Extreme - PO - Spartech LLC

Plastics Technology, 2007-01-08, Extreme Performance--Or Processability?: New TP Polyimide Offers Both
It has the highest Tg of any amorphous thermoplastic plus premium-level chemical resistance and true melt processability with no need for post-cure.

Plastics Technology, 2010-03-08, Do"s and Don"ts for Overmolding Liquid Silicone onto Thermoplastics
...some applications, liquid silicone rubber (LSR) offers advantages over TPEs in its heat resistance, extreme low-temperature fl exibility, chemical resistance, and inherent lubricity. While good long-t...

Plastics Technology, 2010-05-04, "Extreme Performance" Copolymers Push the Boundaries for Polycarbonate
SABIC Innovative Plastics recently took the wraps off a family of six polycarbonate copolymers that it has been developing for more than a decade.

Plastics Technology, 2010-06-01, Getting Started in LSR: Understanding the Materials
...not obtainable with today"s TPEs. LSR has attracted growing attention for its heat resistance, extreme low-temperature flexibility, chemical resistance, biological inertness, and inherent lubrici...

Kunststoffe international, 3D Printing with Pellet Extruded Plastics on Metal
... as the various temperature and load-dependent strain at break illustrates. At the same temperature (175 °C), when load is applied to the metal component, the plastic component fails in the extreme outer fiber under tensile load resulting in a migrating crack through the plastic at the slightest deflection. The bond between metal and plastic remains intact. When load is applied to the plastic component at the same temperature, the applied force leads to plastic deformation of the metal component...

Kunststoffe international, Delivering Efficiency Even in Harsh Environments
...thermoplastic polymer is being used more and more frequently in many products. In contrast to commodity and technical polymers, polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a high-performance polymer located at the top of the polymer pyramid and ideally suited to extreme and demanding environments typically replacing metals. This is due to their high-performing properties such as light weight, high strength and very good dimensional stability, as well as their high resistance to wear, high temperatures, fatig...

Kunststoffe international, Functional Prototypes for Car Components
...al accuracy is verified by conducting a 3D scan on the laser-sintered component and then comparing the scan with the CAD file. Minor deviations outside the specified tolerances – especially where extreme accuracy is required, such as for engineering fits – are mechanically reworked. Validation of the NVH Profile For the purpose of verifying component failure, statics tests were performed on the component in the z critical load direction under real operating temperatures. Figure 7 confirms that ...

Kunststoffe international, Influences on Microdamage Strain Limits
...-axiality of the stress state and its spatial distribution up to extreme stress concentrations, e.  g. in the case of notching. For this type of exposure, by the way, the known stress concentration factors can be used below the microdamage stress limit [5]. In the case of tensile-dominated multi-axial stress states, it should be noted that the maximum strain due to the superimposed transverse contractions is reduced relative to the uniaxial stress, but is increased in the case of compressive do...

Kunststoffe international, Nozzles Regulate Thickness
...eed that must be achievable through the adjustable nozzles.With this upper limit, the throughput distribution was iteratively optimized in further simulation series. In order to test whether sufficient homogenization is possible even at more extreme points, taking the 10 percent limit into account, further points were selected from the edges of the process window where the range of volume flow deviations was large. Figure 5 shows the resulting volume flow distributions for two of the selected pr...

Kunststoffe international, Printed Tools for High-Volume Production
...he surface of a vehicle. This elastic and flexible material avoids damage to already painted bodies; it is also used to additively manufacturer protective covers. In addition, TPU is very durable and suitable for components that are exposed to extreme loads or wear quickly. The material is easy to work with. A heated workspace is not necessary, and the shrinkage and distortion behavior is minimal. PLA (polylactic acid) is a standard filament because it is versatile and uncomplicated to process. ...

Kunststoffe international, Semi-Crystalline, and yet Thermoformable
...oformable for thick gauge applications because of their semi-crystalline nature. Specially developed PEKK grades now allow processing in this method. These can be used to produce large semi-crystalline PAEK parts with large wall thickness exhibiting extreme mechanical, chemical and flame retardant properties. Polyaryletherketones (PAEK) are used in technically challenging industry sectors, e. g. aerospace industry and the oil and gas market. The generic PAEK family includes different polymers, ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, A Comparison of Hybrid Machines
...t, core pullers, ejectors and metering operation, as well as high injection capacity and dynamic response are requirements that an intelligent combination of different drive technologies can meet with energetic efficiency, quietness of operation and extreme precision. A Typical Application: Packaging A more specific discussion of high-performance injection moulding machines starts with the products that are to be made on the machine. Two typical product groups for a high-performance injection ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Acceleration is Not Everything
..., single-axis, high-speed ERS demoulding device from Engel (Fig. 1), surpass the natural force of gravity many times over. With an acceleration of over 110 m/s2 - more than 11 times the force of gravity - speeds of a good 8 m/s can be achieved. Such extreme acceleration is achieved both with the aid of a highly dynamic servomotor having particularly low dead weight-inertia moments and through the use of particularly high-strength, lightweight materials, such as aluminium and carbon-fibre composi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Additives
... warpage of PE at all. It can be used for large-area injection mouldings, such as bottle crates (Fig. 7). The market leader in ultramarine pigments, Holliday Pigments, Kingston upon Hull/Great Britain, has presented a new series with an extreme colour intensity (grade: Premier XS). The pigments are available with both a red cast (grade: XSR) and a green cast (grade: XSG). It is possible to reduce the pigment concentration in existing formulations and still achieve the same covering power. One sp...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Adjusted Geometries
...considered. Because the parison with the pronounced peaks has thicker walls, the weight, and therefore the melt volume of the tank, increases to a greater extent than does the enlarged CAD volume of the tank with the hump. In other words, the extreme design of the hump area requires more plastic to be used overall and this offsets the accompanying increase in geometric volume. This result is remarkable, because it questions the most commonly asserted proposition that sharper tank contours increa...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, All-round Supplier for Polyurethane Systems
...er sides. The World Wide Web - browser-assisted navigation - also provides access to information, products and services. Technology for No-fogging Materials With the Lyondell acquisition, Bayer has also acquired the patented Impact technology - an extremely effective method for producing long-chain polyether polyols. Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Engels, head of Research in the Polyurethanes Business Group, sees this pioneering technology as an important growth engine for the polyol business: "We want ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Anisotropic Parts Design: The Right Orientation
... suit the loads by incorporating different components, such as glass fibres and fillers. Since thermoplastics exhibit a sharp drop in elastic modulus at elevated temperatures, but an automotive component also has to offer sufficient rigidity even in extreme conditions, the designer has to choose an adequate elastic modulus and an appropriate glass fibre reinforcement. One example of plastics in the engine compartment is the exhaust gas return valve shown in Fig. 1, which contains polyamide reinf...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Automotive Safety Parts: Sophisticated Occupant Protection
... Milacron and marketed under the name “Airpress/3”. The injected gas forces the melt back into the space in front of the screw. The gas generator housing accommodates the airbag release cartridge and in an accident is subject to extreme internal pressures. For the PA 6.6 part with 33% GF, Genter worked closely together with the process engineers from Ferromatik to optimise the mould technology when used with the gas-assist technique so that this safety-critical part can meet the high mechanical ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Bonding of Plastics
... used, e.g. PC, ABS, PMMA, often only require a quick clean before they are bonded with self- extinguishing PU adhesives. The acrylic glass panes in the cabins are also bonded into the frame with polyurethane adhesives. High strength on exposure to extreme temperature fluctuations and avoidance of any cracks whatsoever in the panes go without saying. Automotive Construction Automotive construction may be divided basically into shell construction, painting line and final assembly. Because the pa...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Case Study (5): Hot-Runner Solution for a Four-Gang Switch Plate
...uality demands on the product appearance. The high surface quality of the face surfaces is an absolute demand, since any defects in injection moulding, e.g. weld lines, would be made more conspicuous in the subsequent painting process. This places extreme importance on the quality of the mould surface (high polish) and choice of the gate type and position. The melt temperature during the unavoidable merging together of different melt streams determines whether the weld lines are conspicuous. To ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cause and Remedies: Brittle Fracture in PBT
... had fractured in practice by selectively adding approximately 1% cracked PBT during the production of parts in non-reinforced PBT. The cracked PBT was stored for 12 h at 180°C in a drying cabinet. These conditions were deliberately selected as extreme ones, however. Normally, PBT is dried at no more than 140 °C and for just a few hours. Further investigations are thus to be conducted to clarify which standard process steps could lead to cracking of this type. A different picture results with t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Centralized Supply for 59 Injection Moulding Machines
... and a maximum conveying distance of 160 m. Special Features To achieve high lifetimes for equipment handling highly abrasive materials (PA with up to 50 % glass fibre), glass pipe bends and stainless steel pipes were used (Fig. 4). Because of the extreme differences in lengths of conveying runs (40 m to 160 m per conveying line), it was technically necessary to install staged material pipeline systems and control the Roots-type blowers by means of frequency converters. The frequency range for...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Complete Automation: Articulated-arm Robots for Difficult Assembly Operations
...wn-in wires or fully automatically fed metal parts. The company has 50 single and two-component injection moulding machines from Arburg for the production of high-precision plastic parts. They produce parts with shot weights from 0.01 to 150g with extreme demands for surface quality and dimensional tolerances. Wehrle’s speciality is that it also performs contract orders for the plastics processing industry. Its regular customers include companies such as Braun, Philips, Montblanc and Lamy, who h...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Component Design: Creep Resistance - A Characteristic Value for Creep Behaviour
...cades from 1h to 1000h is the ratio (2) between the two single-point creep modulus values that are most frequently available [4]. The bigger the quotient cC, the smaller the plastic’s tendency to creep will be, and vice-versa (Table 1). The extreme case cC=1 describes a material with a constant stiffness over time, i.e. without any creep. Contrary to the case for the creep modulus, which is an instantaneous state variable, this characteristic value expresses the behaviour of a plastic in the ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Composite Parts: Flexibility in Rigid/Flexible Combinations
...of a PBT with a self-adhering silicone rubber – although only after the latter had been modified and received corona pre-treatment (Fig.3). This measure is to be recommended if parts subject to high mechanical stressing are to be employed under extreme conditions such as those set out above. In a comparison conducted by Weigelt, the values of a plastic part produced with pre-treatment were compared with those of a part without pre-treatment (Fig.5). The values were obtained from the so-called tr...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Continuous Growth: Polyarylether Ketone (PAEK)
...wheel applications was equipped with an additional gear wheel test stand, thus halving the time required to obtain the experimental results. New products were similarly developed last year, with the High Flow PEEK platform for materials offering extreme ease of flow being extended by products with up to 60% reinforcing fibres. The product range centred on PEEK-HT, which has even higher thermal properties than PEEK, was similarly supplemented by glass and carbon fibre reinforced grades. Another n...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Control Functions with Artificial Intelligence
... set up stage are stored as a curve and used as the input value to the control for all the subsequent injection cycles. The preset pressure profile is reproduced from cycle to cycle by corresponding acceleration or delay of the screw advance rate at extremely small time intervals. The filling of the cavity is no longer controlled by two different methods (first the velocity control and, from the change-over point, pressure control), but by only one. This has advantages for the part quality (Fig....

