Susanne Schröder will become editor-in-chief of the magazines Kunststoffe and Kunststoffe international on December 1, 2020. The current editor-in-chief Dr. Karlhorst Klotz will leave the company by mutual agreement.

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Qualitätssicherung

Change in the Chief Editorial Office of Kunststoffe

Experts and researchers from Halle-Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt, Bayreuth, Nanchang and Zurich have managed to produce unique polymer fibers that are distinctive for being extremely resilient while also very lightweight.

Sekundärfasern

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Polyacrylnitril

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Scientists from Saxony-Anhalt Create Super Polymer Fibers

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) decided the cancellation of the in-person components of NPE2021, scheduled for May 17–21, 2021, in Orlando, Florida.

No Live-Event from May 17 – 21, 2021

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Kunststoff-Verpackungsmaschine

Sondermaschinen

NPE2021: In-Person-Components Cancelled

The conference „Plastic Recyclates Forum“ will take place digitally on March 9 and 10, 2021. Participants will experience a highly qualified, professional exchange as well as a current knowledge update online.

Weiterbildung, allgemeine

Seminare, Schulungen, Kongresse

Plastic Recyclates Forum 2021

AMI has announced that its four focused plastics industry exhibitions, which were scheduled to take place at Messe Essen in Germany on 1–2 June 2021, have now been postponed to 29–30 September 2021.

AMI Postpones European Plastics Industry Expos

Ceflex and partners PCEP, Petcore Europe, Styrenics Circular Solutions and MORE Recycling team up to understand the reality of today’s collected household packaging waste.

Infrarottechnik

Elektronik

Study of Plastic Packaging Waste Helps to Deliver a Circular Economy

As announced by the Supervisory Board of Sikora AG, Harry Prunk will leave the Sikora Board on March 31, 2021 after more than 45 years of very successful work. He has shaped the development of the company and contributed significantly to the success of the brand.

Steuern / Regeln

Elektroautomation

Harry Prunk Leaves the Sikora Board of Management

Chinaplas 2021 will take place on April 13 – 16, 2021 in Shenzhen, PR China, with “New Era − New Potential − Innovation for Sustainability ” being the show theme. 3,600 exhibitors from 50 countries present the latest innovation of the plastics and rubber industries.

Chinaplas 2021 to Open on April 13

More than 150,000 visitors came to the first post-pandemic international trade fair for the plastics and rubber industries in Shenzhen, China.

Chinaplas 2021 Concluded with Great Success

K 2022 will again occupy the entire fairgrounds, some 3000 companies from all continents have registered to exhibit their innovations. The leading themes are circular economy,  digitalization and climate protection.

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

3000 Exhibitors Will Come to K 2022

Hanser Verlag, Germany, launched the Plastics Library, a self-contained, English-language online library.

The Plastics Library Goes Online

Before the direct extrusion of profiles made of polyvinyl chloride was developed, it was previously necessary to produce a dry blend. This process is expensive and energy-intensive and, in contrast to direct extrusion, discontinuous. The direct extrusion of PVC using planetary roller extruders promises an improvement. In addition to soft PVC, rigid PVC can also be processed in this way with a few adjustments.

Extrusion of Rigid PVC without Dry Blend Production

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Granulat, PVC- (Compound)

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Polyvinylchlorid

Rohr- und Profilextrusion

Extrusionsanlagen

Direct Route to the PVC Profile

Ten leaders of the plastics industry will be officially inducted to the Plastics Hall of Fame on October 7, 2021, during a ceremony at the Plastics Industry Association’s annual Fall Meeting.

New Members for the Plastics Hall of Fame

Aimplas closed 2020 with revenue of USD 14.6 million (a 10 % increase) after opening new facilities for research on polymer synthesis, recycling and health.

Aimplas Closes 2020 with Ten Percent Revenue Increase

Buzz words such as rapid prototyping (RP) and additive manufacturing (AM) are more relevant than ever in medicine. But only a few experts would know that the additive processes underlying these concepts have been employed in healthcare with growing success for more than three decades. Major care centers now routinely employ 3-D planning and 3-D printing in highly specialized surgical disciplines, such as oral and maxillofacial surgery. 

