19 October 2011
26th IKV Colloquium – Integrative Plastics Technology
IKV invites the plastics sector to Aachen on March 7 and 8, 2012

The 26th IKV International Plastics Technology Colloquium will take place on March 7 and 8, 2012 at the Eurogress in Aachen. Under the motto "Integrative Plastics Technology", the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) will invite experts from the world's plastics industry to Aachen for this key event. In 2010 more than 500 experts and 40 exhibitors attended the event. The host for the first time will be Professor Christian Hopmann, who took over as head of the Institute from Professor Walter Michaeli in April 2011.

"Integrative Plastics Technology" represents a combined approach to product development and processing processes. It covers integrative simulation from the determination of material data and the simulation of all process steps to the prediction of part properties. (Read more in the PDF.)

12 August 2011
Plasma-assisted barrier coating for beverage packages
IKV investigates substrate bias for barrier properties increase

Demands on the permeation properties of beverage packages are nowadays important criteria for choosing the right packaging material. These demands do not only depend on the filled good, but are also severely aggravated by current developments and trends like the use of biopolymers or light weighting of bottles. Currently IKV is investigating in a process to enhance the barrier performance of plasma-polymer layers by the use of a substrate-bias. Studies on foils already have shown that the deposition of barrier coatings using a substrate bias leads to a significant increase in the barrier properties because the negative effect of layer defects is reduced. (Please read more in the pdf file)

6 July 2011
Farewell celebrations at IKV
Professor Walter Michaeli says goodbye to his friends and colleagues in the plastics industry

On July 1, a big farewell celebration was held at IKV for Professor Walter Michaeli with over 600 invited guests. Professor Michaeli, who has headed the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University for 23 years, will step down at the end of July on reaching retirement age. His farewell was celebrated with a colloquium in the afternoon and a large garden party in the evening. The colloquium was organised under the motto "Values in science, industry and society. Insights." IKV was able to win a number of Professor Michaeli's long-time colleagues as speakers, namely Prof. i.R. Max Kerner from RWTH's Historical Institute, Prof. em. Hartwig Höcker of DWI at RWTH Aachen University, Dr.-Ing. Herbert Müller, member of the Board of Management of Surteco SE, and Professor Johannes Wortberg, holder of the Chair of Engineering Design and Plastics Machinery at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
The invited guests, colleagues and partners from science and industry – many of them present and former students of Professor Michaeli – but also family friends and relations, celebrated a giant reunion party in a large marquee at IKV's Campus Melaten. (more information in the PDF)

29 June 2011
Rubber compounding at IKV with a new laboratory mixer
Brabender® provides Institute with modern mixer for research purposes

Brabender® GmbH & Co. KG, Duisburg, has provided the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University with a laboratory mixer for the processing of rubber and thermoplastics. This powerful, state-of-the-art machine will be a very useful addition to the equipment available to IKV's Extrusion and Further Processing department.

The laboratory mixer is equipped with a pneumatic plunger and comprises a torque rheometer (Brabender® Plasti-Corder® Lab-Station) and a Type 350 E mixer. With its electrical temperature control system, it allows the compounding of both thermoplastic and elastomeric materials. (Read more in a PDF.)