1/2013

Turning old into new:Tumble dryers made by ProTec Polymer Processing generate

PET recyclate with virgin material properties!

Volume 103 www.kunststoffe-international.com

Magazine for Plastics

Kunststoffe international·

Vo

lum

e 103

·Issue 1/2013

SPECIALMODIFIYING AND CLEANING

SURFACESfrom page 12

Injection MoldingOperating Panel with Decorand Touch-Sensitive Keys in

One Shot 23

PolyamideInnovative Modifier

Increases Impact Strengthand Stiffness 36

00_Titel_PE1 16.01.2013 7:18 Uhr Seite 1

1

I N J EC T I ON MOLD ING

Kunststoffe international 1/2013 www.kunststoffe-international.com

UV-LED Technology. For energy-savingprocessing of heat-sensitive plastic sur-faces, Easytec GmbH, Aachen, Germany,offers UV-LED emitters with optical ir-radiation intensities ranging from2 W/cm2 to 16 W/cm2. The emitters gen-erate energy savings of 75 % comparedwith conventional gas discharge lamps.Further savings accrue from the handlingtechnology: working widths can be ad-justed via a control element and unneed-ed segments can be switched off. Further-more, the speed with which the UV-LEDemitters can be switched ON/OFF – injust a few milliseconds – means that en-ergy and electricity costs can be saved byswitching them off at each gap betweenworkpieces. For greater application ver-satility, the emitters come in various de-signs.All kinds of irradiation windows arepossible in any given housing, so that en-tire surfaces can be covered without in-

tersecting or overlapping spots. What ismore, shadows and over-exposures of thekind produced by strings of smaller UV-LED systems are avoided. The UV emit-ters can be operated with different wave-length peaks in the range 365 to 410 nm.Even on irregular parts, power output of16 W/cm2 is possible.Special applicationsinvolving greater distances are possible,e.g. for 3-D parts, which can be processedat a power output of up to 24 W/cm2.

Until now, conventional final curing ofUV coatings on heat-sensitive substratessuch as plastic parts, films or paper re-quired the use of conventional gas dis-charge lamps. UV-LEDs, however, emitso-called “cold radiation”. This consists ofa monochromatic spectrum of pure UVwavelengths, and so there is no infraredradiation to generate heat. A further ad-vantage is the long lifetime of LEDs of upto 50,000 hours. Emitter warm-up times,too, are eliminated, as the diodes can beswitched on within a few milliseconds.

Running costs can be further reduced byswitching off the emitters where there aresmall gaps in the workflow.> www.easytecgmbh.de

Treatment of Heat Sensitive Surfaces

UV-LED technology enables simple coating andfinal curing of heat-sensitive plastic parts(photo: Easytec)

Translated from Kunststoffe 1/2013, p. 31