Once again, the K 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, lived up to its claim to be the leading trade show for plastics technology. At least in the field of injection molding, there were exciting global innovations to see – if you looked closely.

Fig. 1. Smart Operation – the machine is operated with only four buttons (© KraussMaffei)

Injection Molding Trends at K 2019

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Schaumspritzgießen

Smart Factory

Energieeffizienz

Mikrospritzgießen

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Spritzgießmaschinen

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Fließpressen

Handling, Handhabungstechnik für die spanende Fertigung

Automatisierungstechnik

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Spritzgieß-Sonderverfahren

Spritzgießsimulation

Software

Simulation

Elastomer-Spritzgießen

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrieroboter

Montagetechnik

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrie 4.0

Montage-Spritzgießen

Knickarmroboter

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Technical Excellence thanks  to Digital Assistance

After a year’s forced break of Fakuma, Wittmann Battenfeld is announcing the new servohydraulic SmartPlus machine as the highlight of this year’s trade show. It is claimed to be characterized by high economic and energy efficiency and repeat accuracy.

The new SmartPlus machine is equipped with the HiQ Flow software and the CMS Light condition monitoring system

Messe Fakuma

kunststoffe-international.com

Spritzprägen

Injection Molding Innovations In-House, Live and in Color

Over past months, many in-house workflows and development processes have slowed down and also changed. Nevertheless, time has not stood still, also not in injection molding technology. The debate and development have been shaped by two themes: digitalization and the circular economy. Below are some examples of developments and projects that underpin this trend.

Two displays are seamlessly integrated into the continuously 3D-formed instrument panel

Innovative Injection Molding in Times of Pandemic

Künstliche Intelligenz für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Steuern, Regeln

Folientechnik (IMD, IML, FIM, u.a.)

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Schnecken und Plastifiziersysteme

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Lasermarkieren

Oberflächentechnik

Laserbearbeitungen

Inline- / Online-Messsysteme

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Kreislaufwirtschaft

There Is More beyond the Horizon

The announcements in the field of injection molding give the impression that the developments of recent years are continuing. These include the increasing digitalization of injection molding production, as well as highly integrated production cells that combine very different competencies. The spotlight shines not only on the machinery, but rather on optimum system solutions for integrating molds and individually configured peripheries in the digital and the real world. 

Fakuma 2018: Injection Molding Networked and Integrated 

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

ERP-Systeme

Treibmittel

Temperiertechnik

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

The Communicative Machine 

Making a racket is part of the trade. In the past, tradesmen would do this at markets by swinging wooden rattles to attract attention. Today, instead, it is the industry which is trying to make its developments heard and accepted, for example at trade fairs and in the media. What has injection molding technology had to offer recently, aside from Industry 4.0? The answer is process developments that in the main expand the range of applications for plastic parts, mechanical assistance systems that enable consistently high part quality to be achieved more reliably, and the huge field of temperature control. 

New Ways to Attain Special Part Properties Are Advancing the Art of Injection Molding 

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Making a Racket for Plastics  

The new Reverse Cube developed by Foboha manufactures various components or multi-component parts from varying materials in one step and assembles individual parts into finished products independently from the cycle time using an integrated handling robot. The automated process improves quality, accelerates cycle times by up to 40 % compared to separate injection molding and assembly processes, and thus enables substantial productivity gains at lower costs.

Two thermally separated cube molds rotate in opposite directions at a 90° angle. Bottom: injection and cooling of component 1 (roller made of PP) and component 2 (female connection made of POM), staggered by 180°

Manufacturing and Installing Multi-Component Parts on a Two-Part Cube Mold

Montage

Werkzeugtemperatursensoren

Messtechnik

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Reverse Rotation

The new injection-molding machine Engel duo speed combines productivity and efficiency with short cycle times in a high clamping force range. The two-platen machine is thus making inroads into a range of packaging applications that were formerly the domain of toggle machines.

If you want a somewhat larger sized pail: the duo speed large machine was developed specifically for manufacturing pails and transport boxes

Engel Duo Speed Expands the Machine Portfolio for Packaging Applications

High-Speed Machine with a  Small Footprint

In the second part of the series, calculations were carried out on the throughput behaviour, pressure build-up capacity and the melting process on the basis of an exemplary geometry. These results are now to be examined in more detail and subsequently optimized.

