Teknor Apex installs new Arvitec co-extrusion line in Germany

Teknor Apex is adding a complete new Arvitec co-extrusion line in their application development laboratory in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, to enhance the capabilities of its European Center of Excellence for plastics research and development.

This extrusion line has been commissioned and trialled and is ready to support internal and external development projects.

Gert Joly, Director Technology Europe, said: “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 optimisation. 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.”

Thomas Aschenbrenner, Application Development Laboratory Manager, added: “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.”

Custom built for Teknor Apex, the line 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 offer an automated performance with control reports and recording of setups for ease of repeatability.

Multiple TPE/TPV/PP material combinations were successfully extruded with different profile geometries.

Customers looking to meet sustainability goals can trial replacing extruded EPDM (thermoset rubber) profiles with a recyclable alternative like TPV, which offers greater design flexibility and lower fabrication costs than EPDM.