The range of machinery at Kunststofftechnik Paderborn has been expanded by a new 2 kW microwave unit. In cooperation with Jens Möckel and Michael Drach from the company Gerlach Maschinenbau GmbH, Jonas Petzke from the Extrusion group is investigating the vulcanization behavior of different rubber compounds in the extrusion process. For this purpose, investigations have already been carried out on a solid-state unit with 500 W power. The findings obtained are to be transferred to the new industrial-scale unit in the future.
By further developing the microwave process, it is possible to achieve a higher efficiency of the vulcanization process with simultaneously more homogeneous properties of the extrudate. In the course of the project, the process will also be simulatively modeled in addition to the experimental investigation in order to characterize the microwave heating of customer-specific geometries even before commissioning and to optimally design the process.
A great thank you goes to the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) for the financial support within the framework of the funding program "Central Innovation Program for SMEs" (ZIM).
