E-Weekly
Aug 27th, 2008 Print this article Fakuma preview: Primary equipment, auxiliaries, and materialsBy Matt Defosse In an article in last week’s e-Weekly, MPW offered a preview of some of the injection molding machinery developments expected at this October’s Fakuma trade show in Germany (www.fakuma-messe.de; Oct. 14-18), and the preview continues this week with more news from KraussMaffei, Dr. Boy, Moretto, BASF, Evonik, PolyOne, and more.
Based on the expected exhibitors from the show’s website, a few molding machine majors either have not yet offered preview information or do not intend to do so; these include Billion, Chen Hsong, Demag, Haitian, Husky, and Stork.
Here a link to last week’s article for those that may have missed it.
Electric press offers big-time energy savings
KraussMaffei’s new AX electric injection molding machine series with integrated linear robot is being debuted at this month’s Fakuma plastics show in Germany.
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Processing equipment maker KraussMaffei in August showed the trade press, and this month at the Fakuma trade show will present to the molding world, an entry-level electric injection molding machine series, dubbed the AX. Company officials say the impetus for such a family came from concerns of customers faced with increasing power bills.
The AX series, eventually covering a clamp force range of 50-350 tonnes, initially will be offered in three sizes (80, 100, and 180 tonnes) with the entire range on the market by next year. The machines may be seen as competition to the company’s existing CX range of hydraulic presses; KraussMaffei will continue to build its higher-end EX series of electric machines, and partner firm Netstal continues to market its Elion electric presses.
Although Karlheinz Bourdon, company managing director, refrained from giving a price range for the new AX units, he indicated they would be about 20% more expensive than comparable hydraulics. The company is counting on energy efficiencies achieved by electric machines to draw processors’ attention to the AX range. Equipped with many standard and interchangeable elements from the company’s existing CX and EX range, the new units include electro-mechanical components delivered by Japanese supplier Toshiba Machine (Tokyo), the first visible fruits of an agreement signed by the two companies early this year.
The AX features a centrally lubricated five-point toggle for the clamp, and platens move on roller bearing guides that reportedly lower friction by 80% compared to traditional sliding-supports. These platen guides guarantee good platen parallelism for processing accuracy, as well as longer mold service life, says Bourdon. Also included are water-cooled converters with braking energy regeneration. The company’s existing MC5 control system is used to coordinate machine functions and the integrated robot via a real-time Varan bus. The complete production cell has a footprint that’s 25% smaller than comparable competitive models, claims KM.
All this technology is said to offer processors the possibility of up to 75% more energy efficiency than comparable hydraulic models, although company chief technical officer Otto Urbanek notes these efficiencies are tied to the type of resin processed, shot size, cycle time, and part weight. Thin-wall applications offer higher energy-saving possibilities than heavy parts, he says. KraussMaffei expects total demand for electric presses from all producers to grow to 14% in Europe, 50% in North America, and 70% in Japan this year. KraussMaffei, Munich, Germany; +49-89-889-94194; www.kraussmaffei.com
New control, energy savings on the ticket
Injection molding machine manufacturer Dr. Boy GmbH & Co. KG (www.dr-boy.de), which makes injection molding machines with clamping force below 1000 kN, will run several machines with its Procan Alpha control, introduced to the market at last year’s K show. Here again, energy savings are highlighted, although Boy officials insist this is nothing new for the firm.
“During the company’s 40-year history, very low energy consumption has always been one of our main objectives, so the recent, drastic increase in energy costs was not what made us declare this topic one of our biggest concerns,” says Carl Schiffer, managing partner at Boy. Boy’s four machine in operation all will process parts with no sprue—an overlooked energy saver, says Boy, as the removal and re-grinding of these uses substantial energy, as does the energy expanded to mold small parts with correspondingly much larger sprues. Boy’s first answer to avoiding sprue removal remains the hydraulically actuated needle shutoff nozzle introduced by the company in 1968, with hot runners of course another option. One Boy press, a Boy 22 A (clamping force of 220 kN), will process baby bottle nipples made from LSR with cycle times about 20 seconds.
