2013 | Technology review in brief
❙ Germany’s Evonik said it will introduce a new impact- modified injection moulding grade of its Plexiglas PMMA in 2014 targeted at automo- tive glazing applications. Head of the automotive segment in Evonik’s acrylic polymers unit Uwe Löffler said the new grade would mark an ‘important mile- stone’ in the development of Plexiglas glazing for automotive. Coated PMMA systems meet the ECE R 43 requirements for side, rear and roof applications.
www.evonik.com
❙ Ireland’s TSM Controls launched its ‘Next Genera- tion’ materials blender line, which includes batch and continuous models capable of handling up to seven materials. The batch model uses the company’s reverse auger technology and improved control software to improve accuracy at lower set points. The continuous model also offers improved control software together with simplified cleaning.
www.tsm-controls.com
❙ Italian hotrunner firm HRSflow partnered with Netstal to demonstrate production of PC medical infusion devices on a 16-cavity mould on a cycle time of 16s. The RB mould was running on a 175 tonne Netstal Elion machine and used an HRS Multitech hot half optimised for fast colour change and used insulation rings on the nozzle to improve thermal stability.
www.hrsflow.com
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KM gives auto parts a gloss
With demand from the automotive industry for technologies that eliminate the need for post-moulded finishing operations, Krauss- Maffei showed a complex automotive assembly produced with an in-mould applied Class A surface finish direct from the mould using its ColorForm technology. Produced on a 550 tonne
multicomponent machine from the company’s latest GX range equipped with its SpinForm swivel platen technology, the ColorForm moulding process involved injection moulding of upper and lower shell parts in a PC/ABS blend, flow-coating of the upper element with two different polyurea resins in the mould, moulding and auto- mated insertion of a PC wave
guide, and full assembly of the final component. The company says the use
of the ColorForm technology within the mould produces a high gloss surface without the ‘orange peel’ effect of sprayed coatings. It also allows transparent windows to be created in the part with precisely defined edges. The polyurea coatings are
delivered using KM’s RimStar Nano 4/4 reaction process sys- tem, with metering pumps mounted directly on the machine.
“Our innovative processes
reduce the costs of manufac- turing premium-quality part surfaces by 30% compared with conventional multi-stage processes,” said Frank Peters, vice president sales at
KraussMaffei. The production system was
developed by KM in partner- ship with component maker Weidmann Plastics Technol- ogy, mouldmaker Hofmann, PC resin supplier Bayer MaterialScience, and polyurea systems house Panadur. Aside from the moulding machine, KraussMaffei also incorpo- rated an IR 900 R2700 F/K industrial robot. This removed the parts from the moulds and moved them through the subsequent production stages. ❙
www.kraussmaffei.com
PolyOne targets LED heat sinks
Specialty polymer compounds group PolyOne showed an LED heat sink produced by Turkish automotive lighting supplier Mars Otomotiv using a specially-developed high thermal conductivity Therma- Tech compound. PolyOne marketing
director Engineered Materials Europe Anne Hippert said Mars wanted to move away from die cast aluminium to cut weight and cost in a lamp used to illumi- nate trailers. Using a modified version of its existing aluminium
INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2014
tooling, it cut weight by more than 30% and increased production rates by 50%. Hippert said while signifi-
cant savings were achieved in this example, benefits of using its Therma-Tech thermal
management products are typically maximised when the component design is optimised for a polymer-based solution. The Therma-Tech product line includes thermal conduc- tors and thermal insulators and Hippert says consideration has to be given during develop- ment to the impact of thermal properties on processing, with processing tempera- tures and cycle times often considerably different from the base polymer. ❙
www.polyone.com
www.injectionworld.com
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