New extrusion technology significantly increases tape tenacity W&H subsidiary BSW MACHINERY changes woven fabric industry BSW MACHINERY's well established tiraTex extrusion lines for highly oriented PP tapes provide producers of woven PP bags with completely new opportunities. One key element is the newly developed extruder series E105P for tiraTex. Its advanced processing performance with very gentle yet tremendously efficient plasticising yields so far unheard tape properties. The increased tape tenacity at high elasticity allows producers to reduce the weight per bag, without sacrificing strength. The tiraTex extruders for PP tape extrusion excel in the market since many years. They are known for reliability and highest tape quality. Unique design features allow for fast start up and reliable operation at very high output rates. Film thicknesses of up to 300 micron or more require superior melt homogeneity at high output. That’s where the outstanding plasticising performance of the new E105P extruder series comes into effect, delivering one precondition for tenacities well beyond values known from other extrusion systems. The combination of advanced extruder with integrated melt pump and intelligent cooling bath ensures a constant film thickness at very homogeneous temperature as a prerequisite for achieving the new tenacity values on the orientation downstream. The new tiraTex extruder E105P further tremendously enhances the advantages for the PP bag producer. The optionally available direct torque drives reduce the energy consumption of the extruders by up to 5%. This goes along with a smaller footprint and lower noise emission of the new series. Those savings are added to the huge potential which can be generated through the new processing technology. Higher tape strength increases profitability Tape strength directly influences the weight of a woven PP bag to meet certain mechanical bag requirements like impact resistance at bag drop. In a wide range of bags an increase of strength can directly be transferred into a lighter bag. As the raw material dominates up to 80% of the cost of a bag every increase in strength can reduce the production cost for a converter. While strength values of 3-4 g/den can be found in standard applications, high quality applications call for a minimum of 5-6 g/den. Elongation at break has to be maintained at or above 25%. This elasticity is needed for the quality bag to survive handling impact. Up to now higher strength values were compromising the elasticity or vice versa. Now, the tiraTex processing technology has broken down this old barrier. Even with standard PP grades which are used commonly in the industry, tenacity values of 7 g/den and higher can be achieved with elongation at break values ranging between 25% and 30%. The processing characteristics are designed by the experts at BSW MACHINERY to provide the best results even at highest outputs and production speeds of 500 m/min or more. This adds a further benefits to this new technology as in the past output often had to be compromised for tape characteristics. S. 1 Picture 01 (jpg): Tape production on tiraTex tape extrusion line Picture 02 (jpg): Diagramme 'tape strength' Website: www.bswtex.com W&H-Group Website: www.wuh-group.com Press contact at BSW MACHINERY: Mr. Hans Streimelweger e-mail: hst@bswtex.com S. 2