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

Spritzgießen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Schaumspritzgießen

Künstliche Intelligenz für die Qualitätssicherung

Industrie 4.0

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Steuern, Regeln

Software

Mehrkomponenten-Spritzgießen

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

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Spritzgießwerkzeuge

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Werkzeuge für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Spritzgieß-Sonderverfahren

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Spritzgießsimulation

Simulation

Schnecken und Plastifiziersysteme

Spritzgießmaschinen

Industrie 4.0 für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

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

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

Smart Factory

Energieeffizienz

Mikrospritzgießen

Spritzgießmaschinen, allgemein

Fließpressen

Handling, Handhabungstechnik für die spanende Fertigung

Automatisierungstechnik

Handling, Handhabungstechnik

Elastomer-Spritzgießen

Linearroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Industrieroboter

Montagetechnik

Montage-Spritzgießen

Knickarmroboter

Co-Injektion (Barriere-/Sandwich-Spritzgießen)

Hybrid-Spritzgießen (Metall / Kunststoff)

Ressourcenmanagement

Produktion

Technical Excellence thanks  to Digital Assistance

This year, the world’s leading trade show K has succeeded in presenting practical solutions for greater resource efficiency on a broad front. A first foray through the trade show grounds.

K 2022 gave numerous practical examples showing visitors how recyclates can be reliably processed with digital aids.

16:9

State-of-the-Art Injection Molding Solutions for Greater Resource Efficiency.

State-of-the-Art Injection Molding Solutions at K 2022

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Solar / PV

Energieerzeugung

Erneuerbare Energie

Temperiertechnik

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Instandhaltung

Digitalisierung

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Silikonkautschuk

Kautschuk / Elastomere

Compoundieren

It Can Be Done!

New process technologies, new machines – a selection of what will be on show at Fakuma 2023.

Making its debut at Fakuma 2023 is the next representative of the hybrid Hidrive series with new machine technology: an Allrounder 520 H in the “Premium” performance variant.

Elektrische Antriebe für Spritzgießmaschinen

Antriebe

Elektrische Antriebe

Solutions for Injection Molders

Injection molding cell combines high article variance with automated product changeover.

With the turnkey solution, 159 product variants can be manufactured.

Flexible Production Concept Combines High Article Variance with Automation

Automatisierungszellen

Automatisierungskomponenten

Inserttechnik

Multiaxialroboter für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

One System, 159 Variants

The interplay between the physical and virtual process chain permits the fully automatic production of FRP-metal hybrid parts every minute.

Virtualization offers great potential for better understanding of complex manufacturing processes for hybrid parts and shortening development times. The digital twin, in combination with the recorded process parameters of the physical process chain, is intended as an efficient tool for virtual design and optimization for future hybrid processes.

From Simulation to Mass Production of Hybrid Parts

Leichtbau

Organobleche (gewebeverstärkte Thermoplast-Halbzeuge)

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

With an Automated Process Chain  and a Digital Twin

A group of Italian companies has developed three automated injection molding lines for the production of single-use compostable cutlery.

Armido Marana (left) and Antonio Munarini of Ecozema in front of the Engel e-mac 280 for the production of single-use cutlery in compostable bioplastics.

Discovery Tour

Länderspecial Italien

kunststoffe.de

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

Compostable Bioplastics:  Italy Sets the Standard

Arburg is working on the vision that, with the help of AI, every injection molding machine in the future will not only know the processes, but also the products it produces.

The problem with machine learning in injection molding: What has been learned at great expense only applies to that one, very specific process. In other words, the rules or algorithms that have been established cannot simply be transferred to other processes.

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Digitaler Zwilling

AI Models for Injection Molding Simulation

The toolmaking industry of the future is facing significant changes in its range of services and its value creation processes. It is difficult to predict exactly how the collaboration of German tool manufacturers with series production will be structured in the future. However, it can be assumed that digital networking and sustainability will play a key role.

What the Two Trend Topics Mean for Collaboration between Toolmaking and Series Production

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die Qualitätssicherung

Datenanalyse

Toolmaking of the Future –  Digitalized and Sustainable

At K 2022, Engel, with its partners Alpla Group, Brink and IPB Printing, is presenting a quantum leap for the packaging industry. Thin-wall containers can for the first time be produced from PET directly by injection molding in only one process step.

Fig. 1. The thin-walled containers are injection molded from rPET.

Schmelzefilter

Polyethylenterephthalat

Thermoplaste

Processing rPET by Thin-Wall  Injection Molding

The optimization of injection molding processes by using software to simulate mold filling and solidification is standard today. However, this has its limits, especially if the material properties or the flow behavior are not known with sufficient accuracy. The services offered by Beaumont, such as material testing, injection molding tests or the optimization of flow channel systems, can help here.  

MF Software Exclusively Distributes Beaumont Products in Europe 

Werkstoffprüfung

Rheologie

Higher Productivity and Better  Process Control 

Users can now precisely simulate and design the mold temperature control already at the planning phase. 

Cooling Simulation with Temp-Flex Hoses 

Precise Simulation of Thermal Behavior 

The toolmaker Siebenwurst uses injection molding simulation to optimize part design and production processes in its routine workflows. Among other things, Simcon’s software ensures the quality and dimensional accuracy of the plastic frame for the first series-produced injection molded e-bike.

The frames give the e-bikes an extraordinary design, with robustness comparable to steel or aluminum

Controlling Complex Development and Manufacturing Processes, Using Simulation

Composite-Halbzeuge

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

A Bike Frame from an Injection  Molding Machine

At the 2019 K fair, Arburg and Simcon showcased a filling process proceeding in real-time, as a 3D animation, on the display of a machine control panel, for an example of sunglasses, made of PA12. All that was needed to prepare this, was to load the simulation model, as well as the geometry of the part, directly onto the machine controls. This sounds almost too easy to be true. Right?

