automotive | Under-the-hood
Right: Test parts in
PolyOne’s
reSound NF natural fibre reinforced PP
use of what the company says is a superior coupling technology and a specific compounding process, details of which remain confidential. Engineers at PolyOne’s Gaggenau location collaborated in its development with reference institutes (including Frauenhofer ICT) and leading automotive OEMs and their Tier suppliers. The technology is now available on an industrial scale. Compared to other natural fibre reinforced solutions,
reSound NF offers mechanical property improvements of more than 20% for tensile and flexural properties, 10°C to 20°C higher heat deflection temperature, and more than 50% in impact strength, Mézailles says.
Click on the links for more information: ❙
www.solvayplastics.com ❙
www.ep.invista.com ❙
www.emsgrivory.com ❙
www.dsmep.com ❙
www.sabic-ip.com ❙
www.polyone.com
Weighing up the options
Metal replacement under the bonnet is not just about lightweight construction, says injection moulding equipment specialist Engel, citing the example of an oil filter module for four-cylinder diesel engines. Hengst SE & Co – winner of a 2015 Engel HL Award and a leading provider of fluid management modules, crankcase ventilation systems, and filter technology for oil, fuel, air and cabin filtration based in Nordwalde, Germany – diecasts aluminium and injection moulds plastics. For every new product, it assesses which material brings the most benefits. The company recently developed a
plastics oil filter module, roughly 35 cm long by 30 cm wide and 30 cm deep, for four-cylinder diesel engines for various Audi and Volkswagen models. It is among the most complex components the company is producing. The biggest challenge was to develop
a very compact design despite the many cavities, junctions, and bore holes. Moreover, the component needed to be manufactured in a single work step. “This high level of manufacturing efficiency would be unimaginable with an
18 INJECTION WORLD | June 2015
Below: This bulky mould with eight core pulls for production of oil filter modules is installed on a 500 tonne Engel tiebarless machine
Above: Oil filter modules for four-cylinder diesel engines are particularly complex components. Single-step production by injection moulding has considerable advantages over aluminium diecasting
aluminium die cast construction,” says Michael Oertker from Hengst’s industrial engineering team. The construction from glass fibre reinforced polyamide renders this unnecessary, he says, as all junctions are formed during injection moulding and threads are formed with a core-pull. The single-cavity mould comprises
eight core-pulls, which account for its considerable size. Since the mould fixing
platens of tiebarless Engel Victory machines can be fully used up to the edge, the modules can be manufactured on a 5,000kN (500 tonne) machine. “Alternatives using tiebar machines start at 8,000kN,” says Oertker. Engel says the tiebarless design has advantages for automation access as well. Hengst plans to produce 300,000 filter modules a year. ❙
www.engelglobal.com ❙
www.hengst.com
www.injectionworld.com
PHOTO: ENGEL
PHOTO: ENGEL
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