23 WPC 25 Sandwich 26 Formula and tooling considerations for manufacturing with wood-plastic composites New sandwich skin helps panels to outperform conventional counterparts by up to 71% MANUFACTURlNG RTM Draping gripper system improves the speed and quality of RTM processing RTM MANUFACTURlNG Draping gripper system improves the speed and quality of RTM processing MIRKO HERTRICH Media and Public Relations Development Agency for Lightweighting Baden-Wuerttemberg T he research prototype of the new system was developed by a German research group supported by German industrial firms and research institutes. With the draping gripper system, two-dimensional textile materials can be lifted and formed to the desired three-dimensional shape during the transit to the injection unit. The Development Agency for Lightweighting Baden-Wuerttemberg presented this innovation as its August ThinKing. Leichtbau BW GmbH hands out this distinction every month to impressive products and innovations in the lightweighting sector in Baden-Wuerttemberg, a federal State in the southwest of Germany. In the value chain of resin transfer moulding (RTM), the transport of the fibre mat used for the production of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRP) is a step that does not add additional value to the process. A newly designed draping gripper system makes it possible to shape the finished fibre mat or reinforcement material into the desired form during the transport. This improvement is an important step on the way towards streamlining the production of FRP though the RTM process. With this new process, the preforming step can be fully integrated into the transport phase for components with relatively subtle three-dimensional contours. The fibre mat preforming and transporting steps, which have so far always been separate processes, can now be combined for greater efficiency. turing costs of the product, comprising about 12% of the end costs. The RTM value chain offers huge potential for the mass production of FRP components. Preforming - the shap- Preforming influences quality and production speed The intelligent automation of the preforming process can help reduce production time and improve the quality of the resulting products. These benefits result in reduced costs and a wider implementation of FRP. The preforming process itself has a significant impact on the quality and speed of the production and has a comparatively large influence on the final manufacNo110 January-February 2017 Fig. 1: The demonstration unit of the draping gripper system effectively combines the previously separate steps of preforming and transporting textile reinforcement materials (Source: WBK Karlsruhe) / jec composites magazine 23