MATERIALS | THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES
Above: The tape laying unit developed by Engel delivers tailor-made prepregs in a 1-minute cycle time
injection moulded parts and of flat components made of tape or thermoplastic composite sheets with integrated functions. The potential of the solution became apparent not long after the MoPaHyb project was success- fully completed. In addition to the pilot system at Fraunhofer ICT in Pfinztal, Germany, a second system is to be set up in Ulsan, South Korea. The results of the research project were also transferred directly into practice. Dieffenbacher is cooperating with Arburg and now offers its transfer moulding presses with FDC injection units. “Lightweight construction, electric mobility,
digitalisation and Industry 4.0 are among the megatrends of this decade,” says Prof Frank Henning, Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT). “Espe- cially in lightweight construction, hybrid systems with fibre-reinforced plastics in combination with metallic materials offer a high potential for conserv- ing resources. Targeted use and economical production are a pre-requisite for this. The out- standing cooperation between the project partners of the BMBF MoPaHyb project made it possible to develop and validate a technologically pioneering approach for this purpose. It combines the exper- tise of diverse players along the value chain and forms the basis for the introduction of such material systems into series production.” Engel has developed highly cost-effective
production concepts for the manufacture of composite parts. The Engel Organomelt process is now used for fully automated production of front- end carriers for Daimler and other applications. The company says that for seat shells, consoles and interior structural components, for example, the inte- grated production process opens up the possibility of implementing lightweight design for high-volume vehicles in a cost-efficient way.
30 INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2021
In the Organomelt process, thermoplastic fibre composite prepregs based on thermoplastic fabrics and unidirectional (UD) fibreglass or carbon fibre reinforced tapes are heated in infrared ovens specially developed for this technology. The thermoplastic composite material is brought into the injection mould by a robot, where it is formed and functionalised in a single step. Using injection moulding, reinforcing ribs or assembly elements, for example, can be overmoulded directly. This enables a highly efficient and fully automated manufacturing process, which in turn reduces the unit cost. In addition, using the thermoplastic approach throughout makes a contribution towards sustainability. It makes it easier to develop recycling strategies. Returning composite compo- nents to the material loop at the end of their service life is one of the priorities for ongoing development in vehicle manufacturing. Composite parts created using the Engel
Organomelt process combine a particularly light weight with excellent crash safety capabilities, says the company. As this process undergoes further development, Engel is working on the production aspects of load-compliant composite part design. In order to adapt the component geometry to the required lightweight properties, several different prepregs – for example, thermoplastic fabrics of different thicknesses or UD tapes – will in the future be combined for each component. Engel is using a door structure developed in partnership with automotive supplier Brose to demonstrate the potential. Three thermoplastic fabrics with thick- nesses between 0.6 and 2.5 mm are processed. The different loads on the individual component areas can be considered in an optimal way through a load-compliant selection of the organic sheets. For example, the door structure is more rigid in the window frame area than on the inside of the door. Engel says that it develops integrated and fully
automated solutions for the entire process – from individual tapes through to functionalisation in the injection moulding process – from a single source. In order to be cost-effective in high-volume production, the processes of laying and consolidat- ing the stacks (tape laying) must be inline and occur within the cycle of the injection moulding process. To allow this to happen, Engel combines a tape laying cell and a consolidation unit. The integrated process can manufacture fit-for-purpose preforms in a cycle time of just 1 min. In order to achieve the shortest possible cycle times, the tape laying cell developed by Engel relies on the pick-and-place principle with optical image processing. The individual tape layers are picked
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IMAGE: ENGEL
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