REPORT BLOWN FILM EXTRUSION PRACTICAL COURSE

GROUP NAME: 1.MUHAMMAD NASRI BIN ZAINAL ABIDIN (14DTP12F1003) 2.MUHAMMAD ZULFAHMI BIN ASMAADI (14DTP12F1002) 3.AMIRA SOFIA BINTI PAZLI (14DTP12F1004) 4.KAMALIAH BINTI KAMAL (14DTP12F1001)

CONTENT :

1. Introduction 2. Objective 3. Related Theory 4. General Safety Precautions 5. Process 6. Tools And Equipment 7. Advantages And Disadvantages 8. Discussion 9. Conclusion 10.Reference

INTRODUCTION Blown film extrusion is one of the most commonly used thin-gauge fabrication processes in the world. The majority of the commodity films such as grocery bags, agricultural films and other flexible packaging films used by consumers are produced by this method. The process of producing film by extruding molten resin into a continuous tube is simple. Yet, in fact the system is one of the most complex and sensitive of all the plastics fabricating technologies and it presents many inherent difficulties. A simple blown film line consists of an extruder, die, air ring, iris or bubble cage, collapsing frame, and a winder.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this workbook is to enable the trainees to understand and carry out important activities being done in a blown film extrusion process. Focus will be on the most important functions of the machine and the terminologies used in the enterprise. Upon successful completion of this course, the trainee will be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Know the main components of film extruders and their purposes. Describe blown film extrusion process. Identify common polyethylene films. Perform emergency stop using emergency switches. Know the operation of an air ring, die, nip rolls and gusseting equipment. Know the operation of a simple flexographic in-line printer. Know the basic operation of a recycling machine. To learn the basics of operating a blown film machine To identify the parts of the five major units of a blown film and their elements

RELATED THEORY Blown films are created by feeding plastics pellets into an extruder where they are melted and homogenised before they are pumped through a circular blown film die. The melted plastics form a continuous tube which is drawn from the die. It is inflated and simultaneously cooled by rapidly moving air. The tube, also called a bubble, is then flattened as it passes the collapsing frames and drawn through nip rolls and over idler rolls to a winder which pulls and winds the finished rolls of film. A typical film blown film machine consists of the following five major units: Extruder unit - converts the solid pellets into hot melt. Die unit - forms the hot melt into tube. Cooling unit - cools down and solidifies the hot melt. Take-off unit - pulls and flattens the tube at constant speed. Winding unit - winds-up the flattened tube into finish rolls.

Figure 1: Properly Label The Blown Process Digram

Blown film can be used either in tube form (e.g. for plastic bags and sacks) or the tube can be slit to form a sheet. Typical applications include Industry packaging (e.g. shrink film, stretch film, bag film or container liners), Consumer packaging (e.g. packaging film for frozen products, shrink film for transport packaging, food wrap film, packaging bags, or form, fill and seal packaging film), Laminating film (e.g. laminating of aluminium or paper used for packaging for example milk or coffee), Barrier film (e.g. film made of raw materials such as polyamides and EVOH acting as an aroma or oxygen barrier used for

packaging food, e. g. cold meats and cheese), films for the packaging of medical products, Agricultural film (e.g. greenhouse film, crop forcing film, silage film, silage stretch film). Here are some cross section diagrams of blown film extrusion dies. Each layer in this 5 layer die is shown in a different colour dies are precision made and as such are expensive but their service life is considerable. Each die head will have a working range of die inserts at different diameters to suit the required application. Different die gaps can also be specified depending on the material being extruded.

GENERAL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS 1. Keep the work area clean at all times. 2. Use proper hand gloves. Avoid using loose hand gloves. 3. Use the appropriate tool and wear protective dry gloves when you throw away purged resin. 4. Do not lean against the cage guard of the ladder when you work. 5. Pay attention to where your hands are to ensure that your hands are not pinched between rollers and other rotating equipment. 6. Do not run the machine without the protective covers on rotating parts. 7. Avoid clothing or accessories that could easily be pinched or caught in machines. 8 .Specifically, do not wear items that hang far from your neck such as long necklaces and IDs. Do not wear rings or loose bracelets. Do not wear clothing that is pleated, sags or has strings. Make sure that you button or fasten your shirt and jacket cuffs, pant cuffs and jacket hem. 10.Do not stand in front of the die.

