Plastics, Fiber & Chemicals

THE PROBLEM:  There are dozens of ways to create and shape plastic-based materials such as injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming, etc. These processes use a variety of equipment including screws, dies, molds, breaker plates, spin-packs, tips, hot runners, filters, heat exchangers, tri-mesh screens and many other types of tooling.

Changes in process materials or colors as well as simple maintenance can require that the tooling and equipment be cleaned often. Some operators still clean expensive equipment using abrasive manual techniques (torches, brushes, sanders, drills). Others use costly technologies such as fluidized beds or salt baths that rely on expensive and complicated systems to capture fumes created in the cleaning process. Repetitive manual cleaning will, in time, result in physical damage to expensive tooling, thus reducing the life of the part. Manual cleaning can also cause injury to employees.

Today's operating environments require ongoing quality and timely and affordable maintenance of equipment in a working environment of employee safety and environmental stewardship. It must be effective, affordable, safe, easy and inexpensive to operate.

THE SOLUTION:  The parts to be cleaned are loaded onto a roll-out cart or a forklift movable carrier, which is then placed into a PCPC InertGas™ oven. The parts are cleaned of polymers by pyrolysis - the vaporizing of these contaminants into smoke as the parts are heated to 700-900°F (371-482° C.). The smoke is then burned in an afterburner running at 1400° F (760° C.) to completely consume it before it can be discharged to the atmosphere. The exhaust stack discharge is, thus, reduced to invisible, odorless and harmless water vapor and carbon dioxide.

This completely eliminates all chemical strippers and the handling and disposal of stripping materials. Parts come out clean and ready for processing with a minimum of preparation. Cost savings usually pay for the furnace in a short time and continue to pay dividends year after year. InertGas™ ovens have been proven in over 1000 plastics, fiber and chemical installations around the world.