Wittmann Battenfeld GmbH, Kottingbrunn, Austria, is following on from its participation at the Fakuma 2014. Last year the company presented the SmartPower machine series for the first time with mold clamping forces from 50 to 1,200 kN; this year it is completing the range with three models in the sizes 1,800, 2,400 and 3,500 kN. The machines of the SmartPower series have as standard a highly efficient servo hydraulic drive and – as already known from the all-electric EcoPower series – use the available braking energy via KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) for the screw barrel heating, so achieving a high degree of energy efficiency. 

Wittmann Battenfeld 

Thermoplaste

Spritzgießmaschinen

Spritzgießen

Heißkanaltechnik

Medizintechnik

Range Completed 

Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co KG, Lüdenscheid, Germany, has extended its product range of ready-to-install single needle valves with the H44201/… and H44202/… hot halves. The entire needle shut-off unit is installed directly in the corresponding size of mold, making it easy to maintain, and is designed and produced in close cooperation with the user for the application in question. 

Easy to Maintain Single Needle Valves 

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Immediately Ready for Production  

Evonik has become the first company in the world to develop a polymer filament based on PEEK (polyether ether ketone) in implant-grade quality for use as a 3D printing material for implants. This high-performance material can be used in fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology and is expected to enable additive production of three-dimensional plastic parts for medical implants in the human body. 

Evonik Develops PEEK Filament for Medical Use 

Additive Fertigung

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kunststoffhandel

3D Printing Filament in Implant-Grade Quality  

Together with around 100 guests and partners from Europe, Asia and North America BBG celebrated its the 20th anniversary in mid-May. At the event that was organized at the company's headquarters in Mindelheim in the Unterallgäu region the specialist for the plastics processing industry presented a large number of new products.  

Anniversary with Product Premieres 

PUR-Werkzeuge

Werkzeugreinigung, Kunststoffe

Schäumen / Reaktive Verarbeitung

PUR-Schäummaschinen

20 Years BBG  

Hot-runner manufacturer Incoe International Europe, Rödermark, Germany, is introducing its new Hot Halves (type: SealFit) to the European market. A Hot Half comprises a complete, ready-to-go system with SealFIt hot runner nozzles. 

SealFit Hot Halves 

Normalien und Heißkanaltechnik

Efficiency for Mold Makers and Injection Molders 

ARBURG is one of the world‘s leading manufacturers of plastic processing machines. The product portfolio encompasses ALLROUNDER injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 125 and 6,500 kN, the freeformer for industrial additive manufacturing, plus robotic systems, customer and industry-specific turnkey solutions, and further peripheral equipment.

ARBURG GmbH + Co KG  

https://www.arburg.com

Abkantmaschinen, -pressen, -bänke

Blechbearbeitungsmaschinen

Maschinen für die spanlose Fertigung

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

Antriebselemente

Lineartechnik

Maschinenelemente

Ceramic-Injection-Moulding, CIM

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Condition Monitoring für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Energieeffizienz

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Automatisierungstechnik

Kennzahlen

Qualitätsmanagement

Kennzahlen, Q-Leitstand, Q-Monitor

Qualitätssicherung

Kühlelemente, aktive

Kühlkörper

Elektromechanik

Software

Management-Informationssysteme

Mehrfarben-Spritzgießmaschinen

Mikrobauteile

Montage

Montagetechnik

Mikrospritzgießen

Mischer

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

NE-Metalle

Metall Werkstoffe

Partikelschäumen

Produktionssystem

Rapid Manufacturing

Rapid Prototyping

Reinraumsysteme / -technik

Reinraumtechnik

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Reporting-Tools

Rückverfolgbarkeit, Traceability

Schnecken und Plastifiziersysteme

Schnecken und Zylinder

Simulation

Spanneinrichtungen

Systemperipherie

Spritzgieß-Zubehör und Einzelteile

Stetigförderer

Fördertechnik

Logistik

Trockner

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

Toolmaking plays an important role as the link between product development and series production. Competition in the sector has been intensifying since toolmaking companies in high-wage countries have faced rivalry from new suppliers from low-wage countries. Since international competitors catch up quickly, differentiation with higher-value technical products will probably not be sufficient in future to ensure a competitive edge. Action is required. 

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Operational Excellence: Toolmaking in Transformation 

Sorel Forge Co., St-Joseph-de-Sorel (Quebec) Canada, a company of the Schmolz+Bickenbach Group, Emmenbrücke, Switzerland, presents the new highly polishable pre-hardened steel grades SF-2000 LQ40 and SF-2050. 

High Polishability and Excellent Machinability 

Steel Grades SF-2000 LQ40 and SF-2050 

Competitors from low-wage countries have a growing technological competence and force German tool manufacturers to revise their current range of products and services. To prevail in an international competitive environment, they must develop from pure tool manufacturers into "full service" suppliers and knowledge managers throughout the tool lifecycle. This means tapping the available potential of digitization and employing smart services to generate a difficult-to-imitate benefit for their customers in the plastics processing industry. 

