Industrial Ovens used for Thermal Treatment of Plastics
Interview with Reiner Wiesehöfer, Head of the Heat Engineering division
Why do plastics undergo thermal treatment?
Today, more and more products are made using one or several types of plastic. At the same time, customers are becoming increasingly demanding in terms of the desired properties, uniformity and longevity of products. Our heat technology enables manufacturers to always create exactly the same processing and production conditions, in order to reliably achieve constant product quality.
Which areas is heat technology used in?
The scope of application of our industrial ovens is virtually unlimited. They are used, for example, for the crosslinking of elastomers and the tempering or curing of silicone elastomers. They are also used to heat plastics to improve their shaping or thermosetting properties. Other areas of application include the drying and curing of coatings or fiber composites, as well as the sintering of PTFE, and the polymerization of contact lenses and plastic lenses.
What are the current development trends?
The e-mobility sector is an increasingly important business segment for us. Our ovens are used for bonding stator packs for electric motors. The medical technology sector is also promising. Our ovens are used for manufacturing implants, prostheses and stents, as well as for coating medical equipment. We also serve several customers in the automotive and aerospace sectors, as well as in the electronics and pharmaceuticals industries.
Industrial thermal technology
The company is a leading global specialist in industrial heat technology, and a partner to many businesses in the plastics industry. Our process-optimized industrial ovens suitable for specific materials are designed for industrial use. Thanks to particularly uniform temperature distribution and conditions which are reproducible at any time, they ensure constant process conditions and therefore consistent product quality with the same physical properties.