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AUTOMOTIVE
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What next to maintain polymer growth in the motor industry?
Editor Ken Grace muses on whether growth in automotive polymers may be nearing maturity.
Plastic could replace steel in metal/plastic hybrids.
The front ends of a number of cars are made of a combination of sheet steel and glass fibre-reinforced polyamide 6, providing structural members with integrated fixings for front under-bonnet components and external panels. Lanxess is now taking the concept further, replacing the steel or aluminium components with high performance fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite sheets to produce an all-plastic hybrid part which is lighter than an equivalent part in metal but with a higher surface stiffness and strength.
Teardrop top contains virtual illumination.
Taking polycarbonate glazing to its ultimate is the zaZen concept car from Rinspeed in Switzerland. The whole top of the car is a tear drop injection moulded in Bayer's Makrolon polycarbonate. The tail end of the tear drop top houses a holographic area which during normal driving is transparent and invisible, but under braking is illuminated by a single light-emitting diode to create a rear light bigger than the conventional LED rear lights used today.
Plastics make safety glass safer.
Plastics may be making inroads into the glass sun roof market, but they are also helping to keep glass in business. DuPont's Spallshield is a plastic coating that can be applied to a single, standard layer of glass, giving it up to eight times the impact performance of standard laminated glass while reducing weight by 25 to 30 per cent.
Window moulding without turning the tool.
A simplified method of injection moulding vehicle windows demonstrated at NPE by Cincinnati Milacron did not use a rotating mould, as is the norm, but instead a tool with a sliding core to create the cavity for the bezel, which was filled by a second injection unit mounted piggyback style above the main injection unit.
Automotive demand increases sales of auxiliary injection unit.
Growth in demand for multi-material mouldings has brought increased sales of the Babyplast UAI auxiliary injection unit to companies supplying the automotive sector. The UAI comprises a standard hydraulic injection unit, as used on the Babyplast 6/10P micro-moulding machine, incorporating a pre-plasticiser and an injection plunger and is normally installed directly on to the mould.
Peerless adds polyesters to its coating capabilities.
Coating specialist Peerless Coatings has overcome technical problems that hinder the coating of PETG and PET and has developed means to apply abrasion-resistant and anti-reflective coatings to PETG and PET with no adverse effect on the base material's impact strength.
On-line toolbox for vehicle lighting designers.
A suite of resources for automotive lighting designers has been made available on the internet by GE Plastics. LiteDesign incorporates eight tools and calculators that can help simulate plastic colours and effects, predict thermal performance and flow characteristics, and estimate the cost difference between two alternative materials.
First Turkish headlamp for Transit.
The first headlamp to be fully developed and manufactured in Turkey has a bezel in DuPont Zytel heat stabilised nylon 66. It is produced for the new Ford Transit by Mako, a Turkish company owned by automotive electrical component manufacturer Magnetti Marelli.
DuPont backs PBT for high temperature bezels.
An 'art to part' design-materials-processing package from DuPont aims to provide enhanced styling and up to 40 per cent more cost-effective manufacturing for headlamps with new grades of Crastin PBT for moulding bezels which can be metallised.
High heat polycarbonate aimed at automotive lighting.
To help further support its lighting programme, GE Plastics is soon to introduce Xtreme Heat grades of Lexan XHT polycarbonate formulated to resist deformation and colour shift under high heat conditions, surpassing materials such as thermosets in their density, flow characteristics, and recycling potential.
New TPVs blend weather seals in with the bodywork.
New Santoprene thermoplastic vulcanisate grades have been developed for the automotive market by ExxonMobil Chemical. They meet requirements by manufacturers to build vehicles with exterior components presenting a more harmonised appearance.
Ultrapolymers Triumphs with Terblend.
Triumph Motorcycles is injection moulding the fairing panels for its new Daytona 675 urban sports bike in BASF Terblend N, a blend of ABS and PA, supplied by Ultrapolymers.
