Rothenburg, Germany-Teknor Apex has added a new Arvitec co-extrusion line to its application development laboratory in Rothenburg ob der Tauber to enhance the capabilities of the European R&D "center of excellence". 

Teknor said on November 2 that the production line has been fully put into production, capable of extruding a variety of thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) and polypropylene materials.

As part of the trial process, the production line has successfully extruded different geometries, including two-layer tubes used in the AdBlue system or coolant for battery-powered electric vehicles.

The machine also produces a two-component strip composed of low-friction Sarlink TPV slip-coating material on top of soft TPE/TPV for automotive sealing systems.

“Customers who want to achieve sustainable development goals can try to replace extruded EPDM profiles with recyclable alternatives such as TPV,” Teknor said. 

According to Teknor, in addition to recyclability, TPV also offers greater "design flexibility and lower manufacturing costs" for difficult-to-achieve shapes compared to EPDM.

The production line is customized for Teknor Apex and includes dual Genesis extruders, calibration tables, tractors and rotating blades, which provide clean and burr-free cutting.

"We are pleased to provide laboratory-scale testing for co-extrusion applications, which is critical to the successful product development of our customers," said Gert Joly, European Technical Director. 

Thomas Aschenbrenner, manager of the application development laboratory, said that in addition to running tests and prototypes for customers, the production line will also help speed up the development of internal materials. 

"We have been working with Arvitec for decades and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future to improve our laboratory capabilities."  

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