EasyPurge Thermoplastics Purging
About EasyPurge
EasyPurge is a revolutionary new purging compound for use in all thermoplastics moulding, enabling you to reduce downtime by up to 50% when changing colours compared to pellet purging compounds worldwide.
One product for all thermoplastic materials. Three times lower cost than usual in your next color change process for Pet Preform, Blow Moulding and Injection Moulding.
It provides the most thorough colour purge of any product available today and is emission free, odourless, non-toxic and contains no solvents or abrasives.
Advantages of EasyPurge over traditional pellets:
- Cheaper – Three times cheaper than pellet based purging compounds
- Automatic – Automatic hot runners cleaning while injecting preforms with our innovative dosifier
- Simple – No disassemble needed. Just one operator required for the purging process.
- Increases MFI – Allowing the material to flow accross the system with ease.
- Increases volume – Allowing the purge to reach negative flow sites.
- Emulsifies – Placing all impurities and pigments in suspension.
EasyPurge is reducing downtime by up to 50% in comparison to Pellet purging compounds worldwide.
EasyPurge is available in two formats:
How does EasyPurge work?
EasyPurge increases the flow inside the barrel reducing overall downtime
Due to additives that decrease the viscosity, the material inside the barrel becomes more fluid, increasing the flow in areas where usually the colour contamination is harder to remove as a check valve and barrel borders.
Chemical agents in the formula mix with colour pigments and carbon residue
The formula contains chemical foaming agents that react at high temperatures inside the barrel. This reaction, similar to a boiling scenario, allows the purging compound to mix with carbon residues and colour pigments putting them in suspension that then will be easily pushed out by shots of virgin resin with ease.
Designed to reduce scrap cleaning the hot runners
EasyPurge particles size are minuscule compared to the diameter of the hot runners of injection moulding machines allowing you to use its cleaning properties to remove stubborn impurities out of the hot runners. The formula doesn’t contain abrasives in order to avoid tear up of metal parts in the long term.
Our purging compound can be used in PET preform injection moulding machines to clean the hot runners while the injecting preforms, allowing the transfer of the preform to the robot in automatic mode.
EasyPurge case studies:
Opaque White to Clear Goal: Scrap and cleaning cost reduction
“I said before the cleanup that nothing would be able to clean this stubborn opaque white. EasyPurge got the job done reducing scrap by half.”
Plant Manager
Summary:
Machine: Husky Hypet 300
Extruder Diameter: 120 mm
Mould: 48 x 44.0grs
Material: PET
Colour: Opaque White 10% T. Oxide to Clear
Factory Location: Spain
Colour change current standings:
- High scrap rates during colour changes when using purging compound in pellets.
- Long downtimes due to the presence of colour streaks.
Normal results using virgin material:
Time: 1:10 Hour
Scrap: 450 Kgs
Purging Compound consumed: 25 Kgs
Using EasyPurge Purging Compound:
Time: 30 Minutes
Scrap: 200 Kgs
Purging Compound used: 1950ml
- Seven shots were done injecting Virgin PET resin to remove the bulk of the colour contamination.
- The dosing of Easypurge started automatically through the premixer using the automatic dosing device while the machine was still injecting preforms.
- Both screw and hot runners were cleaned using Easypurge at 1.5%.
- The Easypurge Automatic Purging System stopped adding purging compound.
- The cleaning colour changes procedure was finished using virgin material to remove the rest of the purging compound leaving the hot runners clear of colour contamination.
Goal: Reduce colour change purging cost
“The machine operator appreciated the fact that he just needed to pour a small dose of the purging compound versus climbing into the machine with a 25 kg bag of pellet purging compound we normally used.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Material: PA6 FG 45%
Colour: Black to White
Purge: 140 ml
Time: 20 mins
Industry: Automotive
Factory Location: Germany
Scope: Nozzle
Final Results Comparison:
Pellet Purging compound
Purging Compound used: 7 Kgs
Purging Compound Cost: €70
Colour Time Change: 80 Min
EasyPurge Purging Compound used: 140ml
Purging Compound Cost: €20
Colour Time Change: 20 Min
- First, the barrel was emptied before the purging process.
- Doses of 70ml of EasyPurge purging compound were added into the hopper followed by virgin material.
- EasyPurge purging compound increases the volume of the melted mass, allowing purge to reach negative flow sites.
- After the second pass of purging compound, the PA6 FG 45% white had no presence of colour contamination.
Goal: Colour Change and Scrap reduction
“We used the APS to change colour from opaque to clear. It is easier to use than any other method we have used before. We managed to clean the screw and the hot runners also and the result is very positive. We are happy to see that we produced less than 50% scrap than before.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Machine: Husky
Extruder Diameter: 110 mm
Material: PET
Colour: Opaque White to Natural
Mould: 72 x 22 grs
Factory Location: Mexico
Final Results Comparison:
Pellet Purging compound used: 43 Kgs
Scrap: 600 Kgs
Colour Time Change: 3:30 Hrs
EasyPurge Purging Compound used: 760ml
Scrap: 226 Kgs
Colour Time Change: 1:30 Hrs
Notes:
24 hours later we confirmed there was no presence of White PET contamination during the next two shifts. The machines parameters were adjusted due to an increase of the MFI.
- Original Preform Colour: Opaque White.
- Once the barrel and the piston were cleaned with EasyPurge purging compound, virgin PET started to be injected into the mould. Easy purge was dosed into the mixer using EasyPurge Automatic Purging System (APS).
