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Injection Moulding Process for Lightweight Parts made of Plastic
Warpage and Weight Reduction of Your Plastic Parts
Would you like to reduce the weight of your injection moulded products and thus also contribute to CO2 savings? With ENGEL's injection moulding processes, you can produce high-quality lightweight plastic components. You save up to 20% in weight compared to the compact variants.
THE NEXT LEVEL.
At the ENGEL foammelt Days you can expect numerous specialist lectures, best practice examples, live exhibits demonstration and networking possibilities with experts and users from various industries focusing on plastics foaming.
The requirements for plastic products are becoming more complex. The weight and distortion of plastic parts should be reduced. Mechanical properties such as stability and crash behaviour should remain similar. In weight-sensitive areas such as automotive manufacturing, the total weight of the end product contributes significantly to energy savings. We offer the optimal injection moulding processes for the production of lightweight plastic parts: Foaming technology and glass or carbon fibre reinforced organic sheets.
In foam injection moulding, the plastic mass is foamed in the mould. Part of the material is replaced by gas. This enables a material saving of over 20% for lightweight plastic part compared to a compact component. Less material means lower part costs. The mechanical properties of the component, such as resistance, remain unchanged.
Since foamed lightweight plastic components are partly made of gas, small gas streaks can appear on the component surface during foaming. If you use the right material and apply additional injection moulding processes, the surface of foamed components can be upgraded: The variothermal hot-cooling process gives components more gloss and a superior appearance. Foil back-moulding enables high-quality component surfaces.
Foaming reduces the viscosity of the injected material. The injection process therefore requires a lower injection pressure, which in turn results in lower clamping force requirements. Our tie-bar-less machine series is suitable for the injection moulding production of large lightweight components. Thanks to the larger mould installation space, a smaller clamping unit is sufficient even for large moulds.
The requirements for plastic products are becoming more complex. The weight and distortion of plastic parts should be reduced. Mechanical properties such as stability and crash behaviour should remain similar. In weight-sensitive areas such as automotive manufacturing, the total weight of the end product contributes significantly to energy savings. We offer the optimal injection moulding processes for the production of lightweight plastic parts: Foaming technology and glass or carbon fibre reinforced organic sheets.
In foam injection moulding, the plastic mass is foamed in the mould. Part of the material is replaced by gas. This enables a material saving of over 20% for lightweight plastic part compared to a compact component. Less material means lower part costs. The mechanical properties of the component, such as resistance, remain unchanged.
Since foamed lightweight plastic components are partly made of gas, small gas streaks can appear on the component surface during foaming. If you use the right material and apply additional injection moulding processes, the surface of foamed components can be upgraded: The variothermal hot-cooling process gives components more gloss and a superior appearance. Foil back-moulding enables high-quality component surfaces.
Foaming reduces the viscosity of the injected material. The injection process therefore requires a lower injection pressure, which in turn results in lower clamping force requirements. Our tie-bar-less machine series is suitable for the injection moulding production of large lightweight components. Thanks to the larger mould installation space, a smaller clamping unit is sufficient even for large moulds.
Use our know-how for the optimal design of lightweight elements. Reduce your parts costs and save energy. We will be happy to advise you.
Injection Moulding Processes for Lightweight Plastic Parts - an Overview
| Procedure | Product name | Industry | Application | Process |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foam injection moulding, MuCell | foammelt | Automotive & Transport, Technical Injection Moulding, Electronics | Interior, structure, logistics, Structure, connector, housing | Produce injection moulded parts with foam structure |
| Gas Injection Technology (GIT) Water Injection Technology (WIT) | fluidmelt | Automotive & Transport, Technical Injection Moulding, Electronics | Oil dipstick, furniture, logistics | Producing hollow bodies by injection moulding |
| Composite / Lightweight construction | organomelt, UD tapes, In-situ, SMC, HP-RTM | Automotive & Transport, Electronics | Structure, engine compartment cover, cover for electronic components | Producing thermoplastic composite components |
| Injection stamping | coinmelt | Automotive & Transport, Electronics | Headlights, light guides, glazing, television housings, covers for electronic components | Produce particularly precise components by embossing |
| Multi-component injection moulding | combimelt | Automotive & Transport, Technical Injection Moulding, Electronics | Interior/Exterior trims | Combining different types of plastic in one component |
Thermoplastic composites pave the way for lightweight plastic components to enter the circular economy. With an ENGEL injection moulding process, regranulates can be processed from organic sheet metal offcuts while retaining the material properties. The result: composite raw materials are kept in the cycle.
Lightweight plastic components, energy-saving processing or the combination of several process steps can be combined under one keyword: Sustainability. Thermoplastic foam injection moulding is a favourable process for this.
With foammelt (MuCell®), you can create distortion-free, lightweight technical plastic parts. The metered propellant gas is released in a controlled manner during the injection moulding process. The foaming process begins. The cell distribution in the foam structure is homogenised once again by a negative embossing process.
MuCell® is a registered trademark of Trexel, Inc.
Lower weight due to microfine foam with homogeneous cell structure.
Adding propellant gas (nitrogen or carbon dioxide) directly into the melt.
Patented low-pressure injection moulding process.
Foam injection moulding with optimum machine operating comfort and productivity.
High quality
High-precision, low-warpage and dimensionally stable moulded parts
fluidmelt is the perfect option when it comes to forming hollow areas, complex pipe structures or avoiding shrinkage contraction. Fluid injection technology helps you produce moulded parts with greater wall thickness or considerable wall thickness differences without unwanted surface disturbances.
