ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — LRM Industries International, Inc., headquartered in Rockledge, Florida, announces the invention of TSD Twin Sheet Direct™; a new innovative production process, extending the product value of its patent-pending STF Sheetless ThermoForming™ technology, which was invented and commercialized by LRM in 2007. TSD Twin Sheet Direct thermoforming uses existing traditional twin sheet thermoforming molds to produce very large dual-layer structural or hollow thermoformed products in a totally automated process. There is one major process difference from existing twin sheet thermoforming: no pre-manufactured thermoplastic sheet is required.
The molds are “coated” with molten thermoplastic material directly from extrusion in a profiled lay-down, and then joined to form the product. This means that no ovens are needed, and the process of stretching “softened” thermoplastic sheets inducing stress and thickness non-uniformity is eliminated.
According to Dr. Dale E. Polk, LRM’s Chief Technology Officer, “When we developed STF Sheetless ThermoForming two years ago, we were surprised to learn that no one had achieved thermoforming using molten plastic from extrusion. This new TSD Twin Sheet Direct thermoforming is a logical extension of STF and adds a whole new dimension of product possibilities to our innovative new STF Line.”
A wide range of thermoplastic polymers can be used to produce products with TSD Twin Sheet Direct, and, of course, the process allows on-site, closed loop recycling capability.
LRM Industries International, Inc. is a company established to commercialize TPF ThermoPlastic Flowforming technology, a radically different and award-winning process technology for producing large, feature-rich, long-fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite parts in one fully automated molding operation. With the TPF ThermoPlastic Flowforming and STF Sheetless ThermoForming technologies, LRM enables innovative applications and designs in the use of plastics and thermoplastic composites to produce very large unitary structures where, to-date, it has been viewed as cost prohibitive or lacking in strength and structural integrity.
For more information, visit www.lrmind.com.
