Open day demonstrates new rubber expertise

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 28, 2004

Rapra Technology held a successful open day for rubber injection moulders at its Shawbury headquarters on Tuesday 20th April.

Rapra Technology held a successful open day for rubber injection moulders at its Shawbury headquarters on Tuesday 20th April.

Attending companies included Avon Rubber, Trelleborg, Silvertown UK, Roulands Codan, Crane Process Flow, RMS and Barwell International, the UK agents for LWB Steinl.

LWB Steinl and Rapra Technology gave presentations on their injection moulding machine range and 3D injection moulding simulation, followed by tours of the mixing, moulding and testing facilities.

The bulk of the day's activities centred on the performance and capabilities of Rapra's newly acquired Steinl VCE 500/160 injection moulding machine.

Rapra is now able to provide designers a fully integrated package of materials selection, compound development, 3D flow simulation, tool design and injection moulding.

Jenny Cooper, Rubber Business Development Manager for Rapra Technology said: "The Steinl injection moulding machine offers companies the ability to invest in a single piece of equipment that is able to process both rubber and TPE materials.

This enables traditional rubber injection moulding companies the opportunity to expand into new TPE applications, or retain existing business due to material substitution.

Now that Rapra has access to such a machine we can assist to ensure a smooth transition and provide additional capacity for development".

Plans at Rapra include material, product and tooling developments as well as enhanced training for designers and moulders of both TPEs and rubbers.

Practical "show and tell" workings of the Steinl machine have already been integrated into all Rapra Technology's elastomeric-based training courses.

A new rubber injection moulding training day - aimed at designers, purchase managers, development engineers and senior managers who need to gain an appreciation of rubber injection moulding - has been set for Thursday 7th October 2004.

It will include topics of compounding, cure requirements, tool design and 3D flow simulation, as well as the practical demonstrations on the Steinl machine.

The new Steinl machine features a platen size of 500 x 400mm, with a daylight aperture of 493mm and a clamping force of up to 500kN.

The moulding machine will allow Rapra's technicians and consultants to develop a variety of new custom-made materials and products for a worldwide client base.

Services now available to Rapra, Steinl and Barwell clients include: tool trials; material, additive and compound development; process review; training; onsite trouble shooting; product and design development; 3D Sigmasoft; mould tool simulation; product validation and rheology.