In an emailed press release, Cortec Advanced Films (CAF) (Cambridge, Minnesota, USA) announced that a significant investment had been made in a new state-of-the-art co-extrusion line at the Cambridge plant. The new multimillion-dollar line, E23, will expand CAF’s portfolio of vapor corrosion inhibiting (VCI) specialty film and bag products.
The new equipment will allow CAF to dramatically increase the production volumes of co-extruded films and will give workers the agility to change tolerance with the touch of a button. This improvement will increase efficiency for both specialty films and any standard vapor phase corrosion inhibitors (VpCI) CAF may eventually choose to run on the equipment. E23 can extrude tubing up to 75 in (190.5 cm) wide and sheeting up to 150 in (381 cm) wide. CAF hopes to replicate the efficiency and greater control of the new technology by adding additional co-extrusion lines in the future.
Although E23 can be used for make any type of Cortec film, it is especially tailored to production of specialty films such as Cor-Pak VpCI Stretch Film, Eco Wrap, and EcoSonic VpCI-125 HP Permanent ESD Films. Each of these products require special resins that go in different film layers for better performance and/or cost-effectiveness of the final product. Certain characteristics also make E23 preferred for extruding CAF’s Vpci-126 Top-Seal bags with zipper closures for corrosion protection work in process (WIP) cycle applications. E23 will also be ideal for new product development.
“Let’s just say it opens up a world of opportunities for research and development,” says Tim Bliss, production manager at CAF.
According to Boris Miksic, Cortec CEO and founder, this upgrade will result in “increasing capacity…to 40 million pounds [~18 million kg] of top quality patented VPCI and compostable films and bags [at] the world’s largest VCI films plant fully integrated with its own compounding, extrusion, printing, converting, and 24/7 quality control laboratory.”
CAF will launch production on E23 this December. For more information, visit the CAF website.