Extrusion International 2-2024-USA

64 Extrusion International 2/2024 EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY Concept of Innovation Reinvented by Introducing New Analysis Tools and Doubling the Space Dedicated to Testing Bausano is not only driving technological progress in the production of extrusion lines, but is also strengthening its R&D department and reinventing the concept of innovation with the introduction of new analysis tools and doubling the space dedicated to testing. To this end, Bausano provides a wide range of services through which customers can experience the company's quality in the design of their systems. T hanks to the dedicated test and experimentation laboratory, in fact, Bausano offers an exclusive work- ing method, which starts from the customer's specific formulation to elaborate structured analyses, aimed at making each extrusion line completely tailor-made. Indeed, before designing a system, analyses are carried out at Bausano using the capillary rheometer, which studies the behaviour of the material when it flows and deforms, in order to understand its viscosity as a func- tion of the shear rate gradient. With rheological mate- rial characterisation, Bausano is able to: 1) define the type of materials that can be extruded on an existing plant; 2) optimise head design; 3) fine-tuning the design of the screws. At the same time, the information collected is pro- cessed using a plastograph. Here, the customer's start- ing materials are fed into the chamber, where they are heated and undergo shear stresses between two coun- ter-rotating rotors. During machining, the torque ap- plied to the rotating screws is measured, which provides information on the viscosity of the molten material and thus on any changes produced by machining on the sys- tem (gelation, branching, degradation). The result of these analyses, a fundamental and dis- tinctive preliminary step in Bausano's know-how, is comparedwith data processed by software dedicated to fluid-dynamic analysis. This pre-design phase allows the development of new extrusion heads, dies and screws to be optimised by predicting exactly how the material will behave during the machining process. Bausano's work process also differs in that the data returned by the laboratory instrumentation can be tested in advance at its factory. As a matter of fact, the company is expanding its premises and doubling the space dedicated to the test room for its customers. Spe- cifically, Bausano has two counter-rotating twin-screw extruders MD30 and MD75. The first, for small produc tion trials, allows the customer's formulation to be in- troduced into the machine and the extruded output to be observed before the line is scaled up to industrial level. The second, dedicated to trials on medium-sized plants, is aimed at guaranteeing the productivity tar- gets required by the customer and providing the latter with a sample of material so that it can also be subjected to internal quality controls. Further enhancing the test are two more complete systems, available to Bausano customers. The first, based on an E-GO single-screw ex - truder for testing PP/PE base blends for the production of single and multilayer pipes, and the second, based on a single-screw extruder from the E-GO R range to test the possibility of regenerating waste materials. The uniqueness of Bausano's services therefore lies in being able to test the customer's system twice, firstly at its own site. Prior to setup at the customer's production site, Bausano starts up the line in its own factory, either in the presence of the customer or virtually, to validate the design assumptions and test its performance, opera- tion and noise levels. Bausano technicians are thus able to intervene promptly even before the factory accep- tance test (FAT), guaranteeing maximum flexibility for