Francis Ward managing director Jonathan Wurr last week travelled to Norway to join other rotomoulders from around the world at the 2013 Nordic ARM Meeting.

1. 2013 Nordic ARM Meeting, Andalsnes, Norway, 4th-5th February.
Francis Ward managing director Jonathan Wurr last week travelled to Norway to join other
rotomoulders from around the world at the 2013 Nordic ARM Meeting.
Here Jonathan provides an overview of what was discussed.
“Day One was opened by Ronny Ervik, the Nordic ARM
Chairman, who welcomed everyone to the beautiful town
of Andalsnes in the fjord-area of Rauma.
One of the highlights of the first day was a presentation
from Aldo Quarantino of Matrix Polymers, who presented
on the much-maligned range of materials called
fluoropolymers.
These are often avoided by rotomoulders due to the
difficulties in processing, and the fact that grades such as
PVDF and PTFE are often a multiple of ten times the price of
more traditional PE. Making a scrap part comes at a high price for sure! However, rotomoulders
should consider fluoropolymers as they have exceptional resistance to heat and chemical
attack.
Mark Kearns of Queen's University Belfast presented on their work on internal water cooling, and
this was further expanded on by Oliver Wandres of Maus GmbH on Day Two. Maus is one of the
companies looking to develop practical equipment to deliver a water mist inside a cooling part.
The latent heat of vaporisation of a surprisingly small amount of water (around one litre) not only
reduces the cycle times and saves money, but due to more even cooling, produces a part with
improved mechanical properties and significantly less warpage of surfaces. (Click here to see
our recent article that includes this technology.) This is technology that Francis Ward will be
looking to implement in the next 12 months.
The main event on Day One was a trip to Partnerplast, based in the same town. With the most
spectacular view from their canteen window (over the fjord surrounded by mountains) they are
a major employer in the town. They mainly manufacture flotation devices for the oil and gas
industry, including floating sonar buoys and other prospecting equipment. These are similar to
products made by Francis Ward in the UK for our customer Trelleborg.
On Day Two, CIPAX took the delegates through a process of developing a revolutionary new
aquaplaning rotomoulded boat, and Matteo Cortesi of Italian mould-maker Persico described
the latest in aluminium mould manufacture, including showing a picture of a 2-metre rabbit
mould. Yes, for making a 2-metre high plastic rabbit!
There was much talk of polypropylene in rotomoulding at the conference with Ronny Ervik and
Bob Woods of Ultrapolymers launching new grades of natural and black PP. The problem with
PP is often that it is too brittle for many rotomoulding applications. Ultrapolymers have
formulated a grade of material that has a much higher flexibility after processing, opening up
new applications for the material.
More….

2. At a 50% to 100% premium on PE, it is unlikely to be a direct replacement for PE, but for
applications needing a higher stiffness and higher operating temperatures (up to 100 degrees C)
then it will be a valuable addition to the market. Francis Ward will be looking for applications for
this new material.
And finally....Gary Lategan of Roto Solutions presented a politically incorrect presentation, but
was forgiven, as his subject was 'Sex in Rotomoulding'!”
Francis Ward Contracting Moulding
+44 (0) 1274 707030
http://contractmoulding.francisward.com/