Cut materials costs and meet ELV requirements.
Hardie Polymers and Frisetta are both supplying motor-industry approved materials from recycled sources.
Joint effort to improve Audi under-bonnet component.
Co-operation between materials supplier Distrupol and moulder P & D Manufacturing improved the production of an under-bonnet heat shield for Audi by switching from EPDM to DSM's Sarlink TPV.
Perrite extends approved automotive compound slate.
Additions have been made to the Perrite range of compounds approved for automotive use.
Black areas stay black.
The radiator grille of the new Volkswagen Golf R32 sports car is moulded in BASF's Luran ASA which needs no coating and retains its gloss black appearance under UV exposure.
BMW wing is first in new Lanxess PA/ABS.
A new grade of Triax nylon/ABS blend from Lanxess specifically developed for automotive body panels has been adopted by BMW.
Laser-welding preferred to blow moulding for oil pipe.
Blow moulding would have been the obvious choice to make an oil transmission tube used in a new Volkswagen gearbox, but German moulder IBS Filtran elected instead to injection mould it in three pieces in DuPont's Zytel 70G30 HSLR nylon and weld them together by laser transmission.
FKM meets higher demands on fuel sealing.
FKM fluoroelastomer - specifically DuPont Performance Elastomers' Viton - is the answer to the increasingly stringent demands on fuel permeation, according to US engine sealing specialist ITW Southland.
Elastomer sealing news in your inbox.
DuPont Performance Elastomers now publishes AutoFocus, an automotive sealing e-mailed newsletter for the motor industry, processors of elastomers and moulders.
Moulded-on seals for hard-working components.
Lanxess has paired purpose-formulated grades of its Durethan nylon with its Therban hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber in a hard/soft system for making under-bonnet components such as oil sumps, intake pipes and valve covers which need to be sealed in place.
Tolerance compensation improves air bag perforation.
KMT Cutting Systems has developed a tolerance compensation system for its six axis robotic routing systems used in dashboard production. The routing tool on the spindle carried by the robot arm is exchanged for a Renishaw 3D probe to take positional measurements in three corners of the work-piece for the air bag perforation on the underside of the dashboard.
New door design for Cadillac air bag.
The instrument panel in the Cadillac DTS made by Lear Corporation incorporates an air bag system with an active upper door, known as a 'topper', instead of a conventional door.
Diaphragm moulding process makes CFRP manifolds.
A reinforced composites moulding process is being used in the USA to make complex inlet manifolds for low run applications. The first product is intended for the tuning market.
Intake manifold must resist 250 degC.
A material with superior performance to conventional nylons was required for the air intake manifold of the Audi 8 V8 4·2 litre turbo diesel engine as exhaust gas recirculation raises temperature in the manifold to over 200 degC, and 250 degC is reached when soot is burned off to regenerate the particle filter. The moulder, Mann+Hummel, selected DuPont Zytel HTN polyphthalamide for the application.
Dedicated Ultramid grade for BMW manifolds.
Intake manifolds weighing more than 7 kg are being produced for BMW M5 and M6 eight and 10 cylindered sports cars by Stuttgart-based Mahle Filtersysteme in BASF Ultramid B3WG6 GP PA6 reinforced with 30 per cent glass fibre. The material was specially developed for the application.
BASF automotive on the internet.
A guide to everything automotive done by BASF has been published on the internet at www.automotive.basf.com.
Prototyping process makes low volume production parts.
Space Puzzle Molding is a process in which components which would ordinarily need cores and other moving components in the tooling are moulded with the cores but without actuation. Instead the tool is dismantled from around each moulding and then re-assembled to make the next one. It is being used instead of more conventional injection moulding for components on low volume luxury cars where tool costs would be prohibitive for the quantities being moulded.
Stanyl gears give road feel to joystick steering.
DSM Stanyl high performance PA46 is used for precision gears in the Joysteer joystick-based car steering system for drivers with arm muscle disabilities.
