thermoplastic composites | Innovation Right: This
composite roof shell frame for the Roding
Roadster 1 car is produced using in-situ
polymerised PA on KraussMaf- fei equipment
cell semi-finished products are first heated, reshaped in the injection mould, and then back-injected with a fibre-reinforced polymer. KM says a critical part of the process is heating the
organic sheet as overheating leads to thermal degrada- tion of the matrix. The company has developed a control process for the infrared emitters that is fully integrated into the MC6 injection machine control system. This not only enables fast heating without exceeding the set temperature, but also makes it possible to check the current heating curves via process data acquisition. Heating time and actual temperatures are stored for each individual component – important for customers that have to produce safety-related articles and document all process steps. The production cell incorporated two of KM’s LRX-250 linear robots, coupled on a shared Z-axis, enabling the semi-finished product to be heated and the finished component to be removed simultaneously. Grippers were also optimised to be able to transport the hot organic sheet from the oven into the injection mould without fluttering. Development partners for the project included Lanxess, Bond-Laminates and mould maker Christian Karl Siebenwurst.
Below: Fiberforge high speed tape laying equip- ment from Dieffenbacher
In-situ production Slighty removed from injection moulding, both Engel and KraussMaffei had production cells on their stands at K2016 producing parts using thermoplastic resin transfer moulding. The parts used continuous fibre reinforcement impregnated with polyamide 6 that was polymerised in-situ from caprolactam. The KM cell, making a roof shell frame for the Roding Roadster R1 sports car, took preforms that had been produced at composites equipment specialist Dieffenbacher’s Preform Center. Dieffenbacher has been further developing its
preforming machinery to allow multiple individual preforms to be manufactured in just one step, with the preforms then being inserted into injection moulds with
no additional joining process required. “Dividing complex preforms into individual sub-preforms reduces the level of complexity in production,” the company says. Dieffenbacher also offers the high-speed Fiberforge
tape lay-up process for creating preform blanks. The Fiberforge technology began its life in the Hypercar project founded in the early 90s at the Rocky Mountain Institute in the US and was acquired by Dieffenbacher in 2014. It introduced its latest version at K2016.
Integrated technologies The IKV plastics processing institute used K2016 to demonstrate the implementation of Industry 4.0 in plastics processing in a production cell for the custom- ised production of foamed, continuous fibre-reinforced plastic hybrid parts. The entire production was net- worked in-line with the principle of Industry 4.0 and allowed continuous documentation from the input of original order, via the production data to the subsequent quality assurance, which can be viewed by the respec- tive customer. The demonstrator part was a bicycle sports saddle
that could be locally reinforced to different levels from one shot to the next depending on the customer’s requirements. The saddle consisted of a moulded LGF-PP foam optionally supplemented by UD laminates on the upper and lower surfaces. The injection mould at the heart of the production
cell used Arburg’s ProFoam foam technology and integrated fibre-reinforced laminates. Foaming was initiated through an expansion stroke; a kinematic fixing device securely held the heated laminate in place during the injection process. The fixing elements could be withdrawn sequentially during filling of the part to avoid cut-outs or weld lines. The production cell was developed together with 13
partners from different areas of the plastics industry including: Arburg, ASS, Georg Kaufmann Formenbau, GWK, Hasco, HRS flow, IOS, Kistler, Krelus, Motan, SABIC, Sensopart and Stäubli. Exhibition visitors were
26 INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2017
www.injectionworld.com
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