A weekly look at new products, innovations

Editor's Note: Each week, Rubber & Plastics News will take a look at some of the rubber industry's new products and innovations on www.rubbernews.com. Does your company have a new product or new innovation? To be considered for inclusion in this recurring feature, email [email protected].

PolyOne Corp. has an enhancement to its existing thermoplastic elastomer technology that it said will help products with nylon grips deliver superior resistance to oil and abrasion. The GLS Versaflex OM TPE material bonds tightly to nylon substrates to deliver a soft, yet resilient grip for safety, ergonomics and comfort, PolyOne claimed.

PolyOne reported material testing shows that it surpasses other TPEs on the market in resisting the oil and abrasion often encountered with demanding usage.

Testing under ASTM D3389 proved that this material delivers 40 percent better abrasion resistance than a leading competitor's product, PolyOne said, as well as incumbent GLS nylon overmolding grades.

Versaflex OM also allows for lower processing temperatures to achieve superior bond strength, and using two-shot or insert molding, the material bonds tightly without adhesives to most standard nylons, as well as heat-stabilized, lubricated, glass-filled and impact-modified versions, the company claimed.

Available in translucent and black formulations, PolyOne said this overmolding TPE grade can be custom colored to meet aesthetic and branding needs. With a standard Shore A hardness of 60, the material can be customized to other hardness levels to meet specific customer requirements.

For more information, click here.

Eriez Manufacturing Co. has unveiled the Model HFP Drum in Housing with feed protection as part of the company's line of advanced drum separators.

This product is specifically designed to provide increased efficiency of separation, Eriez said, by regulating material flow to the face of the drum. Additionally, it prevents material from plunging directly onto the drum shell, which reduces the possibility of physical damage caused by impinging heavy material or heavy tramp iron.

Eriez reported the HFP Drum in Housing features “exceptional controlled feed” as well as regulated discharge. This equipment has a nonmagnetic stainless steel portion to prevent the hopper from being magnetically induced. Eriez added that its exclusive hinged, telescoping, fully-adjustable stainless steel drum splitter allows the end user to fine tune the separation efficiency of the drum compared to other commercially available units.

For more information about the Eriez line of Drum Separators, click here.

Flexicon Corp. debuted a Block-Buster Hydraulic Bulk Bag Conditioner that conditions bags ranging from short to extra tall using hydraulically-actuated rams that automatically adjust in height during conditioning cycles.

The rams of the design provide approximately 6 feet of vertical travel, Flexicon said, roughly double the range of most conditioners employing scissor lifts to raise the bag, while the fixed-height turntable reduces loading deck height by about half.

The user can program single or multiple heights at which the rams condition the bag, Flexicon said, along with the amount of pressure applied by the rams' contoured end plates, the frequency of ram actuations and the number of 90-degree rotations of the turntable, loosening solidified materials throughout the bag for discharge through the bag spout.

The system controller can be mounted remotely or on the exterior of the safety cage, which incorporates full-height, safety-interlocked doors, Flexicon said.

The unit measures 87 in. high x 133 in. wide x 78 in. deep, requires only an electrical power connection for operation and is available constructed of stainless steel (shown) or of carbon steel with durable industrial coatings, according to the company.

Hydraulic bulk bag conditioners are utilized to loosen bulk materials that cannot be loosened by pneumatically-actuated flow promotion devices integral to bulk bag dischargers.

For more information, email [email protected] or visit www.flexicon.com.