Rabu, 23 Desember 2009

METODE PEMBUATAN FILM PLASTIK

EXTRUSION FILM

There are fundamentally two different methods of extruding film, namely ,blow extrusion and slit die extrusion. The former method produces tubular film, which may be gussetted or lay-flat while the latter result is flat film. If desired, lay-out film can be slit to give flat film. The equipment for film extrusion consists of an extruder, fitted with a suitable die equipment to cool the molten film, haul-off machinery and a wind-up unit. Blow extrusion and slit die extrusion vary in the design of die used and in the type of cooling the haul-off and wind-up equipment is also different. The design and operation for the extruder up to the die is the same for both methods, however, and will be briefly described here before considering the different types of film manufacture. The basic extrusion process is designed to convert, continuously, a thermoplastics material into a particular form, in this case film. The basic sequence of events is as follows:
1. Plasticization of the raw material in granule or powder form.
2. Metering for the plasticised product through a die which converts it to the required form (i.e. tubular or flat).
3. Solidification into the required form.
4. Winding into reels.

Processes (1) and (2) are carried out in the extruder, whilst (3) and (4) are ancillary processes.
A typically extruder is shown in figure 1 and consists essentially of an Archimedean screw which revolves within a close fitting, heated barrel. The plastics granules are fed through a hopper mounted at one end of the barrel and carried forward along the barrel by the action of the screw. As the granules move along the screw, they are melted by contact with the heated walls of the barrel, and by the heat generated by friction.


Fig. 1. SCHEME FOR A TYPICAL SINGLE-SCREW EXTRUDER (L/D = 20) SHOWN EXTRUDING PIPE

The screw then forces the molten plastic through the die which determines its final form,. The most important component of the extruder is the screw are used for extruding different polymers. Extruder screws are characterised by their length to diameter ratio(commonly written as L/D ratio) and their compresison ratios. The compression ratio is the ratio of the volume of one flight of the screw at the hopper end to the volume of one flight at the die end. L/D ratios most commonly used for single screw extruders are between about 15:1 to 30:1, while compression ratios can vary from 2:1 to 4:1. An extruder screws is usually divided into three sectors, namely, feed, compression and metering. The feed section transports the material from under the hopper mouth to the hotter portion of the barrel. The compression section is that section where the diminishing depth of thread causes a volume compression of the melting granules. The main effect of this is an increase in the shearing action on the molten polymer due to the relative motion of the screw surface with respect to the barrel wall. This improves the mixing and also leads to an increase in frictional heat and a more uniform heat distribution throughout the melt. The function of the final section of the screw is to homogenize the melt further, meter it uniformly through the die and smooth out pulsations.
Just prior to the die is fitted a breaker plate supporting screen pack consisting of a number of fine or coarse mesh gauges. The screen pack filters out any contamination which might be present in the raw material. This is particularly important in the case of thin film extrusion where even the smallest of contaminating particles could cause holes or even breaks in the film. The screen pack also increases the back pressure in the extruder and this improves the mixing and homogenisation of the melt.
The above description has been based on a single screw extruder but multi-screw models are also available giving more positive transport of the molten polymer and more efficient mixing.