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Cost Explosion: Glass Fibre-reinforced Plastics (GRP)
... has undergone substantial changes this year. Despite the pressure on prices and economic stagnation, the GRP industry has sustained its position and the consumption of these materials is higher than that of steel or aluminium. The markets are under extreme margin pressure due to the immense raw material price increases throughout the first eight months of the year, largely as a result of the rises in crude oil prices. The effect has been strongest on those raw materials that are based on benzen...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Decorative Surfaces in the Automotive Interior
...cockpit solutions. Polyurethane slush skins have high ageing resistance. The material, which does not require a plasticiser, does not show embrittlement or cracking even after long-term loading. With a heat-ageing resistance of 130°C, it is also extremely heat resistant. Additional painting is not required, since the polyurethane is UV resistant in its aliphatic formulation. For use in automotive interiors, it shows outstanding low-temperature properties. The material retains its characteris...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Designed for the Sun
...cid rain, hail and large amounts of snow over a prolonged period. Wind, on the other hand, produces a suction effect and pulls on the roof. The equipment used in the field of street furniture such as bus shelters are often exposed to extreme vandalism. The hatches in ships and boats not only have to be impact-resistant and scratchproof, they also have to resist salty seawater. This means that the material must have not only good transparency, high impact strength and break resistance, it must al...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Developing Customised Compounds
...ds with highly specialised properties can be produced, meeting a wide variety of sophisticated demands, such as - electrical conductivity - electromagnetic shielding - magnetisability - increased thermal conductivity - reduced or increased density - extreme strength, stiffness and dimensional stability - improve slip behaviour, and - reduced wear, to mention just a few of the properties demanded by the market. Drawing on their know-how in products and compounding, Albis Plastic GmbH, Hamburg/Ger...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Development Trends: Composites for Aircraft
...innovation would be the use of carbon nanofibres (CNF), which as carbon nanotubes (CNT) exhibit superior mechanical properties in comparison to standard fibres. The better strain behaviour qualifies CNT fibres for textile processes, and the extreme high modulus is interesting for substitution of today’s HM fibres in space applications. These possibilities are confronted by the extreme costs and limited production volumes of single-wall fibres (SWF), which are the only materials that come into co...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Diesel Lines: Some Like it Hot
...anent temperatures are not to be expected. The tests were not aimed at establishing resistance to peak temperatures. Elongation at break and low-temperature impact strength at –40°C were selected as sensitive test criteria because, under extreme ageing conditions, they quickly return useful information as to how the modification of the new moulding compound affects its long term performance. Failure criteria, such as deterioration in strength or the burst pressure, only come to bear after a grea...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Direct Compounding: New Directions in Plastics Processing
...the standard barrel lengths of 4D for small and medium sizes, 6D and 8D barrel segments provide benefits. For single-purpose systems such as those often encountered in direct extrusion, even longer barrel segments can be employed, and in extreme cases even one-piece barrels. In counterrotating twin-screw extruders, long, one-piece barrels are standard. Screws can also be manufactured in one piece, but this is practical only when the processing task is known exactly and little wear occurs. Typic...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Driving the Automotive Industry: Engineering Elastomers
Trend Report Crosslinking Plastics Engineering Elastomers Driving the Automotive Industry. Within the elastomer-manufacturing industry, there is increasing concentration and focus on product groups. Regardless of this, the trend towards relocating production of standard products within the expanded European Union continues to advance. In the future, China and India will also increasingly emerge both as markets and production locations for engineering elastomer products. Werner P. Lauhus The Eu...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Efficient Warehousing and Shipping Solutions
...in house, two thirds externally. A separate mould hall stores 3000 thermoforming moulds, over 100 injection moulds circulate between the three countries. In an extreme case, there are 700 versions of one of the injection moulds. Bernd Ternes smiles at the limitless combinations of customised container models with internal workpiece holders. “We long ago gave up trying to compile a catalogue of everything available beyond the standard range.” Clemens Doriat Robot removal of an injection mould...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Elastomers
... EniChem/Polimeri Europa presented a new oil-extended EPDM with a well-balanced microstructure, which is claimed to permit high heating rates and excellent extrudability, even for extremely difficult profiles. The Nordel IP grades unveiled by DuPont Dow Elastomers (DDE) at K’98 were complemented at K’01 with Nordel MG metallocene gas-phase grades, which are produced by the process originally presented by Union Carbide [3] in 1995. With ethylene contents of 50 to 80% and Mooney viscosities from 6...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Electrically Conducting Compounds: New Functional Material for the Automotive Sector
...polymers, the alloy has not only a high electrical and thermal conductivity, but also a particularly high density and a melt viscosity roughly 1000 times lower than that of thermoplastic melts. Production and Processing of the Compounds Given the extreme differences in the viscosity of the materials, the compounding technology had to meet high demands if a homogeneous microstructure was to be generated. The compounds were produced on a ZSK 25 supplied by Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer, Stuttgart/...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Electronic Components and Displays: Intrinsically Conductive Polymers
...mposition temperature of manganese dioxide, oxygen is released, diffuses to the metal and reacts to form metal oxide. This reaction is exothermic and can accelerate the decomposition of manganese dioxide. In extreme cases, the component ignites. This undesirable effect is suppressed in polymer capacitors. At defects in the dielectric, the conductivity of the ICP drops as of a certain temperature (considerably above 250°C) and the defect heals. In addition to their use in passive electronic comp...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Energy Consumption: How Much Energy Does a Drive System Need?
...rque, a motor with a nominal power of 16 to 22kW and the corresponding power electronics are needed for a peak power of 65kW to produce a correspondingly high output for a few tenths of a second. For a hydraulic system, this is easier: extreme power peaks can be covered by storage techniques. Keeping the Proportion of Reactive Energy to a Minimum Reactive energy is caused by so-called reactance in electrical circuits supplied with alternating current. Reactive power does not generate any usefu...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Epoxy Resins (EP)
...including a short demoulding period, ultra-low viscosity, good mechanical and thermal properties and good corrosion resistance. Parts can be designed that can withstand the tremendous kinetic energy associated with constant vibration and exposure to extreme weather conditions over a broad range of temperatures. Fabricators have designed blades larger than 150 feet long. Epoxy vinyl ester resins have long been the resin of choice for applications requiring extreme corrosion resistance and good st...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Expectations and Performance: The Importance of Numerical Simulation
...olymer melts, such as low-density polyethylene (PE-LD), the so-called pom-pom model is available. Polymers with long-chain branching have significantly different rheological behaviour from linear or slightly branched polymers, which is manifested in extreme non-linearity and start-up effects that cannot be ignored [6]. With the aid of the so-called pom-pom molecule (the abstraction of a C-H polymer structure), it is possible to construct a system of equations of state (the pom-pom model) for thi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fewer Production Stages, Shorter Cycles
... marks on the moulded part are the precursor to melt penetration. Penetration of the melt to the visible side of the moulded part is caused by overstretching the decor film and can be resolved by optimising in-mould decor fixing and preforming. In extreme cases, external decor preforming may be necessary. When there is loss of grain appearance and soft-touch it is the process itself which must be scrutinized. Within a permissible process window, it may be assumed that the quality of the moulded ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fibre Composites in the Global Limelight
...Saertex, Saerbeck/Germany, and BTI, Andover Hants/Great Britain). In the fabric sector, the Japanese have presented a 65 g/m2 fabric (50/50) similarly made of carbon fibre tows. Pultruded Profiles Pultruded profiles are still being upheld by the extreme boom in the GSM antenna field (e. g. Menzolit-Fibron, Bretten/Germany). Growth rates of 15 to 25 % are expected for the year 2000 [3]. New applications for pultrudates are increasingly to be found in the construction sector, such as for composi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Fibre Composites: Bonding Automotive Bodies
...eel or aluminium [1]. Fibre-reinforced plastics also offer relatively high strength and stiffness, combined with low weight. They are highly corrosion resistant and permit a high degree of freedom of design, which, if possible for metals, would be extremely expensive to achieve [2]. For example, the rear door of the Mercedes-Benz C Class Coupé owes its complex form to an innovative plastics solution using SMC (sheet moulding compound) [3]. Fibre composites, such as SMC or GMT (glass-mat-reinforc...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Flex-ring Dies: Improved Wall-thickness Distribution of the Preform during Blow Moulding
...antageous since changes of the flow-channel resistance directly at the end of the die are considerably more effective than those that are made in the interior of the die. The flow-channel wall in this region is then assembled from a large number of extremely thin, nested individual walls to enable it to withstand the interior pressure of the melt while at the same time allowing it to be flexibly deformable. The natural flexing line of such a “leaf spring”-like flex-ring sleeve is very short. It...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Flexible Production of Moulded Parts
...s, for example, can be effected from all sides (Fig. 1). The opening stroke of 1500 mm makes automatic removal and automated insertion of films and other parts from three sides very easy (Fig. 1). If this opening stroke should prove inadequate in an extreme situation, both guides can be readily extended. High Force - Fast Stroke Up until now, clamping forces had been directed over the complete machine frame and the guide pins. This meant that the hydraulic cylinders acting as clamping elements...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Gas-assisted Injection Moulding: The Cross-section is Crucial
...an experiment with a car-interior part. Fig.12 shows how various settings for the delay time affect the position of the gas channel. Section A shows signs of fingering starting to occur on an adjacent thin-walled region. In extreme cases the gas-channel lance forms cavities far into the connected surface, which is only 1.5mm thick. The sequence of pictures shows that, with an increase in the delay time, the gas channel shifts further towards the centre of the thick area with a simultaneous reduc...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Granules and Recyclate: Direct Processing of PET without Pre-drying
...1 shows that the lower the standard throughput, the lower the degradation. In concrete terms, this means that a long residence time and a low filling level produce a smaller reduction in the intrinsic viscosity and, in an extreme case, can even result in a slight increase. When recycling bottle regrind for fibre production, it is possible, during processing, to specifically degrade the PET via suitable process parameters because the starting iV value of 0.78 to 0.8dl/g of the bottle material is ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Guest Editorial: “Constant Innovation is a Key Requirement”
... well. The Future Plastics producers in Germany and Europe experience substantial cyclical fluctuations in price and margin performance. This situation is affected extensively by the high and, what is more, extremely volatile prices of petrochemical raw materials. After several years of unsatisfactory price and margin performance, we have been seeing light at the end of the tunnel for some time now. However, we are still weighed down in Europe by the moderate growth rates in key customer indust...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High Barrier: Nanoscalar Particles Enlarge Potential Applications
...ocomposites, more efficient ways of incorporating nanodisperse layer silicates were sought. From the literature, it is known that incorporation of ionomer-modified polyamides (PA) into PE-HD-g yields a layer-like morphology that brings about an extreme reduction in hydrocarbon permeability. The aim was now to increase the barrier properties of the PE-HD nanocomposites through selective generation of a corresponding microstructure. To this end, masterbatches of PA6 and up to 30wt-% of organically...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High Increase in Consumption: Polyamides (PA)
...ive engineering, electrics/electronics and packaging. PA6, PA66 and copolyamides are preferably used for these applications. Partly-aromatic polyamides have become established in niche applications. These materials, which are capable of withstanding extreme mechanical, thermal and chemical loads, because of their excellent properties, are preferably used in applications where even the high standard of PA66 is not entirely adequate. Automotive Engineering The application segment with the highest...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-Performance Polyamides
...ulding with Special Screws Ralf Hala, Michael Kaisser, Domat/Ems/Switzerland, and Nikolaus Kudlik, Näfels/Switzerland Highly exacting processing is required for novel high-performance polyamides for the production of injection-moulded parts for extreme applications. It is essential that the plasticizing unit prepares the material gently and homogeneously and that all parameters affecting quality are observed. The performance of polymer materials is continually being extended and so too is ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-performance Polymers: Metal Substitution and Miniaturisation
...conventional carrier material for liquid crystal displays (LCD), and permit flexible monitors that can be rolled up (Fig.5). This freedom of design is provided by the interplay of high glass transition temperature (220°C), extreme purity, high homogeneity, low intrinsic colour, and low internal stresses, while avoiding birefringence. The innovative polyethersulphone successfully passed its first test run as a display sheet in a mobile phone. Polyamides for Covers, Armrests and Automotive Parts...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, High-Precision
... building installations (air-conditioning and facade engineering), the automotive industry (comfort applications and the chassis) and automation technology. This gear can fulfil a broad range of requirements here. One application that is subject to extreme service conditions is the actuator for an electric parking brake (EPB) for the automotive industry. A wobble gear with a diameter of 40 mm and a reduction ratio of 49:1 has been used for this brake since October 2000. The EPB replaces the conv...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Improved Efficiency and Quality
... of between 20 and 23 D. Since 1994, two trends have been running in parallel: Firstly the line speed for a single strand has been increased to 6.0 m/min. Secondly, there has been an increasing trend towards using dual-strand extrusion to govern the extreme increases in output. In 1995, the production output range was 450 to 500 kg/h with dual strand extrusion (without internal cooling) and for single-strand extrusion (with internal cooling) for extruders with screw diameters from about 130 mm a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Increased Performance: Micromaster Powers up Extruders
...ders Laboratory extruders have to comply with high demands in terms of precision and reproducibility. The latest software algorithms in frequency inverters are able to reliably control the extruder drive system with the necessary precision even in extreme load situations and technically demanding movement sequences. Thilo Sporbert, Ralf Tenner Unlike machines for manufacturing specified products, laboratory machines are frequently subjected to special loads in which very high demands are m...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding by MuCell Technology: Pole Position
... air-mass sensor tube for GM – the housing had to satisfy much greater technical demands. Therefore thorough tests had to be carried out to simulate the natural ageing process, for example by means of extreme temperature fluctuations in a climatic chamber. In the thermal shock test, the proper functioning of the prototype parts was tested for 100000 cycles in the range from –40 to 100°C. The prototypes also had to undergo vibration and flame-resistance tests. Until now, parts produced by the...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Compounders: IMC Technology Opens Up New Fields of Application
...h the two-platen clamping unit of the new MX range of large machines. The new clamping unit achieves very short clamping times with precise positioning. Even with large mould weights, the generously dimensioned platen support and guidance provide extreme platen parallelism. The one-part movable mould platen, with its special geometry, introduces the clamping forces into the mould in a particularly uniform way. In the past four years, Krauss-Maffei has sold 25 IMC systems. Under production condit...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Machine Control Technology
...es have been used since the eighties to integrate operating and process data, and ultimately statistical process control, into the machine. The possibilities of control systems grew rapidly within a short time and often resulted in systems that were extremely complicated. The feature of greater numbers of programmable interpolation points, pressures and velocities was used as a sales argument, with the result that ever more complicated machines were being developed in the name of science, with l...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Injection Moulding Water Taps
...ßkanaltechnik, Frankenberg/Germany (Fig. 1). The balanced 4-fold runner (cross-type) is equipped with a 230 V control circuit. The holes in the runners have a diameter of 8 mm, and the hot-runner nozzles have a nominal length of 190 mm. Due to the extreme narrowness of the area concerned, a low voltage (5 V) was selected for the nozzles. The small amount of space needed by the low-voltage heating systems allows a runner diameter of over 6 mm with a shaft diameter of 22 mm. The comparable hot-run...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Innovations in Extrusion
...or bars in a sheet tool being replaced by a thin, flexible membrane [1, 2]. Membrane Feed block While, in the past, 1.5 mm spring steel sheet was still welded into the body of the die [3], it has now proved possible to integrate a large number of extremely thin walls in a die (right down to a thickness of 0.2 mm) at any desired point of the flow channel, without requiring any welding and without giving rise to any disturbances due to a parting plane. The new technology, which has already prove...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Interview with Dr. K. Bourdon: “We Need to Strengthen our Corporate Identity”
... for large machines from Malterdingen to the USA. In addition, we have transferred multicomponent technology to all-electric machines. This combination is very attractive. Kunststoffe: How do you deal with the extreme swings in the economy, which we can expect to continue in future? Bourdon: The machinery business was always highly volatile. In earlier times at least, we had the luxury of very high order reserves. Now, lead times are very short and the order reserves low. We therefore have to t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Interview: "Economical On-Line Coating"
...heat expansion. Kunststoffe: What quality demands does the automotive industry impose on such body panels? Wittig: It is important that suitable high-temperature plastics have a wide enough processing window and do not warp under the extreme conditions of cathodic dip coating. Good surface quality after on-line coating is also a prerequisite for use as body panel material. This economical method has now been used for large-scale on-line coating of thermoplastic fenders and petrol tank caps on ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Joining, Texturing, Modifying: Selecting the Right Laser
