Extrusion International USA 3-2020

18 Extrusion International 3/2020 INDUSTRY NEWS SIKORA AG has appointed Dr. Jörg Wissdorf as a new member of the executive board since March 1, 2020. He is familiarized for succeeding executive board, Harry Prunk, who will retire in a few months after 45 successful years with SIKORA. “It was important for us to approach the succession at an early stage in order to ensure a smooth transition”, says Prof. Dr. Thomas Sikora, chairman of the supervisory board of SIKORA AG. He furthers: “We are delighted to have won our ideal candidate with Dr. Wissdorf”. Jörg Wissdorf will be responsible for the areas Sales, Marketing and Service after a transition period together with the long-standing board member, Harry Prunk. Before, the graduated aerospace engineer worked in several leading positions in Sales andMarketing as well as managing director of national and international companies. “I look for- ward to the new responsibility and want to further expand the growths of the company in the existing as well as in the younger markets,” says Jörg Wissdorf. “To bring the specific advantages of SIKORA onto the markets in order to further increase the success of the company will be one of my core activities”, explains Wissdorf. SIKORA AG www.sikora.net NewMember of the Executive Board New SIKORA AG executive board member: Dr. Jörg Wissdorf Success in China with LFT Pultrusion Lines Systems supplier ProTec Polymer Processing is enjoying ever greater success in Asia with its pultrusion lines for pro- ducing long fiber reinforced thermoplastic (LFT) compounds. Suzhou Sunway Polymer Co. Ltd. from the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province is one of the satisfied Chinese customers and is now producing pellets using its two ProTec LFT pultru- sion lines. In 2017, the compounder purchased its first 32 strand LFT pultrusion line from ProTec which has a pellet production ca- pacity of 500 kg/h, while a second unit with 64 strands and twice the output followed in 2019. Over the last year, the company also ordered two SOMOS Gramix S9 gravimetric dosing and mixing systems which will be brought into service on the lines this year. “Pultrusion”, derived from “pull” and “extrusion”, can be used to produce a wide range of fiber reinforced plastics. ProTec’s pultrusion lines allow plastics manufacturers to au- tomate the high-efficiency production of LFT pellets. The fiber-polymer combination can include virtually any com- mon thermoplastic with reinforcement being provided as required by glass, steel, aramid or carbon fibers. The new high-speed retrofit requires only slight modifica- tions and additions to be made to existing pultrusion lines. Modifications include the addition of a preheater and opti- mization of die geometry. As a result, the fibers can be ad- justed to temperature more quickly, so ensuring faultless im- pregnation at a distinctly higher production rate. A second water bath also increases cooling capacity. ProTec has like- ProTec Polymer Processing GmbH www.sp-protec.com wise modified the pelletizer. In the high-speed variant, spe- cially arranged rotary knives chop the pellets at high speed to the optimum processing length of 6 to 12 mm. Virtually any common thermoplastic can be used to produce LFT pellets with reinforcement being provided as required by glass, steel, aramid or carbon fibers (photo: ProTec Polymer Processing)