An Innovative Manufacturing Process for Custom PEEK Implants 

Polyetherketon

Additive Fertigung

Medizintechnik

Custom Implants for Humans  from a 3-D Printer 

Printed polymers that change shape once in a predefined way when heated? This is now possible thanks to a 4D printing technology developed in the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Programmable Materials CPM.

The extent of the change in shape of the printed objects is drastic: they can shrink by up to 63 percent. In the future, 4D manufacturing technologies could be used to produce parts that exhibit a specific behavior only after they take their predefined shape, for example as fasteners in the assembly of components in the medical technology, mechanical engineering, automotive and aviation industries.

3D printing is in vogue and, as an additive manufacturing technology, it offers numerous advantages. For example, products and prototypes can be individually designed and are quickly available. A team of researchers at Fraunhofer CPM is significantly expanding the benefits by producing printed objects using so-called 4D printing. This technology adds the dimension of time, or 1D, to the dimension of space, or 3D. In this way, objects can be printed from shape memory polymers that can change their shape once at a later point in time when exposed to heat – and in quite a remarkable way: rod-shaped samples measuring around four centimeters in length shrink by up to 63 % . Specific curvatures are also possible in a targeted manner. “We initially started with a relatively simple rod geometry, but ultimately we were able to produce more complex hollow cylinders and hollow cuboid-shaped samples,” says Dr. Thorsten Pretsch from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, who is coordinating the project at Fraunhofer CPM. “For all the geometries we investigated, we specified the desired material behavior in advance.”

Shrinkage Behavior and Curvatures Can Be Precisely Adjusted

There are generally two ways to adjust the response to a temperature increase. The first is the choice of material – here the researchers developed a new thermoplastic polyurethane, or TPU, with shape memory properties. The team also showed that the findings gained of 4D printing can also be transferred to another thermoplastic polymer: they produced shrinkable printed objects from the bio-based polymer polylactic acid (PLA).

The second possibility lies in the clever management of the printing process. “The key is that we give the materials very little time to cool down during printing. As a result, drastic internal stresses are stored in the material. The subsequent shrinkage effect is then very pronounced,” says Pretsch. In short, the choice of material, processing temperature and printing speed can be used to adjust not only the shrinkage behavior, but also the curved state.

Development from Monomer to Mechanical Recycling

The first step in the project was to develop the material and transfer the findings from TPU to PLA. The second step was to develop a demonstrator – a door opener that is shrunk onto a door handle so that it can be operated with the elbow without hand contact. Disassembly is simple: by reheating; the door opener detaches from the handle without leaving any residue. When the print object is no longer needed, it can be ground and reprocessed into filament that can be used at least one more time for 4D printing. “The concept is holistic and future-oriented. In terms of a cradle-to-cradle approach, we have gone through the entire product cycle – from the selection of monomers and polymer synthesis to the 4D printing of a demonstrator and its mechanical recycling,” Pretsch summarizes.

Four Fraunhofer Institutes Contributed their Specific Expertise

<ul><li>The Fraunhofer IAP synthesized the shape memory polymer, further developed the 4D printing technology and carried out the mechanical recycling.</li><li>Linda Weisheit from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU developed the concept of programmable stiffness of the 4D materials.</li><li>The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM conducted mathematical simulations to design the demonstrator. “For example, we investigated how the force is distributed in the door opener when it is loaded. We were also interested in finding out which design is better in terms of material consumption,” explains Dr. Heiko Andrä.</li><li>The practical tests took place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM. “Here, for example, the question was which torques occur when the door opener is loaded,” explains Dr. Tobias Amann.</li></ul>

Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Polymerforschung IAP Forschungsbereich PYCO

http://www.pyco.fraunhofer.de

Dilip Chalissery develops the process technology for 4D printing at Fraunhofer IAP

2021-11-23 TN_Fraunhofer IAP

Shape memory polymers are programmable materials that have considerable potential for opening up new applications. The fact that they are able to thermoreversibly change shape after thermomechanical treatment, known as programming, makes them particularly attractive. The cyclical sequence of shape changes can, for example, make contributions in the field of robotics, as it enables self-sufficient systems that do not require external control and regulation technology. Today, actuators that react to temperature changes can also be designed for a wide variety of purposes: For example, novel positioning systems can be designed, unfolding or folding structures can be built, or objects with so-called “morphing” surfaces can be manufactured.

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