Special Selecting the Right Laser Joining, Texturing, Modifying. While the use of laser technology was often limited to expensive products in the past, inexpensive diode lasers and more compact Nd:YAG lasers are finding an ever-wider field of application in the plastics industry. For every specific application, the question always arises as to what is the right laser beam. Arnold Gillner Applications within the field of plastics range from products for packaging, electronics, household appli...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Joint Technology
...d to show an increasing economy with a decreasing number of parts needed for a joint, and a decreasing joint strength that can, however, be increased significantly through material and technological developments. Living Hinges A living hinge is an extremely thin, flexible joint connecting two parts that must move with respect to one another. It is preferably produced from a thermoplastic resin as a single piece in an integrated design. To achieve a long service life in such living hinges, it is...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Sintering: Rapid Prototyping on its Way to Series Production
...to be particularly high due the predetermined assembly tolerances (Fig. 3). The final product has to fulfil the highest reliability standards: The building machine is engineered to withstand more than 20 years of use on a building site under extreme conditions. Finally, the whole project was highly under enormous time pressure, since the original intention was to demonstrate the new product at a tradeshow six weeks later. The service provider was the only one that guaranteed a delivery of 5000 i...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Laser Welding: Laser-adapted Construction for Plastic Welding
...mple and thus inex-pensive. Lasers work without any contact and therefore cannot wear out. The weld seam thus remains constant within the limits of part tolerance. In addition, there is no need to pretreat the parts before welding, which is also extremely advantageous for the consistency of the welding work. It has been found that the reject rate for laser welding can be reduced to an extremely attractive minimum compared with conventional processes. All these advantages of laser welding can be...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Lightweight Construction: LWRT Technique for Car Underbody Covers
... and the tear propagation strength of the sealing film and the entire layer construction are of crucial importance. The results of the simulation were verified by numerous practical tests. In addition to the resistance to extreme stress discussed above, the product is also resistant to every-day abrasion and ageing. Summary „The development of a smooth underbody achieved an improvement of 40% over the original design.” This is the summary of BMW with respect to alternative underbody protection...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Load-bearing capacity: Analysis of Underground Plastic Components
...heads is neglected. In the case of manholes and similar upright tanks, only a vertical centric traffic load can be considered. No solutions are provided for special shapes. In [2], it is also pointed out that special considerations are necessary for extreme conditions – such as very large or very small coverings, very large cross-sections and sloped locations. The application is therefore only suitable for standard analysis of straight pipes and shafts or upright cylindrical tanks without signif...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Market Growth Worldwide: Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA)
... A new market trend is emerging for PMMA in large-area special-purpose glazing. This is increasingly being used for big aquariums, underwater-life displays (title photo) and experience/discovery zones. The decisive factors for its use include the extreme pressure and impact loads that acrylic glass walls can withstand. Acrylic glass walls are thus being increasingly used as safety glazing in test stands, pressure chambers and other applications. Development and Application In road and rail en...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Materials with Multiple Functions
...g ductility the foil is suitable for IMD production of small products like mobile phones as well as large parts like computer housings. Transparency for mobile phone displays: Due to its high transparency, maximum transmission and extremely small birefringence polymethyl metacrylate (PMMA; Plexiglas) from Röhm is a preferred material for production of windows for mobile phone displays (Fig.7). Thus according to a press release in March 2002 the display windows of current mobile phone series are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Medical Technology: Quality Begins with Material Handling
...stations, several additive feeding systems and a drying system with eight drying hoppers. The system is controlled and monitored from a centralised visualisation system, though each component can also be operated locally. Medical Technology Makes Extreme Demands Medical technology is one of the most demanding industrial production areas. Because of the hygienic requirements and standards, extensive special solutions are usually necessary. There is an important competitive advantage here for man...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Microtechnology: A Question of Detail
... basis for all further activities in the field of microtechnology. The standards are communicated to the customer with the first contact. Visualisation prototypes provide optical support for registering and understanding the order. This ensures extremely exact harmonisation with the customer from the start. Intensive Exchange in Both Directions The mould maker must work out the part(s) stage by stage together with the customer. He decides how the parts are produced and clarifies how the decisio...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Modular Drive Technology
... require high injection pressures and speeds. The Advantages of Electric and Hydraulic Drives Electric drives - with the exception of linear motors - carry out a rotating motion that is characterised by a very high level of dynamism combined with extreme accuracy and excellent efficiency, resulting in low energy consumption. Apart from this, electric drives function without oil and are relatively quiet. Hydraulic drives are highly suitable for linear motion and offer a very high power density,...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Morphology and Mechanical Properties: Blends of Polyamide 66 and Syndiotactic Polystyrene
Blends Blends of Polyamide 66 and Syndiotactic Polystyrene Morphology and Mechanical Properties. Blends of polyamide 66 and syndiotactic polystyrene only display enhanced mechanical properties if good compatibility exists between the two materials and an optimum morphology can be achieved. Different compositions of these blends were investigated in a study employing a compatibility enhancer. Materials of this type are attractive for the production of automotive components that are exposed to hi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Motor Vehicle Interiors
... a PC/ PET alloy, are DSM’s materials for interior safety parts. Airbag containers of AkulonK224-PG8 play an important role in passenger safety. The parts fulfil not only the high strength requirements but have extremely small measurements combined with low weight and are cost-effective to produce. In the event of an accident, not only must the airbag housing continue to function but the airbag coverstock must rupture at the designed lines in a controlled manner. The various Arnitel grades which...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Multi-component Injection Moulding: New Properties through Rigid/Flexible Combinations
... Now, with their broader possibilities of application and their technical miniaturisation, they have become almost indispensable companions in almost all areas of our life. Mobile phones today must also have rugged qualities and function reliably in extreme situations, for example in mountaineering. In the last few years, the multi-component injection moulding process has become increasingly popular for mobile phone manufacture. Balda AG of Bad Oeynhausen/Germany uses this process not only to ac...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, New Developments and Trends: Functional Fillers
...new developments are aimed at higher filler loading and improved flow properties and surface quality. To this end, particle size distribution is usually optimised, sometimes in combination with special surface treatment. For example, extremely fine, white, surface-treated calcium carbonate grades are increasingly being used for PVC window profiles, both to achieve a more attractive surface finish and to compensate for the loss of whiteness caused by the new Ca/Zn stabilisers. A specially compact...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, New Possibilities for the Injection Moulding of Thin-wall Parts
...ed because parallel motions are not possible and constant process control can no longer be guaranteed. In the field of high-speed injection moulding, the machine engineering must be designed to suit the application. Such machines are designed for extreme performance and feature a high-speed hydraulic system with constant pressure. This is achieved with a hydraulic accumulator that enables very high capacities to be made immediately available. It can also perform parallel movements and deliver th...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Optimum Drying of Pellet Stock
... way of circumventing this is to allow the pellet stock sufficient residence time to reach room temperature. This may be done by interim storage in a service container located in the building. Where temperature differences from the environment are extreme, these service containers are provided with a dry air curtain, which forms a condensation barrier around the cold pellet stock. Preventive measures can also be taken to protect hygroscopic plastics against absorption of moisture. Where they are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Packaging: Injection Moulded Design
...ied requirements must be able to achieve fast injection rates of up to 450mm/s. At the same time, it must allow high pressures of up to 3000bar to fill wall thicknesses of between 0.15 and 0.2mm. Short machine response times (Fig.6) permit such extreme values and also guarantee shot-to-shot reproducibility. Increasing Trend The trend towards complex design and technically high-quality packaging will increase in the next few years. The wide choice of materials and technical options will allow cu...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Passive house: Successful Energy-saving
Passive house: Successful Energy-saving A passive house consumes about 80% less energy for space heating than a conventional building. Over 3000 passive houses are already occupied in Germany alone and adoption of this building standard with extremely high energy efficiency is spreading throughout Europe, even in the non-residential sector and for modernisation. Wolfgang Feist The passive house (Title picture: Dahms/Sieber project in Bremen/Germany) is finding ever widening application. To...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PBT Oligomers: Always in Good Form
...th additives or reinforcing agents to form thermoplastic structural composites, or alternatively can be reactively compounded in extruders. The most important advantage for processing is the low melt viscosity, which enables extremely high filler contents together with low mould costs. Other advantages range from rapid polymerisation by the isothermal process control, which renders unnecessary any additional cooling of the melt for part demoulding, to the important argument that there are no em...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Perspectives at the Start of a New Millennium
...ro-components. Good examples are available in the guise of liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs). These materials fulfil the requirements of miniatures production. They combine very good flow properties with excellent mechanical values and allow parts with extreme dimensional accuracy and stability to be made [7, 8]. Plastics Indispensable to the Future The future of the plastics industry will not unfold in isolation. It will be greatly determined by the global development of society, science and tec...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plant Tuning: Increase in Capacity of Existing Polyester Plants
... to respond to market demands quickly and economically. A frequently overlooked obstacle to this are discharge pumps under evaporators or finishers. Discharge pumps are designed to extract the melted polymer, which is free of solvent and frequently extremely viscous, away from the reactor, deliver it to the screen changers and, finally, to the pelletizer. With these pumps, differential pressure values up to 250 bar are built up. A special problem in throughput increases is pressure loss on the ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastic Bodies
...ance and colour matching, but also a class A surface quality and reduced coefficient of thermal expansion for a body shell part A low coefficient of thermal expansion is necessary to ensure that the joint dimensions remain as constant as possible at extreme temperatures. In addition, an acceptable surface quality can only be ensured if exterior and interior parts have similar coefficients of thermal expansion. The coefficient of thermal expansion of thermoplastics can be reduced to a certain deg...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastic, the All-purpose Material: Function in Form
...loped a multi-coloured transparent brake lever of polycarbonate based on an aliphatic polyester (grade: Xylex). The material resists weathering and also has high UV resistance and excellent colour fastness, even at extreme temperatures [3]. The most important technical demand on bicycle brake parts are low weight, balanced mechanical characteristics, excellent surface quality and very good slip properties. They are met by, among other materials, a polyarylamide compound (grade: PA MXD6), which w...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plasticising in Critical Areas
...system involve the internal pressures inside the cylinder – which can nowadays reach 3,500 bar in the thin-wall technology – and operating temperatures of up to 450°C (sometimes even 500°C with high-temperature thermoplastics). Extreme stresses are also generated in the so-called “thixomoulding process” (the processing of magnesium on injection moulding machines). In Japan and the United States, machines are currently in operation for this application, but in Europe, considerable develop...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastics Handling in Extrusion
Plastics Handling in Extrusion Product Quality also Depends on Conveying, Metering and Drying Systems Werner Koch and Joachim Jost, Ispringen/Germany The handling of plastics pellet stock is extremely important, particularly in the extrusion business. Firstly the material must be fed with the correct composition (following the formulation). Secondly material tearing, for example in film extrusion, can involve a very long and expensive restarting process. Material supply systems for plast...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Plastics Packaging in the 21sup>st/sup> Century
...d products derived from packed product sensitivities and typical minimum shelf lives [2] Sauerstoffdurchlässigkeit = Oxygen permeability Fig. 5. Cross-fracture through a vapour-deposited aluminium layer (scanning electron micrograph, following extreme buckling/flexural stressing) Fig. 6. Cross-fracture through a vapour-deposited SiOx layer Fig. 7. Functionality profile of different composite materials Fig. 8. Increase in permeability (in %, expressed in terms of the overall surface of the pa...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, PMMA Successful in More and More Fields of Application: Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA)
...many product innovations and advances. For instance, PMMA compounds are an ideal partner for the innovative markets of automobile manufacture, optics, information technology, medical devices as well as the construction and lighting industries. The extremely resistant PMMA compounds are profiting at present from the boom in liquid-crystal display (LCD) technologies, from the design and lightweight construction challenges in automobile manufacture and the demanding requirements for modern lighting...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyamide (PA)
... polyamide grades used for these applications are PA6, PA66 and copolyamides. Semi-aromatic and other high-temperature polyamides are used primarily for niche applications where the requirements on mechanical, thermal or chemical resistance are so extreme that even the high level of PA66 will still not suffice. Above-average growth is to be expected for polyamides in engineering plastics in future, with the main application areas being automotive engineering, electrical engineering/electronics a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyamides (PA)
...ctronics and packaging dominate. For these applications PA 6, PA 66 and copolyamides are preferably used. The semiaromatic polyamides have established themselves in niche applications. Because of their high quality level these materials suitable for extreme mechanical, thermal and medium requirements are used in applications where even the high PA 66 level is not completely sufficient. Vehicle Construction The application segment with the highest consumption of polyamide is vehicle construction...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyaryletherketones (PAEK)
...pplications in all areas of industry. Semicrystalline PEEK is insoluble in all common solvents and has very good resistance to most organic and inorganic agents, even at elevated temperatures. The radiation resistance to high-dose gamma radiation is extremely good for a thermoplastic material. PEEK can be used over a period of several thousand hours at 250°C in steam or water at high pressure without any noticeable decrease in mechanical properties. PEEK's outstanding resistance to any t...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyaryletherketones (PAEK)
... properties of PEEK with those of PTFE. The cylinder head gasket, marketed under the trade name Monomet, is punched from solid steel with a specified thickness distribution, and subsequently coated. This gasket concept meets the high demands for extreme resistance to temperature changes from –30 to 250°C, compression up to 200N/mm2, resistance to hot water and glycol, and low friction coefficients. STE succeeded in meeting these requirements by developing a compound based on PEEK and PTFE, combi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT)
...(photo: DSM) Fig. 5. “Whisper relay” with a housing in a PBT grade that cushions vibrations particularly effectively (photo: DuPont) Fig. 6. New, hydrolysis-stabilised PBT-GR grades with a high dimensional stability, which fulfil extreme requirements on ageing resistance, are especially suitable for the plug connectors used in cars, such as on airbags (photo: Bayer) Fig. 7. Halogen-free flame retardant PBT grades which are suitable for light-switch inserts for domestic installations fulfil a ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polycarbonate (PC)
...rial for sunglasses, sports eyewear and protective goggles (Fig.7), and also for corrective lenses. The material has high impact strength and is therefore particularly suitable for eyewear for children and sports enthusiasts. Under extreme climatic conditions, for example at sea or in the mountains, a built-in UV protection has proved to be particularly useful. Other advantages compared with glass and thermosetting plastics are its high refractive index with high light transmission and its ease ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polycarbonate Multiwall Panels: Transparency Coupled With Good Thermal Insulation
... the polycarbonate panels is their good fire performance properties, which have a B1 and B2 rating in Germany as defined in DIN 4102. Neither strong sunlight nor frost damages the panels, because they remain dimensionally stable across the extreme temperature range of -100 to 120°C. Nor do the polycarbonate panels become brittle with increasing age and they also retain their strength. After 10 years have elapsed, they still have a tensile strength of 50MPa. The tensile strength is determined in...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polyoxymethylene (POM)
...ance of the automotive industry in these markets, whereas in Asia, the automotive industry has a 32% share of POM consumption and is beaten into second place by electrical/electronics which has a 35% share. This statistic illustrates the extremely strong position of the Asian region in the production of electronic appliances – above all personal computers and accessories – while their sales markets are very important in the USA and Europe. Worldwide, the electrical and electronics industry contr...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polypropylene
...the most promising developments is Basell's Metocene family of resins that feature advanced, propylene-based materials, produced with metallocene single-site catalysts. Based on one type of polymer molecule, Metocene resins are characterized by extremely narrow molecular weight and molecular weight distribution, which differentiate Metocene resins from traditional Ziegler-Natta based materials. Furthermore, Metocene resins have new propene insertion modes, which are not accessible with norma...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Polystyrene (PS)
...sary. Increasingly in recent years polystyrene tended to lose its traditionally slight price premium compared to other standard plastics. The commodity character of polystyrene is expressed also in strongly fluctuating market prices that have led to extreme situations again and again such as unexpected consumption highs and lows because of temporary bottlenecks on the part of the crude products and partly also due to short term stocks and inventory reduction on the part of the processing plants....

