Extrusion International 2-2026

19 Extrusion International 2/2026 capacity of the sample. Knowing these thermal properties permits the simulation of shear heating and hot and cold spots in the ow area. The thermal conductivity meter is used to determine the thermal conductivity of the polymer sample across a range of temperatures. This in-house lab provides faster turnaround on test re- sults, reducing delays during the design process and offer- ing better control over the testing parameters. The result is a high-quality part delivered on time. The new test extrusion facility features various pieces of equipment including two Killion 1.25" extruders, an RDN 2.0 PVS vacuum tank, one Keyence LS9000 dual axis laser gauge, two Dri Air ARID-X 10 30lb capacity dryers, an RDN 212 belt puller, an Accurate Thermal Systems FT - BLL47 uidized bath and a new Mark-10 F1505-IM tensile testing rig. In addition, the test lab permits single and co- extrusion capabilities with its tried-and-true die designs. Access to exotic extrusion processes such as rotary die extrusion of lament and tubular end-products are also available. The addition of the tensile testing rig allows for mechanical testing of nished product samples in-house for even faster trial results. Supporting extrusion trials, the test lab also offers extru- sion training, die cleaning services, sample inspection, and end-product testing. Guill’s uidized bath has a 50°C-605°C temperature range and a working volume of 15.7” x 47.” Customers can test materials, dies and actual extrusion run time… all on Guill premises. Guill Tool & Engineering Co., Inc. Jacob Marcure, Senior Design Engineer jmarcure@guill.com Peter Leary, Technical Sales Engineer, Extrusion Division pleary@guill.com www.guill.com Design Engineer Jacob Marcure working in the rheology lab Fluidized bath in the test extrusion facility Greater Safety for Sustainable Plastics Polypropylene recyclates are be- coming increasingly important, espe- cially in long-lasting applications. To ensure their reliability, the SKZ Plastics Center is working on a new testing method based on the Strain Harden- ing Test (SHT). A quantitative assessment of mate- rial quality is crucial for the use of poly- propylene recyclates. In particular, the failure mechanisms relevant to poly- ole ns must be taken into account – above all, stress crack resistance, i.e., a material's ability to resist slow crack growth. The strain hardening test (ISO 18488) is already established for virgin polyethylene in pipe applications. On this basis, the SKZ is launching a two-year research project to develop a comparable, easy-to-use method for polypropylene recyclates. Initially, recyclates will be simulated by mix- tures of materials with known prop- erties. “Our main focus is on the depen- dence of the test results on mixture proportions and ratios,” explains Brit- ta Gerets, Senior Engineer at SKZ. The method will then be validated on post-industrial (PIR) and post-con- sumer (PCR) recyclates. In addition, the extent to which stress crack resis- tance can be improved by the target- ed addition of virgin material will be investigated. Interested parties can contact the research team via the SHT_PP- Rezyklate project page or by email. The SKZ Plastics Center Britta Gerets, b.gerets@skz.de www.skz.de Milled material, recycled compound, lm, and test specimens for the strain hardening test (Photo: Luca Hoffmannbeck, SKZ)