Shin-Etsu
Shin-Etsu Silicones of America (SESA) premiered its new liquid injection moulding system machine at NPE this year and put it to work processing charity wrist bands for the Make-a-Wish foundation – a charity well-known for carrying out ‘wishes’ made by children with life-threatening medical conditions.
NPE saw the KEG-2000 collaborate with other SESA partners, one being Boy Machine’s BOY 25 E.
The 25 E processed SESA’s KEG-2000 LIMS material and produced customised liquid silicone rubber Make-A-Wish wrist bands. Other partners involved in the production were Graco and their
Fluid Automation F4-5 system and Kipe Molds MD 125 Micro Injection Unit system.
Franco Pettine, Boy Machine’s Sales Manager, said: “The KEG-2000 material worked great as it was easy to mould, resulting in no tears or flaws with each wrist band.”
The collaboration proved a success and all four systems worked in harmony. The wrist bands made were then offered to NPE's 60,000 international visitors in return for a small donation to the charity.
The KEG-2000 LIMS technology claims to ensure more accuracy and ease when it comes to blending and optimises physical and processing opportunities. Physical properties such as tensile and tear strength, modulus, and elongation have been maximised for physically demanding applications.
Graco’s FA 4-5 system has a high-precision dosing structure which provides seven times the measurement resolution of the previous models, resulting in material savings for the end user.
In addition, Kipe’s system features a servo actuated micro plunger with fully controllable injection parameters−which eliminates the market standard requirement of having a runner to produce parts of the same size.
Eric Bishop, SESA’s North America Marketing Manager, said: “Our workhorse KEG-2000 series products offer a wide processing window. This was readily reflected in the collaborative Make-a-Wish wrist band, and other processing technology demonstrations with our manufacturing partners at NPE 2015. The series is designed to take full advantage of and complement these latest developments in moulding equipment and tooling technology.”