Film lines: spot landing through high degree of vertical innovation
Initially at K 2010 in Düsseldorf Reifenhäuser presented a cast film line producing 3-layer unstretched cast PET film that attracted international interest. Four lines using this technology are in operation worldwide with more scheduled to be shipped soon.
A key component of this line is the Reitruder twin-screw extruder that allows processing of PET without the need for precrystallisation and pre-drying similar to the production of sheets. This technology offers the customer many technical advantages in addition to a particularly cost-effective PET film production.
Reifenhäuser says its Cast Sheet Coating once again sets the benchmark in the area of high quality cast film lines with superior efficiency. The winders optimised for a demanding range of products are based on a well-proven concept. Thanks to a specially designed rotary arm winder it is possible to wind both sensitive 12μm thin PET film, classical CPP film and stiff PET film of 150μm thickness in a way that eliminates the need for slitting and rewinding for many applications including blister films. This allows improvement to production and cost savings. The special cast film technology enables reduction of the thickness of these films to 120μm which is considerably below the 150μm common in polishing stack operations. From a technical point of view there is a clear trend toward coextrusion.
While in the past BOPET films were often laminated with barrier films it is now possible to coextrude these structures in a single operation. This process is already being used successfully on the lines of Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating which draws on decades of experience in sheet extrusion. Smaller line sizes, compared to those for BOPET, combined with lower performance give the producer greater flexibility. Small orders for special film thicknesses can be realised as well as recipe modifications for special applications.
“The many possibilities and variants to produce, for example also CPP film of the same quality and with the same efficiency as obtained on conventional CPP lines, open up completely new perspectives in the optimal utilisation of a line,” explains sales manager Michael Beckhoff.
The manufacturer of cast film lines, sheet lines and coating lines continues to strengthen the company’s position in the cast film area with this innovative process while working on further development of these state-of-art technologies .
Reifenhäuser
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