Plastics News Europe - June 2019 - 8

automotive plastics

plastics solutions meet new
automotive industry trends
Several papers at the IIMC 2019
injection moulding conference covered
automotive industry trends and
requirements. David Vink reviews
presentations focussed on hybrid
design, foam moulding in aluminium
tools and additive manufacturing

t the April 2019 International
Injection Moulding conference
(IIMC) organised by the IKV institute for plastics processing, Dr Karlheinz Bourdon, senior vice president at
injection moulding machinery producer KraussMaffei Technologies,
spoke about "new horizons for plastics in automotive applications".
The automotive industry "probably faces its greatest technological
change with global electromobility
and autonomous driving trends.
Many automotive industry changes
relate to air quality in mega-cities and
governmental intervention with increasingly strict greenhouse gas environmental regulation", Bourdon said.
This should not reduce decades of
increasing plastics use. Weight reduction coupled with lower costs through
functional integration with plastics
still play a major role in e-mobility,
and autonomous driving opens up
new plastics applications.
Referring to the BMW i3 car's carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP)
passenger cell and injection moulded
body panels, Bourdon said, "After
8-9 years experience, no-one follows
this type of design any more". He
sees potential with the SMiLe project
multi-material lightweight floor concept for e-cars with the latest project
version aiming to have an integrated
13-module battery housing. The 209
kg weight part excluding a battery
comes out 153 kg lighter than a 362
kg Volkswagen e-Golf VII floor with
362 kg (including a separate 65 kg
battery housing).

The MAI Carbon skeleton concept combines carbon
fibre reinforced PA6 pultrusion with thermoplastic
overmoulding

Transmission system housing moulded by Ebner-Tec in black
GF30-PA66 and red LSR

The MAI Carbon "skeleton"
above-windscreen transverse roof
bow developed in 2015 by CirComp
(ProfileComp) is lighter but just as
strong as when using single-material
thermoset CFRP, achieved through
the use of carbon fibre reinforced
PA6 pultrusion with thermoplastic
over-moulding.
In Bourdon's view, "advanced
functional integration with multi-component moulding of different
thermoplastics, thermoplastics with
thermosets and other hybrid solutions are all drivers for plastics in automobiles".
Ebnertec-Solution in Wolfern,
Austria moulds an engine compartment transmission housing in several
sizes with red liquid silicone rubber
(LSR) seals overmoulded to 30%
glass fibre reinforced polyamide 66,
with optional ultrasonic membrane
application.
This one-shot process uses a reversibly rotating turntable table
mould and two injection units
mounted "piggyback" on a KraussMaffei CXZ160-750/ 180 Multinject
2-platen hydraulic drive moulding
machine within a production cell using a KraussMaffei LRX250 linear
handling robot. The cell includes fully
automatic testing and membrane
seal pressure testing, a camera and
3D scanning system controlling
175 dimensions.
Another hybrid solution, a 2014 Audi A6 "Infotainment" carrier, involves two Lanxess (Bond
Laminates) Tepex Synalite 102-RG600
47% continuous glass fibre reinforced PA inserts, infrared heated

with Krelus equipment, then formed
and injection overmoulded with Lanxess PA6 (Durethan BKV 30 EF H2.0) in
a one-shot process. This "SpriForm"
forming & moulding technology example was developed as a KraussMaffei "Fiberform" production cell with
Reinert Kunststofftechnik. Mouldmakers Christian Karl Siebenwurst
and Maier Formenbau supplied respectively prototype and production
moulds.
The carrier, moulded in cycle time
below 60 seconds, weighs 49% less
than in steel and although 7% more
expensive, assembly costs are lower.
Aluminium would have saved 19%
weight, but with an 18% cost premium over steel.
Responding to a question by IKV
head Prof. Christian Hopmann about
material trends, Bourdon admitted PP
replaced some more expensive PA applications and this trend continues.
But he added, "There are applications
needing very good mechanical properties, such as battery parts and these
can't be made in polyolefins. I also
see a certain revival in thermosets, as
some properties can only be offered
by thermosets".
Michael Prince spent 30 years in
automotive plastics, including 10 years
at Toyota, and is now CEO at the
Prince-Weiss joint venture in Eupen,
Belgium formed with the aluminium
automotive tool company of Alex
Weiss. The venture's technology &
production centre started operation in
2018 with participation of the Chinese
plastics machinery producer Yizumi.
He talked about foam technology
with aluminium mould tools, the
Prince-Weiss core development area.

june 2019

Plastics News Europe - June 2019

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