KraussMaffei (W600) of Parsdorf, Germany, will be at NPE2024 with an exhibit message of "Make plastic green" and a live demonstration of the circular economy for plastics processors.
KraussMaffei has focused innovations related to injection molding, extrusion, reaction process machinery, automation and additive manufacturing on the circular economy and reducing carbon footprints. Visitors will see the entire material cycle, a new MuCell-brand screw with 30 percent more plasticizing performance, and the U.S. market debut of additive manufacturing products.
"Sustainability is an added value — for us and for our customers. In line with our motto 'We make plastic green,' we therefore aim to be a leading global supplier of sustainable solutions for the plastics processing industry," Nolan Strall, president of KraussMaffei Corp., said in a news release, adding the circular economy is a supporting pillar of the corporate strategy.
To demonstrate this at NPE2024, KraussMaffei staff will produce a short-life medical vial and then recycle it into a long-life bottle opener.
An all-electric PX 251-1400 will produce 32 polypropylene medical blood vials per shot. The vials then will be shredded, and that material will be mixed and homogenized with additives, such as bonding agents and liquid pigments, with the twin-screw extruder ZE 28 BluePower.
The resulting recompound will be transferred to a downstream injection molding machine, an all-electric PX 81-180 equipped with APCplus-brand technology to handle process fluctuations from the different viscosities of the recyclates and upcycle it into the bottle opener.
KraussMaffei staff also will put a spotlight on direct compounding injection molding (DCIM) as a process to save up to 50 percent in material costs while gaining more freedom and control in the development of formulas.
For DCIM, a single-screw extruder is installed in a space-saving piggyback position directly over the injection unit of a standard hydraulic machine. The compounded melt is conveyed into the plasticizing unit in a one-step heating process that conserves energy and reduces the carbon footprint.
An intuitive machine function called smartOperation makes the startup and control of the injection molding machine as easy as using a coffee machine, the release said, which benefits machine operators without in-depth prior knowledge.
At NPE2024, a GX 1100-4300 DCIM will produce rugged, reusable crates made of three different recycled materials.
At another exhibit, KraussMaffei is highlighting its new universal screw -— the HPS-Physical Foaming brand screw — for MuCell applications with 30 percent higher plasticizing performance. The screw has a longer three-zone area, which can be universally used for all plastics, with and without fiber reinforcement.
The release said the plasticizing capacity was increased by up to 30 percent to "allow for the selection of lesser screw diameters than before, which significantly reduces investment and operating costs for the plasticizing unit, or for the generation of a greater output using a screw of the same size as before."
Also at NPE2024, KraussMaffei will give its additive manufacturing products a U.S. debut. The systems will be available in the second half of the year. Called powerPrint, the system can produce fully or partially filled structures, achieve a build volume of up to 10 cubic meters and simplify the implementation of complex designs, making it an alternative to conventional production methods across various industries and applications.
At other parts of KraussMaffei's booth:
• A PX 121-180 SilcoSet will produce matrix lenses for the headlight industry. A linear robot, the LRX 150 from KraussMaffei, allows an inline production with inspections, weight check and separation.
• Frankenstein, a manufacturing demonstrator from the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University, will show how to introduce automotive-matured, ultrahigh-rate manufacturing technologies to aerospace as part of a joint research program.
The cooperation between NIAR and KraussMaffei has paved the way for the machine builder's FiberForm technology to be used in aerospace applications as well. The process combines the thermoforming of organic sheets and injection molding in a single process.
• An ultraefficient driverless concept vehicle was designed for the year 2035 in partnership with Clemson University students and faculty who worked with ExxonMobil Chemical and Honda North America to engineer, build and validate the prototype with a special focus on sustainability. The partners' design uses 18 percent plastics and composites by weight, which is nearly double the 10 percent market average.
• The first U.S. bicycle produced by high-pressure resin transfer molding (HP-RTM) will premiere in partnership with Time Bicycles, Fraunhofer USA and Clemson University. The release said the project raised the bar of composite bicycle technology.
NPE2024 attendees can register for a giveaway from the first production. The retail value of the complete bicycle is $8,000. Time Bicycles was founded in France in 1987 and is the leading European manufacturer of carbon-fiber bicycles, specializing in resin transfer molding.