K-Fair – The Plastic Industry Showcase.

What is K Fair?

As one of the premier events in the plastic industry calendar the 2022 K Fair marked the 70^th anniversary of the show. Held every 3 years because it is so big, the K fair brings together thousands of plastics industry exhibitors to showcase the latest technology in materials, semi-finished products, machinery, specialist components, as well as services, research and science. Anyone with an interest in plastics is there (myself included).

K Fair 2022 themes - Circular economy, digitalisation and climate protection

Each edition of the K Fair focuses on themes which are affecting the industry. As was the case at the previous K Fair, the 2022 themes were predominantly environmental. Many of the exhibitors were promoting improved recycling processes and new materials with increased recycled content.

Gneuss recycled pellets
Image credit: Jon Burgess

Sabic Recycled Grades

Polymer supplier Sabic were heavily marketing their Trucircle range as their response to the challenges of circularity (they supplied PP for many of the tooling and machinery demonstrations). Sabic also had a display of products that demonstrated the potential of their new range – including a computer mouse made of ocean plastic, children’s toys and food containers.

Microsoft Corporation ‘Ocean Plastic Mouse’ (Xenoy PC/PET)
Image credit: Jon Burgess

Sabic PP products
Image credit: Jon Burgess

Plastic processing machinery

The range of moulding machinery on display was impressive and included: a blown film machine the size of a house; all sizes of injection moulding machines demonstrating a range of technologies for insert moulding and over moulding; a range of 3D printers with different materials and capabilities; extrusion moulding; and blow moulding.

3 story Blown film moulding machine
Image credit: Jon Burgess

Large format 3D printer – able to print items 10m³
Image credit: Jon Burgess

Summary

Attending the show provided a great opportunity to see the latest technology in plastic manufacturing and to understand the challenges the industry faces. It was disappointing not to see more biodegradable polymers for mass production applications – it will be interesting to see the progress at the next K-Fair in 2025.

Dr Jon Burgess
Postdoctoral Researcher - Materials Processes

Image credit: Jon Burgess