Linde Gaz A.Ş. Applications in the Plastics Industry

Linde Gaz A.Ş. Applications in the Plastics Sector The plastics sector is an important player in Turkey's economy. Current production of approximately 10 million tons, revenue approaching USD 40 billion and exports of around USD 8 billion continue to increase Turkey's economic contribution. Turkey's plastics sector ranks second in Europe after Germany and sixth globally in production capacity. During 2017-2021, approximately USD 915 million was invested in machinery and equipment in the plastics sector, with 21% for injection moulding and 17% for extrusion and similar components. Turkish plastic product manufacturing consumed approximately 1.2 million tons in the first quarter of 2022 and exported 1.2 million tons. In such a growing sector, as Linde Gaz Türkiye, we closely follow developing technologies in plastic production. We stand alongside the sector with our technologies that emphasize higher quality products and machine health in plastic injection production and subsequent processes. Parallel to developing machine technologies, demand and expectations for injection-moulded parts are increasing. Many manufacturers rely on our state-of-the-art Gas-Assisted Injection Moulding (GAIM) technology. To solve today's product design challenges, GAIM technology plays an active role in automotive, automotive panels, white goods handles and similar thick-walled component production. In recent years, water-assisted injection moulding (WIM) has numerous disadvantages due to heat removal, pressurization performance, water drying requirements, water leakage risk and complex system design. We provide our GAIM technology to the sector by adding a patented internal cooling system with a nitrogen injector operating between 50 and 340 bar. With GAIM nitrogen technology, during plastic injection into the mould, nitrogen gas is injected in a controlled manner, utilizing the gas's high mobility advantage to create channels, forcing the molten mass from the component core outward under high pressure and pressing it towards the mould surface. High-purity nitrogen gas prevents oxidation of plastic under high temperatures and gas pressures, fills the mould with less material consumption and creates a strong plastic structure inside the mould. Nitrogen gas is suitable for high pressure and is abundantly present in the atmosphere with a heat absorption level of 1,041 kJ/(kgK). Research conducted to utilize the risk-free and rapid application capability of gas injection with nitrogen along with its high heat absorption property has shown that atmospheric carbon dioxide gas, which does not threaten human health, creates a new opportunity with its 3.0 kJ/(kgK) heat absorption capacity. To further increase competitive and technical gains, we elevated Plastinum GAIM technology efficiency to the next level. According to thermal test results, the advanced cooling process of high-density carbon dioxide gas provided a cycle time advantage of 8 to 60 percent compared to nitrogen gas-assisted injection. Additionally, significant reduction was observed in polymer and additive residues. With our nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas injection systems, by providing minimal changes to the mould and near-zero downtime, we deliver significant benefits in product quality improvement with high reliability proven by numerous customers through reduced maintenance effort, machine and technology preservation, smooth product surfaces and weight reduction, savings of up to 30% from plastic material, prevention of mould wear by reducing internal mould pressure, extension of mould life and reduction of cycle time up to 70 percent. Carbon dioxide gas is used across a wide range of industrial applications including the plastics sector. Cryoclean Snow is an innovative technology for surface cleaning and pre-treatment using small dry ice particles. Dry ice particles are sprayed onto the surface through nozzles to clean particles by injecting liquid carbon dioxide and using pressurized air. The use of liquid carbon dioxide enables a fully automated production process independent of dry ice pellet supply and replenishment. In the plastics sector, particularly for automotive applications, it is used for cleaning parts before painting, routine cleaning of production equipment and degreasing cleaning. Generally, contaminants that can be cleaned with Cryoclean Snow technology include grease and rust preventatives, dust or fingerprints, lime scale and lubricants. Cryoclean Snow technology provides many advantages compared to water or solvent cleaning. By significantly reducing solvent use, we can say the technology provides important benefits to the sector through reduced environmental impact, lower operating costs, no requirement for additional drying processes, cleaning time shorter than several minutes with wet washing (for example, less than one minute on buffers) and precise control across all process parameters. Plastic derivatives continue to grow worldwide every day. In Turkey, the first three quarters of the year show an approximate increase of 12% compared to 2021. Closely monitoring this developing sector, as Linde Gaz Türkiye, with our Nitrogen Gas Injection, Plastinum GAIM and Cryoclean Snow technologies, we continue to add value to the developing plastics sector and provide solutions to manufacturers through our industrial gases, engineering department and developing technologies in a competitive environment to address all their challenges. Serhat Soydan Application Sales Engineer Chemistry and Plastics Sectors Linde Gaz A.Ş.