Toolmaking as a Smart Service for the Plastics Processing Industry 

Instandhaltung, Wartung in der spanenden Fertigung

Diagnosesysteme

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Customer Benefit that Is Hard to Imitate 

For toolmaker Werkzeugbau Ruhla in Seebach/Thuringia, Germany, precision and reliability have a long tradition. The company, whose roots lie in the watchmaking industry, has been using DLC-coated standardized parts from Hasco since 2012. The coating reduces wear and thereby increases the service life of high-performance molds in particular. Also the associated freedom of lubricants promises competitive advantages. 

Werkzeugbau Ruhla Relies on Standardized DLC-Coated Components 

Beschichten von Metallen, allgemein

As Precise and Reliable as Clockwork 

"Industry 4.0" is a forward-looking project that seeks to interconnect production machines and associated processes completely, primarily with a view to boosting the efficiency of process optimization, procurement of operating equipment and planning of maintenance intervals and to conserve resources. If this vision is to be realized, new concepts will be needed for injection molding machines and their molds. In practical terms, this means computerizing injection molds along the lines of "Moldmaking 4.0". 

The Use of Embedded Diagnostic Systems in Injection Molds Benefits  Mold-Makers and Users alike 

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

Druck- / Kraftsensoren

Temperatursensoren

Instandhaltungsmanagement (TPM)

DOE-Software

It’s the Inner Values that Count 

Milacron Holdings Corp. announced that its DME product brand, a leader in mold components, molding supplies and industrial supplies, has partnered with Linear AMS (a Moog Company) to offer metal 3D printed Conformal Cooling products to help improve productivity in the molding industry. 

Complete and Isolated Thermal Control  

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Conformal Cooling Solution TruCool 

The signs point to growth: more exhibitors, more internationality and (as far as predictable) more visitors – this is only the second edition, but nevertheless, the Moulding Expo trade show is on its way to establish itself as the leading fair of tool, model and mold making in Europe. Booth bookings from the core area of the industry are over average, which is proof of the acceptance of Messe Stuttgart, Germany. 

Moulding Expo Will Take Place at the End of May, with More than 700 Exhibitors 

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Messeveranstalter

"We Want to Be more International" 

Right from start, the goal was to create a trade show "by the industry, for the industry." Mission accomplished: about half of the roughly 700 exhibitors at the second Moulding Expo were from the tool, model and mold making industry. Here is a small selection from the range of topics. 

Mold and Tool Makers Now Have a New Home: Moulding Expo 

Oberflächentechnik

Unmissable 

The production of plastic profiles and film is carried out with highly developed dies in which the geometries are coordinated precisely to the flow properties of the plastics. This coordination often requires long iteration loops in simulation and experiment. These loops represent a considerable cost and time factor, and threaten the prospects of manufacturing in high-wage countries.  

Excellence Clusters Studies Additively Manufactured Extrusion Dies 

Extrusionswerkzeuge

Extrusion

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Fast Product Change in Extrusion  

Small Injection Moldings for Protection against Corona 

Implementing a Face Mask Concept in Record Time 

With the Corona pandemic sweeping the world, considerable energies are being freed up and focused on developing and manufacturing urgently required medical equipment. Working under extreme time pressure, the OKE Group GmbH, based in Hörstel, Germany, has developed a concept for a full-face mask that can be quickly implemented and, according to the manufacturer, offers reliable basic protection. 

The full-face mask consists of three components: an exchangeable protective membrane, two reusable retaining clips and the permanent rubber straps, which the wearer uses to fasten the mask securely over his face. 

The technical manufacturing components for this mask concept were developed and made ready for production within an extremely short time. The injection molds for manufacturing the retaining clips were designed and manufactured by a subsidiary of the OKE Group, Alhorn GmbH & Co. KG, Lübbecke, Germany, which besides mold making, also maintains injection molding production capacity in house. The required hot-runner system was delivered by Synventive Molding Solutions GmbH “in record time,” as the company put it. 

André Stockmann, managing director at Alhorn, explains: “To ensure our manufacturing operation was reliable from the start, we put our trust in our longstanding partner Synventive for the key component of the injection molding process - hot-runner technology. From our mold concept, Synventive was able to provide complete 3D hotrunner design data within only one day, including the hot side, so that we were able to proceed to the final production of the molds without delay.” 

He says that communication between the development departments and Synventive’s engineering took place practically in real time, in fact so smoothly that the tight time schedule could be met at every phase. As required, Synventive not only developed the appropriate 16-cavity hot-runner system for the small medical components, but also implemented it in a hot side for OKE in a user-friendly way. 

The OKE Group started manufacturing the full-face mask in the first half of April. To supply the different target groups with these masks, OKE performs quality control and finishing directly in house. Anyone interested in purchasing the masks can contact the company directly at <a href="https://www.oke-shop.de">oke-shop.de.</a> 