New Krauss Maffei Extrusion die for foamed plastic insulation board

with a width of 1,200mm

Krauss Maffei Extrusion of Munich, Germany – have developed a new wide extrusion die for foam insulation boards with a width of 1,200mm. The die is perfectly tailored for twin-screw / single-screw extruder combinations ZE/ KE featuring an output capacity of more than 1,000 kilograms per hour.

“The new wide extrusion die offers our customers greater flexibility to meet the ever increasing demand for large-sized XPS foam boards”, explains Joachim Meyke, Head of Foam Extrusion at Krauss Maffei Berstorff. “In addition, the wide boards can be cut in the centre to standard size 600mm, which substantially increases the capacity of the entire production line – in particular with boards in the lower thickness range.”

An optimum flow channel geometry inside the extrusion head ensures even melt distribution over the entire die width. At the discharge from the die, the material expands to a width of 1,300 to 1,350 mm and is subsequently calibrated to the desired board thickness in a special calibrating unit. The board thickness can be easily varied within a range of 30 to 60mm and a solution for heavier thickness is currently in the development phase. The corresponding downstream equipment is designed to cool, cut and mill the boards to the desired dimensions.

Rapid start up and tight control of product quality is enhanced by a 4 zone oil heating / cooling system and additional heating cartridges located in the die edge area.

The extruder configuration composed of a co-rotating ZE twin-screw extruder and a KE single-screw extruder ensures optimum product quality and is suitable for processing all blowing agent systems used worldwide.