Targeted cavities help to produce in a material-saving and cost-effective manner.
For all moulded parts with greater wall thickness and considerable wall thickness differences.
Precise surface
Reduced wall thickness
Injection-Moulded Bicycle Frame with V-frames
In this video, you will see the first injection-moulded bicycle frame made of lightweight plastic components. Made from thermoplastic composites and a hollow, closed tube geometry.
 "Injection-Moulded Bicycle Frame with V-frames")
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The weight reduction and reduction of distortion as well as the replacement of metal in components are the trend today. Functional integration and multi-material design ensure sustainable and economical production. With our innovative injection moulding processes, you can produce lightweight plastic components efficiently and in high quality.
Precision and performance - layer by layer
The laying and consolidation of the tapes takes place in sync with the injection moulding process. A pick-and-place tape laying cell with optical image processing is followed by a consolidation press that can be integrated into the overall process. In this way, we enable a tape lay-up that is precisely adapted to the component geometry, which is followed by the subsequent processes without trimming.
Your advantages with UD-Tapes
Fast, high-resolution camera technology: Errors and inaccuracies can be reliably detected and compensated for.
Experience from our own production: ENGEL uses thermoplastic UD carbon tapes in the production of the e-pic robot series.
Technology centre for lightweight composites: Research and development as well as implementation of customised plant solutions.
Result
High precision despite high ejection rate
In-situ technology opens up new opportunities for the production of fibre-reinforced lightweight plastic components with a thermoplastic polyamide matrix. The application spectrum ranges from thin composite components to highly stressed structural components. Starting from dry, preformed reinforcement textiles, polymerisation and moulding processes are combined here.
Your advantages with in-situ polymerisation
Efficient manufacturing concepts: For fully automated parts production.
Extended range of components: Easy to weld and functionalise.
Tailor-made component design: Fibre reinforcement exactly where it is needed.
Optimum bond adhesion: Thanks to thermoplastic matrix.
Result
Highest precision through servo-electric drives
Excellent process stability due to specially developed software tools
Replace steel and aluminium sheets with lightweight components. ENGEL organomelt is the ideal process for producing components with high stability and the best mechanical properties.
Your advantages with the organomelt process
One-shot manufacturing: Highly integrated, automated thermoforming and injection moulding process for organic sheets.
Saving costs: Cost- and resource-saving production of ready-to-use lightweight construction elements.
Various fields of application: Innovative lightweight plastic technology for automotive parts, portable electronic devices, etc.
Technology centre for lightweight composites: Research and development as well as implementation of customised plant solutions.
Result
Maximum stability thanks to composite technology
Durable bonding of thermoplastic fibre semi-finished products with high-quality plastics
Fibre composite technology with duromer systems
Efficiently manufacture large, stable lightweight components: ENGEL HP-RTM fibre composite technology gives you better shaping and the best properties for large-area parts in the automotive sector. In this process, dry semi-finished fibre products are impregnated with injected resin and then cured under heat.
Your advantages with HR-RTM
Compact production unit: Low overall height and foundation load.
High process reliability: Process monitoring and documentation.
Sophisticated manufacturing: Fully integrated control of the resin injection system.
Clamping units with ENGEL ecodrive as standard and proven ENGEL automation
Result
More efficiency
High quality components
Highest quality and stability for roof systems and body parts.
In SMC technology, a stack of carbon or glass fibre-reinforced, flowable semi-finished blanks is usually processed in a compression moulding process and a heated mould. The ENGEL v-duo machine series features high clamping speeds and active parallelism control. It is the ideal prerequisite for fully automated and precise SMC component production.
Your advantages with the SMC process
Functional component properties: Complex geometries and function integration possible directly on the component.
Fully automated manufacturing: Fully automated manufacturing cells from the semi-finished product to the finished, ready-to-install component.
Paintable components: By using in-mould coating, surfaces of high quality can be optimally prepared for subsequent painting.
Result
Structural lightweight elements with excellent strength values
High performance in automotive lightweight construction
Produce innovative moulded parts from different materials in a single work step.
Procedural variants:
Multi-colour parts
Hard - Soft Composites
Thermoplastic - Rubber Composites
Thermoplastic - LSR composites
Assembly injection moulding
Produce components with up to six injection units that can be controlled simultaneously or sequentially.
Machines for composite injection moulding with short cycle times.
The process enables different colour variations and haptic experiences.
The need for subsequent assembly and printing is eliminated. Different controls are produced in a single cycle.
Superior product features
Varied colour combinations
Additional component functions
Multi-Component Injection Moulding in Practice
Experience combimelt technology at first hand. Integration of design and functionality on a tie-bar-less victory 120 combi injection moulding machine.
 "Multi-Component Injection Moulding in Practice")
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Produce precise surfaces for particularly high demands. With the ENGEL coinmelt injection-compression moulding process, you can achieve perfect quality for everything from automotive glazing and optical lenses to moulding the finest, microscaled structures.
For optimum melt distribution in large-area components.
Perfect for low-warpage, large-area moulded parts.
Active parallelism control of the clamping unit.
Best performance: Highest reproducibility and optimised dynamics
More efficiency: application-optimised equipment packages
Impact extrusion is a processing method for sheet moulding compounds (SMC) that has been used successfully for more than 50 years. Especially in the automotive, commercial vehicle, electrical, construction and aerospace industries.
The abbreviation stands for thermoplastic foam injection moulding. Our technology for this is called foammelt.
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