Twin Screw Micro Extruder

Trade Agreement: CFTA / FTAs with Peru / Colombia / Panama / Korea
Tendering Procedures: All interested suppliers may submit a bid
Competitive Procurement Strategy: Lowest/Lower Bid
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement: No
Nature of Requirements: 

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has a requirement for the supply and delivery of a Full Twin-Screw Mini-Extruder System to support novel composite materials R&D. PSPC on behalf of the NRC is soliciting bids in accordance with the following deliverables and technical specifications. 

The contractor must provide (x1) Full Twin-Screw Mini-Extruder System inclusive of all parts, cables, software, accessories, components, documentation, training, and warranty including maintenance and support services and installation (hereinafter referred to as the “System”). The contractor must repair or replace any component which fails to perform according to the specifications of the contract while under warranty. 

The requirement must work and operate at all times in accordance with the following: 

Section A: Technical requirements: 

1. Feeding equipment: the sample feeder must contain manual feeding capability;
2. Processing volume: the instrument must have an extrusion barrel volume of between 5 cm3-15 cm3; 
3. Extruder barrel: the extruder barrel must have the capacity for both single-pass processing and recirculation of the sample within extrusion chamber, with controllable processing time to enable greater control of blending, mixing, dispersing, and allowing for chemical reactions;
4. Extruder barrel: the extruder barrel must contain twin-screws with controllable screw rotation speeds with a minimum controllable range between 1 RPM to 400 RPM;
5. Extruder barrel: the extruder barrel must contain temperature sensors, pressure sensors and viscosity sensors, and must have the capability for real time measurement from these sensors;
6. Extrusion barrel:  the extruder barrel must contain heating elements capable of active temperature control, with a minimum controllable range between room temperature and 350 °C;
7. Extruder barrel: the extruder barrel must be fully sealed to minimize evaporation or leakage of solvent or other liquids within the samples being processed;
8. Process pressure: the extruder barrel must be capable of achieving a maximum process pressure build-up of at least 200 bar;
9. Twin-screws: the twin-screws must be detachable;
10. Twin-screws: the twin-screws must be able to be operated in co-rotating and counter-rotating configurations, and it must be possible for the user to convert between these configurations;
11. Maximum Torque:  the drive torque for the twin screws must be variably adjustable up to at least 5 Nm per shaft;
12. Screw and barrel surface must have a hardness of at least 58 HRC for abrasion resistance against filler materials;
13. The extruder must have a capacity of a real-time acquisition of rheological data (e.g. viscosity, shear rate and/or shear stress);
14. User Controls:  The extruder must have user operable controls that encompass the full range of adjustment of each and every System function; 
15. Electrical and electronics compatibility:  all electrical and electronic components must be compatible for operation with standard Canadian voltages (nominally 120 V/240 V, 60 Hz);
16. The extruder must have full user access to all process chambers and channels within system to ensure complete cleaning of all system components which come in contact with sample;
17. Accessories: the extruder must contain attachable/detachable cylindrical dies for direct extrusion of filament with nominal diameter of 2 mm or less to enable use with industry-standard 3D printers;
18. One copy of all operating and training manuals for all components of the procured system and optional accessories, either hard copy or digital version (e.g. PDF);
19. Software: the system must include operating and control software or software packages that must provide the following capabilities:
(a) included PC, tablet or workstation with full System control and analysis software
(b) Direct control of all System functionality, including all input parameters, operating parameters, data acquisition, data storage, and data analysis, the ability to acquire real-time rheological measurement, temperature, build-up pressure, recirculation time, sample feeding rate;
(c) Integrated data analysis, including rheological information, and the ability to export raw and analysis data to other scientific data analysis formats (e.g. Excel, Matlab or Origin), including plain text and CSV;
(d) No additional or recurring software renewals or licenses for ongoing system operation after initial purchase
(e) The ability to install software on additional PC workstations to perform offline data analysis without purchase of additional software licenses.
(f)  Software updates for a period of 3 years after system installation
Section B | Equipment options and Accessories: 

1. Automatic feeding system to allow for larger scale and/or continuous processing; 
2. Heating elements and system compatibility with operation at temperatures of at least 400 oC to enable processing of high-temperature engineering thermoplastics;
3.  Directly compatible injection moulding accessory attachment to enable direct production of reproducible and dimensionally accurate parts, including parts for standard ASTM mechanical testing;
(a) The injection moulding system must contain injection molds for ASTM D638 Type I and Type IV;
(b) The injection moulding system must also have the capacity to be adaptive to the custom-made molds;
4. Filament production accessory system including a spooler;
5. Pelletizing accessory capable of producing pellets of compounded material for further use. 
Section C | Installation requirements:

1. The contractor must provide installation within 45 days of being advised by the NRC requires this flexibility of assigning installation due to staffing issues associated with Covid-19;

2. The NRC will advise the contractor to install the system no later than March 31,2022, or as soon as the system is delivered to the installation location;

3. The Contractor must perform the on-site installation and it must be carried out by a qualified service technician. All deliverables must be delivered, installed, integrated, and configured by the Contractor at the location specified in the Contract. The Contractor must unpack, assemble, and install the system at the site. If applicable, this must include but not be limited to the provision of required moving and installation resources, including but not limited to packing material, vehicles and personnel;

4. The Contractor must supply all associated materials required to effect complete installation, integration and configuration of the deliverables at the site. This must include but not be limited to such things as all the required power connectors, cables, and any other accessories required to install, integrate and configure the deliverables. Upon successful completion of the installation, integration and configuration of the deliverables, the Contractor must provide the NRC with written notification that the deliverables are ready for use;

5. The Contractor must maintain all work areas at the installation site(s) in a clean and tidy condition on completion of each day’s work and on completion of acceptance;

6. Contractor must provide 1 record of calibration in English 

Delivery Date: Above-mentioned

The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.

Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.