Milacron Holdings Corp. (NYSE: MCRN), a leading industrial technology company serving the plastics processing industry continues to serve the plastics industry through high-quality solutions. Milacron’s latest investments target technologies that will offer clarity and knowledge for their customers.
Milacron understands the demands of plastic processing based on the application, but continues to push the limits on what their teams offer to customers when suggesting the proper components for any operation.
Many of Milacron’s adversaries attempt to present an equivalent to their barrel lining products, but the company is striving to go a step beyond the previous archaic diagnostics processes and transform them into industry-leading standards to recommend the finest custom offerings based on the desires of each customer.
Model-based manufacturing strategy
Brand new technology at the company’s facility in McPherson, Kansas allows them to maintain a pledge to excellence. By digitizing all diagnostics processes, this unique component to their world-class facility allows them to approach any diagnostic problem efficiently and systematically. Through this, Milacron can support quality assurance and minimize deviation while producing advanced and tailored manufacturing technology.
From this technology, the company can analyze the value of screws and barrels in each application. Visual 3D reports that were unattainable help them communicate these improved solutions.
Validation of vendors for barrel lining options study
For injection molding and extrusion machinery, the endurance of the lining for the barrels and screws is critical. The duration of use for these components depends on the quality and a variety of factors in each manufacturing setting. Milacron is escalating our offerings for bi-metallic barrel linings by investing in rigorous experiments to identify the finest methods for our customers to capitalize on their purchases.
The study procedure
Milacron has been carrying out testing of Nickel and Tungsten Carbide barrel linings. They have devoted their time and resources to make sure that their teams present the highest-quality solutions from the globally acclaimed suppliers.
The objective was to show the quality of what is believed to be the best Bi-Metallic Barrel Linings that is provided to the clients, through G65A and G76 abrasion and erosion testing.
These tests were carried out in a domestic laboratory to identify the loss by gas-entrained solid particle erosion on the Nickel and Tungsten Carbide linings to simulate the production environments.
To perform these tests, Milacron sliced 40” barrels in half and stripped each liner in 6” x 6”-sections to get a flat 2” x 2” flat testing surface. Each liner was tested in 6 intervals (the length of one barrel) to get an average value of the wear resistance.
The results
These attempts have verified some global standards of industry knowledge, like that the wear life of tungsten carbide liners is the overall best method. This lining is increasing popular among complex applications like processing glass-filled resins.
Milacron found that various liners that would be considered the same grade from leading suppliers have unique formulas. Those recipes can have an impact on the molding process.
The company found a wide variance in the way the lining behaved during these tests. There is a balance required in the amount of Tungsten applied in the liner of the barrel. The wear resistance was measurably at a faster rate when testing liners with lower values of Tungsten in the liner. The company did not expect to find that there is also a limit to the amount of tungsten that should be in the liner, as it was found that too much tungsten would cause cracking during the process. It proved to be, that the most expensive linings did not provide the most wear resistance in these tests.
Looking ahead for the customers
Milacron’s goal is to pass this knowledge onto their customers to advise them on the best investment for barrel lining for each unique application. Milacron plans to continue testing barrel linings from suppliers throughout the world.
Using data analytics collected through customers that have the M-Powered suite, the company can continue to capitalize on this investment for their customers.
Sustainable choices
As the use of re-engineered resins and regrind/scrap materials continue to gain momentum in the market, the investment for proper barrels, screws, barrel lining, and other components will continue to grow exponentially. This study is helping to understand how the barrel lining purchase of any customer will impact the wear life, as well as their part quality.
Milacron continues to push the boundaries of possibilities in plastics with breakthrough products from leading brands including Milacron, Mold-Masters, DME, Ferromatik, TIRAD, and CIMCOOL.
