Plastics manufacturing relies on the feed material, whether virgin or recycled, being metal-free. Metal contamination is costly both from equipment damage and production downtime. With a continued increase in the use of recycled material, both from internal and external sources, the need for optimum metal separation has never been more acute.

Metal contamination enters the material stream in many forms from large tramp metal, such as nuts and bolts, to fine particulates of steel, stainless-steel and aluminium foil. A plastics manufacturing operation should ultimately have metal detectors and magnetic separators installed throughout the production process, treating the raw material feed through, immediately prior to the injection moulding, and when recycling internally generated plastic waste. The combination of magnetic separators and metal detectors provide protection from metal particulates clogging sprue lines, damaging extruder screws, and, ultimately, affecting end-product quality. They also protect shredders and granulators from damage.

The magnetic separators and metal detectors on display on the Bunting stand at K 2022 are specifically designed for each stage of the process. Commonly used together in a Cleaning Station configuration, the magnetic separators attract and remove ferrous metals leaving the metal detectors to focus on non-ferrous metal removal.