AUTOMOTIVE | INTERIORS AND EXTERIORS
Right: An
all-electric and tie-bar-less E-motion 310/120 TL injection moulding machine from Engel pro- duced automo- tive LEDs at K2019
50s. Once decorated using IMD, foil is then added to the door trim panel during the bonding process to provide touch function- ality. Process data are then integrated into the higher-level manufacturing executive system (MES) to generate the data matrix sensor, which is bonded to the part to give each individual part its traceability data. The production demonstration also included a cutting station for sprue removal, a UV curing station to give the car trim its high gloss, a cleaning station for automated polishing, and a visual inspection chamber. Langwald adds that traceability in vehicle manufacturing is increasingly critical. “Product recalls are increasing in volume and this is where machinery equipped with smart manufacturing technologies can assist,” he says. “Heavily regulated products like airbag sensors, require comprehensive audit trails. However, it is not purely about informa- tion tracking. Real-time traceability is about being able to call up data and verify the exact settings used on the injection moulding machine when that individual plastic part was made. At Sumitomo (SHI) Demag we liken it to issuing each component with a unique fingerprint. It means that any potential quality defect, which might not be picked up for several months, or even years, can be tracked back to the very day and cycle it was manufactured to achieve item-level traceability and conduct root cause analyses on parts and components.” He said: “To facilitate this traceability we created a fully automated plastic injection moulding and laser marking station that connects and communi- cates the code back to the MES, where it reconciles up with the machine processing data. In addition to boosting traceability, this synchronised data gives production managers greater visibility on product cycle times and quality.”
Engel agrees that in the autonomous driving
environment, foil applications will be increasingly in demand and injection moulding will play a key role. “Firstly, vehicle interiors will change, needing to become more home-like with controls replaced by high-quality surfaces,” says Dr. Georg Stein- bichler, Senior Vice-President of research and development for technologies at Engel Austria. “Secondly, autonomous driving will require brand-new sensor technology that can be unobtru- sively made a part of the design. In both instances, there is a growing preference for foil applications as the production solution. With Foilmelt and Clearmelt, Engel has two extensively tried-and- tested technologies used for the processing of both functional and design foils.” At K2019 Engel demonstrated the flexibility of
this production-ready, roll-to-roll IMD process by producing complex, three-dimensional sample parts with different decor on a Victory 1060/300 injection moulding machine with an integrated Viper 20 linear robot. The joint development by system partners Engel, Leonhard Kurz, Schöfer and Isosport Verbundbauteile makes it possible to thermoform, back inject and die-cut a limitless selection of surface systems from roll to roll in the mould in this one-step process. A wide range of material combinations is
Above: At K2019, Sumitomo (SHI) Demag demonstrated an IMD cell in which each component is issued with a unique identifier, which is stored in the MES to achieve item-level traceability
58 INJECTION WORLD | November/December 2019
possible. Multi-layer foil systems with paint film surfaces, as well as structured, backlightable and functionalised foils with capacitive electronics can be processed. In order to change the decor, the structure and the functionality, only the roll has to be changed, not the mould. In addition to typical materials such as ABS, PC and PC/ABS, it is also possible to use PP and recycled material for back injection. At the K show, Engel mixed recycled material in the form of plant scrap shredded together with the foil. The company adds that it has further increased the Foilmelt technology’s degree of integration with the contouring process taking place directly in-mould. As a result, an external laser station is no longer needed, cutting out an
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PHOTO: SUMITOMO (SHI) DEMAG
PHOTO: ENGEL
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