PHOTO: Representing the wide range of possible applications, lightweight fibre-reinforced shovels were produced on an Engel v-duo 1560/700. To ensure optimal accessibility, the clamping unit is equipped with a sliding table fitted with two mould halves for the reactive process and thermoplastic injection moulding

AT JEC world, which took place in March in Paris, Engel Austria used numerous example products and staged a live demonstration to present pioneering composite applications and offer insights into ongoing development projects.

At its Centre for Lightweight Composite Technologies in St Valentin, Austria, the injection moulding machine manufacturer works closely with partner companies and universities to develop cost-effective processes for the manufacture of high-volume lightweight components.

In the production of notebooks, tablets, smartphones and other hand-held devices, the use of innovative composite materials for housings is key to reducing weight and improving stability. Another aim of the development partnership between Engel Austria, Bond-Laminates of Brilon, Germany (a Lanxess Group company) and Leonhard Kurz (Fürth, Germany) is to bring about a significant enhancement in production efficiency.

At JEC World the three partner companies showcased the revolutionary results of their collaboration: the injection moulding production of a highly robust, ready-to-use housing with a high-quality surface by means of extreme thin-wall technology. With a wall thickness of only 0.6 mm, the demonstration part revealed completely new possibilities.

This was also the first time an Engel machine has produced components live at JEC world. The highly automated production cell was specifically designed for the material combination of a thermoplastic, continuous fibre reinforced semi-finished part (Tepex) and IMD film developed and patented by Bond-Laminates and Leonhard Kurz.

For the in-mould decoration of thermoplastic composite components in large-scale production, the system solution integrates three processing technologies:

1. Engel organomelt for shaping and functionalising continuous-fibre-reinforced semi-finished thermoplastic products (thermoplastic fabrics) in the injection moulding process,
2. Engel variomelt for optimising the surface quality via variothermal mould temperature control,
3. and in-mould decoration (IMD) for the optical and functional refinement of the surface finish directly in the mould.

The heart of the production cell is an Engel insert 500V/130 single injection moulding machine with a roll-to-roll IMD unit, an ENGEL easix six-axis robot, which takes over the entire handling of the semi-finished and finished parts, and an infrared oven which was also developed and built by ENGEL for preheating the thermoplastic fabrics.

• Engel is represented in SA by GreenTech Machinery

www.greentechmachinery.co.za