MEAF adds PROMIX physical foaming to in-house extruder test line

MEAF Machines has added a PROMIX physical foaming installation to its in-house extruder test and demonstration line.

As of mid-May, this will enable customers to get hands-on experience with this material saving equipment while using their own polymer grades.

Roald de Bruijne, Sales Manager at MEAF, said: “Physical foaming offers significant material saving potentials for extrusion processes. PROMIX are setting new standards in the production of microcellular foam products with a very homogeneous cell structure and unprecedented process stability, while using eco-friendly CO₂ and N₂ blowing agents.

“When opting for a new type of raw material, material mixture or a new machine supplier, it is always helpful to be able run a test before deciding the best way forward … With MEAF’s new in-house test and demonstration line, we provide this capability to our customers. Our extrusion line has been designed and build to accommodate the latest technologies, such as physical foaming, and a wide variety of materials for our customers’ packaging needs, be it PET, PE, GPPS, PS, PP, PLA or biodegradable grades.”

For any sheet or film extrusion, the largest contribution to the production costs are by far raw materials, often surpassing 70 per cent of the total production expenses, usually followed by energy consumption. Manufacturers are therefore looking to reduce overall production costs by reducing the raw material expenses. One method is to increase the amount of recycled material, regrind skeletal waste or bottle-flakes in the case of PET film extrusion, or the utilisation of filler components such as CaCO3.

This is where MEAF’s sheet extrusion line in combination with PROMIX physical foaming will typically reduce the cost of plastic raw material by 20 per cent, compared to conventional packaging.

The micro foam process offers excellent rigidity, insulation and insensitivity to scratch marks, and results in the lowest energy consumption per kilogram in the industry. Processors can thus work with multiple types of materials in one extruder. Both foamed and non-foamed sheets can be produced on the same line, enabling for multilayer A/B/A sheet, where the A-layer is a solid non-foamed layer, and the B-layer is of a foamed material.