JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - Supplement lnnovation report - 47

Paris, France
March 6-7-8, 2018

Multi-sector

Intelligent infrared heating technology > Booth:
Heating of organo-sheets has central importance Hall 6 - F61
iHall 5 - N67processing but involves a number of challenges: conventional control systems result in overheating and a non-uniform
temperature distribution; oven systems require intelligent thermal
management to ensure static thermal conditions for each cycle;
non-uniform heated areas may occur due to the design of the IR
heating panels; finding a way to handle sheets
using fewer gripper systems. With the target of
fast and uniform sheet heating, KraussMaffei
developed a special IR heating technology
combined with robotized motion. The technology includes intelligent hardware and software solutions and operates in a vertical way.
It was developed due to the lack of a commercial heating technology
capable of homogeneously heating up different types of organo sheet
materials in a shorter time. To avoid overheating and non-uniformity for
different types of materials, the user can set up different heating zones
with different target temperatures, measured and controlled by pyrometers. Furthermore, the control system has a self-learning function that
observes the heating rate and the ambient temperature and optimizes
and saves the control parameters for each material autonomously. To
avoid non-uniform heated areas due to the design of the IR heating panels, the robot operates in a circular movement while heating up the organo sheet. All the heating parameters are stored to enable fast startup after
a product change.
www.kraussmaffei.com

Multi-sector

BÜFA -Conductive-Line series
> Booth: Hall 5
receives OCSiAL Industry Award
- E 58/G 23
Plastics, plastic-coated materials and lightweight construction materials are used in all spheres of life today.
As opposed to metallic surfaces, these surfaces are, as a rule, electrical
regulators. Through friction, electric fields or flowing fluids, electrostatic charging can occur with such insulated surfaces. In many branches,
for example vehicle and airplane construction, this can be life-threatening
or cause enormous material damage. Suitable coatings can effectively prevent this.
BÜFA Composite Systems offers a new line of conductive gelcoats, resins
and concentrates all the way to individual solutions for all branches. Their
superb looks - with individual colouring and high-gloss surfaces - are combined with excellent product properties such as constant electrostatic dissipation, very good weathering properties and resistance to chemicals.
Thanks to the use of nano-technology, all of the products in the BÜFA
-Conductive-Line guarantee high process reliability and reproducibility as
well as low viscosity compared to conventional conductive systems.
BÜFA Composite Systems received the OCSiAL Industry Award for the
development of innovative, conductive products that are used in various
branches. The special coatings are used to effectively prevent static charges
on plastic surfaces. OCSiAL produces so-called single-wall carbon nanotubes on an industrial scale and is engaged in the field of nanotechnology
research and development. During the NanoSummit 2017 international
symposium in Luxembourg, a total of five companies were honoured, and
BÜFA Composite Systems was the only European prize winner.

Single-wall nanotubes are used in the BÜFA®-Conductive-Line. Using a
special technique, the nanotubes are separated and then added to the coating material. Thanks to the use of nanotechnology, the surfaces have outstanding gloss and weather resistance. Along with these advantages, coloured as well as conductive materials can now also be produced.
www.buefa.de

Automated laminating cell
> Booth:
Airborne, a supplier of automated and digital
Hall 6 - F6
manufacturing solutions for the composites
industry, introduces their latest innovation
at JEC World 2018: Automated Laminating
Cell (ACL).
The Automated Laminating Cell (ACL) is based
on the concept of a standard robot platform with
dedicated end-effectors. Besides a small footprint and low investments, the cell can easily be
adapted or expanded depending on the needs of
production. The ACL can be tailored to specific
products of product families, while maintaining
the flexibility to produce a whole range of different composite products.
The cell is highly flexible and can switch easily between its automated tape
laying, automated cutting and pick & place functionalities.

Multi-sector

One-step integration technology
> Booth:
for auto interior parts
Hall 5 - Q94
The ground-breaking new process developed by Bcomp for automotive interiors allows the full integration of different tasks in one
single step. The process is highly resource efficient and the resulting
product offers lower weight, cost and material usage while improving safety through good impact behaviour.
All in one step:
Compression moulding of powerRibs® 3D rib structures together with
a non-woven base material of choice (typically NFPP fleece), reaching
a high stiffness-to-weight ratio;
- Decorative A-side layers;
- Back-injection of attachment features;
- Dye cutting.
- Main benefits:
- The powerRibs® technology brings high impact strength at very low
weight (up to 40% weight reduction compared to conventional materials at equal stiffness);
- The processing technique is extremely efficient with short cycle
times - short heating and cooling, back-injection and punching all
in one step without loading and unloading various tools;
- Significant cost reductions both in material and processing;
- Lower eco-footprint through the use of natural flax fibres, reducing
material use and waste, the weight of the finished product and VOC
emissions.
The process and tool have full industrial readiness and can be integrated in large-scale highly efficient top-notch production lines to produce
plug-and-play lightweight and strong interiors for tomorrow's automobi
les.
www.bcomp.ch

N° 119 supplement - Innovation Report

www.airborne.com

/ jec composites magazine

http://www.bcomp.ch http://www.buefa.de http://www.kraussmaffei.com http://www.airborne.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #119 - Supplement lnnovation report