North Port, FL, USA, June 28, 2016: Nordson today announced that with Nordson Corporation's breakthrough extrusion die technology, King Plastic Corporation has achieved significant productivity gains while continuing to manufacture stress-free, high-flatness sheets to tight thickness tolerances.

King Plastic is known as an innovator in the sheet industry, with a special ability to produce high extruded sheet products. The company recently installed a Nordson Extrusion Dies Industries die head with a new SmartGap mechanism, which changes thickness faster than ever before and expands the range of thicknesses that can be produced without shutting down the line. King Plastic uses the die to make single-layer sheets (for King StarBoard® Marine product line) as well as co-extruded process sheet (for its King ColorCore® as a signboard and other multi-color applications; Sheeting). According to the owner and president, the company has so far made 1-inch (25.4 mm) sheets of die heads with SmartGap film thickness adjusters, and is also preparing to expand its use to 1.5-inch (38.1 mm) sheets.

Mr. King said, "We can add more than one day of production per month by eliminating the significant downtime required for job changes and thickness adjustments with the die head with the SmartGap Film thickness adjuster. Because our sheets are distributed through a variety of channels and will be processed under a variety of conditions, an important factor in our success is maintaining a very high standard of quality and consistency at all times. With Nordson's new die heads, we are able to maintain these standards with minimal operator intervention."

Nordson's patent-pending SmartGap Shape Zone positioning system uses a single point adjustment mechanism to change the length of the shape zone while changing the lip clearance to provide the most appropriate conditions for the newly adjusted thickness as the sheet is exiting the die head. (The styling zone is the final area where the lip outlet product is formed.) For the first time, the SmartGap system mechanically connects the adjustment of these two key process variables, ensuring that the die is set correctly and that the desired sheet performance is achieved without significant time spent in the process or guesswork.

" With normal-size heads, large thickness changes require the production line to be shut down and the die lip assembly replaced, a process that can take up to eight hours from shutdown to start-up, "says Dale Givens, Director of Operations. "The SmartGap system eliminates almost all of this downtime."

The single-point adjustment mechanism also speeds up the thickness fine-tuning process, Givens notes. "The operator can make instant adjustments as the die gap increases without having to re-insert, keeping the line running. Under the guidance of the die gap reader, it is basically only necessary for one person to use a wrench to unscrew the bolt. What used to take up to an hour of work now takes three to four minutes."

Mr Givens also mentioned improvements to King ColorCore sheet co-extrusion. This improvement uses an ABA structure with thin layers pressed against the center layer and well-defined layers, for example, making multi-color signage possible. "Due to the fine-tuning of the flow channel and the change of the length of the styling area, the layer uniformity of the board is improved across the board."

Another time-saving benefit of the SmartGap system has to do with die cleaning. "Due to the very wide sliding area of the die lip, all flow surfaces are fully exposed," says Givens. "By closing the lip to the smallest gap, you avoid having to disassemble the lip when splitting the die head for cleaning."

The Extrusion Dies Industries die with the SmartGap system can be easily adjusted to a range of different thickens

Sam G., Chief technologist for Nordson Extrusion Dies Industries "At Nordson, we see the SmartGap system as the first real breakthrough in sheet die technology since the turn of the century, eliminating the uncertainty and hazards that often accompany large thickness changes," says Iuliano.

With the die head with the SmartGap film thickness adjustment device, the operator achieves a dynamic setting of the thickness change process by using an adjustment mechanism at one end of the die head to generate a new setting for the die lip gap. The length of the shaping area is automatically and synchronously changed according to the target sheet thickness as required. As a result, the sheet has a shorter shaping zone, which helps to control the back pressure at smaller die gaps, reducing deformation and reducing the need for tension. Medium thickness sheets with styling zones ranging from short to medium lengths can provide enough pressure to effectively adjust the flexible lip of the die head and reduce extrudate expansion. The styling area of thick sheets is extended to the full length to increase back pressure under large lip gaps and to promote full flow properties.

Before the development of the SmartGap system, it was often necessary to use sheet dies with medium sized shaping zones to cover the full range of thickness variations. This has led to frequent product quality problems for processors, especially when product thickness ranges vary too much.

King Plastic Corporation was founded in 1968 as a family business. The company is a leading manufacturer of polymer sheets, slabs, and large-size configurations, and has become a pioneer in a variety of technologies, such as continuous extrusion at thicknesses of 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) and above, production of foam chip materials, and processing of high molecular polymers. King Plastic's products are sold to customers worldwide through a network of plastics distributors for the Marine products industry (King StarBoard® Brands), signage, food service, healthcare, construction, industrial, and other markets. The company is headquartered in North Port, Florida, and has a 150,000-square-foot (14,000-square-meter) manufacturing facility. , at www.kingplastic.com.

Plastic Industry Video