Customer service and the experience of Gamma Meccanica researchers to find customized solutions in the new Test Center of the company
To meet the customers’ needs and to ensure precise and complete answers, the Italian company, Gamma Meccanica S.p.A., specialized in design and production of recycling lines for plastic materials, has decided to expand the internal lab and testing capabilities. The new structure will be set up to test the materials supplied by customers and to verify the quality of the processes. The companies interested in this service will have the possibility to test on different “pilot lines” the material they want to recycle. This will allow the customer to get all the useful data for the purchase of a line, to know the best quality they achieve, and which production can be guaranteed.
For many years, the company has had its own internal laboratory to give customers the opportunity to test the materials they want to recover and to evaluate the type of system that best suits their needs. Furthermore, the laboratory allows firms to test new materials and for the technical staff to continue developing lines that are increasing performance based on the needs of the market. Over time, the number of tests has become so high that the company decided to invest by purchasing a new factory where the new Test Center will be set up and dedicated technical staff will be added. In the new laboratory there will be several lines for the exclusive use of tests, including a “configurable” GM 90 Tandem line and a GM 90 Compac line.
The Tandem line will be dedicated to test heavily printed, contaminated and high humidity plastic materials. It will be a line with many sensors to store data on operation and process according to the different types of material. The basic model will consist of: conveyor belt with metal detector, cutter-compactor with feeding screw, primary extruder, screen changer for the first filtration, high performance degassing chamber and an adapter that will allow the creation of two different solutions. In the first case it will be possible to connect to the first extruder a second single screw extruder, another screen changer, pelletizer and weigh system. The other configuration includes a secondary twin-screw extruder: in this way you will have the Tandem PLUS model which in addition to the recycling process allows you to enrich the material giving it an added value (upcycling).
There will also be various accessories: roll feeder, dosing units for higher bulk density regrind materials, dosing units for master, melt pump, device for high vacuum pumps with water recovery tank, condensers, lateral dosing units (in the case of the Tandem PLUS configuration), TDA 4.0 pelletizer, 3-way vibrating screen and in-line viscometer.
Along with the Tandem line there will also be a GM 90 Compac line for less contaminated materials coming from post-industrial waste. This line will consist of: conveyor belt with metal detector, cutter-compactor with feeding screw, extruder with L/D 35:1 ratio, automatic screen changer, TDA 4.0 pelletizer and weigh system. This model will be equipped with many options in comparison to a standard model, such as: roll feeder, bypass for ground materials with higher bulk density, dosing system for master, powder dosing system and a 3-way vibrating screen.
For materials that have high fluidity such as PET, PA etc.… the tests will be carried out with the new TI 2.3 Underwater pelletizer that Gamma Meccanica has recently redesigned to recycle these types of materials.
The new Test Center will be equipped with all the tools to analyze the material and when necessary, to improve its characteristics. It will be possible to perform these tests: moisture tests to measure the humidity contained in the material, density tests, rheological tests, melt flow index tests to measure the fluidity of the material, Intrinsic Viscosity tests on PET, calorimetric tests, thermogravimetric tests and roast tests to determine the quantity of impurities in PET flakes.
