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medium-sized processor could use this technology,” he said.


BASF’s Ultracom laminates are based on woven


Above: Arburg will use its D-LFT technol- ogy to over- mould a continuous thermoplastic sheet on its stand at the show


production system in its technical center for thermo- plastics processing at Ludwigshafen in Germany. Since March of this year, this equipment – based around a 300 tonne KraussMaffei moulding machine and a Georg Kaufmann test mould – has been used to produce multifunctional composite test specimens by in-mould forming and overmoulding. Visitors to the BASF stand at K will be able to see the complex part. According to Dr Reinhard Jakobi, head of processing


technology, this process represents the most promising approach for production of structural components, allowing ribs, bosses and other reinforcing structures to be placed on the component in the same mould that is used for forming the laminate. The system in the BASF technical centre is designed


to allow the company’s engineering team to explore every aspect of part design. The 40cm by 40cm by 4.5cm test component has been developed for use with 1.5mm thick laminates and up to 3mm thick moulded-on functional elements. It can model overmoulded edges and can be used to assess the impact of long flow paths, formed mounting holes, stitch elements (where the overmoulded material is injected through the element), and rib structures on mechanical and crash perfor- mance.


A multi-axis robot is used to manipulate three


Right: this 500mm long structural part will be


produced on a


40s cycle on the Arburg stand


48


laminate clamping frames through the various steps of the production process. By making it possible to heat a part, mould a part and remove a part from the frame simultaneously, Jakobi says cycle times of one minute can be achieved on its test part. “But this is not optimized, we think we could go down to 50s,” he says. “When you use three frames simultaneously you are much more productive but you need a robot. Our automation partner is FPT but this is not a major change from a regular injection machine – I think any


INJECTION WORLD | October 2013


fabrics and unidirectional (UD) tapes that are fully impregnated with Ultramid PA or Ultradur PBT resins. The thermoplastic composite laminates have been developed together with composites manufacturer TenCate and glass fibre producer Owens Corning. At the K show, the company will introduce two packages. For high stiffness applications it has developed an Ultralaminate based on polyamide 6 (or an Ultratape if highly directed reinforcements are needed) for use in combination with a 60% glass fibre reinforced Ultramid G12 COM overmoulding resin. For crash-loaded applications requiring high impact strength, it offers a PA6-based Ultralaminate or Ultratape in combination with an Ultramid ZG7 COM overmoulding resin. While the Ultracom material packages are new, the


process technology has been under development for some time and is already used to produce the seat pan for the Opel Astra OPC car, which was introduced last year. This component was developed using an extension of BASF’s Ultrasim analysis tool, which is able to simulate the anisotropic long fibre distribution in the part. Jacobi says the company is currently working on another active project.


With its acquisition in 2012 of Germany’s Bond


Laminates, Lanxess has positioned itself for an expected rush of activity in the thermoplastics compos- ites sector. “We are now one of the few thermoplastics manufacturers in the world that can supply performance composites and compounds proven in large-scale production, complete with the associated applications know-how for the volume production of lightweight components,” says Dr Michael Zobel, head of the company’s High Performance Materials business unit. Bond Laminates manufactures a range of continu-


ous fibre reinforced thermoplastic sheet materials under the Tepex name. The primary matrix for the materials is polyamide, although alternative polymers such as PP, TPU and PPS could also be used. Rein- forcement options include glass, carbon or aramid fibres. Tepex materials are characterised by low weight and


high strength. Lanxess says Tepex has a density of between


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