Extrusion International 4-2017

25 Extrusion International 4/2017 The parent company, which is based in Kleve on the lower Rhine, is part of the Italian E-Group. For about thirty years, Enetec has been highly successful as an OEM supplier of heating and cooling systems in all the world. “For the reverse integration to become a pipe manufacturer, we first decided to produce competitive pipes for the products of our Group,” explains Michael Frenzel, managing director of the family-run company. For this reason, he founded Enetec Plastics and built up an ultra-modern pipe production plant which is unparalleled in Europe in a greenfield project not far from the existing loca- tion. “While searching for suitable extrusion lines, the KraussMaffei Berstorff team of system engi- neers and technicians were absolutely convincing.” The engineering company was able to satisfy the specifications of the customer with respect to effi- ciency and delivery time. “The other thing that was very important to me was to have a partner who could offer me an integrated system – a turnkey sys- tem, so to speak – and one that worked impecca- bly,” Frenzel underlines his satisfaction. Best proof of just how satisfied he is was the order for a sec- ond line after nine months; and now he has even ordered a third line. No longer does the specialist produce pipes only for the Group’s own needs; it ex- ports 80% to customers around the world. “The key to the success of our products can be found in the typical German virtues of precision, orderliness and punctuality,” Michael Frenzel is convinced. With re- spect to his products, that means premium quality pipes with absolute dimensional precision and out- standing surface finish delivered just in time. Demand for PE-RT pipes growing Today, 5-layer PE-RT pipes are, along with PE-X pipes, in high demand for underfloor heating systems. They are flexible and can be individually routed. Their EVOH layer provides an oxygen barrier and they are extremely durable. “In contrast to the competition product, the PE-X pipe, the processing technology to produce PE-RT pipes is much simpler as there is no need for subsequent treatment, for example for cross-linking,” Michael Frenzel explains his choice of PE-RT pipes. An additional growth market for these pipes is wall and ceiling heating and cooling systems, which are increasingly being installed in houses and offices around the world. The pipes typically have a diameter between 8 and 32 mm with a wall thickness of 1.1 to 3 mm. The KraussMaffei Berstorff pipe ex- trusion lines cover exactly this range of dimensions. For this, they are equipped with six single-screw ex- truders, each of which has its own gravimetric mate- rial metering, allowing different layer thicknesses to be perfectly configured. In detail, these are the KME 45-36 B/R main extruder for the PE-RT inner layer and the KME 30-30 B coextruder for the PE-RT outer layer. Two further coextruders of the KME 30-25 D/C type each plasticize the raw material for the layers of bonding material, into which the EVOH oxygen bar- rier layer is embedded. For these, a KME 30-25 is in- stalled as a piggyback on the main extruder. Finally, the sixth extruder, a KME 20-25 D/C, also installed as a piggyback solution on top of one of the coextruders, takes over appliance of the strips. Schematic illustration of a 5-layer PE-RT pipe 10 Pike Street West Warwick, RI 02893 USA sales@guill.com Attention: Bill Conley Series 800 crosshead for two to six layers The latest generation of the Series 800 crosshead is designed to run two to six layer extrusions for high quality, high accuracy 1/8” to 6” OD tubing for medical, automotive, appliance and industrial applications. Ideal for fluoropolymer multi-layer tubing for fuel lines or thin layer combinations of polymers and adhesives to 0.02mm or less. Please visit www.guill.com