NAGASE & CO., LTD. | News Releases | News | Polymer Filters and Surface-In

October 10, 2008
Polymer Filters and Surface-Inspection Systems for Film and Pellets Nagase to Launch Sales Offensive, Demo-system Installed at Open Lab
Nagase & Co., Ltd. will reinforce its precision polymer filter and surface inspection system businesses intended for the plastic film and pellet industries. As a part of this move, it has installed a film production device with built-in polymer filter and surface-inspection systems at the Nagase Application Workshop (NAW) in Amagasaki, Hyogo and will commence demo-runs of the device with polymers including those brought in by customers as early as November. Demand for both products have grown recently mainly in the LCD-related film industry and Nagase hopes to further increase its market share by introducing their functions at the open lab of NAW. Nagase's precision polymer filter (product name: Denafilter) is a stainless steel filter that removes impurities that cause contamination at the time of melt extrusion of resin. Denafilter is characterized by its unique structure, which attracts polymers to the center of the filter, which, in turn, facilitates the flow of resin and mitigates pressure loss. Although the Denafilter is a late entry into the filter market, production and sales were consolidated in 2006 with the establishment of the manufacturing division of Nagase Filters, Co., Ltd. and is currently enjoying growth in the optical film market including the markets of Asia. The surface-inspection systems (WEBSENSOR), on the other hand, are line sensor imaging apparatus that inspects defects (impurities, fish-eye) in continuous materials (WEB) such as plain film/sheets. The WEBSENSOR was introduced to the market two years ago as the simplified, moderately priced, and popular version of the top-end model, SCANTEC, and is now being widely used as the inspection system for separator sheets used for fuel cells, in addition to optical film, which demands rigorous quality standards. As a result of the above, both the polymer filter and the surface-inspection systems are already poised to occupy high-ranking positions in terms of their market share. And with the introduction of the demo-system at NAW, Nagase intends to further increase its share of the market. NAW, in particular, is being highly acclaimed by the industry, as it was established last July as an open lab that consolidated the functions of technical support and application development of resins, coating materials and textile processing. Nagase believes that by installing a demo-system at this facility, it will be able to respond to customer needs with greater accuracy. The demo-system has a built-in single screw extruder (screw: external diameter= 40mm), film take-off unit (film width: maximum 300 mm), Denafilter (filter capacity: 5 inch filters x 5) and WEBSENSOR (resolution: minimum 35 micron) and is already being run on a trial basis. The system will commence demo-operations after it is introduced at the International Plastic Fair (08 IPF) to be held at the beginning of November at the Makuhari Messe Convention Complex in Chiba. This will be followed by the commencement of the production line for the new surface-inspection system for pellets, which is currently under development. (From The Chemical Daily)

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