Special Molding Setup for Materials Test Labs
Injection press integrated with twin-screw compounder to produce test samples.
Materials development and testing laboratories that need to injection mold large numbers of “dogbone”and other test specimens found an unusual solution at the recent K Show in Dusseldorf. Brabender GmbH of Germany demonstrated its new SpeciMold system, which integrates a 25-ton injection press with a 20- to 30-mm twin-screw compounding line and a strand die, water bath, and pelletizer. Developed jointly with the German Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology, SpeciMold diverts a small amount of the melt stream before the die into a reservoir without interrupting the extrusion process. When a full shot has been accumulated, a plunger automatically injects the melt into a quick-change insert mold to produce standard test samples such as tensile or impact test bars, spiral-flow samples, or color chips. A demonstration system will be available at C.W. Brabender Instruments, Inc., S. Hackensack, N.J.
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