PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2021

PREFORM PRODUCTION PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 04/21 www.petpla.net 18 Hot runners for the plastic industry “We are providing solutions based on application” Mold-Masters is a well known global player in the plastics industry. The company designs, manufactures, distributes, sells and services highly engineered and customised plastic processing equipment and systems. Hot runners, temperature controllers, auxiliary injection and co-injection systems are utilised by customers of all sizes in plastics industry, from small local manufacturers to large worldwide OEM manufacturers. PETplanet talked with Mr Igor Kim, Global Sales Director for PET & Co-injection about the PET industry and future plans of Mold-Masters how they will serve the market. PETplanet: Igor, what is the vision of Mold-Masters to serve the PET industry? Igor: Mold-Masters’ core business is to manufacture different types of hot runners: monolayer, co-injection and multi-component injection. With this kind of technology we are focussing on providing the right solutions to the plastic industry including the pack- aging segment. Packaging custom- ers are looking for solutions based on application – and we at Mold- Masters have the best expertise: We can design the whole system. And of course, to serve the PET industry, we are focusing on how to make mono- layer PET hot runners for preforms or co-injection hot runners - for PET performs or preforms made of any other material. PETplanet: At this point Kortec comes in, another company under the umbrella of Milacron and Mold- Masters. Igor: Yes, it was a logical step that Kortec, that became part of Milacron in 2014, is now fully integrated within Mold-Masters. Combining co-injection know-how and R&D expertise from both companies under one leader- ship makes the engineering team the strongest team in terms of co-injection solutions. PETplanet: What are special ser- vices solutions Mold-Masters offers its customers? Igor: We know what the PET industry requires. As a company our strength is fl exibility, I would like to mention just two products here: The new PET hot runner and the Co- injection Connect. Within the last 18 months we made a lot of investment and dedicated resources to advance our PET hot runner. Our foundation here is “i fl ow” technology, where melt channels are optimised to provide natural balance and the shortest path. This allows a faster injection time and reduces injection pressure. Also, the machine needs less energy. The next step was to increase robustness, reliability and maintenance interval, especially when running in an aggres- sive moulding environment. As a result, our PET hot runner delivers superior processing performance and lowest running costs, independent from the machine generation. Moreover, we can make PET hot runners with any pitch and for any cavitation. Co-injection Connect is another unique offering, allowing to convert a standard single-shot machine into co-injection system. We can size the system based on the customer’s needs, making it as low as with 2 cavities or up to 144 cavities. And of course, we can offer complete turnkey systems, both in monolayer and co- injection. PETplanet: As we know co-injec- tion is not only for PET applications. In which packaging market is demand as high? Igor: For example, in the medical industry we have a signi fi cant increase, in particular blood culture bottles and vaccine vials. The coffee capsules segment, where usage of biodegrad- able and compostable resins is in high demand. Thin-wall packaging is a growing segment, where co-injection technology offers better return than thermoforming or extrusion, plus it’s more sustainable. In fact, speci fi cally related to co-injection (multilayer) prod- uct, both extrusion and thermoforming require 5-7 layers, including tie-layers (adhesive) and some regrind. The smaller the part, the higher the skel- etal waste, which can be as high as 50%. In case of 5/7 layer it’s dif fi cult to return everything to the process, plus it requires additional energy. Co-injec- tion, whether it’s injection moulding or injection blow moulding, doesn’t gener- ate such scrap, no additional energy waste, produce better dimensionally stable parts and normally it’s 3 layers (no adhesive) – thus easy to recycle.