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Aerospace
Sport & Leisure

28 Jan 2009  -  Austria

Innovations in wood-plastic composites extrusion

Avec trois lignes en production exposées, Cincinnati a montré ses der-niers développements dans le domaine de l'extrusion des composites bois/plastique. © Cincinnati Extrusion

In mid-October, more than 230 international visitors gathered to witness the high-performance WPC extruders from Cincinnati Extrusion once again at the two-day Wood-Plastic Composites conference staged for the sixth time in Vienna. With the presentation of three extrusion lines in full production at the extruder manufacturer’s technical lab, Cincinnati gave yet another impressive demonstration of its technological expertise.

The program of the conference, organized by Applied Market Information Ltd. (AMI), was divided into two parts. While the first one and a half days were dedicated to speeches by experts on current market trends and latest developments in materials and machinery, the afternoon of the second day was given over to the practical side. For this purpose, the venue of the conference was moved from the Renaissance Penta Vienna Hotel to the premises of Cincinnati, where 3 WPC extrusion lines in full production were already awaiting the participants. In addition, a special trade exhibi-tion organized by twelve partner companies offered everyone a chance to get a well-rounded picture. 

WPC: a market with great potential
The total market volume for wood-plastic composites in Europe (EU 25 + Norway and Switzerland) was 66,000 t in 2007. This figure emerged from a study commis-sioned by AMI-Consulting, the results of which were presented by John Nash, Strategic Research Manager of AMI-Consulting, in his opening address. According to his forecast, the 35% annual growth rates maintained since 2003 will continue on a simi-lar level, so that the market volume is expected to double by 2010.

According to AMI-Consulting, about two thirds of extruded WPC is used for decking in the European market. WPC also has a place in building construction for both out-door and indoor applications.

Cost-cutting with simultaneous optimization of the end product attributes – this is not only a top priority among the 30 – 40 European WPC producers, but was also the central topic at this conference. “Benchmarking performance“, “performance costs“, “aesthetics” and “standardization” were only a few of the buzzwords mentioned in the speeches covering the development of markets, materials and machinery.

Line presentations focusing on decking
The extrusion line presentations at the technical lab of Cincinnati Extrusion also centered around the all-important topics of cost-cutting and increased efficiency. WPC
decking was produced on all three extrusion lines demonstrated, but with a different concept for each line.

The first one was a state-of-the-art, single-strand extrusion line equipped with a FiberexT80. In combination with a die and calibration unit from Cincinnati’s partner Gruber & Co., it produced a classical extruded decking profile with a line speed of 2.0 m/min and an output of about 300 kg/h.

The second extrusion line presented focused entirely on economy and efficiency. A FiberexT58 and a FiberexK38 were combined with a die and downstream equipment from the partner company Greiner to produce a decking profile covered with a 2-mm layer of colored, weather-resistant WPC material in a co-extrusion process. This process offers the advantage of a 20% cut in material costs during production, thanks to a substantial reduction in the quantities of colorants and other additives required. The performance of the line presented was about 1.4 m/min with an output of 180 kg/h.

Cincinnati’s WPC line presentation was rounded off with a high-speed WPC decking extrusion line. Using a FiberexA135 37D twin vent with a die and downstream equipment from Greiner, decking was produced in a twin-strand process at a rate of 2 x 2.0 m/min with an output of 800 kg/h. This type of line offers, above all, an enor-mous investment cost advantage. It is true that a single-strand process could be accomplished with a smaller-sized extruder, but two such extruders would have to be purchased to achieve the same output, which would also be necessary for all other line components.

A comprehensive and impressive demonstration of the outstanding performance of Cincinnati Extrusion’s range of WPC equipment and its variety of concepts for producing WPC decking was given with these three lines shown in production.

Source : Cincinnati Extrusion