INJECTION MOULDING
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Micro- and nano-moulding research unit opens at Bradford.
A new facility to research micro- and nano-moulding processes has opened at Bradford University.
Arburg to build an even bigger machine.
Arburg, the small injection moulding machine specialist which a few years ago decided that small could be a bit bigger, is planning to build an even bigger machine - a 500 tonne model making its debut at the Fakuma exhibition later this year.
Thermoforming tool specialist moves into injection.
Austrian thermoforming tool and automation specialist Mould & Matic Solutions has moved into injection moulding, with an undisclosed British packaging manufacturer as its first customer.
Roboshot takes wider moulds and fills faster.
Fanuc has increased the horizontal distances between tie bars of its four new Roboshot B all-electric machines compared with previous models and provided greater clamping unit rigidity to support heavier moulds. Injection speeds have also been increased.
Milacron uprates control with Mosaic.
New Mosaic machine control by Cincinnati Milacron separates data entry and machine movement buttons and is positioned to provide optimum view of the mould area.
Hot runner controller for under £1,000.
A new 15 A six-zone hot runner temperature controller from DMS-Diemould costs less than £1,000 and is said to be highly suitable for four-drop systems.
Fusion systems take Mold-Masters into large parts...
After a two year period of development in conjunction with major customers Mold-Masters has introduced the Fusion series of hot runner systems which take it into the large part moulding arena.
... while Synventive launches systems for shot weights down to 0·1 g.
Taking the reverse tack to Mold-Masters, Synventive Molding Solutions which has been established for some time in the market for medium to large part hot runner systems is now supplying equipment for shot weights as low as 0·1 g .
ENGINEERING MATERIALS
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DuPont rolls out developments in elastomers.
The DuPont Performance Elastomers and Performance Materials businesses have announced a range of elastomer developments covering fluoroelastomers and ethylene acrylic elastomers.
The biting edge for baby bottle teats.
A special grade of its Thermolast K hydrogenated styrene block copolymer was formulated by Kraiburg TPE for Nürnberg Gummi in Germany to make single-use baby bottle teats.
RTP launches advanced anti-statics to meet ATEX demands.
Compounding specialist RTP Company has introduced PermaStat PLUS permanently anti-static compounds with better electrical properties than its existing PermaStat range.
Halogen-free polyamides safe for kitchens and bathrooms.
BASF has developed two new flame retardant polyamides in response to the tightening of the Household Appliance Standard IEC 60335-1.
RTP extends long fibre capabilities.
RTP Company has added new capacity to make long fibre compounds. It has also expanded its product range.
Altuglas doubles acrylic impact strength.
Altuglas International has produced an acrylic material with double the impact strength of standard high-impact polymethyl methacrylates.
PACKAGING MATERIALS
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Polyethylenes for frozen foods.
Nova Chemicals Corporation has developed two polyethylene grades specifically for demanding frozen food packaging applications.
ADDITIVES
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New slip agents for polystyrene processing.
A new slip additive from Croda improves surface lubrication and mould release, and brings a number of product and efficiency benefits to polystyrene mouldings.
Clariant moves distribution to Omya.
Clariant UK has transferred distribution of its pigments and additives - with the exception of some direct accounts - to Omya UK.
More Chemtura additives from Brenntag.
Brenntag (UK) is adding the Great Lakes Polymer Stabilisers from Chemtura to the other plastics additives it sells from the company.
Cabot appoints Albis for Ireland.
Distribution of Cabot masterbatches in Ireland has been taken on by Albis.
MATERIALS HANDLING
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Six mistakes to avoid when buying a blower.
Moving air about can be an energy-intensive operation, particularly if it is being done the wrong way or for the wrong reasons. Mark Taylor of Busch (UK) offers advice on how to avoid the pitfalls when buying air blowers.
Plast-Control updates vacuum loader for extrusion systems.
