Automatik teams up with Leistritz Extruders and the Polymers Center of Excellence to supply a state of the art compounding line

Automatik Plastics Machinery GmbH, and its subsidiary in the US, Automatik Inc, have teamed up with American Leistritz Extrusion Co, and helped place a state of the art compounding line at the Polymers Center of Excellence in Charlotte, NC.

The extruder is a Leistritz Extrusiontechnik GmbH ZSE-50 MAXX®, vented, co-rotating, twin screw, 1200 rpm, with 300 hp motor. The Automatik pelletizer is a SPHERO® 70 with a CENTRO 150 integrated water system and dryer. The new system is rated at 2,000 lbs/hr throughput.

The system is controlled such as to permit PCE to perform both small batch trials, as well as longer experimental production runs. The line is augmented with Industry Leading Brabender loss in weight feeders (G2-225-00 TSC Belt, FW80, FW40 and DDSR 20®) capable of metering pellets, granules, fibers and powders.

Chartered to provide applied research, and educational/vocational assistance to the North Carolina plastics processing industry, PCE has grown into a thriving research institution that offers compounding, material testing, and includes injection molding capabilities. It also offers classes for introduction to plastics processes and vocational training.

Both American Leistritz and Automatik expressed optimism at the prospect of continuing to work with PCE given the positive exposure the institution has provided the plastics industry in North Carolina and the southeast. There is nothing else like it in the U.S.