Coming as the show does in October, with winter on the way, a visit to Boy’s booth also makes sense to collect one of the ABS/TPE-molded ice scrapers coming off of a Boy 22 A-VV insert molding machine. In addition to the four machines at its stand, four additional Boy presses will be in operation at partner company stands.
Materials supply: BASF, PolyOne, Evonik
On the plastics supply side, BASF (www.basf.com) will present thermoplastics, polyurethanes, and masterbatches during the show. The supplier will emphasize to processors that it still offers some of the Capron brands of nylon that it acquired with its acquisition of Honeywell’s engineering plastics business, though these have been renamed to pass within BASF’s Miramid and Ultramid brands.
Two new products are specially hydrolysis-stabilized PBT types, Ultradur B4300G6 HR and Ultradur B4330G6 HR, that can withstand flexural stress tests at a humidity of 100% and a temperature of 110°C (230°F). Among parts made from its materials that BASF will highlight are what is reportedly the first oil pumps that regulate oil flow on an as-needed basis by means of external gear pumps with involute gears. Molded by SHW Automotive using BASF’s Ultrason KR 4113 PESU (polyether sulfone) with carbon fiber, graphite and PTFE reinforcement, one of the two gears moves axially. The pump already sees use at PSA, BMW and Porsche.
Few materials suppliers offer any advance news of their Fakuma exhibitions, but compounder PolyOne Corp. (with European HQ in Assese, Belgium; www.PolyOne.com; Hall 3, Stand 3214) says it will exhibit its latest colorants, additives, engineered materials, and services as well as those of its TPE supplier GLS Corp., acquired by PolyOne in January 2008.
Among materials it will display are its LubriOne self-lubricating compounds; OnCap termite repellent additive concentrate and OnCap rodent repellent additive concentrate; and PicoTint liquid colorants, said to allow coloring with swirls and streaks of thermoplastic engineering resins. PolyOne also will show three new entrants in the growing bio-based polymer category, including an anti-fog additive concentrate, OnCap BIO Anti-fog T, for film packaging, and OnCap BIO Impact T transparent impact modifier masterbatch for polylactic acid (PLA).
Evonik Industries (www.evonik.com), the former Degussa, will showcase the use of its materials for sophisticated optics in headlights and displays. Evonik offers, for example, a new polymethyl methacrylimide (PMMI) that it says is especially suitable for automotive headlight optics. Tests show that the new material, dubbed Pleximid, has light transmission of more than 90% even after being subjected to a temperature of 150°C continuously over a period of more than 40 days.
Also new is Vestamid HTplus, a polyphthalamide (PPA)-based material stable at high temperatures and developed as a substitute for metal in typical metal applications. The supplier also is touting its entry in the polyetheretherketone (PEEK) market.
Welding/assembly: HiQ saves on compressed air, time, and more
Plastics welding equipment supplier Herrmann Ultraschalltechnik (Karlsbad, Germany; www.herrmannultraschall.com; Hall A4, Stand 4108) is keeping some details reserved until the event, but says Fakuma will be the unveiling of its new HiQ evolution welding system, which it says will offer “a significant reduction” in auxiliary process time between cycles. EOATs can be automatically changed as part of a new start-up operation. Processors can save up to 80% on compressed air with the new welding units, reports the firm. The new units also already fulfill the EU user safety requirements of the Directive that takes effect in late 2009.
Molders take their turn
The region around the Fakuma show is home to dozens of small-to-mid sized injection molders, among them Biro Edwin Bischof AG (Romanshorn, Switzerland), which supplies a number of end-use markets including automotive, construction, and appliances. At the show it will impress upon visitors one of its newest tricks, physical foaming of molded thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) parts. The process can be used to replace the more common current practice of attaching polyurethane (PUR) seals to plastic parts. The company runs 64 presses with clamp forces ranging from 300-10,000 kN; 21 of the machines are able to mold multimaterial parts.
