PLSM.7320 - Plastics Engineering: Applied Extrusion Coating for Industry

Program Overview

Seminar Overview

Extrusion coating and laminating represent a major portion of the food, consumer, and industrial packaging products. It is a multibillion-dollar industry on the leading edge of technology, producing products such as multi-layer flexible packaging, milk cartons, drinking cups, aseptic packaging, release papers, graphics papers, and much more. Substrates such as lightweight paper, heavyweight paperboard, film, foil, and woven and non-woven fabrics are combined with a variety of polymers to produce a nearly endless list of products.

This course consists of three days of classroom work centering around the fundamentals of extrusion, various common polymer technology, and testing, equipment attributes, and processing. Various structures, raw materials, coextrusion, and other proven processing techniques are covered in depth. Emphasis is placed on providing process setup and troubleshooting to be used on Day One on your return to the factory. Coursework includes an in-depth description of the potential uses and limitations of extrusion coating and laminating. Ample time is given for case studies and questions and answers.

Although there is no prerequisite for this course, knowledge of engineering principles, fundamentals of extrusion, and some background in plastic, paper, and foil raw materials would be helpful.

Content

OVERVIEW OF A TYPICAL EXTRUSION COATING LINE
Unwind; priming; extruder; laminating station; post treating; winders

RAW MATERIALS
Polyethylene; polypropylene; adhesive, barrier, and high-temperature resins

SUBSTRATES
Paper; paperboard; foil; film; non-wovens

PROCESSING
Start-up and shut down; solidification and cooling; adhesion; quality and troubleshooting; maintenance

About the Facilitator

Thomas Bezigian is a consultant to the film and sheet extrusion and converting industries, serving many major clients around the world. He is a graduate of UMass Lowell's Plastics Engineering program, where he now serves as an Adjunct Professor teaching extrusion, extrusion coating, polymer chemistry, and other related subjects. He has more than 40 years of experience in the industry and has worked in various capacities for companies such as Cryovac, Mobil Chemical, James River Corp., and Felix Schoeller GmbH. He founded his own specialty film and extrusion laminating business, Great Lakes Technologies, which he operated in Syracuse, New York until he sold it to begin full-time consulting. He has extensive experience in screw design, materials, processing, single- and twin-screw extrusion process engineering, product development, packaging, quality management, and manufacturing management in many different aspects of extrusion.