Plastics News - Show Daily - October 17, 2024 - 9

FAKUMA 2024
Plastics News, October 17, 2024 * 9
Plastic bipolar
plates could
compete against
metal options for
hydrogen-powered
engines.
KUNSTSTOFF-INSTITUT
LÜDENSCHEID (KIMW)
A5-3512
Marius Fedler, sales manager at
Kunststoff-Institut Lüdenscheid
(KIMW), at Fakuma 2024.
Plastics News photos by Caroline Seidel
KIMW shifting gears
in innovation projects
By David Vink
Plastics News Correspondent
Since the European auto industry
is presently in decline, there
is a need and desire for suppliers
and plastics processors to fi nd
new growth opportunities.
This is the prime motivation for
the four major themes at Fakuma
2024 for Kunststoff-Institut Lüdenscheid
(KIMW), focused on illumination
techniques, bioplastics of
the so-called third generation, sustainability
in the medical industry
and hydrogen technologies.
Sales Manager Marius Fedler
said medical devices and their
packaging are the fi fth-largest
source of plastics waste. KIMW
addresses this with projects
aimed at " eco design " solutions
to reduce the number of parts,
materials and contamination that
obstruct recycling.
The 27 partner companies in
this work include, in Germany,
the Bad Ems-based distributor
Löwenstein Medical SE & Co. KG
and the Lübeck-based medical
equipment producer Drägerwerk
AG & Co. KGaA.
The work is covered under
a Sustainability4Health innovation
network set to operate
from August 2024 to August
2026, with a second phase running
to April 2029.
The Poly4Nature
innovation
network project runs with 36
partner companies until March
2026 and deals with " third-generation "
bioplastics using alternative
raw materials and natural
polymers, such as those based
on algae, mushrooms and sunfl
ower seed reinforcement.
KIMW has examples at its
booth of transparent seaweed-sourced,
algae-based fl exible
packaging fi lm that can be
colored to individual needs and
that was developed within Poly4Nature
by Schwerte, Germany-based
GreenFoilNature GmbH.
In terms of hydrogen technologies,
Fedler said these will
become much more important
in the future, whether for fuel
cells in automotive vehicles or
electrolyzers. This is why KIMW
works together with the Centre
for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT)
at the University of Duisburg-Essen,
an automotive OEM and
two Tier 1 automotive suppliers
on the design, material choice
and production by injection or
compression molding of bipolar
plates (BPPs) in plastics containing
conductive particles.
Fedler admits there are metal
BPPs, which can be thinner, but
they are heavier and have a shorter
lifetime. Gas-assist injection
molding is also part of KIMW's
hydrogen project work, as an example
for fuel cell fl uid lines.
Although not displayed on the
booth, an acoustic technique
from Wuppertal, Germany-based
WearTell Deutschland GmbH,
which is used to identify wear,
cracks, fracture and other faults
in injection molds, is also a Fakuma
theme for KIMW.
Fedler advised that the system
sets off an easily detectable
acoustic wave when it discovers
a mold malfunction. That can
be, for example, when an ejector
begins to deteriorate, already
around 20-30 movements in advance
of breakage, so timely replacement
can be made. Similarly,
it recognizes venting, fl ash, backfl
ow, tiebar lubrication, and shutoff
needle and nozzle wear issues.
It can monitor multiple fl ow fronts
or different size cavities.
Injection molding of low melting
metal has been a theme at
the Aachen, Germany-based Institute
for Plastics Processing
(IKV). KIMW has now taken up
the subject together with Lahr,
Germany-based mold maker Polar-Form
Werkzeugbau GmbH and
Balve, Germany-based zinc metal
producer Balver Zinn Josef Jost
GmbH & Co. KG.
Fedler explained that high
investment cost has hindered
development, but the system
developed by KIMW has a more
favorable cost, due to the way
in which compressed air is supplied
to the single-shot molding
system. KIMW displays examples
of two-component moldings with
integrated tin tracks. More traditional
conductive track solutions
shown by KIMW involve back
molding of fi lms with printed conductive
tracks.
Kunststoff-Institut Lüdenscheid is looking at other markets,
including health care, since the auto industry is struggling in
Europe at this point.
Plastics News - Show Daily - October 17, 2024

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