At Stand 7/7236, FIT (Fruth Innovative Technologien GmbH; Parsberg, Germany), a manufacturer of metal and plastics prototypes, small series and special parts as well as implants, using rapid manufacturing processes, wants to impress upon injection moldmakers how its direct metal laser sintered tooling inserts, formed to fit a part’s contours, can open design options and speed parts’ cooling. Inserts sized up to 250 by 250 by 180 mm are already offered. This is the company’s first time at this trade show.
Plasticizing system wears a tough coating
Superior wear resistance and anti-adhesion are two of the attributes claimed by Groche Technik (Kalletal, Germany) for its coated plasticizing screws, with a tungsten carbide coating said to add durability. These are also said to be easier to clean, which helps processors ensure that shot-to-shot variation following cleaning is limited. Armin Groche, CEO of the firm, says service life twice that of standard screws is possible. Coatings are applied with a flame spray gun in up to 80 layers that together are no thicker than 0.25 mm. Composition of the screw coating is adapted to specific applications.
Also on display is a newly designed non-return valve, which Groche reckons will attract interest especially from processors conducting frequent color changes. A helical shear mixing device is positioned before the screw, with granulate fed into a closed section below the retaining ring. Only completely molten materials can flow into a neighbouring duct from which these proceed to the nozzle opening. When operating, the helical shear mixing device produces a consistent flow of the material towards the nozzle. Thus grooves in the material flow direction are maintained, with edges and slack points no longer presenting any problems.
Automation: Fast robot gets even faster
Robot manufacturer Hekuma (Eching, Germany; www.hekuma.com) will introduce the Heku 3 high-speed robot in Hall B3, stand 3109. As the successor to the Heku 2, all three servo motion parameters—acceleration, constant velocity and deceleration—have been substantially increased in the new robot in order to significantly reduce part removal cycle times, says the manufacturer. Based upon initial injection molding applications, ‘mold open’ time has been reduced approximately 20% with these higher transfer speeds. End-of-arm-tooling weighing up to 150 kg (330 lb) can be accommodated with the new robot. The Heku 3 provides average accelerations of more than 6g and transfer speeds up to 7m/sec (23 ft/sec), independent of EOAT weight.
Among applications on display at Hekuma will be automotive housing components; molded medical parts and components produced under cleanroom conditions; in-mold labeled (IML) packaging produced by both injection molding and thermoforming; and thermoformed blister packaging with integrated RFID transponders.
Automation: IML robot offers flexibility
One downside noted by processors of in-mold labeled packaging is that the automation used is suitable for a single package shape/design. Change the shape, and new automation is required. But automation specialist Waldorf Technik (Engen, Germany; www.waldorf-technik.de) claims its new highflex system enables IML with practically all label geometries. Only the final format components (gripper elements and such) must be altered, along with the corresponding process parameters of the individual movements. Waldorf says it can deliver these to molders in 12-15 weeks versus what it claims are 26-34 week delivery times at present for conventional product-dependant robot systems.
Auxiliary equipment: Dryers and more at Moretto
Italian auxiliary equipment manufacturer Moretto (Massanzago; www.moretto.com) will make its Flowmatik and its X Dryer the centrepieces of its stand (Hall B4, Stand 4209).
The Flowmatik Multi is a centralized system consisting of any number of hoppers (up to 32) feeding plastics processing machinery. There are numerous dehumidification variables, including hopper size, type of polymer, throughput required, temperature, processing time, density, specific air flow, and others. Even when using significantly less than 32 hoppers, this parameterisation task involves time and specific safety risks. Once an operator enters key variables on the color touch screen (typically only type of polymer and required throughput are needed), the Flowmatik device will then automatically control the entire dehumidification and treatment process. Characteristic data of 40 types of plastics are pre-loaded and processors may add up to 40 more.
