Heating solutions for plastic thermoformers will be central to the Ceramicx exhibition at K 2010

Leading  international heating systems specialist and manufacturer Ceramicx has  finalised its exhibition details with German heating experts Freek for their joint exhibition stand in Hall 11, A-01 at the  prestigious K 2010 triennial plastics industry exhibition. K 2010 runs at the  Dusseldorf Messe, Germany, from Wednesday October 27th to Wednesday November  3rd.

Ceramicx founder Frank Wilson says that ‘we realise full well  that much of the plastics sector has been waiting until K 2010 in order to  review the latest that plastics technology can offer. We hope to raise more  than a stir in the worldwide plastics thermoforming industries where our  infrared heating solutions and machine retrofits in that regard are putting  back the profit for thermoforming processors.’

At K 2010 Ceramicx will  accordingly provide an extensive range of infrared heaters:  And thanks to  pioneering work just completed at the company’s main plant, all of these now  come supplied with complete traceability and operating information that  exceeds anything else available on the market. ‘Every single one of our  heaters is now traceable and its performance available for analysis on an  individual basis – online, anytime,’ says Wilson. Ceramicx will be  demonstrating the power of this traceability and the heating performance data  live on screen at the show.  All of the company’s products and services  will feature in a newly commissioned HD digital film that will be viewable at  the show.

Says Wilson, ‘the international character of the K 2010 show  always suits us very well. Our visitors are always very pleased to find out  that we provide a service and delivery time to anywhere in the world that  always exceeds expectations’  Ceramicx is also fast becoming a world  leader in providing infrared applications engineering know-how for the largest  blue-chip manufacturers in the world down to the smallest ‘heat work’  applications.

K 2010 will see the plastics industry able to  purchase a range of ceramic heaters, quartz heaters and, quartz halogen/quartz tungsten  heaters from the Ceramicx/Freek stand.

The Ceramicx/Freek stand will  also provide visitors with a live materials testing system that will  demonstrate the heating effect on different kinds of plastics using different  heaters. ‘Ceramicx and Freek challenge anyone with a moulding or thermoforming heat processing issue to come to us – have the material sample worked with -  and get the best heatwork advice available.’ says Wilson. ‘Many many plastics  processors, for example, have still yet to appreciate the difference that  different infrared sources can make to their operations – and many new  materials producers – particularly in the new biopolymer area are still  searching for optimum processability

Ceramicx’s exhibiting partner  Freek will have most heating bases covered when it comes to issues of  injection moulding heating, hot runners and other systems. Freek’s extensive  product range at K 2010 will include Nozzle Heaters (HotMicroCoils); Cartridge  heaters; Tubular heaters; IR elements; flat heating elements (panel heaters)  in mica, silicon (incl. drum heaters), polyester and kapton and thermosensors  and temparature controlers. Freek also plans to bring its notebook based TIM  IR camera system in order to help show off the benefits of heating  generally.

Nozzle heating innovation from Friedr Freek at the K 2010 exhibition

Chief among the Freek new products at K 2010 is the  company’s revolutionary patent pending nozzle heater design (please see attached picture) .
Freek director Stefan Kaiser explains that ‘our recent patent application here has been necessary in  order to emphasise our product difference and superiority to various kinds of  rogue copies already on the market. The simplicity and effectiveness of our  design will appeal to all of those mould makers or hotrunner manufacturer  visiting the K 2010 show. The newest addition to the Freek nozzle heater family is a classic illustration of our development philosophy -  “simple is best”.’

Kaiser adds that ‘our innovation principles are testament to the enduring success of our simple reflection tube heating systems.  We believe that these still represent the benchmark for the industry – versatile, current and cost-effective.’

Freek will also show some of its work in its shape  memory alloys, ThermoLock and ThermoDrive. ‘This is a long term project’  says Kaiser. We want to  be totally sure that the alloy keeps its attributes in a steady state under  high-temperature working conditions. To gain more security in regard to  high-temperature operation we are participating in a funded SMA network  bringing together producers, processors, users and research  institutes.

Both Ceramicx and Freek are well aware that K 2010 is going  to be remembered for its focus on energy efficiency and for ecological  processing solutions. Frank Wilson of Ceramicx says that ‘this is an  inevitable direction in manufacturing worldwide. The companies that Ceramicx  wants to meet at K 2010 are those that see energy-useage and monitoring as a  major factor in equipment construction of any kind. Ceramicx is right at home  with the low carbon future. We promote the ideas through the measurement of  energy content in our own work and also through the encouragement of energy  monitoring ideas throughout thermoforming – including measuring part-energy  content.’ The differences in energy savings between the ceramicx product and  other similar/competing products on the market, ceramic products in particular  are significant.

For its part, Freek is firstly looking forward to  greeting the hotrunner manufacturers visiting K 2010. Says Kaiser, ‘they need  heating solutions from back to front: bushing heaters, channel heaters and  nozzle heaters – especially the latter. The injection moulders themselves are  also a key audience. Part of the appeal of the K exhibition is the great  diversity of industries and applications that use process heat. Within  polymers – and in addition to thermoforming and injection moulding – there are  a multitude of heat processes, such as sealing, welding, labelling, drying who  could all find solutions on the stand we share with Ceramicx.’

Both  companies are optimistic about the future of plastics processing and about the  centrality of the K exhibition in driving the industry forward. Ceramicx has  seen a general surge in demand for its quality-based infrared engineering and  products. Freek also has posted growth figures this year and sees the general  expansion for plastics continuing. Freek characterises the low-carbon  industrial future as one of “resource saving” – ‘a mega trend,’ says Kaiser,  ‘that focuses on both energy and materials. It also explains the  miniaturization trend in our industry.  Miniaturization has been one of  two major impacting developments at Freek. The other has been what we call  “Xtreme Development”. Examples include: Hotcoil heaters for 400V supply,  Hotcoil heaters 1250V load tested and HighPower Hotcoils 1800 mm long.

Freek’s latest miniature heating production includes a tubular  heater of diameter. 3,3 mm and 3×3 mm. ‘This product was presented at the end of last year’s  Fakuma show,’ says Kaiser, ‘yet is also a high potential product in our this  years K show exhibition. It’s available in stainless steel and nickel and made  for miniature hotrunner channels.’  Kaiser says that ‘Freek still makes  the smallest compact heating available in the market – and with appealing  price-performance ratios to match.  The Freek Microcoil dia. 1,3 mm and  the 1,0×1,6 mm are now produced with the same process routine and reliability  as the bigger size standard dia. 1,8 mm resp. 1,3×2,3 mm.  significantly.

Wilson and Kaiser agree that the industry has much to look  forward to in Dusseldorf in late October. ‘For anyone involved in processing  and heat work,’ says Wilson, ‘our joint stand will be big on practicality and  provability: Between both companies there isn’t much that we don’t know about  the heat forming of plastics – and we hope to show those skills in depth to  the visitors at K 2010 in Dusseldorf this year, October 27-November 3.

For further information on Ceramicx and Freek at the K Show please see www.kshow2010.com

All  further details from Ceramicx, Frank Wilson, Managing Director.

www.ceramicx.com , Tel.  +353 28 37510, Fax + 353 28 37509, frank@ceramicx.com

All further details from Freek, Stefan Düllmann, Marketing &  Development.

www.freek.de Tel +49 2373  9590-16, Fax +49 2373 959030, s.duellmann@freek.de

The 18th K international plastics exhibition takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany from October 27 to November 3, daily from 10.00am to 6.30pm. Ceramicx and Freek will be jointly exhibiting in Hall 11 – Stand A-01.