Arburg will exhibit an automated cell producing digitally watermarked caps from recycled material at Advanced Manufacturing Minneapolis/Plastec.

The closure caps are molded from a styrene-butadiene copolymer on a 110-ton electric Allrounder 470 A with a 6.1-ounce injection unit. Arburg’s electric 270 A to 570 A Allrounders come in three versions — Comfort, Premium and Ultimate — to suit individual customer applications at the best possible price-performance ratio, said Arburg. At Plastec Minneapolis, the Comfort machine will be running. In addition to the servo hydraulics for simultaneous machine movements, the package at the show also includes the aXw Control ScrewPilot for reproducible injection. 

HolyGrail 2.0 technology, which Arburg will be demonstrating at the show, allows molded parts to embed a digital watermark. The postage-stamp-sized codings are applied directly via the mold cavity surface to the parts and are invisible to the end user. No post-printing or etching is needed. A high-speed camera reads the mark and identifies the material during automated sorting at recycling centers.

The six-cavity hot-runner mold is supplied by Barnes Molding Solutions. The closure caps will be made of K Resin ECO KR01 from Ineos Styrolution, a material containing 70% recycled content. A vertical Multilift Select robotic system removes the molded parts from the mold. 

All the production cell's peripheral devices are fully integrated into the Gestica machine controller.

Visit Arburg at booth 2313.