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| Industry Update... |
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| Convertible Machines... Rubber to Plastic? |
Many in the rubber processing machinery industry are now offering machines that inject both EPDM Rubber and Thermoplastic Elastomers.
Though it is possible, it is not ideally done with the same injection unit.
To process rubber accurately, you need to maintain a barrel temperature of approximately 120o-200oF. This is usually
acheived with an auxilliary water temperature control unit with water or a glycol solution. Screw geometries require little or no compression
ratio and the material inlet requires a special design to accomodate the feed strip.
While T.P.E.'s may be processed with this hardware, there are not optimum conditions for processing plastic. You may hear from time to time that
Thermoplastic Elastomers contain rubber but that does not mean you can process it in a rubber machine.
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Gluco, Inc. has been manufacturing plastic injection molding machines for 30 years and competing wit other plastic machine manufacturers who have been
in the business longer. The most accurate way to process plastics is a FIFO injection unit. Accurate barrel temperature is essential. This barrel
must have 3 individual electrically heated and controlled zones and one on the nozzle. Ideally, you will need a 20:1 L/D ratio and a 2:1 compression
ratio. To eliminate material feed headaches, you will also need a cooling plate at the inlet of the barrel to prevent the pellets from clogging
at the inlet.
Gluco's open machine architecture allows for a speedy conversion from rubber to plastic (usually about 1 hour) by converting the complete injection
unit thus allowing you to have the best design for both processes
Want more information on this? Give us a call.
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