Under the European Plastics Pact, the intent is for all plastic packaging to contain 30% recycled material and to be 100% recycling capable by 2025. Typical materials used for packaging foods in thin-walled containers are polyolefins (polyethylene, polypropylene) or polystyrene.

Engel will present this technology and other developments at K 2022 in Düsseldorf, Germany, from Oct. 19 to 26, in booth C58 in Hall 15.

“Our mission is to deliver a revolutionary molding technology that will disrupt prototyping and manufacturing sectors worldwide,” said Joshua Shires, Co-founder of Fyous. “Using PolyMorphic molding to rapidly create accurate molds for tooling will reduce time to market for a huge array of products, plus unlock commercial viability for desirable products which currently have no cost-effective manufacture method… It is a zero-waste technology where raw materials are conserved and the molds can be used again and again. We will remove not only physical waste in the form of materials and tooling but also remove wasted time by accelerating product development, prototyping, and manufacturing efficiencies.”

The modified rPET being processed at the K show is sourced from PET beverage  bottles recycled in the plants of packaging and recycling specialists ALPLA Group, which is headquartered in Hard, Austria. Other partner companies involved in the show exhibit are Brink (Harskamp, Netherlands) for the mold and IML automation and IPB Printing (Reusel, Netherlands) for the labels.

1,346 polymer and metal AM companies and 143 end-users. Consumer products AM generated $2.6 billion in 2023. Segment expected to grow to $28 billion by 2033 at 26.8% CAGR. This new market study fro...

An Engel e-speed 280/50 injection molding machine is the heart of the production cell. Engel specifically developed this hybrid machine with its electrical clamping unit and hydraulic injection unit for the high-performance requirements of thin-wall injection molding.

Metamorphic by nature, the patent-pending PolyMorphic molding has the potential to transform the manufacturing industry – reducing the waste generated through tooling amends, coupled with faster production times compared to 3D printing and traditional mold-making. By inputting a 3D CAD model, Fyous software generates the PolyMorphic mold shape, and the machine then shapeshifts the mold to create the intended product. Product manufacturing could be anything for which you would typically use a mold. For example, vacuum forming, foam casting, food production, or composite layup – to name a few.

“The new technology can generate products up to 14 times faster than conventional 3D printing methods, with zero-waste. PolyMorphic molding supports a wide array of materials and processes, including molding and casting, vacuum forming, and composite lay-up,” said Thomas Bloomfield, Co-founder of Fyous. “This versatility makes its possible applications almost limitless. Much like when 3D printing was developed, the applications it could potentially be used for were unknown by its inventors. The Fyous team is now undertaking this period of discovery with PolyMorphic molding, uncovering potential applications for this technology at an exponential rate.”

To process rPET, Engel combines the new injection unit with a plasticizing unit from in-house development and production specifically designed for processing recycled material. During plasticizing and injection, the viscosity of the PET is configured for thin-wall injection molding. The new Engel e-speed supports the processing of arbitrary recycled materials up to 100% rPET.

Engel is presenting a mold at the K show which can process different labels at the same time. This sees the partners respond to the globally different trends in in-mold labeling which are in line with the EPBP and/or Recyclass recommendations in the EU, and with the specifications from the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) for the USA.

For the first time, thin-walled containers made of PET, specifically recycled PET (rPET), can be produced in a single injection-molding process step.

The Fyous team will be exhibiting at RAPID + TCT in Los Angeles, on 25th-27th June, at the LA Convention Center at stand #2763.

The dyes used on in-mold labels for the American market and its requirements can be washed off as the intent is to recycle the labels and the packaging.

To date, PET is the only packaging material which can be processed as a recycled material on an industrial scale to create food packaging. This innovation sees partner companies pave the way for removing the need to downcycle packaging products other than bottles, and opens an opportunity for recycling or upcycling. This would substantially extend the range of uses for PET and rPET. In addition to the bottle-to-bottle cycle, this also means that the establishment of bottle-to-cup or even a cup-to-bottle recycling is conceivable.

With the use of integrated in-mold labeling (IML), the containers are ready-for-filling as soon as they leave the production cell. The special feature in this application is the material. The thin-walled containers are produced directly from rPET in a single step.

In cooperation with partners Alpla Group, Brink Recycling, IPB Printing, injection molding machine manufacturer Engel is presenting a step forward for the packaging industry at K 2022 by processing recycled material, rPET, at its stand. Featured will be an Engel e-speed injection molding machine with a newly developed and extremely powerful injection unit.

Also, recycling schemes for these materials lack the approval of the European food authority, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). rPET offers a solution for avoiding penalties and special taxes. Although the price for PET is currently high, this concept makes the material a cost-effective alternative. EFSA has approved numerous recycling processes for PET, thus ensuring that rPET is available in Europe.

Rick Lingle is Senior Technical Editor, Packaging Digest and PlasticsToday. He’s been a packaging media journalist since 1985 specializing in food, beverage and plastic markets. He has a chemistry degree from Clarke College and has worked in food industry R&D for Standard Brands/Nabisco and the R.T. French Co. Reach him at [email protected] or 630-481-1426.

Engel and partners’ development yields thin-walled food containers made in a single injection-molding step using up to 100% recycled PET.

Until now, it has only been possible to process PET in thick-walled parts such as bottle preforms in injection molding. In that standard process, the final packaging format was created in a second step of the process — by blow molding, for example.

Fyous, a digital molding company, is launching the world’s first, infinitely reusable molding technology – PolyMorphic molding – at this month’s RAPID + TCT event in Los Angeles. Although it is not AM, it is still exciting from a general digital manufacturing perspective. The company’s technology can shapeshift in under 20 minutes – producing zero tooling waste and making usable parts reportedly 14x faster than 3D printing. The technology, devised and engineered by Fyous’ Co-founders Joshua Shires and Thomas Bloomfield, features more than 28,000 densely packed pins that create the mold. Once the pins are in position, the mold can withstand six tonnes of distributed pressure.

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An Engel spokesperson tells PlasticsToday that, among others, “the [rPET] cups can be used for food products such as dairy products, gourmet salads, or sandwich spreads.”

The new model 280 e-speed high-performance injection unit for K 2022 (shown above) achieves injection speeds up 1,400 mm/55 inches per second at a maximum injection pressure of up to 2,600 bar when processing small shot weights with an extreme wall-thickness-to-flow-path ratio.

A different technology is used in Europe: an in-mold label that floats during the recycling process makes it easy to separate the dyes and the label from the PET.

Featuring a wall thickness of 0.32mm/0.013 inch, the transparent, round 125-mL containers are representative of a whole category of plastic packaging, especially in the food industry.