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives ...
...sed in direct food-contact applications. Until recently, received opinion said “That is impossible!” Yet there is a new generation of pressure-sensitive adhesives that does possess this seemingly extreme combination of properties. A resourceful chemist at BASF had a brainwave at the end of the 1980s in which he simply united all the divergent strands of thought with each other. He combined the high ageing resistance of the acrylates used in dispersions with the freedom from solvent of the “stand...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Product Developments: Polyamides in the Engine Compartment
...2.0, a PA 66 reinforced with 35% glass fibres. The injection moulded part has been jointly developed by ZF Getriebe GmbH, Friedrichshafen/Germany, IBS Filtran GmbH of Morsbach/Germany, IBS Brocke GmbH & Co. KG and Bayer. The extreme requirements placed on protection against flying stones, on the tightness of the flange and on the structural rigidity actually suggest that this development would not be possible. The experts at Bayer Polymers succeeded in proving the contrary, however, and they are...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Production Monitoring: Particle Monitoring on the Extruder
... for undesirable gas bubbles to develop inside the extruder already if unfavourable process conditions have been selected for the gas charge of the polymer melt, or if there is an unfavourable pressure drop during the output of the melt. In an extreme case, this can lead to the entire foaming process collapsing. The inline particle sensors allow this undesirable bubble formation to be detected straightaway, and the necessary changes to the process parameters can be made without delay. Having th...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Profitable Innovations in a Weak Automobile Economy
...es - especially fuel cells - change automobiles. The trend toward new weight optimised materials can be illustrated in a numerical example. Today the average private car consists of 50 to 60 % steel, 10 to 15 % aluminium and 15 to 20 % plastics. For extreme lightweights like the Audi A2, for instance, the proportion of steel is 35 %, that of aluminium is 30 % and that of plastic is 25 %. In order to limit carbon dioxide emission, low fuel consumption and thus light construction is absolutely nec...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Qualification of Polyurethane Foams
...et metal become stressed at right angles to the direction of foam flow if they are foam-backed for the purpose of providing insulation or rigidity. As high pressure forces are generated, the production equipment has to be reinforced or supported. In extreme cases, these forces may destroy a part. The forces are measured as the rise pressure, so called because the local stresses present as the foam sets are critically dependent on the foam rise height. The rise pressure is measured in a special e...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Railroad Rolling Stock: On Track with Lightweight Construction Techniques
... to be adapted because conventional needle non-woven material in uncompressed form does not lead to the desired high fibre portion. Compared with SMC the parts have a penetration strength that is around 30% lower; also extreme environmental influences can lead to material-technical restrictions. Further improvement potential is in its draping ability and fluidity as well as the stability of the pre-products, its painting behaviour and cycle times. Therefore manufacture of longer series on an ind...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Reading by Laser
...ge of technical applications. The development of the audio compact disc opened up a completely new application. The main criterion here is the faithful reproduction of pits and grooves on a microscopic scale, which must remain stable for years under extreme conditions. The specially developed, easy-flowing polycarbonate grades meet these requirements outstandingly. They do not warp even at high application temperatures, for example in the car, where temperatures of 80°C are not uncommon. Ano...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Reliable Production: Innovative Filter for Problem-free Cooling
...sure fluctuations that occur in the system as the filter gradually clogs up. These fluctuations are not noticeable to begin with, but rapidly have a negative impact. When the filter is completely blocked, production comes to a standstill. In the extreme case, the filter will burst, and all the residues will be released into the water again and immediately start circulating. These unfavourable properties of main flow filters cause considerable extra work for production operatives. In many cases,...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Remote Control in Production: Vision or Reality
... to difficulties in use and to loss of function. The expenditure for installation and administration of the main line remote control of different stand alone solutions in the heterogeneous surrounding environment is substantial for the operator. In extreme cases each teleservice apparatus of each individual machine must be maintained separately. That can quickly become difficult to supervise in a production enterprise with machines from the most varied control manufacturers and it is no longer ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Replacing Metals
...placing Metals Automotive Gear Wheels of PEEK Ralf Weidig, Hofheim/Taunus, Germany With the trend towards high operating temperatures and miniaturisation in the engine compartment, gear wheels must be made of a material that can withstand such extreme conditions. Thanks to its well-balanced range of properties, the high temperature thermoplastic PEEK has proved valuable in many applications. Plastic gear wheels have long been among the more innovative automotive solutions. Materials such...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Requirements for Manufacturing Products for Medical Technology: Guidelines for Building up a Practical Cleanroom Manufacturing System
...f human particle emissions Fig. 11. Technical cleanroom production Table 1. Plastic products are used in medical technology in a wide variety of regions Table 2. Many microbes stubbornly withstand even extreme conditions; times in minutes acc. to: Brandis et al., “Medizinische Mikrobiologie“ Translated from Kunststoffe 11/2003, pp. 19–2

