Today, polycarbonate is widely used in the construction and decoration of premises, both wave and cellular.
Therefore, you have the opportunity to organize your own business in the manufacture of such a product. First of all, you will need raw materials and equipment for the production of polycarbonate.
Material advantages
Before you start developing your business, you need to make sure that it will bring you income. Naturally, you should understand what advantages the presented material has. So, among the advantages, the following can be distinguished:
- has an extensive scope;
- possesses good decorative qualities;
- may have different colors;
- It is resistant to the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays;
- provides good thermal and sound insulation;
- profiled sheet type has good strength, low weight, low thermal conductivity, environmental safety, ease of processing.
You can use such material in the construction of roofs in greenhouses, greenhouses, arched structures. In principle, the sheets can be used when laying the roof in different buildings (gas stations, swimming pools). And polycarbonate can be used as thin partition walls.
Varieties of material
PC is in high demand. However, before you purchase equipment for the production of polycarbonate, you should definitely consider its varieties. The material can be classified as follows:
- cellular;
- monolithic.
In the first case, you are provided with sheets consisting of several layers, as well as with stiffeners. The second type of polycarbonate is monolithic plates with high strength, resistance to mechanical damage. It is used for glazing buses, trains, safety fences and screens, glasses, helmets and other products.
What raw materials are used for work
Before you install the equipment for the production of polycarbonate, you need to understand what materials are needed for the manufacture. It must be said right away that PC is a synthetic polymer. That is, to obtain it, it is necessary to produce complex chemical reactions. To this end, carbonic acid, phenol and other substances are used.
At the same time, unsafe components are used in the manufacturing process, but in the end they do not remain in the finished product. The feedstock is processed in the form of granules of a certain color. You will need to purchase it, since other equipment is needed for the manufacture of components.
The composition of the automated line
Now consider what polycarbonate machines you will need. So, the line includes such equipment:
- several hopper extruders;
- vacuum loaders of raw materials;
- drying chambers;
- pulling devices (they turn molten granules into a film of different thicknesses);
- a device for changing filters (on-off);
- polymer melt pump;
- flat slot head (for extruder);
- calibration table (vacuum);
- a furnace in which pellets and sheet forming are heated;
- Assembly line;
- apparatus for cutting a continuous sheet into elements;
- device for processing the fabric by corona discharge;
- the apparatus with which the lamination of sheets occurs, as well as the application of protective films on them;
- a printer for product labeling;
- stacker;
- apparatus for removing finished sheets.
Naturally, all professional polycarbonate production lines are automated. Therefore, you will have to monitor the operation of the devices for a special remote control. In addition, it is best to buy a whole range of devices at once, since the price of a polycarbonate machine is much higher if purchased separately.
Features of the manufacture of sheets
The process of work consists of several stages:
- Sorting and weighing granules of raw materials. At the same stage, they are cleaned of all unnecessary impurities.
- Pellet melting. For this purpose, a special chamber is used in which high temperature is maintained. At this stage, additional substances are added to the mixture that provide an improvement in one or another characteristic of the finished material.
- Formation of sheets. At this stage, the necessary structure of the elements is set: monolithic or cellular. This takes into account whether it is necessary to glue several sheets together and form stiffeners in them.
- Sticking protective films and cutting a continuous web into parts. At the same stage, the sheets are processed under the press so that they receive maximum rigidity and strength.
- Product quality control.
- Stacking and packaging of finished products. There are no special requirements for its storage, however, try to ensure that the conditions in the room are as comfortable as possible for the products.