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.

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

The consumables required for In-vitro diagnostics are manufactured in a production process that is subject to high requirements in terms of precision and quality, but also the complex cleanroom manufacturing environment. This has implications for the entire plant technology – especially toolmaking.

Strategic Approach through Classification according to Product Groups

Werkzeug- und Formenbau

Dienstleistungen

Werkzeug-, Formen- und Modellbau

Medizinprodukte

Medizintechnik

Mold Platforms for IVD Consumables

In plastics processing, efficient production methods are required, especially for articles with high volumes and exacting quality requirements, and these must be constantly optimized. The container specialist Walther Faltsysteme has been successfully working together with the Austrian moldmaker Haidlmair for many years.

Walther Faltsysteme Combines Three Mold Technologies from the Haidlmair Group

Industrie 4.0 für die Qualitätssicherung

Condition Monitoring / Prozessüberwachung

Instandhaltung

Paletten und Behälter

Logistik

Verpackungstechnik

Heißkanalsysteme

Komponenten für die Kunststoffverarbeitung

With Broad Sword and Data Collector

Aside from offering high mechanical strength, versatility and durability, polymer materials are ideal for applications in the electrical industry because of their ability to isolate electrical current.

Connectors for Industrial Lifelines: High-Tech Injection Molding at Harting

Hybridtechnik

Polymere, flüssigkristalline

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Thermoplaste

Stanzen

Verfahren für die spanlose Fertigung

Schneiden

Steckverbinder

Elektromechanik

Well-Balanced Hot Runner Technology for LCP Processing

The aim of the project was clear: a highly automated turnkey system must replace several decentralized, operator-guided machines in order to be able to mass produce enclosures for a vacuum sensor with three inserted pins in a way that is smooth, automated and therefore faster than before in large-scale production, and error-free. The plastics processor Goerlich chose the machine manufacturer Arburg as a partner in its goal of achieving greater production efficiency.

At Goerlich, a Turnkey Plant Replaces Two Machines with a Vertical Clamping Unit

Automatisierungszellen

A Machine Strategy with  Extra Automation

The chance of such a restart is probably not often. Following an insolvency, a classic injection molding company is rebuilt under new management into a high-tech manufacturing company and component manufacturer, which delivers its products just-in-sequence to its customers’ production lines. Some examples from the white goods world show how sophisticated process technology is today. As a strategic partner, EKT has brought the hot runner manufacturer Synventive on board. 

Eifler Kunststoff-Technik Specializes in the Functional Application of Proprietary Processes in Injection Molding Production 

Normalien und Heißkanaltechnik

Inserttechnik

Professional Bias towards Complexity 

In the Federal German Excellence Cluster "Merge", new processes for hydroforming-injection molding for processing thermoplastic fiber composites are being researched. With gas as a forming and supporting medium, fiber-reinforced plastic tubes have been processed for the first time. In specific applications, researchers succeeded in reducing the part weight and process costs, and increasing productivity. 

A Merger of Hydroforming and Injection Molding Technologies Is Driving Lightweight Design 

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

Kunststoff-Profile

Laserstrukturieren

Towards the Functionalized FRP Tube 

Susanne Schröder will become editor-in-chief of the magazines Kunststoffe and Kunststoffe international on December 1, 2020. The current editor-in-chief Dr. Karlhorst Klotz will leave the company by mutual agreement.

Werkzeuge für Leichtbauwerkstoffe

Präzisionswerkzeuge

Tiefziehwerkzeug

Werkzeugüberwachung

Toolmanagement

Werkzeugwechselsysteme, Spritzgieß

Modulare Werkzeugsysteme

Absaugungen für Werkzeugmaschinen

Betriebsausrüstung / Betriebsmittel

Absaugvorrichtungen

Fluorkunststoffe

Werkzeugverwaltungssoftware

Prüfen von Kunststoffen

Messtechnik

Biokunststoffe

Presswerkzeuge, Kunststoff

Werkzeugreinigung, Kunststoffe

Standardkunststoffe

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Lohnfertigung

Technische Kunststoffe

Füllstoffe für Kunststoffe

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

Kunststoffhandel

Handel

Betriebstechnik für Kunststoffverarbeitung (Peripherie)

Kunststofffasern

Verstärkungsstoffe

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Hochleistungskunststoffe

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Qualitätssicherung

Change in the Chief Editorial Office of Kunststoffe

A tool logbook on paper is often not to hand just when you need it most. Or it is incomplete, since it is time consuming to keep the information up to date. A cloud-independent, electronic tool log, which is directly integrated into the tool could make all the relevant data available directly.

