Teknor Apex installs new Arvitec co-extrusion line in lab at German manufacturing facility
Rothenburg, Germany – Teknor Apex is announcing the addition of a complete new Arvitec co-extrusion line in their application development laboratory in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, enhancing the capabilities of their European Center of Excellence for plastics research and development. This extrusion line has been completely commissioned and trialed and is ready to support clients’ development projects as well as internal company development projects.
“The state-of-the-art Arvitec extrusion equipment serves as another great addition to our technical capabilities in Europe to support advanced application development projects, quality control and process optimization. We are pleased to offer lab scale testing for co-extruded applications, critical for our clients’ successful product development, allowing them to perfect conditions before a full-scale production roll-out,” said Gert Joly, Director Technology Europe.
“Arvitec machinery is popular amongst our customers within Europe so this allows us to do development and problem solving on the very same equipment they run their product with. Along with running trials and prototypes for customers we can use this line to speed up our own internal material developments,” adds Thomas Aschenbrenner, Application Development Laboratory Manager. “We have partnered with Arvitec for decades and look forward to continuing to work with them to increase our lab capabilities in the future.”
The sophisticated line, custom built for Teknor Apex, includes dual Genesis extruders, a calibration table, haul-off, and a rotary blade providing a clean and burr-free cut. It is flexible for a large variety of applications. It offers the latest in touchscreen controls, with an intuitive, easy to operate design. These advanced controls offer a complete automated performance with control reports and recording of setups for ease of repeatability. Arvitec can also provide remote support with the ability to fully monitor and control the system in real time, with just with an internet connection, from their location in Spain.
Multiple TPE/TPV/PP material combinations were successfully extruded with different profile geometries: two-layer tubes for AdBlue systems or cooling fluids of battery-operated electrical vehicles (BEV), two-component strips consisting of low-friction Sarlink slip-coat materials on top of a soft TPE/TPV for automotive sealing systems, and various other automotive profiles.
Customers looking to meet sustainability goals can trial replacing extruded EPDM (thermoset rubber) profiles with a recyclable alternative like TPV. Along with the ability to be recycled TPVs offer greater design flexibility and lower fabrication costs for hard-to-achieve shapes than EPDM.