- Upper organisation
- Athlone Institute of technology
- Address
Dublin road
Athlone
Co. Westmeath
N37 HD68
Ireland
Description
The Applied Polymer Technologies (APT) Gateway Centre is a nationally funded research centre specialised in polymer processing and testing. It offers a full range of activities from part design to pilot production using a suite of industry relevant polymer processing equipment. The APT centre is a member of the Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway Network which includes 15 specialised Gateways and 3 sectoral clusters delivering innovation expertise and solutions for industry.
The centre has a number of collaborative EU wide links with industry and academia based on its parent organisations membership of the European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform (https://www.ecp4.eu/) and the Regional University Network (https://run-eu.eu/).
Applied Polymer Technologies
Applied Polymer Technologies
Contact Person
Noel Gately
DECLAN DEVINE
Equipment
The APT centre has a range of industry relevant equipment which can generally be characterised as:
Polymer Processing; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/processing/
Polymer Characterisation; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/characterisation/
Design and additive manufacturing; http://mri.ait.ie/capabilities/additive-manufacturing/
Specific items include:
Injection moulding
130 T. Sumitumo Demag with integrated material handling system
130 T. Fanuc
60 T. Arburg
35 T. Arburg
6 T. Babyplast
14 T. Whitman Battenfeld fully integrated micromoulder with cleanroom
Extrusion
27mm Leistritz (25 kg per hour)
16mm Prism (20g min batch size)
22mm EUEXMA High temp compounder (10kg per hour)
Q2 2021 planetary compounder
Q2 2021 In line compouner/rheometer
27mm Leistritz (25 kg per hour)
Labtech 250ml Blow-moulding
3D Filament extruder (12 spools per hour)
40 mm Boston Matthews Tube
EUEXMA Lab Blown Film
EUEXMA Melt-Spinning Fibre line
25mm Betol cast film
Design and Additive Manufacturing
SLA: 3D systems viper, Form labs form 2, new Large bed SLA Q2 2021
FDM: Makerbot, Prusa i3 mk3, Funmat HT, Mark forged 2, Large bed FDM
Arburg Freeformer HT
SLS: Sinterit Lisa
GOM 3D scanner
Characterisation:
A full suite of polymer characterisation equipment including Thermal (DSC, DMA, TGA, AFM/SThM, rheology), Chemical (FTIR, Raman, GC, GPC, HPLC), mechanical testing (Tensile, Impact, hardness, etc). and shelf life testing (QUV, Humidity, sub ambient, etc).
- Equipment Link
- http://mri.ait.ie/
Services
The APT centre offers a full range of services including contract testing and collaborative supports through a range of EU funding mechanisms. Services includes:
Pilot and production-scale injection moulding, blow moulding, thermoforming, extrusion and compounding lines
Advanced analytical facilities for materials research, testing and troubleshooting
Design, rapid prototyping and micro-moulding capabilities
- Services Link
- APT Gateway homepage