INNOVATION | ENGINEERING THERMOPLASTICS
Demonstration part made by Engel at K 2019. The organic sheets, produced by Chinese materials company Kingfa, are made of glass fibre reinforced polypropylene. The mould, built by Georg Kaufmann Formenbau, formed the sheets when it closed. Immediately afterwards, they were over-moulded with glass fibre-reinforced PP. Reinforcing ribs were shaped on the back of the component, while the front surface was given a leather-look grain
Right: Door module carriers made using KraussMaffei’s Fiberform technology
The positioning of the oven ensured the sheet had virtually no time to cool down and become impos- sible to form. A horizontal IR oven on a pedestal above the moving platen was used for two thicker sheets (1 mm and 2.5 mm). The ovens (made by Engel) and the three Easix robots were fully integrated with the injection machine’s control unit. Brose, which has been
producing more than one million door module carriers a year since 2018, is not putting all its eggs in one basket. To date, those modules have been made with Krauss Maffei Fiberform Technology. Also in on the act is Arburg. Last September, it
said that it and Dieffenbacher, which specialises in very large vertical presses, will cooperate to develop
new solutions for the transfer moulding of hybrid components. The two companies recently demon- strated their cooperation as part of the German government-funded MoPaHyb research project (Modular production plant for heavy-duty hybrid components), which also involves Fraunhofer ICT and nine other partners. They developed a modular production system for hybrid components, combin- ing an Arburg injection unit for fibre direct com- pounding (FDC) with a Dieffenbacher 3,600-tonne vertical press (see Injection World Jan/Feb 2019). “Based on the positive results achieved in the
MoPaHyb project, we will in future also be offering Dieffenbacher transfer moulding presses in combination with an Arburg FDC injection unit,” says Manfred Reif, Head of the Composites Business Unit at Dieffenbacher. “Together with our Fiberforge UD tape laying system and the Fibercon consolidation unit, we can offer our customers a strong overall package.” Arburg and several key players are also involved in the FOREL FuPro project in Germany. FOREL is a nationwide, open platform for the devel- opment of lightweight system solutions in multi-material designs for future electric vehicles. FuPro is now focusing on closed hollow profiles with continuous fibre distribution, combined with thermoplastic fibre-plastic composite structures. During the implementation
phase, Arburg had the task of manufacturing parts by over- moulding using FDC. “Over the course of the project, however, it
became apparent that a special gripper
technology was required on the six-axis robot [from Kuka] for handling, stabilising and draping the flexible thermoplastic composite sheet,” it says. (The sheet in question is Tepex Dynalite 102-RG600 based on roving glass fabric and a polyamide 6 matrix, made by Lanxess subsidiary Bond-Lami- nates.) The KUKA robot works in collaboration with one of Arburg’s Multilift robotic systems. Working with various partners, Arburg developed a gripper that combines aluminium and additively manufac- tured (using its Freeformer technology) components. Ultimately, the tube-like components in combi-
Left: For the automated production of the backrest demonstrator within the FuPro project, Arburg developed a special gripper technology which enables safe handling, stabilisation and draping of the thermoplastic composite sheets
26 INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2020
www.injectionworld.com
IMAGE: ENGEL
IMAGE: KRAUSSMAFFEI
IMAGE: ARBURG
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