Davis-Standard has expanded its laboratory in Fulton, New York, to make it "one of the industry's premier labs for developing global coating and pelletising technology".
The facility is designed to provide five unique configurations for testing a variety of converting process solutions and formulations. Its capabilities include two liquid coating lines (one pilot and one production size); a coextrusion line for cast film and extrusion coating; a coreless stretch film winder; and a universal underwater/water ring pelletiser and plastics compounding lab.
In addition to solution coating, the production line can demonstrate continuous unwinding and rewinding using flying splice and roll changing capabilities with centre, surface centre, and slip core winding modes as well as in-line shear slitting. These components are also ideal for evaluating different winding methods and automatic transfers.
The liquid coating lines are equipped for trials using different coater arrangements. This provides customers with the flexibility to test aqueous, solvent or 100% solid formulations to determine best application methods and performance using an 18m flotation oven or UV. Currently, over 50 different coating methods can be tested here, including die, gravure and other roll coaters.
The coextrusion line is adaptable for both cast film and extrusion coating processes. It is primarily used for running new materials and resins, and developing new screw designs and process conditions.
The line with the high speed coreless winder enables customers to test winding of stretch films in widths up to 0.5m. Trial capabilities include coreless or thin core, conventional or pre-stretch films. Film can be wound coreless or on thin cores at speeds up to 1,000m/min.
The universal underwater/water ring pelletising and plastics compounding lab is capable of producing conventional and micro pellets under a wide range of conditions and melt indexes.
