Extrusion International USA 4-2021

28 Extrusion International 4/2021 INDUSTRY NEWS TROESTER GmbH & Co. KG www.troester.de „ Requirements for tires are ever changing and becoming more stringent, so do the demands on tire manufacturers. These demands translate directly to suppliers who are con- tinuously facing new challenges. For decades, major tire com- panies have valued TROESTER co-extrusion, or CoEx ® heads as the key element in their tire-compone ф nt extrusion lines. As a complete system supplier with an unrivaled range of CoEx ® heads for up to 6 compounds, TROESTER is fi rst choice for excellence in extrusion equipment designed to meet the most dif fi cult industry requirements. This high level of experi- ence and expertise has led to the development of the latest in the evolution of co-extrusion heads, the CoEx ® 4+2. The proven quadruplex hammerhead design allows selec- tive compound changes along with modular tooling, and an opening width tailormade to meet speci fi c requirements. The CoEx ® head incorporates two dedicated extruders for special- ized compound application, thus giving it the designation CoEx ® 4+2. Today’s challenges for tire design experts are the source of an ever-growing number of tasks for the CoEx ® 4+2 head offer- ing a wide array of applications, including the production of ultra-high-performance tires. TROESTER CoEx ® heads provide as well bene fi ts when it comes to total cost of ownership and return on investment. Latest in a Row The fl exibility and precision to produce the highest quality co-extrusion, the highest degree of operational reliability and longevity, and a dedication to superior quality that is synony- mous with TROESTER, make this head another example of sus- tainable technology made in Germany. Author: Stefan Böttcher SIKORA AG www.sikora.net, sales@sikora.net „ “Use a measuring device and automatically save material and money.” This sounds simple and it is. At least for custom- ers of SIKORA. The technology company is specialized in man- ufacturing measuring, control and inspection technologies. The systems are used worldwide in production lines for pro- cess optimization and quality control during the production of cables, hoses, tubes and plastic granulate. Especially against the background of the current shortage of raw materials and increased raw material prices, material saving is more impor- tant than ever. SIKORA measuring technologies are used for process control immediately after the extruder, after the fi rst cooling or at the end of the line and precisely measure relevant product para- meters during the running pro- duction process. The measured values, such as wall thickness, eccentricity, diameter and oval- ity, are available directly after starting up the system. They enable direct centering of the extrusion tools so that start-up scrap and safety margins can be Counteract RawMaterial Prices with Measuring Systems signi fi cantly reduced. This saves plastic pellets and costs. For example, optimal centering by the CENTERWAVE 6000 mea- suring system, based on millimeter wave technology, leads to a potential material saving of about 5 %. Furthermore, the real-time measurement with the SIKORA measuring systems allows a reliable line control during the run- ning process. Thereby, an automatic control to the minimum wall thickness is carried out by modi fi cation of the extruder output or the line speed. Safety margins in the wall thickness can thus be signi fi cantly reduced. The measured values are permanently logged and are available for quality manage- ment in the form of trend and statistic evaluations over the entire production cycle or the individual product length. The use of SIKORAmeasuring technology leads to an optimized material consumption due to the possibility of a fast centering as well as the control to minimum wall thickness. Hence, users can speci fi cally counteract the shortageof rawmaterials and the increasing raw material prices and automatically save material and costs with the help of measuring technology. MultipleextrusionaggregateCoEx ® 4plus2 (Photo: TROESTER)