The latest version of Plast-Control's hopper loading equipment is the PCH vacuum loader.
Uprated loaders and filters from Wittmann.
New Wittmann Feedmax IMX 200 and 300 series integral vacuum loaders for low to medium throughputs in single or dual material applications have many standard features common to FMX central vacuum loaders.
Bigger brother for the MicroBlender.
Maguire's smallest blender just got a bigger brother. Maguire Products has introduced the MicroPlus blender with a throughput of 45 to 160 kg/hr, supplementing the MicroBlender which at 45 kg/hr maximum capacity is said to be the world's smallest gravimetric blender.
Daisy chain system automatically recognises additional loaders.
Expansion capabilities have been added to the TSM vacuum loading systems allowing additional loaders to be connected serially in a daisy chain fashion.
Motan plays safe with proven technology as it doubles dryer throughput.
Motan has doubled the capacity of its Luxor drying series with the introduction of two models with 1,800 and 2,400 m3/hr dry air performance.
Materials supply system meets clean room requirements.
Wittmann UK has installed a materials handling system at Haverfordwest-based St Davids Assemblies to serve four injection moulding machines.
Multi-hopper system gives more drying flexibility - and saves energy.
Energy-saving without loss of performance is the claim made for Sandretto UK's latest range of dryers.
'Black box' dryer uses only the energy needed.
Ease of use is one claim among many for the X Dryer introduced earlier this year by Moretto of Italy. And because the dryer has been designed for 'black box' operation, it is also said to be economic to run - reducing the cost per dried kilo of material by up to 72 per cent compared with other dryers.
Compressed air dryer is lighter and more portable.
Wittmann has redesigned its DryMax P15 portable compressed air dryer and reduced its weight by 40 per cent to 19 kg. Maximum throughput is 10 kg/hr.
Dehumidifiers with touch screen control.
New Colortronic X, XL and XXL dehumidified air driers are from 40 to 3,600 m3/hr capacity and achieve dew points down to -60 degC.
Fourfold adds more Summit systems.
Drying systems to the value of £60,000 have been installed at Keighley-based Fourfold Mouldings by Summit Systems. Fourfold invested £500,000 in fitting out its new custom-built factory, which has an automated production area, over a period of 16 weeks.
Manrose fans of UPM.
Manrose Manufacturing makes domestic ventilation fans and components. Its factory opened 12 years ago and the original materials handling system installed by UPM has been extended to cope with more moulding machines.
Desiccant wheel dryer saves energy.
Energy savings up to 35 per cent compared with other desiccant dryers are claimed for the new Conair Carousel Plus series of dryers through the design of the desiccant wheel, which has fewer parts and lighter structural mass so it heats and cools more easily.
Shini pushes budget products up the quality ladder.
Shini UK, whose budget products were sold under the BPI brand name for some time, has launched a range of ancillary equipment described as having an 'emphasis more on quality than price'.
Customisable central control added by Piovan.
Piovan has augmented its Easy²System central materials handling controller with a customisable touch-screen-enabled PLC system. Either system can be supplied as a standard installation, depending on the application, and Piovan says the PLC system is being aimed mainly at the automotive sector.
Blender software tracks material usage.
New software for the Conair TrueBlend gravimetric blender automates the collection, delivery and documentation of material usage data over an Ethernet connection to plant or office computers.
No contamination in fast colour changes.
The Auto-Cleaning function incorporated in the new TSM Control Systems TSM3000 12 component gravimetric batch blender cleans all the pellets from the entire mixing chamber by a special three step process and makes colour changes possible within seconds with no cross contamination, says the manufacturer.
FILM & SHEET PRODUCTION
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EDI takes multi-layer film to extremes.
US die specialist Extrusion Dies Inc has taken a licence from Dow Chemical for its 'layer multiplier' system, and is contemplating 50 micron packaging film with up to 80 layers - or more.
Fast cast film at lower energy cost.