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Roofs of Light
...ies has gained it a growing share of the market for transparent construction sheets. Fire resistance is an increasingly important factor in material selection, particularly in the construction of public buildings. Transparent roofing is subject to extremely high static and dynamic requirements under extreme weather conditions. Roof surfaces, depending on their location, may have to withstand conditions such as acid rain, hail and heavy snow loads for prolonged periods. Wind also generates a su...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Safeguarding the Economic Viability of Production Sites: Adding Value through Innovation in Injection Moulding
...lectric machines very often have considerable advantages. It would be wrong to generalise in such circumstances, but precisely for more demanding applications that do not call for the typical limits of long holding pressure times and extreme injection capacities, the latest generation of electrically driven machines in the clamping force range below 2000kN offers considerable benefits: energy saving, fast, accurate, reproducible, quiet and clean. The disadvantages are their cost-to-benefit ratio...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Screws: Plastication in Rapid Time
... and cost effective. Practical Examples The suitability of these systems for use on injection moulding machines has been demonstrated in extensive series of tests: Various conventional barrier-screw designs and the HPX unit were compared under the extreme conditions of certain high-speed applications (Table1). The HPX unit allows the throughput to be increased and the melt temperature reduced. The results obtained on a pilot scale have since been successfully transferred to industrial practice...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Sealing under Extreme Conditions
Sealing under Extreme Conditions PEEK for Gaskets and Seals in Automotive Construction Ralf Weidig, Hofheim/Germany Productivity increases, technological progress and the high cost awareness in the automotive industry are placing ever higher demands on the gaskets and seals used there. In automotive transmissions, engines and steering, the high-temperature material polyetheretherketone (PEEK) provides an attractive range of properties. Seals and gaskets have always been of central import...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Separating, Sealing, Sliding
...idual tailoring of gear-change characteristics to the particular driving style. Important components of these gears are axial thrust washers. They separate the different gear stages from one another and are therefore subject to high axial forces and extreme tribological loads. Because of their compact design and problems with high oil temperatures and adequate lubrication, the materials for this part are subject to extremely high demands on emergency running properties. Standard materials such a...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Simulation Tools: Vibro-acoustic Design of Composites
...d technically to date. At the same time, questions relating to specific effects on the damping, natural frequency and sound emission properties, for instance, through variation of the layered structure, layer orientation and layer geometry, are extremely important from a technical standpoint. Such a preliminary acoustic design requires early use of efficient computational methods for virtual prototypes and individual components, since these are available much in advance of the complete system. T...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Small But Potent
...w machines is therefore usually greater than 3.5 mm. With smaller pellet dimensions, it would be possible to use smaller screw dimensions, and therefore small minimum shot weights. Another problem derives directly from the size of micro parts. In an extreme case, the part weight is 1 mg and the shot weight 20 mg. Conventional pellets weigh about 25 mg. While a macro injection moulded part obtains properties averaged out over very many pellets, the melt portion of a micro part comes from a single...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Sports Equipment: Plastics at all Events
...s very low water absorption. Beneath the surface, the ball boasts another special feature: An elastic layer with outstanding low-temperature flexibility made of syntactic Impranil polyurethane foam. This foam is made up of equal-sized, extremely elastic and highly resistant gas-filled microcells. The composite is said to provide better contact with the ball and ensure a more accurate and predictable flight of the ball through the air. The honeycomb panels have excellent damping properties and he...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Stabilization - Doping for Recyclates
...ace changes on inspection. The scanning electron micrographs of the surfaces illustrate that, in the case of the non-restabilized PP regrind mixture, complete degradation of the surface has occurred after 2,170 h of weathering. As a result of this extreme exposure, even the reference material specially treated for outdoor applications displayed initial signs of surface changes in the micrometer range, although no changes in the mechanical properties were identified. The surface of the specifical...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Strong Upturn: Polycarbonate (PC)
...llowed by two years of moderate growth. Only in 2003 did demand rise again. However, substantially higher raw material and energy costs exerted a strong squeeze on margins. Additionally, PC manufacturers had to contend in 2003 and 2004 with an extreme price decline. At the end of the first quarter of 2004, the PC market revived appreciably. Meanwhile, PC output cannot keep up with demand. Reasons here include the fact that the PC manufacturers were forced to slow down capacity extensions due to ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Submicron and Nano
...automotive industry. This manifests itself in attempts to use as few fillers as possible and at the same time to even improve the mechanical properties. These are only successful in the case of highly select fillers that have a large aspect ratio or extremely small particle sizes or both. Thus, micronized fillers are being used for bumper compounds with "zero-gap" function (title picture; photograph: Borealis; material: Daplen MB 441). Completely new business fields have opened up for fi...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Successful Conversion to 3D
...ntirely from recycled material. The company's major customers include Coca-Cola, Lever, Procter & Gamble, Henkel, Esso, BP, Elf and L'Oréal. Alpla's corporate philosophy is "Produce as near to the customer as possible". In extreme cases, this means producing the bottles or containers at so-called in-house sites on the customer's premises, in virtually direct proximity to the filling machine. In such cases, supply on demand has even reached the point where the filli...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Sulphone Polymers: Clear Vision
...es have a longer lifetime than metals as interior parts in plumbing applications Fig. 4. Food trays of PPSU have the necessary strength and durability for reliable long-term use. They are virtually unbreakable and resistant to rapid, extreme temperature cycles from -40 to +204°C Fig. 5. Transparent microwave cookware of polysulphone transmits microwaves Table 1. Characteristic optical data of sulphone polymers at different thicknesses