PROCESS In the extrusion of plastics, raw thermoplastic material in the form of nurdles (small beads, often called resin in the industry) is gravity fed from a top mounted hopper into the barrel of the extruder. Additives such as colorants and UV inhibitors (in either liquid or pellet form) are often used and can be mixed into the resin prior to arriving at the hopper. The process has much in common with plastic injection moulding from the point of the extruder technology though it differs in that it is usually a continuous process. While pultrusion can offer many similar profiles in continuous lengths, usually with added reinforcing, this is achieved by pulling the finished product out of a die instead of extruding the fluid raw material through a die. The material enters through the feed throat (an opening near the rear of the barrel) and comes into contact with the screw. The rotating screw (normally turning at up to 120 rpm) forces the plastic beads forward into the barrel which is heated to the desired melt temperature of the molten plastic (which can range from 200 C (392 F) to 275 C (527 F) depending on the polymer). In most processes, a heating profile is set for the barrel in which three or more independent PID controlled heater zones gradually increase the temperature of the barrel from the rear (where the plastic enters) to the front. This allows the plastic beads to melt gradually as they are pushed through the barrel and lowers the risk of overheating which may cause degradation in the polymer. Extra heat is contributed by the intense pressure and friction taking place inside the barrel. In fact, if an extrusion line is running certain materials fast enough, the heaters can be shut off and the melt temperature maintained by pressure and friction alone inside the barrel. In most extruders, cooling fans are present to keep the temperature below a set value if too much heat is generated. If forced air cooling proves insufficient then cast-in heater jackets are employed, and they generally use a closed loop of distilled water in heat exchange with tower or city water.

TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Figure 1 : Part Of Blown Film Extrusion Machine Materials Polyethylenes (HDPE, LDPE and LLDPE) are the most common resins in use, but a wide variety of other materials can be used as blends with these resins or as single layers in a multi-layer film structure. these include pp, pa, evoh. In some cases, these materials do not gel together, so a multi-layer film would delaminate. To overcome this, small layers of special adhesive resins are used in between. These are known as tie layers.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES Advantages: Produce tubing (both flat and gussetted) in a single operation Regulation of film width and thichness by control of the volume of air in the bubble, the output of the extruder and the speed of the haul-off Eliminate end effects such as edge bead trim and non uniform temperature that can result from flat die film extrusion capability of biaxial orientation (allowing uniformity of mechanical properties) Very high productivity Permits the combination of a number of different materials and properties

Disadvantages: Blown film has a less effective cooling process than flat film. Flat film cooling is done by means of chill rolls or water, which have significantly higher specific heat capacities than the air that is used in the blown film cooling process. The higher specific heat capacity allows the substance to absorb more heat with less change in the substance temperature. Compared to cast film, blown film has a more complicated and less accurate method to control film thickness; cast film has a thickness variation of 1 to 2% versus the 3 to 4% for blown film. The resins used for casting typically have a lower melt flow index, which is the amount of polymer that can be forced through a standard die in 10 minutes according to a standard procedure. The melt flow index for cast film is about 5.0 g/10 min where as for blown film it is about 1.0 g/10 min. Consequently the production rates for cast film are higher: cast film lines can reach production rates of up to300m/min where as blown film lines are usually less than half this value. And finally, cast film has better optical properties, including transparency, haze, and gloss.

DISCUSSION In a wire coating process, bare wire (or bundles of jacketed wires, filaments, etc.) is pulled through the center of a die similar to a tubing die. Many different materials are used for this purpose depending on the application. Essentially, an insulated wire is a thin walled tube which has been formed around a bare wire. There are two different types of extrusion tooling used for coating over a wire. They are referred to as either "pressure" or "jacketing" tooling. The selection criteria for choosing which type of tooling to use is based on whether the particular application requires intimate contact or adhesion of the polymer to the wire or not. If intimate contact or adhesion is required, pressure tooling is used. If it is not desired, jacketing tooling is chosen. The main difference in jacketing and pressure tooling is the position of the pin with respect to the die. For jacketing tooling, the pin will extend all the way flush with the die. When the bare wire is fed through the pin, it does not come in direct contact with the molten polymer until it leaves the die. For pressure tooling, the end of the pin is retracted inside the crosshead, where it comes in contact with the polymer at a much higher pressure. There are many geometrical possibilities when using extrusion. Thin film (flat or tubular) is the most common product. Other extruded products include pipe and tubing, coated paper or foil, monofilaments and textile fibers, flat sheet (anything over 0.010 inch (0.25 mm)), wire and cable covering, and a great variety of profiles such as window frames, gaskets and channels, and house siding. The products can be cut to length or rolled up as needed. CONCLUSION Many problems occur in blown film extrusion in the hot melt between the die and the frost line and where the tube is collapsed at the main nip. Other sections in this booklet deal more specifically with problems such as uneven rolls, gauge bands,wrinkles, maintainng output, physical and optical problems and solutions.

REFERENCES 1. ^ Rauwendaal, Chris (2001), Polymer Extrusion, 4th ed, Hanser, ISBN 3-44621774-6. 2. ^ a b Todd, Allen & Alting 1994, pp. 223227. 3. ^ Process, Methods and Features of plastic extrusion technology 4. ^ "HOW TO SOLVE BLOWN FILM PROBLEMS". Lyondell Chemical Company. Retrieved 31 August 2012. 5. ^ John Vogler (1984). Small Scale Recycling of Plastics. Intermediate Technology Publication. pp. 67. 6. ^ Rosato, Marlene G. (2000), Concise encyclopedia of plastics, Springer, p. 245, ISBN 978-0-7923-8496-0. 7. ^ Giles, Harold F.; Wagner, John R.; Mount, Eldridge M. (2005), Extrusion: the definitive processing guide and handbook, William Andrew, p. 151, ISBN 978-0-8155-1473-2.