INNOVATION | THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES
Above: Engel has developed a fully integrat- ed production cell that starts with a UD-tape laying cell and finishes with overmoulding in an injection moulding process
makes them more sustainable compared to thermoset fibre composite materials. Georg Käsmeier, Managing Partner with Forward Engi- neering, pointed out that the European Union is looking to make the circular economy the norm as part of its Green Deal. He said that it is now the right time to shift from linear to circular thinking in product development and consider the recycling process as early as in the product design stage. As
part of a study, his company compared the CO2 footprint in the production of a brake pedal based on primary thermoplastics, bio-based materials and recycled thermoplastics. The savings potential of using thermoplastics with recycled content was found to be significant. Due to the increasing importance of thermo- plastics in lightweighting, Engel adds that it has invested in further development of technologies and systems for processing thermoplastic compos- ites in recent years. Engel is the first company to be able to offer a fully integrated production cell that starts with a UD-tape laying cell and finishes with overmoulding in an injection moulding process, said Paul Zwicklhuber, Development Engineer, Composite Processing, in his presentation. The tape laying cell relies on the pick-and-place principle. This means that tapes can be deposited and spot-welded together at 3 to 4s intervals. Since the quality of the stack depends largely on the accuracy of the tape positioning, Engel has equipped the laying cell with a measuring system with high resolution camera technology. Down- stream there is a unit that consolidates the thermo- plastic tape fabrics in the injection moulding cycle. Consolidation can be seamlessly integrated into the overall process, which significantly increases efficiency in the production of tailor-made tape solutions. Engel organomelt is the core of the integrated process. Thermoplastic fibre composite prepregs such as UD-tapes and organic sheets are
16 INJECTION WORLD | January/February 2022
formed and functionalised. Functional elements, such as reinforcing ribs or assembly elements, can be overmoulded immediately after thermoforming using a thermoplastic from the matrix material group. This enables a highly integrated and fully automated production process, while at the same time the process simplifies recycling of the parts at the end of their useful life. The organomelt process is also used in Brose’s door module production. Switzerland-based Svismold showed that lightweight thermoplastics can also still have advantages even if weight is not an issue. The company was able to convince a manufacturer of surfboards to replace the previous thermoset fins with a fin made of thermoplastic fibre composites based on UD-tapes. The new fin offered unparal- leled steering precision characteristics. One reason for this is the precisely calculated force flows in the part, which can be reproduced exactly in the part as the use of UD-tape ensures fibre alignment, while at the same time reducing production costs. The opening of an extension building in November 2021 has strengthened the R&D capability in lightweight applications using thermo- plastic composites for the Fraunhofer Pilot Plant Centre for Polymer Synthesis and Processing (PAZ) in Schkopau. The two production cells for the integrated and fully automated production of fibre composite functional components are now available for customer projects. Engel has supplied the Fraunhofer PAZ plant with two machines which make it possible to combine thermoplastic-based composite processes with a variety of injection moulding technologies, such as foaming. From monomer to polymer synthesis and plastics processing on a pilot scale to the tested series component, Fraunhofer PAZ develops new production processes and technologies along the entire value chain of lightweight components. Engel delivered two production cells using V-Duo and Duo injection moulding machines as integrat- ed and fully automated system solutions, capable of flexible deployment. The Engel V-Duo 700 vertical machine was combined with an Easix articulated robot and a large infrared oven – also from the company’s in-house development and production. The second production cell comprises an Engel Duo 900 injection moulding machine with a horizontal clamping unit and two Easix robots. A vertical IR oven is located above the clamping unit, allowing particularly fast hot handling of thermo- plastic sheets and blanks made of UD-tapes. Engel has also integrated injection moulding technology packages, for example, for physical foaming. Fraunhofer PAZ chose two machines of different
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IMAGE: ENGEL
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