The Interviewees Dr. Paul Filz (left) an Dr. Eberhard Duffner

Interview with Eberhard Duffner and Paul F. Filz by the Magazine Kunststoffe

Interview

Anyone seeking to replace a metal component by a plastic one, to reduce the number of component parts from eight to three and simultaneously cut both the weight and manufacturing costs needs to take great care to ensure that all specifications are met – especially if the component is used in a hot gearbox and is subject to high mechanical stress.

The shifter fork creates a positive lock between the gear wheel and the shaft so that the engine power can be transmitted to the wheels

Production-Ready Plastic Shifter Fork Offers a Maximum of Functional Integration

Kohlenstofffasern / -matten

Verstärkungsstoffe

Produktentwicklung (F+E)

Innovationsentwicklung

Replacing Metal in the Gearbox

Arburg has adopted a clear message for its trade fair appearance at the K 2022 in Düsseldorf: „There is only a Plan A“.

Arburg has adopted a clear message for its trade fair appearance at the K 2022 in Düsseldorf: „There is only a Plan A“. Combined with extensive digitalisation, the machine manufacturer sees itself perfectly positioned to provide high-end technology for greater sustainability.

How can digitalization make a concrete contribution to resource conservation and increased production efficiency? The answer is provided by Arburg at K 2022, with examples of highly networked, digitalized manufacturing. The most important goal, namely the targeted homogeneous separation and return of plastics to the loop, is served by, e.g., marking technologies such as water marks or QR codes, which are applied to the products during the manufacturing process. Or the equipping of the Gestica control system with digital assistance systems to give all customers control over the problem of fluctuating material quality. Arburg not only addresses these topics at its own booth (bigger than ever, with 1900 m2 presentation area) but also prominently in the arburgGreenworld pavilion of the VDMA Circular Economy Forum in the courtyard of the tradeshow area.

This pavilion specifically presents Arburg’s contribution to conservation of natural resources, both within its own company and in its customers’ injection molding production. As a flagship application, “Greenline” wall plugs from Fischer, one of the market leaders in fastening systems, are manufactured on an Allrounder 370 A electrical injection molding machine with recyclate package and Multilift robot system (Fig.). The giveaway is a shining example of a successful circular economy with post-industrial recyclate (PIR). The sprue is ejected directly into a granulator, returned directly to the process as regrind and reused. By selecting a young team at the show, with many trainees, Arburg is demonstrating strikingly how important its current efforts are for coming generations.

Correspondingly, Arburg, at its main booth, is presenting technologies to allow sustainable, efficient production. Overall, eight hydraulic, hybrid and electrical machines from 350 to 6500 kN clamping force can be seen, which are automated with robot systems and in some cases integrated into complex turnkey systems. In addition, all the injection molding machines are integrated into the arburgXworld customer portal. The potentials of the Gestica control system and its assistants, such as the “aXw Control FillAssist” can also be experienced. In this context, the “Varimos” plug-in from Simcon is being unveiled, which, AI-based, shows what the effects are of changes in machine parameters.

Three exhibits are equipped with the recyclate package from Arburg: an electric Allrounder 470 A manufactures PP handles from post-consumer recyclate (PCR); a hydraulic Allrounder 270 S compact processes glass fiber-reinforced PPS recyclate into tweezers. The exhibit additionally has a secure 5G mobile communications link – a pilot project from Arburg and Telekom. A fully automatic unit centered on an Allrounder 375 V with six-axis robot and Arburg Turnkey Control Module (ATCM) produces a bicycle tool from recycled PA66/6-GF50.

A hybrid Allrounder 630 H machine equipped for packaging and cleanroom use manufactures around 18,000 transparent PET blood tubes per hour: the injection molding machine communicates with the mold, hot runner controller, material dryer and automation via the Gestica control unit and OPC UA. The “Moldlife Sense” computer system integrated into the 32-cavity mold of its partner Hack Formenbau permits monitoring throughout the complete life cycle.

In another medical technology application, an Allrounder More 1600 machine produces Luer lock connectors. This application shows the first ever use of the handling with a Yaskawa robot programmable directly via the machine control system.

Arburg shows an alternative to thermoforming with an electrical Allrounder 720 A machine. Its new size 1300 injection unit, thanks to precise AMKmotion servo motors, permits high injection volume streams. The exhibit produces thin-walled IML round cups.

A highlight in tooling technology is an Allrounder Cube 1800 with an 8+8+8-cavity cube mold with new CITI technology from the partner Foboha. The 3-component machine manufactures a functional component from PP, TPE and POM. Mold filling, cooling and part removal are performed synchronously by a six-axis robot.

One of the visitor magnets is probably the biggest exhibit: the manufacture of a high-quality toolbox of Arburg design on a hybrid Allrounder 1120 H machine with 6500 kN clamping force.

With its trade show appearance in Düsseldorf, Germany, Arburg is pursuing a clearly formulated line of communication: “There is only a Plan A.” Dr. Christoph Schumacher, Division Head of Marketing, said: “We are making clear that, where conservation of natural resources, circular economy and CO2 reduction are concerned, there cannot be a Plan B – based on the mission statement of the sustainability movement ‘There is no Planet B.’ Our message to the visitors to K 2022: We have understood the relationships, are strategically and operationally addressing the issues and making our contribution as a machine manufacture.”

ARBURG GmbH + Co KG  

https://www.arburg.com

In the arburgGreenworld pavilion of the VDMA Circular Economy Forum, an Allrounder 370 A with recyclate package is manufacturing “Greenline” wall plugs from Fischer.