Kuhne Group is targeting the medical market with its Medikus extruder series, launched at K 2019. Designed for use in clean rooms and controlled production environments, the extruders can produce medical tubing, including catheters and multilumen tubing, and profiles.
“The Medikus extruder has several nice features,” said Thorsten Bung, Kuhne’s director of North American sales. “It’s made of stainless steel, and it’s designed for several applications for the medical industry. That’s the main industry we were focusing on, but it can also be used for cable coating and applications like that.”
The single-screw extruders have interchangeable screws and barrels, are available in screw diameters of 16mm and 25mm and come in L:D ratios of 20:1, 24:1 and 30:1. Kuhne can provide custom screw and barrel sizes upon request, Bung said.
Toggle clamps make it easy to swap out the screws and barrels for material changes and cleaning. The stainless-steel construction also makes cleaning easier.
“It’s very nice for lab lines for trial runs of different materials,” Bung said. “Some are more heat-sensitive, and they need a longer barrel. Some are less heat-sensitive, and they could be run on a shorter barrel.”
The extruders feature motors with maintenance-free gear boxes.
The extruders can process a variety of materials, including HDPE, LDPE, PP, fluoropolymers, PVC, PEEK and polyetherimide.
Bruce Geiselman, senior staff reporter
Kuhne Group, Sankt Augustin, Germany, 49-2241-902-147, www.kuhne-group.com
Bruce Geiselman | Senior Staff Reporter
Senior Staff Reporter Bruce Geiselman covers extrusion, blow molding, additive manufacturing, automation and end markets including automotive and packaging. He also writes features, including In Other Words and Problem Solved, for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. He has extensive experience in daily and magazine journalism.
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