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Elmet Slims Down LSR Dosing System Without Compromising Precision or Performance

The new TOP 3100 LSR dosing system was front and center at Elmet’s stand at Fakuma.

Norbert Sparrow

October 19, 2024

4 Min Read
Elmet Project Manager Roman Adlesgruber
Elmet Project Manager Roman Adlesgruber and the Top 3100 LSR dosing system at Fakuma.Norbert Sparrow

Liquid silicone rubber (LSR) system specialist Elmet was all over the mappe at Fakuma this week (and my apologies for the bad bilingual pun). At its own stand — 5306 in hall 5 — the Austria-based company showcased its new Top 3100 and Top 700 models that support a range of customer requirements in terms of footprint, drum size, and automation. The Top 700 dosing system could be seen in action at Arburg’s booth (hall A3, stand 3101). And over at the Momentive Performance Materials’ stand (hall A4, stand 4307), Elmet’s Top 7000 Pro dosing system as well as a cold runner of its design were running on a Sumitomo (SHI) Demag machine in a joint project. I met with Elmet Project Manager Roman Adlesgruber to get some insights on these various developments.

No-nonsense LSR dosing

The TOP 3100 LSR dosing system made its debut at Fakuma. “It’s a no-nonsense system, providing top-notch precision, usability, and quality at a fair price,” said Adlesgruber. By no-nonsense, he means that it’s a slimmed-down version of Elmet’s signature systems with only the key components needed for basic applications, without compromising on performance, process stability, or service life. It is designed for users who run processes with clearly defined requirements over extended periods and only want to invest in equipment they actually use on a day-to-day basis.

Related:Hot-runner Innovations on Show at Fakuma

Equipped with the same processing unit and additive system as Elmet’s other LSR dosing systems, the Top 3100 achieves delivery rates of more than five liters per minute, enabling short cycle times when filling larger molds or with large numbers of nests. Additives and colors can be dispensed from 1-, 4-, and 20-liter containers. Maintenance costs are minimized by the processing unit’s modular design with integrated cooling and simple clamp connections, which simplify cleaning and enable even relatively low-skilled personnel to operate it without difficulty.

Top 700 makes European debut

The new Top 700 LSR dosing system made its European debut at Fakuma, after having its world premiere at NPE in Orlando, FL, in May of this year. It has a 799 × 600 mm footprint, making it the most compact 20-liter system currently on the market, according to Elmet. It offers the same high precision when dosing silicones and additives as the flagship Top 7000 Pro with 200- or 20-liter drum sizes and accommodates the same optional equipment and level of automation.

The follower plates have been optimized, such that, depending on material viscosity, just 40 ml of residue is left behind when 20-liter containers are changed, resulting in material utilization of up to 99.8%. Typical applications include R&D, prototyping, and smaller batch sizes. Designed to be FDA-compliant, it is also suitable for applications requiring extreme cleanliness such as medical technology, personal care, food, and optics.

LSR Drip Guard project

The joint project on display at the Momentive stand was initiated by Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, explained Adlesgruber. The machine maker wanted to show its press and Elmet’s dosing system in action at Fakuma, and got Momentive on board as the material supplier. They settled on molding an LSR Drip Guard kitchen spoon holder, as seen on the video below.

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Elmet designed the mold, dosing system, and part itself, which is made from a two-component LSR — Silopren LSR 2670 — from Momentive. Molding simulation was carried out using Sigmasoft Virtual Molding software.

Injection takes place via Elmet’s SMARTshot P valve gate cold runner system. A pneumatic drive ensures precise movement of the nozzle needle during injection of the liquid silicone rubber into the cavity. The nozzle of the SMARTshot cold runner system can be calibrated to precisely balance the filling process. Other features include a particularly long needle guide and 100% protection against twisting of the needle, the tip of which is part of the molding cavity contour. This concept completely eliminates production waste such as sprues.

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The Drip Guard tool is mounted on an all-electric IntElect 130 injection molding machine from Sumitomo (SHI) Demag.

A smarter SMARTshot

Elmet is preparing to launch a new SMARTshot, which it is calling the SMARTshot I, at the K show next year. Using servomotors instead of pneumatics, the system will calculate in real time how much force is needed to hold the needle in place and measure material viscosity to ensure it is within a specified range. “No manual adjustments are needed — the cold runner does it all automatically,” said Adlesgruber. “We’re not quite ready to launch, but we know that we can do it, and we will show everyone at the K.”

About the Author

Norbert Sparrow

Editor in chief of PlasticsToday since 2015, Norbert Sparrow has more than 30 years of editorial experience in business-to-business media. He studied journalism at the Centre Universitaire d'Etudes du Journalisme in Strasbourg, France, where he earned a master's degree.

www.linkedin.com/in/norbertsparrow

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