Climate protection is a megatrend and a goal of the plastics industry. Plastics producers and plastics processing machinery makers are striving to contribute and propose new solutions. The new AX 880 machine introduced at the K 2022 by ST BlowMoulding is the ultimate step of the company in such direction.

ST BlowMoulding has been a pioneer of this trend: already since 2012, it became one of the blow moulding machinery manufacturers using adiabatic extruders on large scale. Through their special screw and barrel design, they generate a gentle plasticizing with no melt overheating. Therefore, no cooling fans are needed; on the contrary, a double-layer insulation of the extruder barrel reduces up to 10 times the heat dissipation compared with a conventional extruder.

According to the manufacturer estimates, after 10 years, more than 350 million tons of plastic material have been processed by the ST BlowMoulding adiabatic extruders, resulting in an overall energy saving of approx. 35 million kWh - which means approximatively 5,000,000 euros saving on energy costs for our customers.

The new AX 880 machine with all-electric clamping unit, synchronous reluctance motors and electro-hydraulic parison push-out outclasses the maximum energy efficiency according to Euromap 46.1 (class 10: < 0,29 kWh/kg), even in the large extrusion-blow moulding machines for industrial applications.

The answer is in the multi-layer technology, available either in continuous extrusion or in accumulator head process.

The new AX 880 is equipped with two extruders: each one of them feeds a separate melt channel in the accumulator head. A new design of the flow channels significantly improves the balance of the two layers, resulting in a viable solution for many two-layer applications. And if a further layer is needed, the Outer Coating Technology - with a separate accumulator chamber - is available.

Besides saving energy and recycling plastic material, using less raw material is another key advantage both for the environment and for the customers. This is where foaming technology comes in. This technology generates a foamed structure into the blown part, using a neutral gas (N2 or CO2) and a nucleating agent. The density reduction results in lighter parts, raw material saving, better thermal and acoustic insulation. Both extruders of the new AX 880 machine are pre-arranged with ports to feed the gas for the material foaming.

The future of climate protection is moving towards hydrogen as an energy carrier. ST BlowMoulding is strongly committed to play a leading role in this challenge, by developing technologies for blow-moulding hydrogen liners: a perfect match between expertise and market demands.