eastern Container.

South Eastern Container is the largest producer of PET bottles for Coca-Cola in the United States. Its preforms and finished bottles produced at its plants are all made by Coca-Cola Company using high-speed machinery. Krones used the design concept of a small mold cavity machine to get the contract for the first time.

South Eastern Container installed a 40-station Contiform SK 40 model at its production facility in early 2003. The company has also set a world record as a PET bottle manufacturer: The two SK 40 blow molding machines are the first blow molding machines to produce 60,000 0.5-liter bottles per hour. In this way, the output requirement of 1,500 bottles per hour for each blow station can be accommodated. Therefore, the main focus is on the concept of loading and unloading of preforms and finished bottles. Because, this speed can also accelerate the production of PET bottles.

Sensitive beverage coating

Germany's SIG Corpoplast Corp. and Schott HiCotec of Germany jointly developed a new type of plasma coating equipment with unique features. This device was launched in mid-2003 and was named PLASMAX to improve the barrier properties of PET bottles.

Schott HiCotec of Germany developed Plasma Pulse Chemical Vapor Deposition (PICVD) and has been used in glass and plastic coatings for 15 years. The new PLASMAX will be the first device used for the PET bottle coating process. A pulse called "COLD" plasma is used to accumulate an ultra-thin glass barrier layer of SiOx and evenly coat the inner wall of the bottle, effectively improving the barrier effect. In addition, the accumulation process is performed in a continuous production high performance turntable machine to ensure a