Reifenhäuser Open House
During the interpack trade fair, Reifenhäuser Blown Film invited its customers to an Open House in Troisdorf.
“Our customers from the packaging industry invest in production efficiency and quality,” says Ralf Pampus, sales director at Reifenhäuser Blown Film. Therefore, the focus of the Reifenhäuser Open House event was on the following subjects: economical blown film technology, production efficiency, latest developments and process solutions to improve film properties and process stability.
EVO blown film lines produce biofilms
A highlight at the Open House was the EVO line generation. Visitors had the opportunity to see an EVO 5-layer line producing different biofilms using raw materials from various manufacturers. In order to demonstrate the EVO Ultra Stretch, Reifenhäuser processed the bioplastic ‘GuiltfreePlastics’ from partner United Biopolymers. This next generation starch based bioplastic contains up to 90 per cent renewable resources and is both 100 per cent recyclable and 100 per cent biodegradable. The material can be stretched inline with EVO Ultra Stretch up to a ratio of 6:1. This results in better mechanical properties, maximum transparency and new applications being opened up for bioplastics in the packaging industry.
Technology know-how for the processing of biomaterials
Using alternative materials in the production of plastics is a key issue for the packaging industry. It was also a focus of the Open House event. “Biomaterials are not just a trend anymore, but are establishing themselves in many fields of application,” explains Eugen Friedel, senior sales manager at Reifenhäuser Blown Film. “Today, not only carrier bags are ecologically produced, but to an increasing extent fruit and vegetable packaging, garbage bags and mulch film for the agricultural industry is also produced in this way.
“Due to the lower melt temperatures of biomaterials they need to be processed on cold running extruders. Reifenhäuser extruders offer this and are able to produce a standardised melt even at low temperatures,” says Friedel
Products of the Italian producer Novamont were also shown in the Reifenhäuser Technology Centre. The biomaterials of both Novamont and Reifenhäuser are perfectly suited for the Ultra Flat Plus and Ultra Stretch technologies where film is stretched to become extremely thin. The thin film features higher strength and thus better stability, and it offers a further advantage, the film producer can reduce raw material costs due to the simple fact that less raw material is needed.
Pampus concludes: “Our technologies are convincing. We were able to demonstrate again that our lines fulfil all the requirements of our customers to produce optimum quality blown films. Additionally, the quality discussions we had with our visitors will enable us to continue developments to support our customers needs.”