Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018 - 90

90 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 10, 2018

Trexel expanding microcellular foaming technology
Trexel Inc. is expanding its MuCell microcellular foaming technology into the injection molded
packaging market and other thinwall applications by introducing
the P-Series at NPE2018.
Trexel is also moving into automotive blow molding, displaying air
duct components made by extrusion blow molding and suction blow
molding. And the company is touting its joint venture with German design firm GK Concept GmbH.
President and CEO Brian Bechard said NPE2018 marks Trexel's formal introduction to packaging, with the P-Series. At its booth,
Trexel is making in-mold-labeled
yogurt cups using MuCell on a Ferromatik Milacron injection press
with 220 tons of clamping force.
The molding display is using
StackTeck Systems Ltd.'s TRIM
process (thin recess injection
molding). Bechard said Wilmington, Mass.-based Trexel worked
with StackTeck to get the mold
maker's expertise on the packaging market.
Bechard said Trexel had a single thin-wall packaging application a dozen years ago, helping
a company use MuCell to mold
packaging on machines that did
not have enough clamp tonnage.
Lower required clamp tonnage,
a reduction in injection pressure

Plastics News photo by Joe Wilssens

By Bill Bregar
Plastics News Staff

Brian Bechard, CEO of Trexel Inc., poses with the Ferromatic 220 in the company's booth at NPE2018.
and no need for pack-and-hold are
among the benefits of the MuCell
microcellular technology.
You can also fill from thick areas to thin ones.
That first project using MuCell could mold packaging on an
eight-second cycle. Trexel made
several improvements, changing
the nitrogen injection design, mov-

ing the gas close to the machine,
making the system more robust
and adapting the software, Bechard said in an interview at Trexel's booth.
"We now can handle a three-second cycle," he said.
Brand owners and converters
will get the MuCell benefits of reduced part weight, lower clamp-

ing requirements, more freedom
for part design and elimination of
warpage and sink marks.
Late last year, Trexel launched
a joint venture with GK Concept
of Dresden, Germany, a company
that does product development,
finite element analysis, injection
molding simulation and tool design. The joint venture is called

BOOTH W551
TREXEL INC.
2Limit, and it focuses on injection
molded foaming applications.
NPE2018 marks the U.S. trade
show debut for the joint venture.
Trexel is also making automotive extrusion blow molding
news in Orlando. Bechard said
the company has been in 2D blow
molding before but now can offer
MuCell for 3D molding in the suction blow process. One key feature: processors can use a regular
screw; they do not need a special
MuCell screw.
MuCell can reduce the weight
of the ducts by 40 percent, Bechard said.
Continuous extrusion blow
molding is a continuous process,
so the extruder area does not
have to be sealed for MuCell. Suction blow molding is an intermittent process, so the process does
need to be sealed under pressure
for MuCell - the same requirement of injection molding.
The microcellular bubbles
come out of the melt when it
comes out of the pressurized
area, like the bubbles in a soft
drink when you open the cap.
MuCell is a physical foaming
agent - the tiny bubbles come
out in solution. Trexel is also
showing its chemical foaming
agent, TecoCell, at NPE2018.

FINANCIAL SUMMIT
OCTOBER 23 - 24 * CHICAGO, IL

http://plasticsnews.com/financialsummit

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Daily Report - May 10, 2018