An Innovative accessoiry for an Xplore MC 15 HT; a micro pipe die

Xplore is in a pro-typing phase of an innovative micro pipe die (MPD); an accessory for our MC 15 HT  and MC 40 compounder.

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The newly designed MPD can be easily mounted at the die exit of our larger compounders. The MPD is accurately temperature-controlled via electrical heating elements.

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Hence, it enables you to control better the flow properties of the polymeric material inside the die while extruding micro pipes.

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First initial proto-type testing reveals that this MPD enables you to produce micro pipes with small amounts of polymeric material. The ultimate challenge of making micro pipes is that the inner diameter is concentric towards the newly extruded micro pipe's outer diameter. The Xplore MPD has the possibility to introduce air to the inner continuous void, which provides an additional control step over the wall thickness. Different sizes of "sleeves" can be inserted into the MPD main body to have control/grip of the outside diameter dimensions when processing different types of polymers, all with their typical different flow behaviours. Hence, this MPD Xplore compounder combination allows you to process small amounts of different material grades with additives and shape this mixture into a micro pipe within minutes.

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Many applications in the polymer, bio-medical and pharmaceutical field could be beneficial from this R&D screening technology. Furthermore, we enable you to make your own custom compositions of micro pipes, thus, enabling you to tailor the material properties to your needs.

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The pictures above show the cross-sections of the first generated micro pipes. Cryo cut along the x-axis of the bobbin.

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It is clearly seen that the samples of Elastollan (TPU) and Sabic (PP) are looking very promising. However, some improvement studies have to be performed; we will keep you posted on this platform.