- EasyPurge emulsifies colour pigments injecting preforms in automatic.
- The EasyPurge Automatic Purging System stopped adding purging compound. The process was finished using virgin PET to remove the rest of impurities and colour pigments emulsified by EasyPurge.
- Finally, the dosing of EasyPurge was stopped, using virgin material to remove the rest of the purging compound leaving the hot runners clear of colour contamination.
Goal: Colour change time reduction
“Cleaning Hot Runners in automatic with EasyPurge doser is helping us a lot, since we work with 18 different colours.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Machine: Netstal 3500-3700
Extruder Diameter: 135 mm
Material: PET
Colour: Opaque White to Natural
Mould: 54 x 64 grs
Factory Location: USA
Final Results Comparison:
Pellet Purging compound used: 48 Kgs
Scrap: 700 Kgs
Colour Time Change: 3:30 Hrs
EasyPurge Purging Compound used: 1050ml
Scrap: 300 Kgs
Colour Time Change: 1:30 Hrs
Notes:
The machines parameters were adjusted due to an increase of the MFI. 24 hours later we confirmed there was no presence of White PET contamination during the next two shifts.
- Original Preform Colour: Opaque White.
- First, once the barrel and the piston were cleaned with EasyPurge purging compound, virgin PET started to be injected into the mould. Easy purge was dosed into mixer using EasyPurge’s Automatic Purging System (APS).
- EasyPurge emulsifies colour pigments injecting preforms in automatic.
- The EasyPurge Automatic Purging System stopped adding purging compound.
- The process was finished using virgin PET to remove the rest of impurities and colour pigments emulsified by EasyPurge.
- Finally, the dosing of EasyPurge was stopped, using virgin material to remove the rest of the purging compound leaving the hot runners clear of colour contamination.
Extrusion Blow Moulding Material Change with EasyPurge Purging Compound
Goal: Material change and Black Specks Removal
“Knowing that we won’t have black specks during production give us peace of mind. My favourite part is that we will keep the quality team away during production.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Machine: Moretti
Extruder Diameter: 100 mm
Material: PA to HDPE
Colour: Black to Clear
Industry: Automotive
Factory Location: Spain
Final Results Comparison:
Normal Results using Virgin Material
Virgin Material: 800 Kgs of HDPE
Scrap: 800 Kgs
Time: 7:00 Hrs
Presence of Black Specks: Yes
EasyPurge
Virgin Material: 120 Kgs of HDPE
Purging Compound used: 0.8 Kgs
Scrap: 144 Kgs
Time: 1:30 Hrs
Presence of Black Specks: No
Notes:
After 1:30 hours there were no presence of PA Black colour. There were no presence of stains during the next 2 shifts reviewed after 24 hours.
- In order to improve the efficiency of the purging compound, the temperature of the accumulator was increased by 30 °C.
- Dose of 240ml of EasyPurge purging compound was added into the hopper followed by virgin material.
- This process was repeated 3 times.
- The purging material emulsifies the rest of the impurities and pigments due to additives and surfactants contained in the formula.
Goal: Black Specks Removal
“We have had 5 batches rejections during this year due to the presence of black specks this year. We’re happy to see that we have found the correct process and product for this common material change for us.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Machine: 400T
Material: POM Black to PA Clear
EasyPurge Purging compound consumed: 6 Sachets (120 Grs)
Time: 15 Minutes
Industry: Automotive
Factory Location: Germany
Scope: Spindle
Notes:
POM has a lower melting point, 180°C (356°F) than the PA, therefore the material degraded when the temperature was increased in the screw in order to reach the melting point of the Polyamide to 280°C (536 °F).
Degraded POM causes contamination in the spindle generating black specks during production.
Solution:
Bridge material: HDPE
- First, the barrel was emptied before the purging process.
- At the working temperature of POM, virgin HDPE was used as bridge material to remove the majority of Black POM.
- HDPE was used along with the sachets of EasyPurge purging compound (without opening) added directly into spindle entrance.
- The next step was using more HDPE virgin material to remove the rest of the BLACK POM and black specks.
- The machine heat was increased up to the polyamide working temperature.
- The following step was purging using polyamide with EasyPurge purging compound sachet.
- Finally, PA was used to remove the rest of the purging material in order to start production.
Extrusion Blow Moulding Colour Change with EasyPurge Purging Compound
Goal: Downtime reduction
“The dose of EasyPurge purging compound was easy using the Automatic Purging System, we have had cleaning process under control at all time.”
Process Manager
Summary:
Machine: Mateu & Sole (Spain)
Extruder Diameter: 120mm
Material: HDPE
Colour: Black to natural
Final Results Comparison:
Normal results using virgin material
Time: 8:30 Hours
Virgin Material: 960 Kgs of HDPE
Using EasyPurge Purging Compound
Time: 3:00 Hours
EasyPurge APC: 1,2 Kgs
Virgin Material: 135 Kgs of HDPE
Notes:
After 3 hours, there was no presence of colour contamination. 24 hours later, we confirmed there was no presence of black contamination during the next two shifts.
- First we increased the temperature of the accumulator by 30 °C to improve the efficiency of the purging compound.
- Previous production of Black HDPE suitcases.
- Although we could have used the doser built in the bottle, to automate the procedure, we decided to use EasyPurge APS (Automatic Purging System) device for dosing 1.2 Kgs of Purging Compound.
- The purging compound emulsifies the impurities and colour pigments.