The Electronic Tool Logbook as a Combination of Operating Manual and Check List

Werkzeuginnendrucksensoren

Sensoren / Messwertaufnehmer

Messdatenerfassung und -verarbeitung

Papierlose QM-Dokumentation

Qualitätsmanagement

Dokumentationsmanagement

Werkzeugkonstruktion

Mobile Datenerfassung

Lagertechnik

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Fernwartung / Ferndiagnose

Dokumentenmanagement, CAQ

Data Management at the Tool

Marbling is often a real eye-catcher in plastic components. However, the effect is difficult to create and there are some pitfalls when it comes to reproducibility. Novel nozzles for injection molding machines in combination with a special dosing technology allow marbled molded parts to be produced far more easily in a much more robust process.

A 3D-Printed Nozzle and Modified Dosing Method Deliver Reproducible Marbling  in a Robust Process

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Additive Fertigung

Farben, flüssig

Additive

Exciting Design instead of  Exciting Manufacturing

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.

Controlling Complex Development and Manufacturing Processes, Using Simulation

Composite-Halbzeuge

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

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?

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

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Interview

Hybrid production chains have been increasingly in the spotlight in recent years. This also applies to the combination of conventional manufacturing and additive processes in tool construction. With the example of an injection molding tool, it is shown how mold inserts produced by additive manufacturing can greatly shorten cycle times, and thereby significantly reduce unit costs. The important thing is to find a suitable combination of processes from the variety available.

Additive Manufacturing and Hybrid Molds in Combination with Conventional Machining

HSC- / HPC-Bearbeitung

Spanende Verfahren

Anlagen Additive Fertigung / 3D-Druck, Metall

Anlagen für die Additive Fertigung

The Potential of Redesign and  Part Consolidation

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.

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

Kohlenstofffasern / -matten

Produktentwicklung (F+E)

Innovationsentwicklung

Replacing Metal in the Gearbox

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

Nachhaltigkeit

Umweltmanagement

Vorbeugende Instandhaltung für die Qualitätssicherung

Datenanalyse

Toolmaking of the Future –  Digitalized and Sustainable

Injection Molds for Insulating  Stators and Rotors

Overmolding as a Prerequisite for Cost-Efficient, High-Quality Electric Motors

Electrical components are made from conductive and nonconductive materials. Pressure of competition makes it necessary to reduce the number of components and work steps and to streamline assembly. The moldmaker Mühlbeyer uses a hybrid technology for manufacturing stators and rotors, in which the contact material and plastic are permanently bonded in one production step.

In our modern world, if something is caused to rotate or move at the push of a button, electrical drives are usually involved. Electric motors make manufacturing processes effective and efficient in many industries – e. g. machinery, apparatus, material processing, chemicals, plastics, paper, textile, foods, stone/earths. Electric motors are also indispensable in transport (rail, automotive, marine, air), household appliances, agriculture and consumer goods. In the mass production of electric drives, too, electric motors permit highly efficient manufacturing, enabling a very good price-performance ratio.

The key elements of a simple electric motor are:

<ul><li>rotor (rotating electromagnet),</li><li> stator,</li><li>commutator (only for d. c. motors),</li><li> brushes,</li><li>coil, and</li><li> shaft.</li></ul>

The rotor (Fig. 1) is the moving part of the motor and moves between the two poles of the stator (Fig. 2). Depending on the type of electric drive and electrical winding, there are two types of electric motor, depending on how power is generated:

<ul><li> The laminated core serves for guiding and locally concentrating the magnetic field lines.</li><li>The electrical winding generates the magnetic field.</li></ul>

The laminated core of an electric motor consists of thin sheets of a soft magnetic material, with thicknesses from about 0.1 to 1.2 mm, depending on the type and size of the machine. The two dimensional form of the rotor or stator is punched out of these sheets with punching tools. The sheets are stacked in the axial direction and are insulated from one another to minimize the effect of eddy currents.

The winding of an electric motor consists of copper wire of various types: stranded, flat, profile, fine, drill, braided, baked varnish or standard wire, insulated and, in some cases, with a lubricant coating. Irrespective of the type of winding (distributed or concentrated), the wires are electrically insulated from one another and with respect to the laminated core.

