Extrusion International 6-2022

64 Extrusion International 6/2022 PLASMA TECHNOLOGY different companies in accordance with the test regulations for pack- aging from the European Agree- ment on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). The ADR demands a permeation test for the storage of liquid sub- stances with a flash point < 61 C° (e.g. solvents like benzene, toluene, xylene). In this permeation test, the containers are filled either with a cus - tomer's original product or with the standardliquid"hydrocarbonmixture (white spirit)" and stored for 28 days (23 °C/50 %rh). The weightloss due to permeation of the filled liquid must not exceed a value of 0.008 g/(l ∙ h). However, many companies have higher requirements for the barrier, which means a higher storage tem- perature and lower migration loss over the same or a longer testing pe- riod. IonKraft conducted tests with different testing liquids at a higher temperature of 40 °C to demonstrate coating performance. The results are shown in the graph, image 3. A high barrier effect against all tested liquids can be seen. In this test the perme- ation rate of the ADR test liquid white spirit is roughly 0,0000298 g/(l ∙ h), which is considerably below the EU re- quirement. Production technology Besides validating of the perfor- mance of the coating with partners form the packaging and chemical industry, IonKraft developed a pro- totype coating production system, which can coat containers of various shapes and sizes from 1 to 20 litres. Furthermore, in cooperation with a partner company, IonKraft has devel- oped an automation system concept for continuous coating production and in-line integration into blow- moulding production lines. Any re- quired throughput of a blow-mould- ing line can be matched by using more than one coating module in the pro- duction plant. Next Steps – Technology Transfer to Production In 2023, IonKraft will develop and build the first industrial scale coating production plant in cooperation with a partner company from the field of mechanical engineering and auto- mation and start a pilot production phase at a packaging manufacturer to validate the long-term stability and robustness of their coating process. The first commercial machines will be available in 2024. IonKraft www.ionkraft.com Image 3 Image 2