SML of Austria has demonstrated cast PP film production at the rate of 325 m/minute with lower energy consumption than with previous equipment.
£50,000 annual savings expected from extrusion yield control system.
An increase in saleable output of £50,000 a year is estimated to result from the installation by Summit Systems of a Maguire Linemaster AC extrusion yield control system on a triple layer film line at North Lincs-based custom PE film manufacturer IG Industries.
FILM & SHEET CONVERSION
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New Ridat former makes 15,000 yoghourt pots/hour.
The new Ridat 1610 APF automatic pressure forming machine is rated at making 15,000 yoghourt pots per hour, using a nine cup mould and running at 28 cycles/minute.
Atlas sheeters business goes solo.
The former Atlas Converting Equipment sheeting machinery business has been bought from Bobst Group and renamed Apollo Sheeters.
Belpac buys another Illig.
Purchase of another Illig RD 53 thermoforming machine has enabled Belpac of Wolverhampton to increase capacity for packaging for the food, confectionery and medical sectors.
RECLAMATION & RECYCLING
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Tenders wanted for milk bottle recycling scheme.
An Open Tender competition to develop a closed loop recycling system for HDPE milk bottles has been launched by the Waste & Resources Action Programme, WRAP. It will provide funding up to 30 per cent of the cost of the infrastructure, plant and equipment.
RPET trials success brings commitment to continue.
Three major high street names, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Marks & Spencer and Boot, who last year took part in a trial to use recycled PET in packaging have now committed to keep using it.
WRAP aims to raise demand for recycled materials.
Waste & Resources Action Programme WRAP has delivered 6 million tonnes extra recycling capacity through its market development work since 2001 and is now looking to eliminate or divert from landfill an additional 3·2 million tonnes of material per year by 2008.
PE scrap made easier to recycle.
A new compatibiliser developed by DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers for reclaiming polyethylene is reckoned to improve on other grafted monomer compatibilisers, making polyethylene easier to recycle.
Heavy duty granulators from Bulgaria.
Total Plastics Machinery has become UK agent for a granulator range from Bulgaria.
REACTION PROCESSING
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New legislation brings new footwear blowing agents.
A range of water-blown polyether systems has been introduced by Huntsman Polyurethanes to help European footwear manufacturers meet new product legislation - from this month it is unlawful to produce footwear soles that contain fluorinated hydrocarbons.
Emulsifier/stabiliser controls polyether foam cell structure.
A new Rhein Chemie high performance blend of emulsifier and stabiliser is claimed to guarantee precise and safe setting of cell parameters for flexible polyester-based PU slab-stock foams. Cell structure can be set from extremely fine to coarse without formulation change and density and hardness can be adjusted in the usual manner.
Long fibre process makes household doors.
An American window and door maker is using the Krauss-Maffei LFI process to produce household door skins in glass fibre reinforced PU. They have a 40 per cent glass content and are said to be exceptionally long-lasting and stable.
Fan nozzle improvesPU spraying on sandwich parts.
Uniform material distribution, minimal over-spray and a defined spray edge result from the use of the flat fan nozzle without air infusion incorporated in the new Krauss-Maffei Luchs II mixing head. It is claimed to offer several advantages for the production of sandwich parts.
Brenntag adds Dow polyols and isocyanates.
Brenntag (UK) is to become the UK distributor for Dow Chemical's Isonate, Vornate and Vornanol ranges of polyurethane polyols and isocyanates used in coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers.
Another sales outlet for Cannon.
Another company has taken on sales of Cannon polyurethane equipment. Cannon Solutions (UK) has appointed CTM of Barnsley as a representative within the UK.
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
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Lab tests big chillers flat out.
Italian chiller manufacturer Rhoss has built an R & D laboratory said to be one of only two in Europe able to test the performance of water chillers at full capacity up to 1,500 kW.
Temperature, power and safety all in one package.
