Extrusion International 2-2017

30 Extrusion International 2/2017 New die design for multi-layer fluid coating A new, patent-pending design for dual- ormulti-layer versions of Nordson Corporation’s Premier™ and Ultracoat™ fluid coating dies makes it easier to achieve parallel alignment of the lip faces, which is critical for maintaining uniform, defect-free coating and preventing impingement of the lips against the roll. IN FOKUS: Smart Extrusion for Packaging In the standard design for Premier fixed-lip and Ultracoat adjustable- lip slot dies, operators make chang- es to the die gap—and thus thewet film thickness of the coating—by inserting thin metal strips, or shims, between the die bodies, then using more shims at the rear of the die to eliminate the resulting offset of the lip faces and ensure that they are once again in the same plane. Until now,useof these“offset shims”has been more complicated in multi- layer dies, requiring calculations to determine which shim thickness most closely achieves lip face paral- lelism. The new design makes such calculation unnecessary, ensures a more precise lip face alignment, and prevents human error. Nordson has achieved this im- provement by reconfiguring the die bodies of multi-layer Premier and Ultracoat systems so that the offset blocks, where the offset Schematic shows how a change in body-shim thickness affects lip alignment in a standard fluid coating die (top) and in Nordson’s new design