IKV conference held in Germany.

The 22nd International IKV Plastics Technology Colloquium, along with an exhibition, sponsored by the Institute of Plastics Processing, will take place March 10-12 at the Eurogress Aachen in Germany.

Plenary lectures presented during the colloquium will include "Science and education as elements for securing the future of plastics technology," W. Michaeli; "Compounding processes in plastics and rubber technology," E. Haberstroh: and "Fiber reinforced plastics--state of the art and progress within reach," E. Schmachtenberg.

Session 1 on "Special injection molding processes I" will include the following technical presentations: "Application of the fluid injection technique with branched and ring-shaped parts," O. Gronlund; "In-mold lamination with structural foams," E. Koning; and "Injection-compression molding of sandwich components," C. Lettowsky.

Session 2 on "Extrusion screws and dies" will include the following presentations: "Three-dimensional simulation of single-screw extruders," A. Imhoff; "Investigation and modeling of three-dimensional flow effects on spiral mandrel dies," P. Blomer; and "Automatic optimization of profile extrusion dies," S. Kaul.

Session 3 on "Special injection molding processes II" will include the following presentations: "The ITM process by comparison to multi-cavity injection molding," M. Koch; "Thixomolding--investigation of new alloys," G. Rettemeier; and "Production of plastic lenses by injection molding," J. Forster.

Session 4 on "Compounding" will include the following technical presentations: "Tools for the design of reaction and compounding extruders," J. Stewering; "Production of innovative thermoplastic/metal blends," M. Holzel; and "Product-oriented reactive blending of PET/PA recyclate," S. Lambertz.

Session 5 on "Injection molding: Process analysis and modeling" will include the following presentations: "Innovative developments in the field of microstructure simulation of semicrystalline thermoplastics," M. Bussmann: "Investigation of the thermoplastic injection molding process employing ultrasound," C. Starke; and "Modeling with artificial neural networks to control the cavity pressure in injection molding," J. Gruber.

Session 6 on "Film extrusion and thermoforming" will include the following presentations: "PET film extrusion with degassing," T. Schmitz; "Estimating the mechanical properties of tubular film," S. Wenigmann; and "Using an IR laser for monitoring crystallization and the crystallite melting range in films," J. Wirtz.

Session 7 on "Injection molding--mold technology" will include the following technical presentations: "Design secured by simulation--the potential of mechanical mold design," M. Thornagel; "Integrated cost calculation of molds and molded parts," T. Schroder; and "New demolding concepts for the injection molding of microstructures," R. Gartner.

Session 8 on "Blow molding, stretch blow molding and plasma-assisted coating" will include the following presentations: "Radial preform profiling through the application of flexring technology," J. Grunewald; "Comparison of the processing parameters of PET and PP in the two-stage stretch blow molding process," W. Papst; and "Development of a plant control system for the plasma-assisted coating of hollow plastic articles," A. Hegenbart.

Session 9 on "Rubber technology" will include the following technical presentations: "Online analysis and control of the compounding process for rubber compounds," C. Linhart; "Matching of sponge rubber compounds," A. Kremers; and "Injection molding of foamed rubber parts by use of a physical blowing agent nozzle," T. Hauser.

Session 10 on "Modeling the mechanical properties of thermoplastic parts" will include the following presentations: "Modeling the dynamic material behavior of thermoplastics in FEA," M. Brinkmann; "Mechanical design of injection molded parts made of short fiber reinforced thermoplastics using integrative simulation," M. Brandt: and "Estimating the acoustic behavior of technical plastic parts under the action of structure-borne sound," T. Krumpholz.

Session 11 on "Polyurethane processing" will include the following technical presentations: "Characterizing the flow behavior of compact PU materials with an ultrasonic measuring method," H. Bister; "Film in-mold decoration with PU-RRIM systems," M. Schlumm; and "Digital 3D image capture of foamed structures," A. Tondorf.

Session 12 on "Design and production of fiber reinforced plastic parts I" will include the following presentations: "Progress in compression molding simulation: Improved modeling and measurement of the flow properties of compression molding compounds," K. Skrodolies; "Consistent simulation for thermoplastic FRPs: Forming process and FE calculation of mechanical behavior," M. Mannigel; and "New developments in the nonlinear calculation of FRP laminates," E. Kuhnel.

Session 13 on "Foamed plastics" will include the following presentations: "Assessment of the foamability of polymers on the basis of their biaxial stress/strain behavior," J. Lorenz; "Process investigations on foam injection molding with physical blowing agents," A. Cramer; and "Properties and production of sandwich parts with phenolic resin cores," M. Schlumm.

Session 14 on "Design and production of fiber reinforced plastics part II" will include the following presentations: "In-mold decoration of continuous-fiber reinforced thermoplastics," J. Strohhacker; "Process development for the production of hollow long glass fiber reinforced components using gas assisted compression molding," A. Helpenstein; and "N-FiberBase--development of a database of characteristic values for the layout and calculation of plastics reinforced with natural fibers," J. Henseler.

Session 15 on "Joining of plastic parts" will include the following presentations: "Laser transmission welding of parts with a complex weld line geometry," R. Lutzeler; "Investigations of strength in micro assembly injection molding," D. Opfermann; and "New process control possibilities in ultrasonic welding--the residual melt layer thickness as a characteristic for process optimization," K. Kuhlmann.

Session 16 on "Productivity and quality enhancement in the production of parts with continuous fiber reinforcement" will include the following presentations: "Filament winding using a continuous mixing and metering of matrix to process fast reacting matrix systems," S. Quadflieg; "Online process control and optimization of the RTM process by using the ultrasonic measuring technique," J. Schulte zur Heide; and "Cost-efficient production of FRP parts by using the Advanced-LoWaRI-Technique," S. Meyer-Noack.

Registration information for the 22nd International IKV Plastics Technology Colloquium is available from the Institute of Plastics Processing, tel.: [phone]; fax: [phone].