New Extruder for a New Product: Solid WPC Profiles


battenfeld-cincinnati sponsors AMI's 9th international WPC conference in Vienna

The 9th Wood-Plastic Composite Conference, for which Applied Market Information (AMI), Bristol / United Kingdom, is extending an invitation to come to Vienna on 26 and 27 February 2013, will again be supported substantially by battenfeld-cincinnati Austria as the headline sponsor. In addition to various expert presentations, the Viennese WPC market leader is inviting all guests to witness the live demonstration of a WPC line in its technical lab. The demonstration highlight will be the new fiberEX 114 parallel twin screw extruder, which stands for high output and optimized process stability, and is ideally suited for the production of solid WPC profiles.

Even though the regional markets and product variants are chang-ing, WPC still remains a growth market. While the US market, which was the driver of this industry at first, is now virtually satu-rated, the demand for WPC in Europe is continuing to grow at an annual rate of 20 to 25%. Today, the largest growth rates are shown by the Asian market with an estimated 30 to 35%. Decking profiles are still the bestsellers in this global branch of industry, taking up some 75% of the total market volume, while new prod-ucts, injection-molded as well as extruded, are presenting the ma-chine manufacturers with new challenges. Next February's confe-rence will focus on the developments in the global market, including growth opportunities as well as new products, trends and machine concepts.

Solid decking profiles, which constitute a new trend in the WPC industry, have developed from the German market and are now gaining in significance throughout Europe. Because of certain ad-vantages, they are becoming a more and more important alterna-tive to the hollow profiles predominantly used so far. Solid profiles can be cut diagonally without any problems, and do not need any injection-molded end caps even when cut straight, since there are no hollow chambers that need to be covered. Due to their smaller surface, they also have less capacity for absorbing moisture and are therefore considered even more resistant to weathering. This is a major advantage especially in outdoor applications such as decks with non-rectangular floor plans.

With more than 250 WPC lines installed worldwide, battenfeld-cincinnati ranks among the most experienced pioneers in the in-dustry. The extruder specialist continuously develops its extrusion concepts further in response to the changing market demands. The latest new development, which will be presented for the first time at the WPC conference, is the fiberEX 114 parallel twin-screw extruder. With this model, the machine manufacturer is extending its portfolio by a second parallel extruder in addition to the fiberEX 135, designed especially for high-performance WPC extrusion.

Even though the range of extruders for WPC processing already covers outputs between 20 and 1,000 kg/h, fiberEX 114 signifi-cantly extends the portfolio once more with outputs ranging from 280 to 520 kg/h. The parallel extruder enables the production of solid WPC profiles with optimal process stability and maximal out-put. It also handles difficult, low-density bulk materials without any problems and permits maximum degassing performance.

In close cooperation with a network of strong partners, battenfeld-cincinnati offers a wide range of solutions for the WPC growth in-dustry. Regardless of whether solid or hollow profiles are to be produced, the market leader offers customized machine concepts from project planning to on-site installation and start-up. Of course the portfolio also includes coextrusion solutions which are often particularly cost-efficient.

www.battenfeld-cincinnati.com

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