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 Inline compounding offers some economic benefits |
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Compounding is an important part of plastic conversion, and is generally carried out separately from the conversion process. Some conversion process manufacturing such as calendaring or oriented films exist where compounding is integrally connected with conversion. There are several independent compound manufacturers. It should be realized that independent compounding generally introduces an additional entity in the production process and hence additional cost.
It has become possible to manufacture the finished product in one continuous process leading directly from the raw materials because of the evolution of plastic processing techniques and robotics. New techniques are fast developing due to higher logistics freedom and savings in time, money, energy, characteristics and quality and encompass all polymers from commodity plastics to high-tech ones including PEEK and also rubbers and TPEs. The markets of in-line compounding that benefit from these savings, include: Automotive, Packaging, Electricity & Electronics, Appliances, Healthcare & Medical, Industrial, Communications, Railroad etc. Manufactured parts are as diversified as, for example, airbag doors, boards, booths, bottles, computer components, conduit, covers, doors, films, fittings, front-ends, joints, moulded parts, panels, pipes, profiles, sheets, tailgates, trays, WPC.
When the compounding is integrated into the processing, it leads to several advantages:
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Elimination of intermediate storage, simplifying logistics and consequently handling. |
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Reduction in floorspace requirement. |
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Re-heating for the second processing step is suppressed, eliminating the involved thermal degradation |
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Second shear treatment is also suppressed, contributing to the reduction of thermo-mechanical degradation |
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Hydrolysis of polymers sensitive to water is reduced |
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Adjustment of formulations in-line to follow the variations of the throughput |
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Rheology can
be monitored in-line, in real time, in real
conditions of temperature and pressure |
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Sometimes the capital investment can be higher,
but the technique leads to: |
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Cost saving if the process is adequately chosen for the real throughput |
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Time and labour
saving |
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Improvement
of the performances of the finished products |
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In-line compounding offers multiple solutions varying with the nature of used additives and processing methods, hence the same problem can be solved by several options, according to the nature of the finished part, the volume of runs, the final requirements and the available equipment. In-line compounding can be completed with other in-line operations for process monitoring, assembly or decoration.
Advantages of in-line compounding are both economical and technical, mainly: |
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Cost savings due to cuttings of energy consumption and raw material cost if the process is adequately chosen for the |
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real throughput |
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Time and labour cuttings |
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Lowering of the heat and shear history leading to an improvement of the performances of the finished products. |
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