Plastics News 2017 Show Daily - October 20, 2017 - 11

Plastics News, October 20, 2017 * 11

FAKUMA SHOW DAILY

By Karen Laird
Plastics News Europe
While the eye-catcher at Coperion GmbH's booth at Fakuma
2017 is, without doubt, the modular loss-in-weight feeder for liquids and the twin-screw powder
feeder on display, the company
had plenty of other news.
"We are extremely proud of the
fact that this year, we are celebrating the 60th birthday of our
ZSK extruder series - the forefather of all twin-screw extruders,"
said Bettina König, global marketing communications director.
"We delivered the first co-rotating ZSK twin-screw extruder in
1957, and since then, of course,
they have gone through many
evolutions, going from simple
co-kneaders to high-performance
machines."
Turning 60 is truly proof of concept, she added.
The latest in a long line of ZSK
innovation highlights is the development of the new, patented involute screw elements. As König
pointed out, the ZSK twin-screw
extruders produced today have
a throughput rate that is 35 times
higher than it was 60 years ago
for a machine with the same shaft
center distance.
"With the latest innovation,
with certain formulations and recipes, customers have been able to
achieve throughputs that are a remarkable 100 percent higher than
what they were able to achieve
with conventional screws," she
said.
Comprehensive tests at Coperion's test lab in Stuttgart, Germany,
showed a remarkable throughput
increase depending on the recipe.
For example, when processing
polypropylene and 70 percent
CaCO3 on a twin-screw ZSK 58
Mc18, the new screw elements
achieved a significant throughput
increase from 550 kg/hour to 900
kg/hour. Similar results have been
reached when processing polyethylene with 80 percent CaCO3
on a ZSK 92 Mc18.
The development was announced at K 2016, but not shown
and not available at that time.
"It was communicated to the
Asian market at Chinaplas, but we
did not have it displayed there,"
König said. "Here, at Fakuma,
is the kickoff for the rest of the
world."
The involute screw and kneading elements have a new and patented cross-section design. These
screw elements are ideal for highly
filled recipes for which the dispersion rating and the incorporation
of the filler represent a limitation.
Besides higher throughput rates,
these elements ensure a higher
loading of filler, better dispersion
and homogenization and a lower
energy consumption.
"The screw element design,
the way the elements are assembled on the screw and where they
are positioned have all contrib-

uted to this significant increase
in throughput," König said. Although the design is patented,
the company is not releasing any
more technical details about the
development, nor is it on exhibit
at its booth.
"But the true secret can't be
copied," she said. "The true se-

Plastics News photo by Caroline Seidel

Coperion celebrates
60 years of ZSK
Coperion GmbH
Hall A6
Booth 6406
cret is our process know-how. Sixty years worth."

Bettina König, global marketing communications director for Coperion
GmbH.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News 2017 Show Daily - October 20, 2017