Hermann Berstorff Maschinenbau GmbH (PO Box 610360, D-30626 Hannover) has received a large order from Fagerdala AB (S-13922 Värmdö) for five foam extrusion lines to process polypropylene. The plants will be delivered in 1996 and at the start of 1997, and installed at various locations owned by the worldwide manufacturer of high-quality foam products. The first of the five plants is expected to start production at the beginning of 1997 at the Fagerdala subsidiary Gefinex, Gesellschaft für Innovative Extrusionsprodukte mbH (Rote Erde 6, D-33803 Steinhagen). Fagerdala will then operate a total of eight Berstorff PP foaming plants worldwide.

With this order, the trend at Berstorff for plants to produce high-quality engineering foam products made of PP, PS and PE continues to rise. Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) foam extrusion lines are also increasingly in demand. Alongside extrusion lines for the production of blown film, sheets, pipes and profiles from standard plastics, plants for high-quality engineering foams now account for 50% of Berstorff's turnover in foam extrusion.

With the TPE plants, which have been available since 1995, Berstorff offers the plastics industry "an attractive concept for the production of new and high-quality materials which can replace some of the rubber applications traditionally used in the automobile and construction industries as well as for household appliances".

A few months ago, Berstorff succeeded in taking another crucial step in the processing of TPE. At Technikum in Hannover, the first coextruded two-component profiles were produced using foamed and compact TPE with steel inserts. The quality was so good that a leading automobile manufacturer intends to use these profiles as door seals in a trial series of production automobiles. Berstorff is currently working on optimising this method.

In addition, ten foam bead plants have been sold to leading European plastics converters since the plant's launch in 1995. Foam beads, which are 100% recyclable and pigmentable foam granules made of PP, can be processed further to produce high-quality packaging material as well as technical components for the automobile and construction industries. Berstorff expects an increase in demand especially from the motor vehicle parts and accessories industry, since demand for high-quality and light but recyclable materials is increasing in the automobile industry as a whole.

READER SERVICE: Berstorff: brochure "Schaumex and Foamtandex plants" (German): PIE-No. 39872 – Fagerdala brochure on PP foams and company profile (English/German/French): PIE-No. 39656 – Gefinex brochure on PP foams (English/German/French): PIE-No. 38554.