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Swiss Network: Nanoreplication in a Network
...ield, while mechanical profile measurement is standard in the semi-conductor industry. While profilometers of this type are suitable for routine measurements, AFM allows structural details to be resolved (Fig. 7). Extreme care is called for with plastics in both cases, since the specimen can be readily damaged during a measurement with a profilometer and, with AFM, there is a high susceptibility to error in the measurement of non-conducting specimens on account of electrostatic charges. Scanning...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Tailor-made Engineering in Increasing Perfection
...rated according to the proportional shot weight and according to the viscosity of the injection moulding material. Versions of nickel-plated and TiN-coated copper beryllium or – where the level of wear and tear is extreme – molybdenum are available. To reduce the pre-chamber volume, sealing caps of highly heat-resistant plastic are mounted on them, e.g. made of Vespel polyamide (manufacturer: DuPont). This also speeds up colour changes and is a reliable sign of a narrower residence time profile....

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Thin Bed Foaming for Door Covers
...operation is superfluous. Time consuming and costly production steps in the lamination procedure can be eliminated. In addition, the short extraction and curing times make in-mould foaming technology attractive. Adhesive-free parts characterised by extreme resistance to heat are produced. The costs of adjustments to adjoining parts are very low. Besides the advantages of the production process, the system Elastoflex E also has technical merits that increase the safety of the vehicle. With a rela...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Three Weeks Until the Start
...em was produced by Velocity in tandem with Creaholic. The drive system had a variable output with an average of 250 Watt and transmitted its power in sequence with the pedal speed to the rear wheel via a stepless automatic drive. Covers Had to Defy Extreme Heat A particularly difficult problem in the bike's development was posed by the covers for protecting the motor housing (Fig. 2) and by the motor box (Fig. 3). Proform AG had less than three weeks to produce the total of 26 parts. Twent...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, TPU Film: Electricity on the Pacific
...ering Electricity on the Pacific TPU Film. A thermoplastic polyurethane film is used to encapsulate solar modules. In the harsh conditions of a Pacific crossing, it ensures that solar modules on boats or ships are not susceptible to fracture even at extreme low temperatures. Around 8000km of open sea lay ahead of Maud Fontenoy as, on 12th January of this year, she struck out for Polynesia from the Peruvian harbour town of Callao – the first women to row solo across the North Atlantic, and now ta...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Transfer Systems used in the Production of Dialysis Filters: Product Transport under Cleanroom Conditions
...ilters and complete dialysis machines. For this the company has some dialysis hospitals. Hechingen/Germany is the location of one of the most important manufacturing plants for production of dialysis filters. The processes necessary for this are all extremely sensitive but differ greatly technologically. For this reason there are different production islands each with highly developed processes. In addition in each case these processes are usually run under special environmental conditions. The ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Tubes for Drip Irrigation
...speeds and frequencies. To be able to drill such a large number of holes at the required speed, use is nowadays made of laser drills that allow up to 10 holes per second to be drilled with maximum precision. The technology is very reliable and extremely easy to use. Thick-wall tubes with flat drippers (i.e. tube wall thicknesses between 0.6 and 1.5mm and more) are manufactured on principle on similar machines but with one difference. For the drilling stage, the laser drill has to be capable of d...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Turbocharged Engines: Plastic Solution for Supercharged Air Pipes
...rmed directly from the rigid plastic tube. Soft and hard pipe sections will thus be made of the same material. The manufacturers expect similar possibilities also for the hot side where PA is not suitable because it cannot withstand the expected extreme temperature loads. PPS and Suction Moulding: State of the Art However, a solution is already in view. At this point a PPS denoted Fortron from Ticona enters the picture. The glass-fibre reinforced high performance plastic has exactly the tempera...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Two-component Micro Powder Injection Moulding: Three Special Processes in One
...jection moulding allows economic mass production of complex parts of metal and ceramic. Multicomponent injection moulding offers multifunctionality via a combination of different materials. Micro injection moulding produces innovative products with (extremely) small dimensions. The aim of combining these three special injection moulding processes is to develop novel products, and open up new markets. Injection moulding, as a mass-production process that requires low secondary finishing, is an ec...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Under Extreme Conditions
Under Extreme Conditions Modified Technical Plastics for Fuel Systems Boris Weber and Jörg Jander, Frankfurt/Main, Germany Innovative fuel systems put the highest requirements on the materials used. Technical plastics like POM and PPS play a key role in this context. Optimised products that can withstand hot diesel fuel or that are electrically conductive, for instance, are developed in close co-operation with the automobile industry and system suppliers. Producers of technical plastics ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Under the Microscope
...ins and thus facilitates diffusion. The increase in mobility is particularly pronounced when the system passes through the glass transition temperature. The resultant mobility of the polymer main chains greatly facilitates the diffusion process. The extreme rise in permeability and diffusion coefficient observed for Akulon F136-C can therefore be attributed to the glass transition temperature being exceeded. Although measuring the glass transition temperature of polyamides as a function of the r...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Vacuum Pumps for Extruder Degassing
...Design Principles Mark Redmann, Maulburg/Germany For a reliable extrusion process, it is essential to choose the right degassing pump technology. If the wrong pump type is used, the final product may not fall within quality specifications. In an extreme case, serious disruption of the production process may result. In many industrial fields vacuum has developed from a process aid to a process parameter. Apart from its use for handling purposes or pneumatic conveying, vacuum is also used in...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Wear-resistant Needle Valves: Hot-runner Solutions for Extreme Demands
Tooling Hot-runner Solutions for Extreme Demands Wear-resistant Needle Valves. An injection moulding shop converted the production of a challenging two-component part from two machines with transfer of the preform to a single mould with a stack mould. One of the most important technical elements of the new system is a hot-runner system with needle valves. Thomas Adolph Processing unusual material combinations, such as a carbon fibre-reinforced, high-impact material together with a soft compone...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Weather-resistant TPE
Weather-resistant TPE Specially-stabilized TPW Based on SBC Gerhard Berger and Markus Beitzel, Waldkraiburg/Germany TPE parts for outdoor applications are gaining increasing significance. This is creating a need for materials to fulfil the extreme requirements. Employing a new generation of styrene block copolymers (SBC) with an improved stabilization system, it is now possible to withstand outdoor simulation periods of several years. Steadily increasing quality demands on the part of OE...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, What Barrier Screws Can Achieve
...uired for individual applications. Engineering plastics such as PC and PMMA need less shear-intensive geometries. The use of screws with special geometries is also justified in some cases for plasticizing standard materials (PE, PP, PS and ABS) when extreme demands are being made on plasticizing capacity and melt homogeneity. Consequently, in addition to 20 D standard three-zone screws, 25 D screws with shearing and mixing sections and barrier screws are widely used today. Barrier Screw In con...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Wide Area of Applications: Upward Trend for Thermoplastic Polyurethanes
...structured surfaces instead of a smooth or polished finish is a popular method to prevent adhesion of the material to the cavity wall. Adhesion to the cavity wall can be reinforced by other phenomena. Long residence times or exposure to extreme temperatures during processing can lead to degradation. The degraded material on the outer layer of the mould increases the adhesive quality of the moulded article. This negative effect can be easily avoided by careful processing. An inadequate design of ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Worldwide Demand is Increasing: Polyphenylene Sulphide (PPS)
...olymer has succeeded in becoming established with significant growth rates. PPS’s strong, steady growth rate chiefly benefits linear PPS. In contrast to the second type, namely crosslinking PPS, this grade is mainly used in parts that have to meet extreme mechanical demands. In 2004, world demand for the thermoplastic semicrystalline polymer was about 40000t/a. The Asian-Pacific area – because of its high concentration of electrical and electronics companies – held the greatest share, followed ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Worldwide Growth: Engineering Plastics
...seats or sliding/sun roofs, seat latch buttons or loudspeaker grilles are also made of POM. The prerequisite for the versatility in automotive interiors (Fig.3) includes the good pigment uptake in a wide range of colours, good UV resistance and extremely low odour. Together with system suppliers, Ticona has developed the prototype of a car door module (Fig.4), which is produced by the outsert process. This innovative process can injection mould a large number of functional elements onto a circui...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, Worldwide Stable Growth: Polyurethanes (PUR)
...turers. In Western Europe, which is currently the most highly developed market in the world, rigid integral foams are still mainly only used in special applications. The products are often characterised by extreme size (e.g. the front plate of a computer tomograph) or unusual part complexity, such as covers for agricultural vehicles, which have significant undercuts. The development and processing of suitable integral foams requires a high R&D input, which is provided by suppliers like Bayer Mat...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-21, “It Depends on the Part”
...ta Avensis (Fig.6). A film fed continuously through the mould is back-moulded with a PC/ABS blend. To ensure maximum surface quality, the moving mould side of the injection moulding machine is kept under clean-room conditions. In addition to extreme cleanliness, which, in addition to clean-room conditions, can also be implemented by, e.g., blasting with ionised air, another requirement is precise positioning of the film. Apart from the examples shown in Figs.4 and 6, IMD has already been widely ...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-11-30, Extrusion Dies: Variety by the Meter
...nner in which melt is supplied. In addition to the mechanical resistance to widening, supplying the melt uniformly to all openings is decisive for the operation of this die type. In the region of the discharge outlet, the die plates are subject to extreme wear from the cutting knives and the change in flow. This is counteracted through the use of special die designs (knife-side) or, even more effectively, through use of 3–5mm thick ceramic or hardmetal die plates as “die armour”, as shown in Fig...

