Gamechanger
This thermo cup can be a gamechanger in terms of sustainability: The cost-effective reusable product from Bockatech is manufactured on a turnkey line using the innovative EcoCore® foaming technology.
Gamechanger Bockatech
Reusable
The cup can be used hundreds of times, saves material during production and is manufactured in only 5.5 s cycle time.
Foam technology
Thanks to its EcoCore® skin-foam-skin structure, the product is up to 50% lighter than a non-foamed alternative.
Insulating function
With an insulating wall thickness of 2 mm, the cup fits comfortably in your hand when holding hot drinks and reduces condensation in cold drinks.
Challenge
Bockatech's goal was to create a sustainable, lightweight and recyclable alternative to disposable cups. The new thermal cups had to be robust, dishwasher-safe and inexpensive to produce. And lightweight with good insulating properties at the same time. They also wanted to automate series production and remove the cups as gently as possible.
Solution
A compact turnkey system produces the cups reliably in an innovative foaming process. To do this, Bockatech's EcoCore technology is combined with a high-performance ARBURG machine equipped with a MuCell® package and control features for stable mould filling and bionically optimised pressure control. The PP base material is chemically enriched with CO2 as a blowing agent and physically enriched with nitrogen in the MuCell® process. After injection, the mould opens and the component foams up to a wall thickness of 2 mm. For gentle removal, the gripper of the MULTILIFT robotic system was additively manufactured with a freeformer. The gripping function with air guidance is based on a combination of hard and soft material, with no additional pneumatic drives or valves at all.
Outlook
With the same part weight, the thermal cup is more stable than conventional paper cups. The foam structure with its fine foam cells is crucial for cooling and thermal insulation. The innovative packaging application can also be combined with the in-mould labelling process, meaning that IML labels can be applied to cups on the turnkey system to customise them with any design. And all this is automated in fast, stable and inexpensive series production.
“We have created a completely new type of reusable cup that is inexpensive, can be recycled after multiple uses and has what it takes to become a classic.”
Martin Blacher, Director of Bockatech
Packaging
Thin-walled parts, IML products, screw caps? Our packaging machines combine FEM-optimised mould mounting platens, precise mould movements, high filling dynamics, short injection times and high plasticising flow rates.
