Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating, part of the Reifenhäuser Group, recently introduced its new generation of high-performance extrusion lines for manufacturing PET sheet for thermoforming.
The lines center on the third-generation Reitruder synchronous twin-screw extruders. Reitruder extruders incorporate dry-running, high-performance vacuum pumps that work with an operating pressure of 5 millibars and degassing units that Reifenhäuser has continuously improved over the years. The extrusion systems meet FDA requirements for films that are made of 100 percent recycled PET and are in direct contact with food.
The company offers a variety of coextrusion feed blocks to meet customers’ requirements. In response to frequent customer requests for simple production, the company has introduced feed blocks with fixed layer geometries in addition to the company’s existing REIcofeed 2.1 systems that can be configured during operation for fast thickness changes.
The company also offers modernized dies from its wide product portfolio that allow producers to select between internal deckles for maximum flexibility in film width, or a lip gap that can be configured during operation for fast thickness changes.
The extrusion lines also incorporate updated Mirex-MT-V polishing stacks. Reifenhäuser first introduced the polishing stacks in 2013. Polishing stacks in the latest generation have either three or four rolls, depending on system capacity. Additionally, an axis crossing for the first roll is available as an option for producing thin films with wide widths, according to the company.
The entire extrusion line is set up to implement Industry 4.0 functions that are being developed groupwide by Reifenhäuser Digital. Reifenhäuser established the business unit in 2017 to focus on the digitalization of its extrusion lines and services.
“Digitalization offers us the greatest potential for innovation that we have seen in plastics extrusion for a long time,” Reifenhäuser Group CEO Bernd Reifenhäuser said at the time. “So founding our own business unit with its own resources and the possibility of establishing new ways of working was a logical next step for us.”
Contact:
Reifenhäuser Inc. Maize, Kan., 316-260-2122, www.reifenhauser.com
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