Fig. 2 : BLOWN FILM EXTRUSION

A typical set-up for blown film extrusion is shown in figure-2. In this instance the molten polymer from the extruder enters the die from the side but entry can also be effected from the bottom of the die. Once in the die, the molten polymer is made to flow round a mandrel and emerges through a ring shaped die opening, in the form of a tube. The tube is expanded into a bubble of the required diameter by an air pressure maintained through the centre of the mandrel. The expansion of the bubble is accompanied by a corresponding reduction in thickness. Extrusion of the tube is usually upwards but it can be extruded downwards, or even sideways, the bubble pressure is maintained by pinch rolls at one end and by the die at the other. It is important that the pressure of the air is kept constant in order to ensure uniform thickness and width of film. Other factors that effect film thickness are extruder output, haul-off speed and temperatures of the die and along the barrel. These must also be strictly controlled.
As with any extrusion process, film blowing becomes more economical as speeds are increased. The limiting factor here is the rate at which the tubular extrudate can be cooled. Cooling is usually achieved by blowing air against the outside surface of the bubble. Under constant air flow conditions an increase in extrusion speed result in a higher 'frost' line (the line where solidification of the extrudate commences) and this leads to bubble instability. Increasing the air flow gives more rapid cooling and lowers the 'frost' its application because too high a velocity of the air stream will distort the bubble. Various designs of air cooling rings have been worked out in order to produce improved cooling without these attendant difficulties and one such design (designed and patented by shell) is shown in figure.3. It consists of a conically shaped ring provided with three air slits, the airstreams from which are so directed and regulated that the space between the bubble and the ring decreases gradually towards the top of the ring. This gives improved cooling by increasing the speed of the air stream. The design also results in a zone of under-pressure at the top of the ring and this greatly improves the bubble stability. Blown film extrusion is an extremely complex subject and there are many problems associated with the production of good quality film. Among the many defects which can occur are variations in film thickness, surface defects such as 'orange peel', 'apple sauce' of 'fish eyes', low tensile strength, low impact strength, hazy film, blocking and wrinkling. Wrinkling is a particularly annoying problems because it can be costly, leading to scrapping of a roll of film, and because it can arise from such a wide variety of causes that it is likely to occur even in the best regulated extrusion shop. If the film is too cold when it reaches the pinch rolls, for instance it will be stiff and this may cause crimping at the nip and wrinkling. One way of raising the film, temperature at the nip rolls is to raise the melt temperature but this can lead to other troubles such 'as blocking. In fact, this is illustrative of the whole subject of film blowing inasmuch as compromises are often necessary to achieve the best balance of properties. Wrinkling can also be caused by the die gap being out of adjustment. This causes variations in film thickness and can lead to uneven pull at the pinch rolls. Another cause of wrinkling may be surging from the extruder or air currents in the extruder shop. Both of these factors can cause wobbling of the film bubble and thus wrinkling at the wind-up stage.

Fig. 3. SHELL COOLING RING

The film bubble may be established by supporting it with horizontal stationary guides or the whole extruder may be protected from stray air currents by a film curtain. Other causes include non-alignment of the guide roll and the pinch rolls, or non-uniformity of pressure across the face of the pinch rolls.
Among the surface defects mentioned earlier, 'fish eyes' are due to imperfect mixing in the extruder or to contamination. Both of these factors are controlled by the screen pack which not only screens out contaminating particles but improves homogeneity by increasing the back pressure in the extruder. 'Orange peel' or 'apple sauce' are also surface defects caused by inhomogeneity of the molten polymer.
Since low density polyethylene forms by far the greatest percentage of all film made, it will be useful to consider the influence of the various polymer parameters such as metal flow index and molecular weight on the film properties. Impact strength, for instance, increases with molecular weight (i.e. decreasing melt index and with decreasing density. Heavy duty sacks, for instance, are normally made from polyethylene grades having densities between 0.916 and 0.922 g/cm3 and melt indices between 0.2 and 0.5. For thinner technical film as used in building applications or waterproof lining of ponds, higher melt indices have to be used because of the difficulty of drawing down very viscous melts to thin film. Melt indices of between 1 and 2.5 are more useful, therefore, and impact strengths are less than for heavy duty sacks. Clarity is, however, improved. Where a good balance of properties is required as in the medium clarity/medium impact grades, slightly higher densities are used (0.920 to 0,925 g/cm3) and the melt index is varied between 0.75 and 2.5. For high clarity, a high density and a high melt index are required since increases in both these properties cause an increase in see-through clarity, a decrease in haze and an increase in gloss. High clarity film will, of course, have a relatively poor impact strength because of the high melt index and such film should not be used for packaging heavy items.

SLIT DIE EXTRUSION (FLAT FILM EXTRUSION)
In flat film extrusion the molten polymer is extruded through a slit die and thence into a quenching water bath or on to a chilled roller. In either case the essence of the process in rapid cooling of the extruded film and cooling is, therefore, applied within a very short distance of the die lips (usually between 25 and 65 mm,). This short distance is also dictated by the necessity to reduce 'necking' of the film web, with consequent loss of width. In the chill roll casting method, the melt is extruded onto a chromium plated roller, cored for water cooling. The rapid cooling leads to the formation of small crystallites and this gives a clearer film.