Through empirical tests and simulation-supported test series, a screw can be designed in a tailor-made manner for the respective application 

Part 3 of the Series Deals with the Tests to Optimize the Screw Geometry

All about Plasticizing Screws

iQ process observer, the new process monitoring platform from Engel monitors hundreds of parameters from the injection molding cell in the background.

The injection molder is truly not a friend of changes – if they occur in the running process. The iQ process observer helps him to keep an eye on the process and thus keep a handle on the quality

A Process Monitoring Platform Monitors Several Hundred Parameters Simultaneously

Prozessvisualisierung

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Instandhaltung

IoT-Plattformen für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

An Eye on the Process –  a Handle on Quality

The Reversecube two-part cube mold is used to produce 60 million multicomponent parts per year on one production line and in the same process. The cycle times must be kept very short while at the same time maintaining stable processes and a high part quality. Sensor-based monitoring and automatic process control is therefore deployed in the form of Fillcontrol from Priamus. It consists of hot-runner balancing, viscosity and compression control as well as automatic holding pressure changeover.

The two halves of the Reversecube cube mold, in stacked arrangement, rotate in 90° steps. Bottom: injection and cooling component 1, analogous to the component 2 above, which is offset by 180°

Automating Injection Molding with Process Control – with the Example of a Cube Mold

Werkzeuginnendrucksensoren

Quality Assurance for Multiple Cavities

“At our trade show presentation this year, we are concentrating on the automation and digitalization of our injection-molding machines,” says Alfred Schiffer, marketing partner at Dr. Boy GmbH & Co. KG, explaining the activities planned for Fakuma. Three of the four applications at its own tradeshow booth – four more can be seen at its partners – are equipped with Dr. Boy’s own LR 5 linear handling unit.

On the Boy 35 E, the LR 5 compact telescopic handling system is use for a medical LSR application

kunststoffe.de

Individual Automation and Digitalization

Emilio López has been appointed as the new managing director of Engel de Mexico SA de CV. He succeeds Peter Auinger, who retired on 1st September 2021.

Emilio López is the new managing director of Engel de Mexico SA de CV

New Managing Director in Mexico

Arburg will be showing the hybrid high-performance Hidrive series on its stand no. 21B25 in Hall 2, with an Allrounder 520 H producing 32 pipette tips in around 6 s cycle time.

The hybrid Allrounder 520 H on show at Interplastica is equipped with a 32-cavity mold and produces pipette tips in a cycle time of around 6 s.

High-Tech for Medical Technology

From 25 to 28 January, the OOO Engel team presents its booth in Moscow again. The injection molding machine manufacturer and system solution provider headquartered in Austria is making the huge potential of digital solutions tangible by producing technical parts live on a tie-bar-less victory injection molding machine.

Engel victory injection molding machines with tie-bar-less clamping units.

The Benefits of Tie-Bar-Less Technology

Paul Caprio has left Engel North America effective January 31st, 2022. Now the company presents the new management board.

Engel North America Management Board (left to right): Johann Dastl (CFO), Vanessa Malena (COO), Benjamin Lettner (CSO), Mark Sankovitch (CEO).

New Management Board at Engel North America

The area of application of cube molds has expanded to take in the production of technical parts. The new Allrounder Cube 1800 from Arburg with a clamping force of 1800 kN is providing the response to this trend. With its compact cube, this machine completes the portfolio of products at the lower end of the range.

Innovative cube technology is reducing cycle time. Previously, Arburg’s hybrid cube series had been primarily intended for efficient high-volume production in the packaging industry. The area of application of cube molds has since expanded to take in the production of technical parts. The new Allrounder Cube 1800 with a clamping force of 1800 kN is providing the response to this trend. With its compact cube, this machine completes the portfolio of products at the lower end of the range. It is able to significantly reduce unit costs even when producing parts in low volumes. Its potential can be illustrated using the example of a two-component product from the field of personal care.