The winding insulation is the electric motor’s Achilles’ heel as regards heat resistance. Thermal materials have service temperatures up to 250 °C. At the same time, the copper conductors form the largest heat source by far due to current heat losses. That means that the power density is dependent on the thermal loading capacity of the insulation and on the possibility of dissipating the heat loss. For conducting the current, the insulating materials are just as important as the conductor materials.

The Insulating Materials Are as Important as the Conductor Materials

The large number of available insulating materials makes selection and a summary presentation very difficult. There are various requirements, such as high dielectric strength, high tracking resistance, good thermal conductivity, high thermal resistance, good chemical resistance, high mechanical strength and low costs. Since these goals are difficult to reconcile with one another, specially modified insulating materials are selected depending on the priority. The insulating materials used have a direct influence on the thermal conductivity, the voltage tolerance and in particular the geometrical design of the motor. The thicknesses of the insulating layer and creepage paths should thus be provided according to design criteria.

Here it should be considered how the insulating system of the electric motor can be designed according to the load. Among other things, the voltage distribution must be analyzed under different operating states and various insulation materials characterized. This function is generally performed by plastics.

During overmolding of the laminated core, plastic-coated stators/stator segments must include, in addition to the slot insulation and the base plate for fitting the laminated core, also technical functions such as track ribs for wire bonds, pole-pocket insulation, plug shafts for contact parts, deflection pins, passages for wire guides, pole-piece inner flanges, clearances for screw heads, inlet and outlet slots (Fig. 3).

At the beginning of the injection cycle, the laminated core is inserted into the mold manually or automatically by grippers, and positioned via a center core. As the mold closes, it is held in position by slides and subsequently overmolded with plastic, e. g. a PPS-GF40, to form the final part. Finally, a camera performs automatic optical quality inspection of the parts. Such molds are one of the specialties of Mühlbeyer Werkzeug- und Formenbau GmbH.

Mold Components Are More Expensive at High Mold Temperatures

The plastic selected for insulating the stator segments, the stator, rotor or fan impeller crucially influences the costs of the injection mold. Polyamide (PA), which requires a mold temperature of 80 to 100 °C, causes far lower costs than a plastic such as polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), which requires a mold temperature of approx. 150 °C, polyetherketone (PEK) or polyetheretherketone (PEEK), which require a mold temperature as high as 240 °C or more.

At high mold temperatures, standards such as sensors, actuators, magnets for inserts, complete all-round insulation of the injection mold, the hot runner system, or more complex slides (flash formation), become significantly more expensive. The dimensional tolerances of the mold components are smaller and may require a machining accuracy of 2 µm. Furthermore, the corrections for the high-performance plastics PPS, PEEK and PEK are much more complex, since the viscosity (flash formation on the spotting surfaces) is higher than for PA. In high-voltage insulating bodies, the flash formation can lead to partial discharges or even damage wires or winding errors.

There is a negative influence on the flow behavior of plastic compounds containing glass fiber reinforcement or mica. Therefore, an injection molding simulation (mold flow analysis) should be performed if possible to avoid a faulty design due to wrong assumptions. Possible error patterns of the injection molded part could be: incomplete injection, weld line defects, etc. In the simulation, additional flow aids, multiple gates, etc. can be introduced and simulated if necessary – or else an overflow cavity in which the excess plastic is automatically separated off as the mold is opened.

Flow Guides Assist Filling in  Thin-Walled Regions

Flow aids are additionally installed at places that do not affect the function of the electric motor. This may be, e. g., at the slot insulation surface, toward the inner-central region of the yoke ring, which is not in contact with the winding. Flow guides can also be implemented by means of holes through the laminated core of the rotor or stator with diameters of a few millimeters. These flow guides support the material flow of thermoplastics and promote complete filling of thin-walled sections.

Such injection molds must always incorporate compensation of the laminated core tolerances (up to 0.8 mm) to ensure a stable process. Because of the winding technique, extremely small geometries (e. g. 0.1 mm radius) are necessary for placing the winding wire. For inclined winding in grooves, a certain surface roughness is necessary to prevent slipping of the winding. Of course this presupposes that the polymer insulating material can also perform this.

There Are Consequences to How Precisely the Inserts Are Positioned