Fig. 4 : FILM CASTING (SLIT-DIE EXTRUSION)

Where the quench bath method is used, the water temperature should be kept constant for best results. At constant extrusion temperature, lower quench temperatures, improve slip and antiblocking properties while higher quench temperatures give film that is easier to wind without wrinkles and with better physical properties.

Fig. 5 : CROSS-SECTION OF MANIFOLD-TYPE DIE FOR FILM

Slit-dies for flat film are wide in comparison with the diameter of the extruder head and this means that the flow path to the extreme edges of the die is longer than to the centre. Flow compensation is usually obtained by a manifold die, a cross-section of which is shown in figure. 5. It consists of lateral channel (or manifold) of such a diameter that the low resistance is small compared with that offered by the die lips. The manifold can only be efficient in its task of flow compensation if the viscosity of the melt is fairly low so that higher temperatures are necessary for flat film extrusion. This limits the use of the manifold die to materials of good thermal stability while another consequence of the higher extrusion temperature is the necessity for a heavier screen pack in order to maintain satisfactory back pressures. The inside surface of flat die has to be precision machined and well polished since the slightest surface imperfection will result in striations or variations in gauge.

COMPARISON OF BLOW AND CAST FILM PROCESSES
Some of the advantages of the tubular film process are as follows:
the mechanical properties of the film are generally better than those of cast film. The width of lay flat film is easily adjustable and there are no losses due to edge trimming. This latter is necessary for flat film because of the thickening of the film edge due to necking-in. Lay flat film is more easily converted into bags since it is only necessary to seal one end of a cut length to make the bag.
The cost for making wide blown film is much lower than for wide cast film because the cost of chill rollers increases rapidly with width due to the difficulty of precision grinding longer rollers.
A tubular film die is more compact and is cheaper than a slit-die producing film of comparable width. The tubular process is easier and more flexible to operate. These advantages must be balanced against the advantages of the slit-die process which are as follows:
Very high outputs can be obtained by slit-die extrusion units. Slit-die film normally has superior optical properties but it should be noted that special rapid cooling processes have been developed for tubular film, particularly in the case of polypropylene film. One example, the shell Tubular Quench Process, will be described in more detail later. Thickness variation is usually less with slit-die extruded film.
WATER COOLED POLYPROPYLENE FILM

Among the advantages of the air-cooled tubular process mentioned above were cheapness, case of conversion into bags and flexibility of operation. These factors have been largely responsible for the large scale penetration of low density polypropylene film into packaging markets. Polypropylene cannot be processed on the same equipment since the rate of cooling is inadequate to prevent the formation of large ' spherulites' (crystalline aggregates) in the film. This leads to the production of a brittle film having a matt, opaque appearance. Clear polypropylene film can be produced by chill roll casting techniques but the equipment is expensive and is not normally economic at outputs below about 600 tons per annum. This has greatly hindered its penetration of the clear film packaging market. Techniques of water cooling tubular polypropylene film, however, have opened up ways of producing clear film, with greater toughness and at no greater cost than cast polypropylene film. Among the different techniques commercially available is sheil's. Tubular Quench (TQ Process) which involves downward extrusion of a tubular extrudate from an annular die followed by rapid cooling on water-covered converging boards.
Fig. 6. EQUIPMENT SETTING FOR T-Q FILM EXTRUSION

At the same time the tubular extrudate is inflated with air in the normal way to give film of the required lay flat width and thickness. The water film that runs down the converging boards shock cools the film and causes rapid crystallite formation and hence the formation of small spherulites with a consequent increase in clarity. The layout of the TQ Process is shown schematically in figure. 6. As with polyethylene, the blow up ratio influences the balance of molecular orientation between machine and transverse directions and this affects film impact strength, tensile strength and tear strength in the usual manner. The properties of TQ polypropylene film are similar to those of the cast film. However, the ability to vary the blow up ratio allows a measure of control over the molecular orientation and this in turn can result in an improvement in mechanical properties compared with cast where the orientation is essentially all in the machine direction of the film. The degree of orientation in the TQ process is still low compared with that of true biaxially oriented film and TQ film does not compete with it in properties. The production of biaxially oriented film will be dealt with later but a comparison of polypropylene film produced by chill roll casting, the TQ Process and bixial orientation is given in table 1.


