
Foam Injection Molding Process For Physical Foaming Of Plastic Parts
ProTec Polymer Processing GmbH will be premiering the SOMOS Perfoamer manufacturing solution at this year’s Fakuma. The company will carry out live foaming demonstrations using the SOMOS Perfoamer and an Engel e-victory 310/80 injection molding machine.
ProTec’s innovation includes all the components for drying and temperature adjusting polymer pellets, loading them with CO2 under pressure and then feeding them to any desired injection molding machine, which generally requires no modification.
Simple and efficient physical foaming of plastics parts
Thanks to the SOMOS Perfoamer, a wide range of users can now make use of the innovative foaming process which combines the advantages of the simple handling typical of chemical blowing agents with the high foaming pressure of physical processes.
Since good foaming results are achieved even at low wall thicknesses, considerable material savings can be made. For example, under laboratory conditions, it has proven possible to cut polycarbonate consumption by up to 60%, polyamide GF30 consumption by up to 16% and mineral reinforced polypropylene consumption by up to 37%.
Mobile unit with central, Industry 4.0 capable controller
In addition, the SOMOS Perfoamer shown at Fakuma is designed for mobile use, is easy to transport and can be used on different injection molding machines at the same time without any problem.
It is made up of a conditioner in which the pellets are dried and then adjusted to temperature, an autoclave in which it is impregnated together with an associated CO2 supply and a buffer tank for the material. Integrated conveyors transport the material through the various stations to the injection molding machine.
The SOMOS Perfoamer is centrally controlled on the conditioner. The Industry 4.0 capable controller is equipped with numerous interfaces. It can also be integrated into and operated from an injection molding machine.