Krauss Maffei Extrusion of Munich, Germany have developed a new wide extrusion die for foam insulation boards with a width of 1,200mm. The die is tailored for twin-screw/single-screw extruder combinations ZE/KE featuring an output capacity of more than 1,000kg per hour.
According to Joachim Meyke, Krauss Maffei Berstorff, the new wide extrusion die offers greater flexibility to meet the demand for large-sized XPS foam boards. In addition, the wide boards can also be cut in the centre to standard size 600mm, which increases the capacity of the entire production line – in particular with boards in the lower thickness range.
An optimum flow channel geometry inside the extrusion head ensures even melt distribution over the entire die width. At the discharge from the die, the material expands to a width of 1,300 to 1,350mm and is subsequently calibrated to the desired board thickness in a special calibrating unit. The board thickness can be easily varied within a range of 30 to 60mm and a solution for heavier thickness is currently in the development phase. The corresponding downstream equipment is designed to cool, cut and mill the boards to the desired dimensions.
Rapid start up and tight control of product quality is enhanced by a 4 zone oil heating/cooling system and additional heating cartridges located in the die edge area.
The extruder configuration composed of a co-rotating ZE twin-screw extruder and a KE single-screw extruder ensures optimum product quality and is suitable for processing all blowing agent systems used worldwide.
Krauss Maffei specialise in plastic pipe and extrusion manufacturing systems. Krauss-Maffei are represented in Oceania by HBM Packaging & Plastics Technologies .