X Dryer is an on-demand dry air-dryer. An operator need only input two parameters—the required throughput per hour and the type of material¬—and the dryer automatically will control all process variables, including residence time, process temperature, and air flow throughput. According to Morettto, energy savings of up to 72% can be achieved compared to conventional equipment. The X Dryer is available in six different sizes.
Assembly/joining: Plasma treatment handled in-mold
As noted recently in MPW (see the June ’08 issue, pg. 34), Plasmatreat (Steinhagen, Germany; www.plasmatreat.de) plans to up the ante of its plasma-treatment system, OpenAir, at Fakuma. Unlike most plasma systems, Openair systems operate at atmospheric pressure with no need for a vacuum or closed container. The firm strutted its stuff at last October’s K show when it partnered with other firms on a cell for molding thermoplastic picture frames, activating the moldings’ surfaces with the Openair system and then automatically sealing the picture frame with a foamed PUR gasket. That application had plasma applied ex-mold; at this October’s Fakuma trade show, a similar application will be molded but with inmold plasma treatment and PUR adhesion.
As water-based coatings grab greater interest in automotive and other technical parts applications, Christian Buske, Openair inventor and the company’s CEO, predicts the use of plasma systems to improve surface tension on plastics substrates will hit an even-higher level of use.
Buske told MPW during a visit to his firm earlier this year that it is hard at work developing an atmospheric plasma jet that not only changes a substrate’s surface tension, to enhance adhesion, but also can add a level of barrier protection with the plasma—for instance to add a barrier to plastic closures.
Plasmatreat will share a stand with Ceracon to demonstrate a pilot production cell in which PP (polypropylene) and polyurethane foam are combined in a single part using Ceracon’s foaming technology and Plasmatreta’s Openair process to ensure adhesion of the formed-in-place foamed gaskets.
Thermoforming: Gabler updates its range
Joining Fakuma for the second time is thermoforming machine manufacturer Gabler (Lubeck, Germany; www.gabler-maschinenbau.de), together with its U.S. partner Lyle Industries. The two have a co-marketing agreement. In Hall A1, Stand 1318, Gabler will present an enhancement to its own focus product range, which helps processors make use of minimum-cost tools with multistation technology by maximizing the clamping forces and plane parallelism in the forming and punching station. The Gabler team also would like to discuss other new developments, for example in energy saving in the thermoforming sector.
Auxiliary equipment: broad range for materials handling
Auxiliary equipment manufacturer Werner Koch Maschinenfabrik GmbH (Ispringen, Germany; www.koch-technik.de; Hall A3 Stand 3213) will present its range of products for mixing, dosing, conveying, and drying plastic granulates. According to the firm, its highlights will include the Navigator fully-automatic material-feed system; dry-air dryers from the EKO range with eco-control system and integrated touch panels; the Graviko dosing system; KKT mobile auxiliary dryers; and its new double mixer.
According to the company, its Navigator material-management system ensures no residue remains in a material-distribution system. It links machine lines with the appropriate material lines before the conveyor feeds the relevant machine. The feed lines are placed one on top of the other and then locked together to contain the flow of granulate more securely. Navigator makes it possible to link a maximum of 40 different materials with up to 40 processing machines. Suction valves clean the lines completely after each conveying cycle. Navigator can also be integrated in existing conveying systems; there is no need to change their basic design.
Koch is also exhibiting the Öko control system for its CKT and EKO dry air dryers. This is a patented drying process to prevent sensitive materials such as PA, PC, LCP, or POM from becoming too dry or sustaining heat damage. According to the firm, this also leads to energy savings of up to 40%.
The newly designed KKT auxiliary dryers are suitable for drying and conveying where space is at a premium. To save space, the drying container is placed behind the dryer. This also eases filling of the container and makes it is easier to move the dryer along narrow gangways. Koch also will present its double mixer (patent pending) for mixing and dosing bulk goods with different densities. Find more on this piece of equipment in the magazine’s September 2008 issue in the Product Watch section.—mdefosse@modplas.com
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