Plastics News - Show Daily - October 21, 2022 - 20

20 * Plastics News, October 21, 2022
SHOW DAILY
Braber explained how the initial
0.55-millimeter wall
EcoCore " Zero
Waste " cups on
display on the Arburg
Drinktec 2022 booth.
thickness
is expanded to 2 millimeters by
MuCell foaming, which splits
out inner and outer skin layers.
A chemical foaming agent then
takes over to complete foaming.
Den Braber added, " MuCell provides
a high volume of nitrogen
gas at high pressure, but it's
gone in an instant. With chemical
foaming, the pressure is lower,
but it lasts longer. "
Although cycle time is now
5.5 seconds, it could be as fast
as 4.5 seconds " were it not for
the speed limitation of the robot
slowing down the process, " Den
Braber stated. Although Drinktec
and K 2022 demonstrations
involve opaque PP, Den Braber
said the EcoCore process also
works with clear thermoplastics.
And depending on the mold tool,
it can produce smooth or corrugated
cup surfaces.
Bockatech compared a popular
370-milliliter reusable beverage
cup in a combination of 115
grams PP and waste paper with
an 430-milliliter EcoCore monomaterial
reusable cup weighing
just 14 grams, namely EcoCore
reduces the amount of plastic
from 0.31 to 0.03 grams per milliliter
capacity.
The EcoCore cup is dishwasher-safe,
easily recyclable and can
include clear openings, features
that cannot easily or at all apply
to PP/paper cups. Production
time is faster for EcoCore cups
and the foam core provides at
least as good thermal insulation
as a PP/paper cup " to keep fingers
cool and drinks hot, " Bockatech
says.
EcoCore brings zero
waste to PP foamed cup
By David Vink
Plastics News Correspondent
Lossburg, German-based injection
molding machine producer
Arburg GmbH + Co. KG is clearly
so enamored by a process combining
physical and chemical injection
molding that it decided
to run it at three events in 2022.
These were the company's Technology
Days open house in Lossburg
in June, then the Drinktec
fair in Munich in September and
at K 2022 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
The process, which involves
" zero waste " lightweight yet
strong foam-core polypropylene
beverage cups, was a refreshing
change at Drinktec, as it displaced
a beverage cap demonstration
at the previous Drinktec
2017, while Arburg's competitors
Engel, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag
and Wittmann Battenfeld continued
to run cap molding at the fair.
BH381MO, a heterophasic PP
copolymer from Vienna-based
Borealis AG (Hall 6, Booth A43),
characterized by an optimum
combination of very high stiffness
and high impact strength,
Chris Bocking, left, and Tony Den Braber at Drinktec 2022.
Plastics News photos by David Vink
could be identified in Lossburg.
But in Munich the material was
simply described as a " Borealis
EcoCore PP blend. "
Arburg used a hydraulic drive
470S injection molding machine
equipped with aXw Control ScrewPilot
and aXw Control PressurePilot
molding parameter monitoring
and optimization in Lossburg. But
it chose to use an electric drive
520A for Drinktec and K 2022
demonstrations. All other details
remain the same, namely a cup
weighting 13.3 grams, molded
with a 5.5-second cycle time in a
single-cavity mold and combining
the MuCell microcellular physical
foam molding process from Telleg,
Germany-based Trexel GmbH
(Hall 13, Booth B46) with chemical
foam molding.
Wyton, England-based Bockatech
Ltd. developed EcoCore hybrid
foaming in its R&D center in
Llantrisant, Wales. There, it uses
an injection molding machine
from Brescia, Italy-based BMB SpA
(Hall 13, Booth A33), fitted however
with the same Trexel P-300
SCF (supercritical foam) delivery
system as Arburg uses in EcoCore
trials and demonstrations.
Plastics News talked with Bockatech
founder and Chief Sales Officer
Chris Bocking and Head of
Application Development Tony
Den Braber at Drinktec 2022. Den
Den Braber talked about " the
immense strength of the EcoCore
cup and stood on two of them
with his full weight in front of PN
to prove it. Although there was
some deformation of the rim, this
could be easily flicked back to
the original, unimpaired shape.
Aside from the Arburg booth
demonstration, Trexel also produces
EcoCore cups on its booth
with the Arburg 520A machine in
Borealis " optimized PP. " This involves
a top-entry takeout robot
from Istanbul-based packaging
robot and automation producer
Roboplas IML Robot Ltd STI
(Hall 1, Booth C97). The cups are
in-mold labeled with labels from
Maldegem, Belgium-based IML label
producer MCC Verstraete NV
(Hall 5, Booth B37). Trexel says
barkeepers ( " baristas " ) at its
booth serve coffee to visitors in
the EcoCore cups.
A second beverage cup demonstration
at the Trexel booth involves
250-milliliter cups weighing
15 grams that are produced
by rigid packaging company
Paccor using Trexel's TecoCell
H1 chemical foaming agent. TecoCell
consists of 0.08 micron
or less nano-sized CaCO3 particles
that produce 50-200 micron
bubbles in thermoplastics. These
cups have the same 2-millimeter
wall thickness as EcoCore cups
and bear MCC Verstraete IML
labels with HolyGrail 2.0 digital
watermarking.
Borealis says it displays ultralightweight
430
milliliters,
14 grams weight, and ultralightweight
250 milliliters, 15 grams
weight, EcoCore cups on its K
2022 booth. The company suggests
EcoCore cups can be used
for hundreds of use cycles before
reaching the end of their life.
Plastics News - Show Daily - October 21, 2022

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