thermoplastic composites | Innovation
This infotainment system holder is produced by KraussMaffei in TPCs using its FiberForm technology
suppliers to press ahead with the rollout of this technology,” says Schmidt.
Hybrids take off Victrex, which holds the lion‘s share of the global market for polyaryletherketone (PAEK), says aircraft manufacturers are fiercely competing to increase speed of manufacture and reduce the cost and weight of their aircraft and are focusing in particular on the use of composites. “Their intense interest in this class of solutions is now set to be given an additional boost by the recently introduced Victrex AE 250 composites, a PAEK-based product family,” it claims. Tim Herr, Aerospace Director at Victrex, says the AE
Right : This
ultra-thin light- weight smart device casing was produced by Engel at K2016 using TPCs from Bond Lami- nates
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250 composites enable the production of continuously- reinforced components that perform extremely well under load. Parts manufactured in this way include brackets, clamps, clips and housings used throughout the aircraft in primary and secondary structures, from the cabin – including seats – to the engines and fuel tank. In addition to providing up to a 60% reduction in weight compared with metals, the main advantage of the new composites is the reduction of manufacturing time and system costs, thanks to smarter designs and the use of hybrid moulding technology, in which inserts of Victrex AE 250 composites are over-moulded with short-fibre reinforced Victrex PEEK polymers. Composite parts made from Victrex high-perfor-
mance thermoplastics are up to 60% lighter than AISI 4130 steel, a tough chromium-nickel-molybde- num alloy widely used in aviation applica- tions. They can also achieve significant weight advantages over lightweight metals, including TA6V titanium, 7075-T6 aluminium or ZK60A-T5 magnesium. The compos- ites also outperform metal in terms of strength - their
INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2017
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specific strength is five times that of AISI 4130 steel. Last year, TenCate introduced Cetex TC1225, a range of engineered PAEK composite materials available in carbon fibre-based UD tape, laminate and prepreg formats. The company says they harness high perfor- mance mechanics with processing temperatures that are lower than PEEK. Frank ten Napel, Product Manager Thermoplastics, says the tape and laminates are suitable for over-moulding with PEEK and the principal target market is aerospace. “Especially in the aircraft interiors market, over- moulding thermoplastic products has a huge potential in saving in process costs,” ten Napel says. “One-step processes, in which the material gets formed and over-moulded in the same production step, can yield short cycle times, a reduced part count and an elimina- tion of production steps.” TenCate also produces laminates and tapes for
industrial applications, using a variety of thermoplastics that range from HDPE and PP, through PET and PA6, to various high-end thermoplastics, including polyether- imide (PEI) and polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) as well as PEEK.
Process innovation Integration of processing technologies with materials technologies is even more critical in TPCs than it is in many other areas of injection moulding. Several equipment makers have been demonstrating their capabilities in recent months. Engel is best known for its automotive TPC projects. However, taking a similar line to Covestro, the company also sees application potential in notebooks, tablets and smartphones where it says the key to less weight and more stability lies in use of innovative composite materials. It says that the goal of a recent development cooperation project between Engel, Bond-Laminates, and in-mould decoration (IMD) technology specialist Leonard Kurz was to significantly increase production efficiency. At K2016, the partner companies demonstrated injection moulding of a highly robust housing with sophisticated surface decoration in extreme thin-wall
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