Despite high mold investment costs, the innovative cube technology quickly pays for itself. This is because it can significantly improve productivity – and it can do this in many different industries. The compact Allrounder Cube 1800 is particularly suitable for the cost-effective production of technical and medical products, for example, as well as for personal care products.

The hybrid Allrounder Cube 1800 has a clamping force of 1800 kN and a distance between tie-bars of 570 x 570 mm. It can be equipped with horizontal injection units in sizes from 400 to 1300 and moving injection units in sizes from 70 to 800. At its heart is a compact cube from partner company Foboha, which is easily accessible from above. The rotation of the cube is powered servo-electrically and the horizontal movement relies on rack and pinion mechanisms.

Fitted with an 8+8-cavity mold, for example, the Allrounder Cube 1800 is capable of more than double the output quantity of a conventional size 570 Allrounder with a 4+4-cavity rotary mold working with the same mold mounting surface. Or the same output as at least two Allrounders with comparable tie-bar spacing or one injection molding machine three numbers larger – which drastically reduces the installation area.

Bichrome Sealing Caps made from Recycled PP

An Allrounder Cube 1800 with two injection units in sizes 400 and 170 demonstrates an example of application for the personal care area of application involving a 4-cavity pilot mold from Foboha: each injection unit can produce four bichrome sealing caps made from chemically recycled PP from Borealis in a cycle time of 8.7 s. Four frames each weighing 0.85 g are injected at station one. Having been rotated 90° onto the passive side of the cube, the pre-molded parts are cooled at station two. Following a second rotation, the second component (2.10 g) is injected at station three. Finally, the finished parts are removed automatically at station four, also without influencing the cycle time.

The example application involves the use of a six-axis robot which is fully integrated in the machine controller. The robot system sets the finished parts down on a conveyor belt. The controller runs a check for defective injection molded parts and any that are identified as not OK are removed by the robot system. Furthermore, test samples can be removed at the touch of a button and set down in QA trays sorted by cube side for subsequent visual inspection of the injection molded parts.

The Allrounder Cube hybrid series combines speed and precision with reliability and energy efficiency. The machines are available with clamping forces of 1800, 2900 and 4600 kN. Injection molding in two sequential mold parting lines takes place at the same time as cooling and removal. Just using the passive sides of the cube as a cooling station can reduce cooling time by 30 %.

Other processes that do not influence cycle time (including loading inserts, unscrewing, the assembly of individual components, integrated checks and automated parts removal, for example) enable cost-effectiveness to be increased further beyond that of conventional free-fall packaging applications. In some circumstances, one Allrounder Cube can replace several conventional injection molding machines and reduce footprints by up to 75 %. Its energy requirement is up to 45 % lower compared with that of conventional Cube machines.

Close Cooperation between Arburg and Foboha

In matters of cube technology, Arburg works in close collaboration with Foboha, a mold specialist based in Haslach, Germany, and an established expert in its field. Combined with a “smart” machine controller, the modularity of the Allrounder Cube series delivers high levels of flexibility and can be perfectly matched to the mold technology. The robotic systems that are increasingly being used can also be integrated into the controller.

At Arburg, an interdisciplinary cube team consisting of colleagues from application technology, sales and automation to achieve very specific targets in the delivery of all aspects of “the cube”. This means that customers who are interested in cube-mold technology can get custom-made complete solutions from a single source. They include special designs like reverse cube technology with counter-rotating cube halves and cube machines for three-component injection molded parts.

FOBOHA GmbH  

https://www.advaltech.com

ARBURG GmbH + Co KG  

https://www.arburg.com

At the heart of the cube machine is a compact cube designed by our partner Foboha which can be easily accessed from above. The rotation of the cube is powered servo-electrically and the horizontal movement relies on rack and pinion mechanisms

2021-08-03 Arburg_Cube

In this cube-mold technology, the injection molding of the pre-molded part and the finished part, as well as cooling and removal, take place simultaneously. Just using the passive sides of the cube as a cooling station can reduce cooling time by 30 %

The hybrid Allrounder Cube 1800 with compact cube mold achieves more than double the output quantity of a conventional machine of the same size with rotary mold