news
BASF steels itself for new high impact composites
Germany’s BASF has, together with Bekaert of Belgium and Voestalpine Plastics Solutions of the netherlands, developed a new process for production of high impact absorbing injection moulded parts reinforced with steel cord fabrics. the eASi - energy Absorp-
tion, Safety and integrity – concept will create a new class of composites that display much improved component integrity in crash situations than current glass and carbon reinforced alternatives, the developers claim. the partners initially began
working on the technology using a variant of the compres- sion moulding process used to form GMt (glass mat rein- forced thermoplastics) but are now focusing on traditional injection moulding of engi- neered composite parts containing the steel cord reinforcement.
Steel cord reinforced plastics show excellent impact behaviour, says BASF
According to BASF, while
eASi parts may be damaged under impact loading, they are also able to absorb energy and direct it further into the
structure in a very predictable way. this is a key advantage when compared to conven- tional reinforcement that usually fractures upon failure (see video:
www.plasticsportal. eu/ultramid-steelcord ). the composites use steel
cord from Bekaert and Ultramid polyamide from BASF. Voestalpine provides the processing technology. By using polyamide as the matrix material it is not only possible to access attached or semi- structural automotive parts but also to gain entry to body- in-white (Biw) applications that need to run through the e- coating process, says BASF. Part of the project is to further develop the BASF Ultrasim simulation tool to accurately model the impact behavior of the eASi compos- ites. Applications are foreseen in parts such as bumper beams and front end modules. ❙
www.ultramid.de
engel set forE12m expansion
Austrian machine maker engel is to spend E12m on a major expansion of its factory and headquarters at Schwertberg, citing rising demands for injection moulding machinery. the company will add of new manufac-
6,000m2
turing floor space at the southern end of its existing factory, which will be used to expand assembly, shipping and incoming goods areas. the invest-
ment comes on top of a E37m expansion of the plant and the nearby St Valentin large machine operation in 2011. engel posted record
sales of around E740m for the year to the end of March. Speaking at the nPe show in the US in April. ceo dr Peter neumann said he expects a similar result for 2012-13. ❙
www.engelglobal.com
Visteon sells automotive lighting business
Automotive components group Visteon is to sell its global lighting business to india’s Varroc Group for a sum of $92m. the deal is due for completion in the third quarter, subject to relevant regulatory approvals. Visteon’s automotive lighting business manufactures front and
rear lighting systems and includes manufacturing operations in north America, europe and Asia, which together employ around 4,200 people. in 2011 the business generated sales of $531m. Varroc Group, which is based in Aurangabad in india, supplies
parts for passenger and commercial vehicles. its capabilities include design, development and manufacturing, including plastics moulding, electrical and electronics assembly, and metallic forming. the group has approximately 5,000 employees. ❙
www.visteon.com
www.injectionworld.com April 2012 | injection world
Visteon lighting on the Fisker Karma electric prototype
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