EDI's New Technology Center Features Multi-Process Lab

Published: January 07, 2011

CHIPPEWA FALLS, WI | The latest addition to an extensive process laboratory at the world headquarters of Extrusion Dies Industries, LLC (EDI) reports it is providing new opportunities for customers looking to do product development or trial runs without tying up their own commercial-scale production lines.

The expansion at EDI’s Technology Center consists of a 63-in. extrusion line that can be used for cast film, coating, or lamination and is fully equipped for laboratory-scale single- or multilayer production and web converting. The Center also includes a slot die or fluid coating line, a sheet line with six extruders, and other product/process development capabilities. Besides making these facilities available to customers, EDI uses these facilities for its own product and process development research.

The new line has five extruders and can produce single- or multilayer cast film up to 1,600 mm (63-in.) wide at thicknesses from 8 to 125 microns (0.3 to 5 mils). Speeds for 8-micron LLDPE/LDPE film average 229 mpm (750 fpm). Multilayer film can range from standard coextrusions to innovative structures, produced with EDI’s layer multiplier tooling, that can range from a few dozen to over a thousand microlayers.

The line also includes two unwind stations for converting film made on the process line itself as well as rollstock purchased from other sources.