Kunststoffe international, 2005-12-08, A Status Report (1): Versatility for Mass Production in MuCell Injection Moulding
...gas injection. This is important because too great a pressure drop can lead to local oversaturation of the melt with gas. On the other hand, too low a pressure drop at the beginning can result in no gas entering the melt in the extreme case. ADPC allows this important process operation to be automatically safeguarded and documented. An equally important point for mass production is the possibility of the adjusting the SCF (blowing gas supply) unit directly from the injection moulding machine con...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-01-09, PE-HD Compounds for Pipe Extrusion: Optimised Properties
...tion into the market. A fact which is of decisive relevance to pipe applications is that partially crystalline PE-HD has - crystalline structures for high rigidity and negligible tendency to creep, and - non-crystalline, amorphous structures for extreme toughness and resistance to stress cracking. In order to put this recognition into practice, it is necessary to produce an PE-HD with a corresponding microstructure. This is possible by means of a modified version of the low-pressure polymerisati...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-01-13, Machine Control: For Ultra-fine Welds
Laser For Ultra-fine Welds Machine Control. Micro-scale applications require extreme precision in laser transmission welding. The laser tool axis control must operate with corresponding accuracy and reliability. Manfred Hofmann Oliver Hinz Plastics are playing an ever more important role in microscale applications such as the production of chips, sensors and electric devices (Fig.1). The tinier the elements to be processed, the greater is the problem of joining them precisely to one another. T...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-01-15, Mouldmaking Technology at Fakuma und EuroMold: Engineering Lights Comes Out from Under the Bushel
... duplication of delicate and intricate contours in the form of a brass evangelary cover (Fig. 1), the original of which dates from the 7th century. “An altar server carries this replica during the procession. We use this to show our command of extremely complex geometries. After digitizing in a 3-D scanner, we employ CNC mills and laser technology to produce the force and die, which then stamp the metal in a 5000kN press,“ explained company owner Wolfgang Leonhardt, as he pointed to the bright b...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-01-15, State-of-the-Art and Perspectives: Laser Beam Processing of Polymers
...and must be counted among the everyday tools for production. Flexible beam control and introduction of an exact amount of energy assure high-quality processing results with minimal effects on the part. Laser technology has become accepted wherever extremely small geometries and a noncontact processing technique are important in terms of product specifications and the benefits of lasers can be exploited. New processing methods based on highly functional polymers are expanding the field of applica...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-02-21, Nanocoating: Seat Coverings: Soil-repellent and Comfortable
...ct induction as the tyre surface rolls along the road. However, at the same time, they confirmed that electrostatic charging and discharging of people in contact with car bodies could lead to damage or destruction of the on-board car electronics. In extreme cases, it could even endanger users. There have been rare isolated cases at petrol stations where an electrostatic discharge from a driver who has stepped out of a vehicle to fill it up with petrol has caused an explosion during the filling o...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-02-22, Carbon-fibre-reinforced Plastics (CRP): The Black Gold of Lightweight Building
... BMW M6 [16]. The recently completed EU research project TECABS (Technologies for Carbon-Fibre-Reinforced Modular Automotive Body Structures [17]) had the goal of achieving a conceptual body-in-white (BIW), i.e. a completely supporting, extremely light structure for a mass-produced CRP vehicle. Participants were the OEMs VW, Renault and Volvo, in addition to numerous research institutions and the CRP industry. The following objectives were set: - weight savings of 50% relative to conventional s...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-02-22, Cockpit Surfaces: Workplace and Living Room on Wheels
...nd the application itself, is a prerequisite for exact replication of the surface. The primary difference versus positive painting is that the paint can replicate almost any surface textures (graining). In contrast, with positive painting, extremely fine structures in the surface become “flooded” to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the film thickness and wetting characteristics. Naturally, this has a significant effect on the overall visual appearance of an assembly comprising several in...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-04-25, Injection Moulding: Two-Component Pens Produced on an Automatic One-Component Machine
...l decided to produce the part in two stages on two separate eight-cavity moulds on a tiebarless Engel Victory 330/110 (1100kN clamping force). However, this solution would not have been technically possible or economically viable without an extremely sturdy automation system which was not only tailored to the specific requirements of this product but also capable of extreme positioning accuracy. Based on an Engel ERC 65/0-F linear robot, this system was designed in close cooperation between the ...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-05-23, Flat Film Extrusion: The Calendering Belt-cooling Process as a Quality Factor
...ction methods. The first three curves show the profiles for the specimens produced with the polishing stack. The tensile specimen in the direction of extrusion displays the highest strength. This high strength is due to the extreme stretching of the plastic in the first roll gap. The attainable strength at right angles and obliquely to the direction of extrusion is only half as high, by contrast. The strength of the specimens removed obliquely to the extrusion direction is somewhat higher than t...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-07-04, Automotive Engineering: High Soft-touch Quality in One Single Process
...yer foam-moulded parts, the new process is considerably faster, more economical, less complex and because it is a single process, clearly advantageous from a logistical aspect. The process currently used for the manufacture of such components is extremely time-consuming and generally is comprised of three separate stages. The process involves the processing of different types of plastic: the separate production of the body and the foamed soft-touch outer skin and the subsequent lamination of the...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-07-31, Flexible Machinery: The Latest Way to Package Treats
...t. The thermoformers achieve consistently high quality with an increase to 850kN. Precise coil cut. An innovative coil cut technology allows for wider forming regions. This is made possible by advanced manufacturing techniques: To get an extremely precise cut, the forming equipment follows a special design: It has barely perceptible holding nubs (flashes) for the blanked product. The surface flatness of the clamping area is 30 µm and the constant plane parallelism between the fixed upper die sh...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-08-06, High-performance Polyamides: Transparency for all Occasions
...n the fields of food and medical technology, which are subject to strict hygiene requirements. Polyamides absorb more water than HT polycarbonate and polysulphone (Table 1). However, because of the special polymer structure, Grilamid TR 60 shows extremely high hydrolytic stability and is therefore especially suitable for medical technology. Repeated sterilisation over the long term, such as that required in hospitals, does not pose a problem for the material. Even after 300 cycles in steam at 13...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-09-27, Actuator Materials: Liquid Crystalline Elastomers for Microengineering
...ime. Potential Applications The above-mentioned application or principle can be used for micromounting optical components and SMDs or adjusting such elements to any required position by switching or moving optical fibres. The extreme deformability of FULCE materials in comparison with piezoelectric materials permits very large movements. The similar molecular structure of FULCE materials to PDMS [poly(dimethyl siloxane)] allows them to be combined with PDMS materials. Like PDMS, FULCE material...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-09-27, Heat Resistance: Miniature Electronic Components Produced from PEEK
Special Miniature Electronic Components Produced from PEEK Heat Resistance. As a result of the ban on lead-containing solders, processing conditions in the solder bath method have become far more extreme, pushing conventionally used materials to their performance limits. For this reason, the high-performance polymer PEEK, with its excellent thermal, electrical and mechanical properties, is being increasingly used for miniature electronic components. Steffen Germer The relentless miniaturisati...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-09-28, A Holistic Approach: Integrated Engineering
...nfolding movement. The design is largely determined in the concept development phase, which account for about 20% of the entire project time. Even in this early project stage, close and permanent communication with the customer is extremely important. The client is kept up to date about the status of the project at regular meetings. It is also advisable to integrate the know-how from project suppliers at an early stage to permit more cost effective assembly or injection moulding production by m...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-10-30, Development Project: A Concept that Fits
...After definition of the junction points of the individual chair parts among themselves – here fixed connections and screw con-nections or bonding and contact connections are distinguished, which can separate under the loads – the extreme positions of the sliding seat func-tion had to be examined in each case for force application from the front and from the back. Again three approximation steps were necessary. Above all the seat support was designed more rigidly than originally planned. After fu...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-10-30, Investment: Node in the Global Production Network
...2. The MDI splitter can produce up to 80000 tons of monomeric and polymeric MDI. Fig. 3. Polyester polyurethane (trade name: Bayflex Longlast) is particularly suited for the production of soles for safety shoes that undergo extreme environmental conditions.

Kunststoffe international, 2006-10-30, Material Development: Polycarbonate Lenses for LED Lighting
...f both thermoplastics is similarly high. PC material formulations are also now available whose colour neutrality approximates that of PMMA. A significant advantage of PC over PMMA is the distinctly higher heat conductivity. This parameter is extremely important, since lenses with free-form optics include regions with wall thickness values of more than 10mm and also great thickness variations. Since wall thickness is squared when entered into the cooling time formula, it is necessary to tolerate ...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-10-30, Roll Pelletiser: Novel Compacting and Pelletising Machine
... especially for wet cutting. The roll pelletiser supplements the aforesaid pelletising methods when these come up against limits, e.g. limits which have so far not been surmounted by screw-type machines. In the open system of the roll pelletiser the extremely high shaping forces in the roll nip are used for producing pellets from products which are very difficult to mould to a particular shape. In research in recent years roll mills in many fields have been regarded as out of date, too cost-inte...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-12-06, Metal Replacement: Liquid Crystal Polymer in Springform Baking Pan
...e or an even more confined space – and the miniaturisation this allows were previously the main arguments for using liquid crystal polymers. With its very good flow properties, this plastic is virtually flash-free and can be injection moulded to extreme precision. For the production of fine structures, LCP offers wide freedom of design, very good dimensional stability, inherent flame retardancy and high heat deflection temperatures, which even permit lead-free soldering. From 3D-MID to Springfo...

