ICMA San Giorgio
ICMA San Giorgio is a dynamic Italian company successfully present in the US market for 35 years, with state of the art machinery for technological solutions and productive quality.
In 1972, as a result of a cooperation with an American manufacturer of single-screw extruders, ICMA supplied the first twin-screw counter-rotating extruders, soon well accepted for their high performances and reliability.
In 1984, thanks to a cooperation with the Solvay Group (PP manufacturer) and the development of a revolutionary and innovative technology called Woodstock, ICMA supplied the first patented lines for direct extrusion of a wood-plastic composite material.
The absolute innovation consists in a composite material that joins the good features of the plastic to those of natural materials like wood. The result is a light and dimensionally stable product with good workability and recyclability, as requested by the automotive field. On top of this, we must add the undeniable economic advantage of the Woodstock compared with other materials having similar performances. This is the main reason why today it is still one of the most used materials for the production of inner panels in the automotive industry.
The double innovation worked out by ICMA in those years is not only the development of an unthinkable product at that time, but also the design of industrial lines with a productivity of approx. 1000 kg/h of composite sheets, using the direct extrusion technology, transforming the raw materials into a finished product without the need of the intermediate pelletizing phase. This allows remarkable savings both in investment costs and energy consumption, and improves the material characteristics.
All these factors are well known today, but 20 years ago they represented a remarkable novelty !
Other similar lines have been then installed by American suppliers in the automotive industry and are still in full production, thanks also to the efficient spare parts and technical service offered by ICMA.
The field of composite materials with vegetal fillers - today known as WPC – has been subject to a remarkable development in the last decades, and ICMA has supplied other lines for direct extrusion of sheets as well as pelletizing lines suitable to produce compound for using in injection moulding or profiles extrusion, in particular for “decking”, nowadays widely demanded in replacement of natural wood.
It should be noted that the ICMA experience (which led to a second patent based on twin-screw corotanting extruders) has allowed not only the use of wood flour as vegetal filler, but also rice husk, palm fiber and other organic materials, including paper, according to the raw materials available to the customers.
This technology is in continuous evolution in order to satisfy the different market requirements: from direct extrusion lines for profiles production, fed with raw materials when using twin-screw extruders or fed with pellets when using single-screw extruders, to compounding lines that can reach up to 80% of organic fillers, to co-extruded sheets lines (Woodpack) used for the production of disposable crates for fruit and vegetables, upon thermoforming.
Other companies use ICMA direct extrusion lines for various applications, as for the production of sheets with mineral fillers or vulcanized rubber crumbs, obtained from used tires, in order to have materials with soundproof or deadening features, upgrading the value of low cost raw materials, sometimes even recycled.
Another field of remarkable success for ICMA is in Thermoplastic Rubber application; from the widely used SBS employed for the production of footwear, to the most innovative SEBS or TPV used for the production of technical items requiring high performances, particularly requested by the automotive industry. Customers’ satisfaction is proven by the presence, in a small area near Boston - Massachusetts, of several lines installed by different customers, supported by a top quality technical and technological assistance.
Remaining in the automotive field, which is a driving sector for the technological development of the plastic materials, ICMA has supplied several units for the production of special high-tech compounds, filled with various types of fillers and used for structural parts. Also in this case, a great development job has been done, in collaboration with the customer, by ICMA R&D center where the most innovative extruders are installed, equipped with all the necessary ancillary to run tests for compounding and sheets extrusion.
The result has been the set up of the technology for the continuous production of compounds normally produced in two steps, involving higher costs and lower quality of the final product. The success was so remarkable that, in two year’s time, the customer installed eight lines, completely changing his production process.
As special applications, ICMA has also supplied extruders used outside the plastic field: like those supplied for the production of special cigarettes filters that have required a complete redesign of the extruder, from steel type to screws geometry.
Also in the field of color masterbatch production ICMA boasts optimal references in the USA: from the extruders used for synthetic yarns coloring, mainly supplied in Georgia where the leading carpets manufacturers are located, to the production of LDPE and LLDPE for rotomoulding applications, the rotational moulding requiring a very uniform colouring.
The most recent success for ICMA, has been the realization/supply of a complete factory in Sheboigan - Wisconsin.
The company Padanaplast USA is specialized in the production of cross-link Polyethylene, called XPE. This material, modified during the extrusion phase with additives able to change the inner structure of the polymer, maintains very high performances at high temperatures, therefore it can be employed for the production of hot water piping and also for electric cables.
The production capacity, which is constantly increasing, is based on three identical lines mod. MCM/128 producing approx. 3000 kg/h.
ICMA has supplied other hi-tech projects outside the US market, just waiting to be evaluated and appreciated by new American customers:
In the compounding field we can mention all the techno-polymers applications:
•Polypropylene, ABS, Polyamide, Polycarbonate filled or reinforced as well as polymer alloys, including also the more and more important sector of materials recycling where the use of ICMA corotating extruders is particularly profitable, both for the machine quality and for the remarkable technological support available from our R&D laboratory.
In the sheets extrusion field we can mention several applications, such as:
•the patented technology for the production of PVC without the pre-mixing phase of the different components, allowing a production of highly filled PVC for direct extrusion of corrugated sheets used in the building industry
•the technology of PET recycling (bottles scraps), that allows the production of foil for thermoforming, with no need of crystallization
•the technology for the extrusion of whichever type of flat, corrugated, hollow sheets or even co-extruded.
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Italian Trade Commission