The TQ process is particularly valuable for outputs of film below the economic output of a cast film line (up to about 600 tonnes per annum). Costs are much lower and benefit from the great flexibility of the blown film process and the absence of edge trim waste. Another process is the Dow-Taga process. In this the blown film goes through a hollow ring where it is coated with a film of water which flows from the ring and on to the film before it is collapsed. Different sizes of rings must be used to match changes in blow up ratios whereas with the TQ process, no changes in equipment are needed when making different diameters of tubular film. In a third process, developed by Kokoku Rayon and Pulp Co. Ltd. In Japan (now the Kohjin Co. Ltd.), the tube of polypropylene film, after it comes out of the die, is passed over a mandrel that extends down into a water bath. After cooling, the film comes out of the bath, still in tubular form. It is then dried and the tube collapsed between a set of rolls.

7 komentar:

  1. dear pak novri,

    kenalkan saya syarif dari cirebon, kebetulan saya saat ini sedang bekarja di perusahaan plastik, saya minta info dimana saya bisa pesan SCREW PE untuk mesin extruder kami,yang saya maksud adalah kami minta informasi tempat pembuatan screw di undonesia,hubungi saya di 081564974662

    terima kasih sebelumnya

    BalasHapus
  2. dear pak sarif terima kasih menghubingi saya.. screw PE serta ukurannya saya punya banyak kenalan (saya kirim via email) terus mau yang mahal atau yang murah, tapi saya sarankan untuk screw PE sih standard aja tidak perlu mahal apalagi bahannya original.... tidak ada gesekan keras.. terus mau ouput tinggi harus didesain khusus... akan tetapi jika output tinggi kualitas bahan tentu kurang baik kan...

    BalasHapus
  3. dengan hormat,
    Saya mohon dibantu design dies salur (film bergaris)
    kalau ada gambar tekniknya Pak.
    saya dlm 1 bulan ini ada masalah dengan design dies salur sy dan belum ada solusinya..
    Mohon dibantu sekali Master..Thanks

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. Pak saya tidak ada gambarnyaa utk dies ini terima kasih sudah mampir

      Hapus
  4. film yang saya hasil setelah aging time 24 jam timbul bercak2 putih, ini selalu terjadi dan saya belum menemukan pentebabnya. apakah dari slip agent yang bermigrasi atau blocking dari resin yang saya pakai (barefoot?

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. kaya nya seperti itu pak, kalau sudah dibiarkan 24 jam terus timbul bercak, pemcapuran kurang baik, dicoba aja dengan slip agent atau blocking merk yang lainya. dibandingkan

      Hapus
  5. Dear Bp. Novrie

    Perkenalkan saya Listya Anggraini dari PT. Arestech Mss ( Jakarta ) bergerak dibdang distributor atau agen dari beberapa produk automation diantaranya adalah inverter, plc, servo & touchscreen merk easydrive & LS/LG. Saya adalah karyawan di Pt. Arestech sebagai Spv Marketing, maksud dan tujuan saya adalah ingin berkenalan dgn Bp. Novrie ingin meminta referensi beberapa pabrik plastik yang bisa saya berikan brosur atau catalogue produk kami atau bila memungkinkan berkunjung keperusahaan tersebut, terutama untuk produk inverter yang banyak dipakai untuk mesin blow film, printing, cutting & extruder yang banyak dijumpai di pabrik plastik. Maka dari itu saya mohon referensi/bantuan nya, terimakasih atas perkenalan & waktu nya. Salam kenal ( listya.ams@gmail.com )

    BalasHapus