Watlow says that its new EZ-Zone ST control loop is the first to integrate temperature and power control, safety shutdown and disconnection of power within one package.
TESTING & INSPECTION
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Pressure tester predicts shelf life of PET containers.
The latest bottle pressure tester from Agr*TopWave goes beyond conventional pressure and volume expansion data by providing material utilisation and predicted shelf-life characteristics of individual PET containers.
Friction tester for film and sheet.
Zwick has developed equipment for measuring the static and kinetic coefficients of friction of plastics sheet and film.
Fully automated test for surface area of carbon blacks.
Carbon blacks are characterised by surface area with a high surface area indicating superior performance. The standard test method is difficult to carry out and prone to error because it relies on colour and the black solution makes it extremely difficult to define the colour end point. Now Metrohm has developed a method to automate the procedure.
Surface energy measurements in the field.
Surface energy is a key indicator of the 'wettability' of a plastics material and hence its ability to be painted, printed or bonded. The new MobileDrop instrument from German company Krüss can measure the property in the field on samples of almost any size.
PROCESS CONTROL
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Syscon software and OPC server developments.
Manufacturing execution and monitoring systems specialist Syscon International has enhanced its Panorama database system and in a separate development has signed up to develop open connectivity servers for the plastics industry.
Mattec joins with CMS Software for deep integration of MES and ERP.
Mattec Corporation, the US developer of manufacturing execution system software for the plastics and other industries, has been taken over by Canadian company CMS Software, a producer of enterprise resource planning software.
COLOUR MANAGEMENT
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Colour measurement companies combine.
US-based colour measurement specialist X-Rite has bought Amazys Holding of Switzerland, better known for its GretagMacBeth brand of colour measurement equipment and software. Both companies have recently introduced new colour control products. GretagMacbeth has simplified the communication of formulation and quality control data, while X-Rite has added a lower cost spectrophotometer.
COMPOSITES
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New glass enables bigger and cheaper wind turbine blades.
A glass reinforcement for wind turbine blades developed by Owens Corning is said to enable turbine manufacturers to increase blade lengths by as much as 6 per cent and deliver up to 12 per cent more power for up to 20 per cent less cost than any competing carbon-glass hybrid.
Safe alternative to VOCs for resin stripping.
A safe and environmentally-friendly non-volatile solvent mix that is in widespread use in the USA has been brought to the UK market by the Chymera Group. Chymera is promoting Acrastrip as a safe alternative to hazardous solvents containing volatile organic compounds for the glass fibre and composites industries.
Research centre to promote aerospace composites.
A centre for research into the use of composites in lightweight aerospace structures has been opened in Manchester.
ROTATIONAL MOULDING
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Rotomoulding PVDF from Arkema.
Arkema has developed a new rotomoulding grade for its line of Kynar polyvinylidene fluoride anti-corrosion materials.
PROTOTYPING
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RedEye RPM adds high resolution PolyJet capacity.
RedEye RPM, the world's largest rapid prototype and part-building service, has added PolyJet photo-polymer jetting technology to its armoury. Its PolyJet Eden systems use a process similar to ink jet printing, in which a liquid photo-polymer resin is jetted out in fine layers to build a part.
COMPOUNDING
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Coperion becomes exclusive provider of TekFlow.
A melt processing technology which can reduce viscosity without a loss of molecular weight is undergoing development at Coperion Werner & Pfleiderer. The company has linked with Stratek Plastics, an offshoot of the Polymer Research Laboratory at Stamford University in the USA, to develop Stratek's TekFlow process, for which it has agreed an exclusive worldwide production and distribution licence.
SOFTWARE
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The generation game.
Clive Maier explores the design potential of a program that does your imagining for you.
Total modelling - and it's free.
You can have a fully-featured 3D CAD system for nothing. Well, just a few little strings. Clive Maier tries it out.
OTHER DOWNLOADABLE SECTIONS AND REGULAR FEATURES
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