Kunststoffe international, 2006-12-06, Polyetheretherketone: Material Advantages in Semiconductor Production
...ould display high dimensional stability, chemical resistance, bottom surface and inner edge surface wear resistance, good vibration characteristics, ease of processing, and mechanical properties, including strength, ability to be machined to extremely tight tolerances, and compatibility with process components such as slurries. With these factors to consider, a suitable material will result in more wafer passes during fabrication, resulting in lower downtime, and lower cost per wafer (Fig.3). Wa...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-02-13, Film Festival in Münsterland
...y heading towards multi-layer lines and therefore a new 9-layer Maxicone die was a highlight. According to the manufacturer it delivers homogeneous single layer distribution, very low residence times and high output (up to 600 kg/h), even with extreme layer ratios. This is due in part to the use of a patented conical spiral mandrel distributor which results in very short melt flow paths. The conical construction guarantees an early encapsulation of the middle layer and makes it so flexible that ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-02-13, Hot-Runners for Flame-Retardant Polyamides
...o local overheating in the hot runner nozzles. In the nozzles, occasionally measured temperatures reached 360°C, although the nozzle temperature set at the controller was 290°C. The success of the application however depends on maintaining extremely homogeneous temperatures in the hot-runner system. Moeller sought the solution to this problem from a hot-runner manufacturer with long-term expertise in processing sensitive plastics. To this end, the company assigned the Günther Heisskanaltechnik G...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-03-15, Complex and Stable
...rk was conducted to help optimise the design, which was particularly beneficial in understanding the needs for luggage retention and occupant. Prototypes of the designs were produced and tested for luggage retention and seat belt pull, the most extreme loading conditions. The original concept did not include much detail, to allow fast prototyping and testing. The seat belt pull test setup and the equivalent CAE model for this concept are shown in Figure 1. This represents a 60% rear seat back, t...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-03-15, Design Material with a Future
... large-scale production are still at the development stage. Knowledge acquired from motor sports is not usually directly transferable. For example, there is still no reliable information on the long-term behaviour of fibre composites when exposed to extreme climatic conditions, harsh service conditions or material defects (frequently invisible from the outside). In addition, repairs to fibre composite structures are often very difficult and costly to carry out, even if they are possible at all. ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-03-15, Promoting Innovations with a Focus
...injection-compression moulding system, suitable moulds, and measuring technology for assessing the quality of collimator optics. We have also purchased special rheological calculation programs designed for very thick injection mouldings with extreme variations in wall thicknesses," explains Rainer Protte, specialist for injection moulding developments in the Injection Moulding Technologies segment of the Polycarbonates Business Unit. A particularly bright future is predicted for LEDs that em...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-03-15, Safely Welded All Round
...ing, was soon ruled out. In addition to the complicated metering technique for the adhesive, full application of the adhesive all round the part was difficult to achieve with any degree of reliability because of its predetermined geometry. The extreme temperature changes to which the housing is exposed (from –30 to +140°C) would also have caused material stresses, since the adhesive has different thermal expansion characteristics to the plastic. In the quest for a rapid, flexible solution, Bühle...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-04-17, Dual Head in the Drilling Cell
...y the door design concerned. For the purpose of quality assurance, the installation also has to clean the drill and examine it for fractures after each door panel has been processed. Six-axis Machine Orients the Drill Unit Purely theoretically, in extreme cases, the installation has at its disposal just 0.625 seconds per drilling operation, including reorientation of the robot. Since this short time interval is not feasible in practice, a special dual head with two drilling units was develope...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-04-17, Higher Performance, Lower Weight
... the exploitation of freedom in design - lightweight systems obtained through process optimisation, new construction and joining concepts that are suitably tailored to the material and/or structure. Fibre reinforced composites indisputably hold an extremely high potential for lightweight construction through their low specific weight and their anisotropic properties. This potential is manifested, in particular, in a growing number of structural parts in the aviation and aerospace sectors [1 to 8...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-05-14, Precise and Flexible - Layer for Layer
...eration of production lines manufactures CPP films at a rate of more than 300m/min and PE films at up to 550m/min. Michael Beckhoff Helmut Meyer The newly designed coextrusion cast film lines can produce composite films of up to nine layers with extreme precision. At the same time, energy consumption of the lines is minimised, handling improved and the production rate significantly increased. It is also possible to produce film structures with a flexible, optimised layer distribution. The co...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-07-18, Heat Transfer in the Impregnation of Textile Semi-finished Products
Heat Transfer in the Impregnation of Textile Semi-finished Products Computation Tool When fiber-reinforced plastics are used as structural materials, they are subject to extreme temperature fluctuations. It is therefore necessary to describe their thermal conductivities and property changes for the part design. This description is greatly simplified by a computation tool. Lars Frormann, Matthias Reckzügel Besides metals, plastics, particularly fiber-reinforced plastics, are used for producin...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-07-18, Solving Adhesion Problems
...present in the chamber at a residual pressure of about 1mbar. The incorporation of fluorine and oxygen can be detected by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). This is shown for polyethylene (PE), by way of example, in Fig.2. The extremely electronegative fluorine atoms and the similarly polar oxygen atoms, which are attached directly to the polymer chains by main valence bonds during gas-phase fluorination, result in hydrophilic surfaces. These can be readily painted, printed, f...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-07-18, Untrammeled All-Round Vision
...ements for strength, dimensional stability and surface accuracy. This is a particularly economical manufacturing method and lends itself to small runs for the production of flat, thick-walled, dimensionally stable injection molded parts that offer extreme torsional stiffness. By lowering the viscosity of the melt and foaming during injection, the blowing agent admixed to the granules makes for complete mold filling and the development of a foam structure inside the housing parts. The concrete ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-08-14, Extremely Flat and Flexible
Extremely Flat and Flexible Electronic Elements Transparent polymer films in combination with transparent highly conductive polymers pave the way to flexible electronic elements. The conductive structures can be printed onto the polymer films directly. This affords a means of producing, e.g., lighting elements that are extremely flat and flexible, or labels of packaging. Stephan Kirchmeyer Detlef Gaiser It is not immediately apparent that transparent metal oxides (TCOs) play a large role...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-08-14, No Risk, No Profit
...w path to wall thickness ratios between 23 and 228, whilst the modular construction allows the use of any of the Husky nozzles. This opens up the possibility of simulating customer applications and determining the process window by applying extreme parameters before the start of tooling manufacture. In this way "trial & error" phases (amongst machine, tooling and hot runner manufacturers) can be avoided and so projects can be more quickly and efficiently progressed. According to Bechtel ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-08-14, Output under Pressure
...he screw determine the operational behavior of the single-screw extruder. In addition, processors demand an optimal production process with constant specific mass throughput, also with varying pressure build-up caused by the die (up to 700 bar in extreme cases). Furthermore, the incorporation of color masterbatch is called for. Within a wide processing range, the extruder must ensure good plastification at the screw tip for every working point, permitting the most varied molding dies to be used,...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-08-14, Tiny Tubes with a Huge Impact
...inking straw (5 mm diameter) then some of them would be 3.5 m long. Exceptional Mechanical Resilience High expectations have been associated with CNT due to their unusual property profile and potential applications. One of their strengths is their extreme load bearing capacity. Although they have a quarter of the weight of steel they are five times as strong under mechanical loadings. Depending on the molecular structure they can be semi-conductors or conduct electricity better than copper. CN...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-08-14, Turns Waste into Gold
...dd-on stage to the modular Vacurema system involves installing a second vacuum pre-processing unit in front of the continuous Vacurema Basic System. The two units are operated batchwise with precisely defined dwell times and are able to achieve extremely efficient decontamination and an IV value well in excess of 0.84, which is often required for specific applications. Following the symposium, the visitors had an opportunity to watch the first Vacurema Prime in operation. This machine, with a pr...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-09-19, Designing with New Freedoms
Designing with New Freedoms Improved Performance Highly filled polyamide 6 grades are extremely rigid and open up entirely new possibilities for design. All-plastic and plastic-metal hybrid components are not only lighter, more compact and more economical to produce; they are also characterized by improved mechanical performance. In addition, such components can be optimized with regard to weight and performance capability through the use of topological optimization and integrative simulatio...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-09-19, For High-End Applications
... prevents damage and lets through the important radar beams crucial to the operation of the sensor (photo: Ticona) Fig. 2. This PTFE semi-finished product is suitable for unlubricated, highly stressed components operating under extreme environmental conditions (photo: Quadrant) Fig. 3. This PBT is suitable for vehicle headlamp bezels (photo: DSM) Fig. 4. The new PESU blend has a very favorable price/performance ratio (photo: BASF) Fig. 5. This LCP holder for a gas discharge lamp withstands c...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-09-19, Polycarbonate Automotive Glazing
...ortional to the sine of this angle, occurs. At an angle of for example 10° this represents 17 % of the closing force which is equal to a vertical loading component of 540 t for a closing force of 3,200 t. These force components which can be extreme have to be absorbed for the most part by the mold guides. However, the machine must take up a part of the load until this can be fully absorbed by the guides. Therefore a clear agreement on the tolerances and design concept between mold and machine ma...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-09-19, Producing PP Cups Faster
... of the heavy lower table in the next moment of the sequence requires removal of all loads on the drive. Within milliseconds, the drive must switch to the controlled braking mode to prevent uncontrolled acceleration of the heavy load. This sudden, extreme change in loads poses a challenge for any current controller. In this regard, integration of the servo drives into the motion control system proved beneficial, since the quality of control is utilized fully by the very short position control pu...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-10-21, Polyarylsulfones (PSU, PESU, PPSU)
... load has been put forward by BASF: By adding a special black pigment that absorbs light while allowing heat rays to pass through it, the heat conductivity of black PESU components is increased, thus preventing heat build-up, i.e. extreme heating in the component (Title picture). Blends with a polyarylsulfone basis have been around for some time and are offered by all producers (e.g. blends with PP, ABS, PC, PA). They feature either a lower price and/or targeted property enhancements (e.g. flow ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-10-21, Polycarbonate (PC) and Polycarbonate Blends
... special PC grades such as Makrolon 2467 and 6267 (Fig. 2). Despite the flameproofing additives these are just as free-flowing as standard PC injection molding grades that have not been rendered flame resistant. Flame-resistant PC blends that are extremely durable in a warm, moist environment have recently appeared on the market. They are employed in "white goods" or in appliances for zones of extreme climate. An example of the material here is Bayblend DP 3008 HR. This (PC+ABS) blend i...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-10-21, Polypropylene (PP)
...mer can be steered by a large number of parameters – including molecular weight distribution, the selection of the copolymers and the selective adjustment of the molecule structure through state-of-the-art production processes – it is used in an extremely broad range of applications. PP is employed in housings and cable sheathing, in fabrics and nonwovens, in closures and packaging components and also in crash absorbers and one-way syringes – to mention just a few of its many uses. Up until quit...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-11-21, Highlights: Lightweight Construction and Bio
...e crude oil prices continue to rise while the population demands high mobility. Look Me in the Eye Headlights characterize a car in the same way as eyes characterize humans. During the life of a vehicle, a light or headlamp is subject to abrasion, extreme temperatures, chemical or electrostatic stresses and X-rays, UV and cosmic rays (Fig.1). Today 95% of a headlight is plastics. The remainder is metals. In the last decade diffuser discs made of glass have been completely replaced by polycarbo...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-11-21, Outer Body Skin with an Integrated Antenna
... Integration The technological progress achieved in the high-frequency sector is making radar systems increasingly attractive for use as driver assistant systems. The robust, low-priced integration of these technologies, making allowance for the extreme conditions that prevail in mobile systems, constitutes a major challenge for system design and production. The state of the art is now circuitry and antennas based on planar microstrip conduction technology, applied to commercial high-frequency ...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-11-21, Stylish Inconspicuousness
...onent length: With more than two meter long flow paths, that is very important." (photos: Provvido) Fig. 2. WIT creates an excellent surface, as a look at the slit-open roof rack demonstrates Fig. 3. Extreme flow paths: The roof rack is approx. 220mm long Fig. 4. PME – fluidtec mobile testing facility. System control manages the water very sensitively: The flow rate can be exactly tuned to component geometryThe towering mold for the roof rack is mounted on a KM 950-17200 MX type injection m...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-12-17, Logistics and Know-how Rule the Market
...ission. The new Lucalor material may fit any application requiring better cohesive strength, high color fastness, good incurvation resistance, improved imprintability as against PVC, as well as a high Vicat softening point under extreme heat (110 to 115°C) and high resistance to pressurized hot water (Fig. 5). Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG, Ismaning, Germany, benefits from the Eastern European markets, too. For PVC manufacturers, it’s more or less quiet on the Western front, since growth is closely lin...

Kunststoffe international, 2007-12-17, Still Demand for Innovation Potential
... are also superior. Both grades meet motor industry requirements on odor and emission behavior for interior use. Furthermore, Bayer MaterialScience has developed two particularly free-flowing (PC+ABS) blends called Bayblend T65 XF and T85XF (XF for extreme flow). Candidate applications for these materials are interior automotive parts that need to offer high heat resistance and low-temperature toughness, such as safety components around the airbag outlet and knee-impact area, that must not break...

Kunststoffe international, 2008-01-15, Elastomer Industry Has Understood
...good processing characteristics also permit cost-effective manufacturing. Cable jacketing for high-voltage cables from the roof of one carriage to the next must withstand a demanding combination of extreme stresses. Operating voltage at contact points is up to 25kV. While a train is moving, the cables are exposed to permanent vibration and have to dynamically compensate distance differences between carriages, which can be as much as 1,000mm on extreme track sections. Very good hydrolysis resista...

Kunststoffe international, 2008-01-15, Made in Greater China and Taiwan
... – and a considerable number of customers have already bought two or more STS compounders. STS models range in screw diameter from 35 to 95mm with outputs of 100 to 2,500kg/h (Fig. 3). Thus, users can obtain a compact installation having an extremely advantageous cost-performance ratio that is suitable for all standard tasks in the production of plastics. Through cooperative ventures with German partner companies represented in China Coperion can also supply complete compounding systems ranging ...